540 BELLES-LETTRES 



research. Nor is it probable that conditions in this regard are much 

 worse here than elsewhere, though undoubtedly in older countries 

 books of polite literature are more sure of an extensive sale. In the 

 whole world the number of people who can and do appreciate litera- 

 ture as such is a very small minority of the population. This, to be 

 sure, does not signify much to those who believe that literature 

 is only for the elite, that it is a luxury for the refined, and debases 

 itself when it goes to minister to the lowly of intellect and taste. 

 But there is another view, the view of the democrat, who proclaims 

 all men free and equal in the domain of letters, free to produce, 

 free to enjoy, free to understand. And those who have most at 

 heart the sway of ideals in the world have the greatest eagerness 

 to enlighten the masses to comprehension of what literature means, 

 not by telling them about its charm, but by revealing to them its 

 quickening power, as they can be taught patriotism by the consider- 

 ation of a patriot, or fair play and uprightness by observing a con- 

 spicuously "straight" man, a man of honor. It behooves writers 

 seriously to inquire why their appeal is so limited, to see how far 

 their failure to move many is due to a mistaken vision. I enter- 

 tain no foolish notions with regard to a large increase of reading 

 among the working classes. There are millions of men who by reason 

 of their occupation, if for no other, will always be deprived of the 

 chance to read at all. But I should like to have every one, if possible, 

 surrounded by an atmosphere of imaginative thought, so pervasive 

 that somehow they must feel it, and, being led to observe those 

 who see and hear more than they, wittingly or unwittingly yield 

 subservience to its power. 



Good literature is a wholesome stimulant to the man in private as 

 well as to the citizen in public. Yet now, when it is most needed, in 

 this age of intellectuality, there is a pitiful lack of writings that 

 serve to refresh the heart. While in conversation the other day with 

 an economist, I asked him how much he read books that had no direct 

 bearing on his professional work. "Very little," was the reply. "Nor 

 can I say," he added, "exactly why. I know I need greatly the 

 strength that literature affords, but I do not seem to find anything, 

 in contemporary production, at least, that supplies my need." Now 

 if this man had really sought and not found, if he had read and 

 was unrewarded by increase of courage, not renewed in inner life, 

 then it is a great reproach to present works of literary art. Such 

 a man as he needs props, Matthew Arnold remarked wisely that all 

 men need props, and these he had a right to claim that litera- 

 ture should afford him. Formerly the Bible was deemed a sufficient 

 prop for all men in their every spiritual emergency. But more and 

 more the educated are seeking other support in the crises great or 

 small that dailv arise. Verv different are the books that serve us as 



