THE MODERN DESIRE FOR AMUSEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2240, 4 February 1897, Page 24

THE MODERN DESIRE FOR AMUSEMENT.

Mr Arlo Bntec, the Americsm novelist and critic, in his "Lowell Lectures on English Composition," just published by Hooghton,. Miffiin, and Co., says :—": — " Flippancy is the prevailing literary vice of th« age. The periodicals are, perhaps, more largely te blsme for this than any other single c&uee, but newspap< Csi and magazines by no means hays the whole responsibility ia this matter. The desire for mnusemeiit baa catea us up. The> overworked and nervous public desires entertainment* which sha'l make no c*ll on the intellect and as little as possible on the perception. The man who could devise the means of amuiing hits fellows without their being obliged even to take the trouble to be aware of it would almost; be deified by this age. ' " The modern imagination is harder to *wjkea thau tli« Sl«epiag Beauty. An audience in the theatre to-cUy cannot ba per&uaded to do anjtbing tor itself. "In the dayß of Shftkesprare a pltycard on the stage transferred all the beholders into the Forest of Ardan, or to the enchanted itle of Prospero. Tt-cUy it is difficult to induce the spectators to second the most elaborate devices which have been contrived by scene-painter and carpenter to assist; tbeir sluggish taney. There is even- a large class appveui ly go completely atrophied mentally as to be unable to follow a simple i plot on the ct*ge. ' Variety thowc ' to-day take the place which real plays held once ; short stories, with no much substance as admits cf their being beaten up ; lik-* the white of; an egg i» a custitrd, a?e lan1 guirtly re»d by the million ; and we bi»v» even replaced criticism by a sort of shallow flippancy for which no other name seems to me so appropriate a» literary skirt-dancing. i "To be clever in the mcfet superficial sense of fcbat word, to be vnlgarly glib, to reverence nothing, and, above all, to be smart and amusing, seems to be the attm and Bnb&ttnca of I the creed of tho wriVers whe practise this art. | They substitute adrnituesu for depth. Hcoffiag for sentiment, and rapidity for brilliancy. Their one aim is- to eutajfsain the idle mind, and to win from astonishment the applause which they have not the wit- to gain from-ap-probation. The literary gynin^etics of writers of the;<J flippant pseudo-c*itici«m<t- are- hardly morn intellectual than the stipple* evolution of the ballet girl, &nd it is to be doubted- if the • dancer is not the more moral and leas debasing of the two." Mr Bites would perhaps be interested: to learn that Londou'a new theatre — fch» only theatre in the metropolis known as the Shakespeare Theatre — opeuetf it<i doors for th» Crab time last week with — a Gaiety burlesque.

Durfnj a recent thunderstorm in Berlin an interesting- effect on. an electric train was noticed at night. All the electric lamps inside and outside the carriages were extinguished I every time it lightened, and the passengers | remained a few moments ia complete darkness. < Then the lamps rekindled. ' The question of school teachers acting as ' deputy returning officers at p&rliatnaatacy* election* cropped up at the lasb meeting of the Wellington Education Board. The Mastertan School Committee wrote on the eubjecfc, expressing the opinion that teachers should not be co employed, and,th« Education Board endorsed this view. At the sitting of the Appellate Court in Wellington last week (says the Levin Express), it nas decided to divide the balance o£ the money, amounting to £6000, dan by the Government for the purchase of the State farm, amongst the t'eur daughters of the late Kawan* Hunia. The court considered that Wilton and Warena Hunia had received- their just share q£ the proceeds in the £2000 handed over to the former by the Government at the time the agreement for the purchase of the land was entectd into. The Crown Lauds B iar 1 l»ave withdrawn, on the suggestion of the Surveyor-general, the whole of the 2475 acres if* East Taupo ■notified as open for selection. ■ This ia stated to be the block which Mr J. C. FJrth proposed to lease in connection with the Huka Falls and in furtherance of his scheme for driving the Thames Goldfields batteries by electricity, utilising the Huka Falls for that purpose. It is underatcod the Government contemplate making the block a reserve ia connection with the f ftUsg - ,