Part 48 (2/2)

But the canons of taste and judgement say No.

The ideas and feelings of the peoples of past times found expression in this way, and are preserved in literature. But our ideas and feelings, so seeking expression, do not make literature.

It is not the first time that the canons were wrong. Straight down the road of historic progress, from the dim old days we can hardly see, into the increasing glare of the calcium-lighted present, there have always stood the Priesthood of the Past, making human progress into an obstacle race.

PERSONAL PROBLEMS

QUERY: ”I am a woman of about forty; my children are pretty well grown up; my home does not take all my time. I could do some work in the world, but I do not know what to do. Can you advise me?”

QUERY: ”I appreciate the need of women's working, and am free to do so, but cannot make up my mind what work to undertake. It is very easy for you people with 'a mission' and talents, but what is an ordinary woman to do?”

ANSWER: These two questions belong together, and may be answered together. Neither of the questioners seem to be driven by necessity, which simplifies matters a good deal.

Work has to be done for two real reasons. One is the service of humanity, of society, which cannot exist without our functional activity. Work is social service.

The other is personal development. One cannot be fully human without this functional social activity.

In choosing work, there are two governing factors always, and generally the third one of pressing necessity. Of the two, one is personal fitness--the instinctive choice of those who are highly specialized in some one line. This makes decision easy, but does not always make it easy to get the work. You may be divinely ordained to fiddle--but if no one wants to hear you, you are badly off. The other is far more general; it is the social demand--the call of the work that _needs doing._

If you are able to work, free to work, and not hampered by a rigid personal bent, just look about and see what other people need. Study your country, town, village, your environment, near or distant; and take hold of some social need, whether it is a better school board or the preservation of our forests. So long as the earth or the people on it need service, there is work for all of us.

PLAY-TIME

A WALK WALK WALK

I.

I once went out for a walk, walk, walk, For a walk beside the sea; And all I carried for to eat, eat, eat, Was a jar of ginger snaps so sweet, And a jug of ginger tea.

For I am fond of cinnamon pie, And peppermint pudding, too; And I dearly love to bake, bake, bake, A mighty ma.s.s of mustard cake, And nutmeg beer to brew.

II.

And all I carried for drink, drink, drink, That long and weary way, Was a dozen little gla.s.ses Of boiled mola.s.ses On a Cochin China tray.

For I am fond of the sugar of the grape, And the sugar of the maple tree; But I always eat The sugar of the beet When I'm in company.

III.

And all I carried for to read, read, read, For a half an hour or so, Was Milman's Rome, and Grote on Greece, And the works of Dumas, pere et fils, And the poems of Longfellow.

For I am fond of the Hunting of the Snark, And the Romaunt of the Rose; And I never go to bed Without Webster at my head And Worcester at my toes.

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