Part 67 (1/2)

His ”protective instincts” are far later and more superficial. To support and care for his wife, his children, is a recent habit, in plain sight historically; but ”the pleasure of the chase” is older than that.

We should remember that a.s.sociate habits and impulses last for ages upon ages in living forms; as in the tree climbing instincts of our earliest years, of Simian origin; and the love of water, which dates back through unmeasured time. Where for millions of years the strongest pleasure a given organism is fitted for, is obtained by a certain group of activities, those activities will continue to give pleasure long after their earlier use is gone.

This is why men enjoy ”the ardor of pursuit” far more than women. It is an essentially masculine ardor. To come easily by what he wants does not satisfy him. He wants to want it. He wants to hunt it, seek it, chase it, catch it. He wants it to be ”game.” He is by virtue of his s.e.x a sportsman.

There is no reason why these special instincts should not be gratified so long as it does no harm to the more important social processes; but it is distinctly desirable that we should understand their nature. The reason why we have the present overwhelming ma.s.s of ”sporting events,”

from the ball game to the prize fight, is because our civilization is so overwhelmingly masculine. We shall criticize them more justly when we see that all this ma.s.s of indulgence is in the first place a form of s.e.x-expression, and in the second place a survival of instincts older than the oldest savagery.

Besides our games and sports we have a large field of ”amus.e.m.e.nts” also worth examining. We not only enjoy doing things, but we enjoy seeing them done by others. In these highly specialized days most of our amus.e.m.e.nt consists in paying two dollars to sit three hours and see other people do things.

This in its largest sense is wholly human. We, as social creatures, can enjoy a thousand forms of expression quite beyond the personal. The birds must each sing his own song; the crickets chirp in millionfold performance; but human being feels the deep thrill of joy in their special singers, actors, dancers, as well as in their own personal attempts. That we should find pleasure in watching one another is humanly natural, but what it is we watch, the kind of pleasure and the kind of performance, opens a wide field of choice.

We know, for instance, something of the crude excesses of aboriginal Australian dances; we know more of the gross license of old Rome; we know the breadth of the jokes in medieval times, and the childish brutality of the bull-ring and the c.o.c.kpit. We know, in a word, that amus.e.m.e.nts vary; that they form a ready gauge of character and culture; that they have a strong educational influence for good or bad. What we have not hitherto observed is the predominant masculine influence on our amus.e.m.e.nts. If we recall once more the statement with regard to entertaining anecdotes, ”There are thirty good stories in the world, and twenty-nine of them cannot be told to women,” we get a glaring sidelight on the masculine specialization in jokes.

”Women have no sense of humor” has been frequently said, when ”Women have not a masculine sense of humor” would be truer. If women had thirty ”good stories” twenty-nine of which could not be told to men, it is possible that men, if they heard some of the twenty-nine, would not find them funny. The overweight of one s.e.x has told in our amus.e.m.e.nts as everywhere else.

Because men are further developed in humanity than women are as yet, they have built and organized great places of amus.e.m.e.nt; because they carried into their humanity their unchecked masculinity, they have made these amus.e.m.e.nts to correspond. Dramatic expression, is in its true sense, not only a human distinction, but one of our n.o.blest arts. It is allied with the highest emotions; is religious, educational, patriotic, covering the whole range of human feeling. Through it we should be able continually to express, in audible, visible forms, alive and moving, whatever phase of life we most enjoyed or wished to see. There was a time when the drama led life; lifted, taught, inspired, enlightened.

Now its main function is to amuse. Under the demand for amus.e.m.e.nt, it has cheapened and coa.r.s.ened, and now the thousand vaudevilles and picture shows give us the broken fragments of a degraded art of which our one main demand is that it shall make us laugh.

There are many causes at work here; and while this study seeks to show in various fields one cause, it does not claim that cause is the only one. Our economic conditions have enormous weight upon our amus.e.m.e.nts, as on all other human phenomena; but even under economic pressure the reactions of men and women are often dissimilar. Tired men and women both need amus.e.m.e.nt, the relaxation and restful change of irresponsible gayety. The great majority of women, who work longer hours than any other cla.s.s, need it desperately and never get it. Amus.e.m.e.nt, entertainment, recreation, should be open to us all, enjoyed by all.

This is a human need, and not a distinction of either s.e.x. Like most human things it is not only largely monopolized by men, but masculized throughout. Many forms of amus.e.m.e.nt are for men only; more for men mostly; all are for men if they choose to go.

The entrance of women upon the stage, and their increased attendance at theatres has somewhat modified the nature of the performance; even the ”refined vaudeville” now begins to show the influence of women. It would be no great advantage to have this department of human life feminized; the improvement desired is to have it less masculized; to reduce the excessive influence of one, and to bring out those broad human interests and pleasures which men and women can equally partic.i.p.ate in and enjoy.

HIS AGONY

A Human Being goes past my house Day after day, hour after hour, Screaming in agony.

It is dreadful to hear him.

He beats the air with his hands, blindly, despairingly.

He shrieks with pain.

The pa.s.sers-by do not notice him.

The woman who is with him does not notice him.

The policeman does not notice him.

No ambulance comes ringing.

No doctor rushes out of a house--no crowd collects.

He screams and screams.

No one notices him.

I bear him coming again.

It is terrible--one day after another.

I look out of my window.

Yes--the same Human Being--the same agony.

I cannot bear it. I rush down--out into the street.