The Quiet Corner
THE QUIET CORNER / counsel thee, shut not thy heart nor thy library.—C. Lamb. "I would not mind the warmth," said Dr. Angelicus mopping his broad white brow that contrasted blankly with...
...the most beautiful bathing beauties or baby parades block the shores of Asbury Park...
...Pure philosophy, rather than great poetry, I should say...
...One cannot crossj the Channel without encounterihg American girls, escorted by fleets of medical, newspaper, and restaurant boats, swimming for records...
...They have not yet published Tittivillus's favorite lines," said the Doctor, as the young man, fresh from his vacation in the Catskills, flashed out in a blue hat band, his nose blistered from the sun, his knees carefully concealed in the swaying folds of the unabridged trousers of the day...
...Criticus peered up inquiringly...
...At Vassar, everybody seems to consult the hygienist, the landscape architect and the architect—except Mr...
...He has moved there on account of the number of cases of mental fatigue and nervous disorders among the students that call for a consulting mental hygienist...
...there is not a man left to boast he will die in his boots...
...It seems that all our minor poets have their pet lines...
...Let us start a contest to decide what is the most beautiful word in the English language...
...Some of us hope to live long on our high heels," smiled Anonymoncule wickedly...
...Hereticus held up his finger dogmatically...
...No compensation for the corn cake and apple-jack of the past," sighed Angelicus...
...Riggs of Stockbridge can catch you at Vassar," said Hereticus...
...In fact," added Criticus, "everybody—that is, almost everybody—in Burton's Home Library of Poetry has a pet dog— no, I mean line—and is trotting it out in this hot weather...
...Poor spiritual vagabond, dear old Tom Masson— how they treated him at Maillard's the other day when he suggested apple pie and milk for luncheon...
...the New York Evening Post Literary Review intensifies the heat with its 'what is the most beautiful line of poetry?' contest...
...asked Miss Anonymoncule...
...you see how they clamber into the Post Literary Review...
...And the prohibition laws that are being aimed against it," continued the Doctor drowsily, "we shall find that it will follow the way of our old time eye-openers, our snuff and chewing tobacco, our cigars and cigarettes...
...I'll decide that right now and claim the prize Ford roadster—that word is 'Silence,'" said the Doctor weariedly...
...Not if Dr...
...The contribution of Tittivillus was—'Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all!' " Angelicus continued—"But speaking of pie—" "Nobody mentioned pie—it was poetry we were discussing, Doctor," corrected Criticus...
...Already it is almost impossible to secure a cold left-over piece of apple-cake for the most modest breakfast...
...The Librarian...
...Alfred Kreymborg 'wonders about the trees,' while Ethel M. Kelley 'walks in beauty like the night.' Carter Troop is 'still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim,' and Carl Sandburg is 'out of the cradle endlessly rocking.' Clement Wood and Marguerite Wilkinson don't play quite fair, but put in a number of different lines...
...Himmel, who complains that where there is a special college course for architecture, there is none for clothes designing—which is fully, he says, as much of an art and a profession...
...What were his lines, Doctor...
...I thought," said Miss Anonymoncule, "we had finished all that when we decided on the definitions of Personal Charm, What is Poetry, and Who is the Most Popular School Teacher...
...Angelicus mopping his broad white brow that contrasted blankly with his red vacational cheeks, "if it were not for these contests...
...Cold blank exclusion in the home of chocolate eclairs and petits fours...
...Ask at Sherry's, the Plaza, the Ritz—and you will wish you had never been born in America when you meet the Czecho-Slovakian eye of the head waiter...
...Can you not hear the pathos and see the tragedy in his face as he declared in quavering voice*—'Pie is an American institution— 'Eat Bly's pies, they stay with you!'—The effete pastry of Europe is all very well, but as for me, give me apple pie or give me death!' "Nothing is safe in this world, but we have still our CocaCola and chewing gum—not to mention griddle cakes and coffee...
Vol. 2 • September 1925 • No. 17
