Like Lincoln's, it will not be vulgar;
like Whitman's, never tawdry; like Mark Twain's, not empty of
penetrating thought; like Shakespeare's it will be popular. If
this should happen, as I believe it may, it would be a just return
upon our share of a great inheritance.
TIME'S MIRROR
What is the use of criticizing modern literature unless you are
willing to criticize modern life? And how many Americans are
willing to criticize it with eyes wide open?
The outstanding fact in mass civilization as it exists in America
and Western Europe to-day is that it moves with confidence in only
one direction. The workers, after their escape from the industrial
slavery of the last century, have only one plan for the future
upon which they can unite, a greater share in material benefits.
The possessors of capital have only one program upon which they
agree, a further exploitation of material resources, for the
greater comfort of the community and themselves. The professional
classes have only one professional instinct in common, to discover
new methods by which man's comfort may be made secure.
In this way of life, as the Buddhist might have called it, all our
really effective energy discharges itself.
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