The Contributors' Column

James M. Cain is a member of the staff of the Baltimore Sun, a paper of conservative character, respected by friends and enemies alike. The course of the Sun in connection with the West Virginia outrages is striking. Mr. Cain was sent to the ground in the service of his paper, with instructions to gather an unbiased story. The mineowners regarded his activities with disfavor, thinking him prejudiced, and a well known politician was requested to expostulate with the owners of the Sun. The newspaper management appointed a man friendly to the operators to investigate the charge, and gave no hint to Mr. Cain that his own story was being checked up. The report of this investigator was that Mr. Cain was absolutely truthful and his story fair; whereupon the Sun instructed him to stick to his job. Radicals the country over continually accuse newspapers of bias in favor of capitalism. But the Sun’s general course in this and in other matters is strong testimony to the power and probity of the press.

Ralph P. Boas is head of the English Department of the English High School at Springfield, Massachusetts, and editor of Youth and the New World. To the very difficult subject which she calls ‘The Open Door in Marriage,’ Anne C. E. Allinson brings a broad equipment. Formerly dean of the Women’s College in Brown University, she is the author of Roads from Rome and of many essays on classical, religious, and personal themes. The Acropolis and Golgotha and Juventus Christi will be most easily remembered by readers of the Atlantic.Joseph Fort Newton proves in a second paper how stimulating ‘Preaching in New York ’ can be. The manuscript comes to us from the Church of the Divine Paternity, of which Mr. Newton is pastor.

The chapter on Lowell, by M. A. De Wolfe Howe, is from Mr. Howe’s new book Memories of a Hostess, to be published very shortly. Robert Davis, a transplanted American, cultivates a farm in the Department of the Gironde, which, as travelers know, is a delicious wane country. The Hindman Settlement School, on Troublesome Creek, in Knott County, in the mountains of Kentucky, has just celebrated its twentieth birthday. Lucy Furman’s ‘Quare Women’ stories go back to the days before its founding, when the women who afterward started it came up from the Blue Grass to the mountains, and, pitching their tents a two days’ journey from a railroad, carried on a rural social settlement, meantime studying the people and their needs — the permanent result being the Hindman Settlement School, in which industrial and academic education are combined with various forms of social service especially adapted to the mountains.

We asked Mr. Edward W. Bok if he had n’t made a mistake in putting the ’W’ into his name. He wrote us: ‘ “Edward W. Bok” is right; that is as I am now; Edward Bok was the chap who edited the Ladies’ Home Journal, and he is no more. It’s the real me now, thank the Lord, trying to express myself.’ Charles D. Stewart is not only a naturalist, but a many-sided lover of life. He is a profound student of horses — and of the first folio of Shakespeare. A successful novel, The Fugitive Blacksmith, is his, and he is the author of many stories and articles in the Atlantic and other magazines. E. Barrington’s latest book is ‘ The Ladies, ’ a volume of truth and romance woven about the wit and beauty of eighteenth century England. To those who complain of the obscurities of religious and mystical experiences, Claudia Cranston, whose strange poem, Ask Not One Another, we print this month, has this to say: ‘ [It is] as though while accepting from a cathedral its shade and shelter during an inclement period, we should drown out its holy service with criticisms of the carvings on its walls.'

Willard L. Sperry has just been appointed Dean of the new Theological School in Harvard University. Readers of the Atlantic will remember his paper, ‘A Parish Minister’s Declaration of Independence,’ which appeared in January, 1921. His volume, The Disciples of Liberty, was published last year by the Yale University Press. Cornelia Geer LeBoutillier will be remembered for her pleasant Celtic stories (written before she was married) ‘Pearls before Swine,’and ‘The Irish of It,’ which appeared in October, 1917, anti March, 1918. The story of a bear by Enos Mills is an authentic record of personal observation. Mr. Mills has for years been the familiar of bear, and beaver, and deer, and writes as truly and as pleasantly about western wild life as anyone we know in America.

As Director of the United States Geological Survey and member of Secretary Hoover’s advisory committee on coal, George Otis Smith has had an unusual opportunity to consider the present coal crisis in the light of the basic coal facts, geographic and economic. Through an Ulsterman’s Eyes is an example of war psychology not to be ignored by peacemakers. So long as this hate-complex exists in Ireland, North or South, there can be no peace. We are not at liberty to give the name of the author, but it can be stated that he was an eye-witness of the terrible events he describes. H. E. Wortham is a student of the Mohammedan problem in Africa, and a correspondent of the London Outlook. Andre Rostand is an educated liberal-minded Frenchman, whose views on reparations — so hard for most Americans to understand— are widely representative of the best educated opinion in France. Southerners and Northerners alike were interested in ‘A New South: The Boll-Weevil Era,’ by E. T. Shaffer, which appeared in the January Atlantic. Mr. Shaffer writes us: ‘My occupation is that of a truck farmer. My chief compensation, however, is in observing the many interesting phases of the life about me — of which I am a part. Possibly my angle of vision on local affairs may be different from most men’s, as, while Southern born and reared, I am of New England parentage.’

A letter comes to us from Omaha, apropos ‘American-Born,’in the June Atlantic, which, because of its sharp spiritual insight adds, we think, to the literature on ‘ Americanization. ’

June 17, 1922.

DEAR ATLANTIC, —
The article in the June Atlantic entitled ‘ American-Born ’ interested me very much. It suggested the definition of Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy which reads, ‘Orthodoxy is my doxy and Heterodoxy is your doxy.’
A few weeks ago when I was in England, my devout little hostess dealt tenderly with my soul that she might convert me from being a nonconformist to becoming a member of the Church of England. In easy conversational discussion I gave her the very kernel of the doctrine of the church to which I belong, but not labeled as such. She responded with great feeling, ‘ Oh, Miss R—, you should be an Episcopalian. You have so much of it in you.’ She did not realize that in the essentials, all Christian faiths are perhaps alike.
Even so when we receive an immigrant into our country and label that which is best and finest in him as ‘American,’ are we not missing the point that the finest and best of every country are all kin perhaps, and cannot be said to be of any one country unless of the Kingdom of Heaven, whatever we mean by that?
My small niece says that the Smiths have a painting very like ours. I say that we each have a Rembrandt. Let us put away childish things and draw the conclusion, not that the little immigrants are American in spirit, but rather that the American heritage partakes of that great indefinable spiritual inheritance which is too big to be circumscribed by any lines, either national or racial, and which is the birthright of real manhood and real womanhood wherever found.
M. R.

Such a flood of letters swept into our office in the wake of Dr. Channing Frothingham’s article on ‘Osteopathy, Chiropractic, and the Practice of Medicine,’ in the July Atlantic, that last month we were able to print only half of the best of them. The following seems to us important: —

DEAR, ATLANTIC, —
As an osteopathic physician of twenty years experience I was naturally very much interested in the views upon Osteopathy, presented by Channing Frothingham, in the July issue of your publication.

The assertion is made that the osteopath ‘depends upon a theory.’ That the human organism is a vital machine, largely dependent upon the laws of biology and physics for its proper functioning is a demonstrated fact, not a theory. The basic contention of the Osteopathic School is that structure determines function, in the human machine the same as in any other. The circulation of the blood which carries the vital elements of nutrition is mechanical in its nature and depends in a large measure upon reflex action through the proper play of nerve impulses.
Dr. Frothingham says, ‘The orthodox osteopath should feel that a general knowledge of medicine is not necessary, because, according to the theory, it is only necessary to find the osteopathic lesion in the region of the spine and remove it by appropriate treatment and health will result.’ There is an implied criticism of the osteopathic physician in the above quotation, because he refuses to remain in a narrow groove, but instead has increased his realm of study and maintains a broad outlook upon disease. The osteopathic physician has never contended that the structural lesion was the sole and only cause of disease. He has proven, however, both by clinical results and animal experimentation, that spinal lesions are very important factors in the causation and perpetuation of ill health, and that the principle of adjustment is coextensive with the practice of the healing art. Contrary to the assertion of Dr. Frothingham, osteopathy discards nothing in the way of scientifically proven facts in medicine, using the term medicine in its broadest sense. On the contrary, we are trying to add some facts entirely overlooked by the regular school. . . .
The article in question is not fair, in that it attempts to convey the impression that the osteopathic student is not given a thorough training in physical diagnosis and general medical knowledge. There are, at the present time, seven colleges of osteopathy in the United States, recognized by the American Osteopathic Association. The standards of these schools are high. No student is qualified to enter unless he is a graduate of an accredited high school. No doctor may graduate until he has completed a course of four college years, each year being a full nine months of study.
ERNEST C. BOND, D. O.

Mountain-climbers and horseback-riders will enjoy these letters.

August 16, 1922.

DEAR ATLANTIC, —
I was much interested in what Samantha Whipple Shoup says of the late Queen Victoria’s petticoat in the July issue of the Atlantic. I have wondered where the information came from. When I wish any mid-Victorian information I wait for a rainy Sunday afternoon and begin to go through my files of bound Godey’s. Sooner or later the idea sought is found in print in that old chronical of American social life, books, and fashions of that time. In those days of the early fifties Godey clubbed with the Atlantic Monthly! This is the ‘ Godey ’ history of the Balmoral petticoat.

Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, March 1858.
' A new material for petticoats has been introduced into London by Her Majesty Victoria. It is of very thick material, with a very brilliant scarlet and black stripe. The Empress Eugenie, whose Spanish taste is for bright colors, has adopted them.’
Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, June 1860. ‘A Summer Balmoral would be a great convenience for the decks of steamers or boats, and the dirty floors of cars and cabs. Will some amiable importer order them? Colored underskirts were considered unladylike until the Queen gave prestige to them. . . . A fashionable house like Levy’s, Arnold’s, or Stewart’s, could soon make them the rage, and confer a lasting benefit on the feminine community of travellers.’

The appeal seems to have been complied with. Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, March 18(51, says, ‘Cotton Balmoral petticoats, in the same neat, light colors that have distinguished those in wool, silk and wool, etc., the past winter, will be found a most serviceable article for spring wear, or for travelling through the season. They are much lighter, and of course cooler than those our readers are generally familiar with. They are also suitable as an underskirt for equestrians.’
Ye cross-saddle riders! Imagine either girl or horse submitting to a long petticoat!
LETITIA HART ALEXANDER.
LOUISVILLE
KENTUCKY

DEAR ATLANTIC, —
In the July number I have read with interest the comments of Samantha Whipple Shoup, of San José, anent the ‘ Balmoral.’ I trust I shall be pardoned if I differ from her on some points.
Far from being an ‘outing costume,’ and the forerunner of ‘khaki knickers,’ it was the legitimate and fashionable successor of the ‘quilted petticoat’; simply a woollen garment for winter wear, Webster says it was ‘a striped woollen petticoat worn under the dress, which was looped up to show it.’
Observe, please, that the looping was done for effect, and it was quite the mode for street-wear.
As for mountain-climbing, it would have been difficult for countless women, who were merely following the fashion of the day, to find even the suggestion of a mountain in their localities. For instance, in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and elsewhere.
M. V.
SAN FRANCISCO.

This seems to be one of the many cases in which both sides of a controversy are correct. American women may not have climbed mountains in Balmorals, but Queen Victoria probably did.

The Atlantic must allow its contributors a certain poetic license, but the following is a warning to those who do not go to sea in ships:

DEAR ATLANTIC, —
Shades of your seagoing New England antecedents! On the first page of the August number I find ships ‘casting their anchors’! Even if the ordinary speech of New Enganders no longer is salty, there remains no excuse for ships ‘casting’ anchors in the Atlantic, especially when the subject has been so well covered by Joseph Conrad, from whose Emblems of Hope I quote the following: —

‘Now an anchor is never cast, and to take a liberty with technical language is a crime against the clearness, precision, and beauty of perfected speech.
‘This insistence in using the odious word arises from the fact that a particularly benighted landsman must imagine the act of anchoring as a process of throwing something overboard, whereas the anchor, ready for its work, is already overboard, and is not thrown over but is simply allowed to fall.’
The order is not “Heave over!” as the paragraphist seems to imagine, but “Let go! ”
‘I remember a coasting pilot of my early acquaintance (he used to read the papers assiduously) who, to define the utmost degree of lubberliness in a landsman, used to say, “He’s one of them poor, miserable, ‘cast anchor’ devils.’”
Yours very truly,
EDGAR WILLIAMS.
WASHINGTON, D. C.

Many letters of appreciation have come to the anonymous author of the now famous poem printed in the ‘Column’ to the refrain, so expressive of the dormant human longing, ‘Oh, leave me lay.’

We notice, however, in the Seattle Star one discordant note from an outraged teacher, who believes she discerns a grammatical inaccuracy. Her comment, which seems to us imperfectly sympathetic with the poet’s mood, is preceded by the second stanza of the poem.

One cannot but wonder what the limits are — and ‘a well-known scholar,’ too! What there could be to ‘like’ about it passes understanding, and how the person guilty of perpetrating such an atrocity could ever hope to escape ‘heartrendering dullness’ also raises my curiosity.

Among kindly efforts intended to bridge the late unpleasantness, the Editor notes the following offer of assistance: —

Grä Felfing, BAVARIA

DEAR SIRS, —
please let me know as soon as possible, if you consent to accept me as a continual contributor for your magazine. Perfect, exact, experienced writer. Speciality: Most various matters concerning science, culture, politics, in Europe and in the Far East (Indian Ocean and neighbourings). Correct point of view, only influenced by pure, ethical principles.
50 articles a year (beginning from Sept. 1st, 1922), $50. each (not less than 100-150 lines); extents, however, according to your wishes, 1st class material. Specimens on demand.
Be kind enough to give me your terms and consense. If you do like it better, I shall also agree to previous payment by the lump, viz., $2000 the year, an important abatement. Cheque on: Deutsche Bank, Lenbachplatz, Munich, Bavaria.
Soliciting your correspondence, I am, Dear Sirs,
very truly yours,
author

Some themes to discuss about:

The Muscat Treaty between England and France from March 10th, 1862

Dynastic relations between Muscat and Zanzibar

Amulets and Talismans

The very series will to be choired by me, except your determined orders.