But when in <dd days 1 desired to
translate my Americanism in that
high and fine s.a.se fnto ae'ion. I
was toll that I was not wanted. Yet
I was !.? lie Americanized t am
even ni>?v to he assimilated. Sup
I intend rathei to assimilate
Vmerica. to mitigate Puritan bar
barism by the influence of my spirit
and tile example of njy life?"
Mr. Lewisohn may have learned
to love the language w<- use, but the
spirit of the Anglo-Saxon he can
n. yer comprehend As a boy, he
round the games his schoolmates
played ihhorrent. He found them
aimlessiv competitive, and they
strutk him. and strike him now, '"as
incomprehensible and odious." He
finds only absurdity in the will to
fight for lite right - that is his ex
cluding observation on :hr subject
of war
He discover- that the "so-callt-l
patriotic passion" that swept this
country in 11* 17 was largely the
product of the "sex repressions pt #
ticed by our middle classes." At^y
right minded American will admit
that the war fever resulted in many
idiocies, hut it would be useless to
try (o make 'Mr Lewisohn see what
he will never be able to grasp. He
will never know w.'iat it was tha!
Mnerieans felt 1* 1^17 Hot? cou' i
he?.
