The Quiet Corner
THE QUIET CORNER / counsel thee, shut not thy heart nor thy library.—C. Lamb. "I commented once before," said Dr. Angelicus, "on the strange things that are happening in the window-world." "Oh,...
...Angelicus, "that 'in the rose at the top, an angel is shown crowning a victor with laurel...
...At one of Berlin's best known cabarets, film and vaudeville artists are displaying up-to-date creations in dress suits, dinner jackets, morning coats, lounge suits, and top-coats, including all other essential accessories like top-hats, derbies, scarfs, shoes,, and fancy handkerchiefs...
...What inspiration can the prayerful find in looking up at a stained-glass representation of a boxing match...
...The novels of Henri de Montherlant in France are one example of the trend—but I really never expected to see it introduced into church art...
...But let me continue...
...Do you approve of their theories in all things...
...I am not speaking of ordinary windows, but of church windows...
...There you go again," replied Angelicus...
...Tittivillus, bring that book to me," ordered the Doctor...
...Some of the sculptures and gargoyles were even of a humorous nature, and others were frightful caricatures of unpopular people...
...What aspects will the proposed window represent...
...Perhaps," said Tittivillus who had of late been surreptitiously reading a book in the library whose cover he always carefully concealed, "perhaps that really was why Iris March kept on ordering green hats, 'pour le sport1—perhaps she only wanted them to wear to church, after all...
...asked Hereticus, trying, in revenge, to trap the Doctor...
...demanded Hereticus indignantly...
...It might be difficult to Charleston in those slippers with the curled-up toes one sees in the pictures," said Tittivillus thoughtfully...
...Now I see that New York, not to be outdone, is going to have a window in the ProtestantEpiscopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, dedicated to sport...
...asked Miss Anonymoncule seriously...
...What I should like to know," said Primus Criticus, "is the identity of the donor of the window—Suzanne Lenglen, Gertrude Ederle, Paavo Nurmi, or Jack Dempsey...
...The Librarian...
...I suspected as much...
...But I thought the Germans were inclined to be stout"' said Miss Anonymoncule, "and whoever heard of a fat mannequin...
...Speaking of clothes," said Angelicus, "one of the papers recently had a despatch from Germany to the effect that men mannequins are the latest thing in the fashion world there...
...It is not the gift of an individual, but of a committee representing amateur sports," replied Dr...
...Fve warned you before against those crab-meat cocktails...
...In the right-hand panel, other major sports are shown—horse racing, rowing, track and field, and football...
...You remember that the Ethical church in London sought to relieve what seemed to them the monotony of familiar sacred subjects by introducing a window picturing George Bernard Shaw and Anatole France in glowing red and purple...
...asked the Doctor...
...No," replied Angelicus, cautiously...
...Why include golf since those most interested in it are notoriously more lax about appearing in church on fine Sundays than are the advocates of other sports...
...Oh," said Angelicus, "the omission of golf by those planning the window is indeed a subtlety...
...Where is that copy of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy stories I gave you to read last week...
...Allow me to explain," said the Doctor...
...And again," said Miss Anonymoncule, severely, "when you are in church, your head should not be turned toward the windows, but should, rather, be bent in prayer...
...H "If the customs return, do you think the clothes will also...
...and the following minor sports in smaller sections—horse show (steeplechase) cycling, basketball, handball, swimming, gymnastics, yachting, bowling, and billiards...
...We have, indeed, fallen upon godless times...
...Now the Turks are a wise people...
...I've always had a secret longing for one of those high, cone-shaped hats draped with a flowing veil...
...There is no doubt that sport is becoming a popular theme in literature and art," said Primus Criticus...
...I believe," said Hereticus, his dignity having somewhat recovered from the Doctor's innuendo, "in the eternal fitness of things...
...As I have patiently pointed out to you before, you underestimate the beauty of the portly figure...
...But certainly their ideas on figs, figures, and paste are excellent...
...The New York World states," replied Dr...
...Where does golf come in...
...Soon they will be substituting the Morning Telegraph for the prayer-book...
...For golfers, their game is their religion...
...Oh, Doctor," exclaimed Miss Anonymoncule sententiously, "if the shades are not drawn, it is your duty to avert your head...
...They have the right idea...
...My child, what did you eat for lunch today...
...The minor sports depicted are skating, hockey, soccer, fencing, wrestling, pole vaulting, boxing, trapshooting and motorbcating...
...Do you forget that in the great ages of faith, the mediaeval churches contained windows depicting games...
...Hereticus wore a guilty look as Angelicus regarded him severely...
...In the left-hand panel, there are shown three major sports—polo, tennis, and baseball...
...Not at all," replied Primus Criticus argumentatively...
...A place for everything—and everything in its place...
...This window in the new cathedral may be but another indication of a revival of mediaevalism...
...Church is not the place for sport pictures...
Vol. 3 • February 1926 • No. 15
