Editor's Table [pp. 481-485]

APPLETONS' JO URNAL.
might be expected from his performances in imaginative
literature, has discovered a new attribute, which he thinks
it certain the coming man and woman will possess.
What is remarkable is, that this attribute, though sug gested by a brain which is above all fanciful, is a se verely practical one. He says that the human phe nomenon of the future will be an "ambidexter," or
both-handed person. Bringing the whole force of his
brilliant rhetoric to bear upon his subject, Mr. Reade
arraigns the distinction between the right and the left
hand as a relic of remote barbarism. To think, he
says, that the left hand is unlucky, is to subscribe to a
heathen mythology. It was a tradition of the " juvenile
world," as he calls what we commonly know as an cient times. The according of distinction and superior
skill to the right hand has no warrant, either in the
structure of the organs, or even in human instinct. It
is wholly a matter of custom by inheritance. Yet, in a
long array of very rich historical learning, he shows
how universal, in time and place, this custom has been.
We find it in the Bible. - Jacob was "the son of Ra chel's right hand." Jacob blessed Ephraim with the
right hand. According to Moses, it was the Lord's
right hand that gave the Law. Solomon seated his
mother on his right as a mark of honor. Homer and
the Greek writers, Virgil and the Latin ones, closely
follow the traditional use and symbolism of the two
hands. "Dexterous" camre from the Latin word meaning right hand, and "sinister" from that meaning the
left. Even in modern tongues the same "superstition"
is fixed deep: the French use "droit," the English
"right,'for a moral attribute as well as for a physical
locality; the French "gauche," or awkward, means also
"left." The same significant peculiarity is to be found
in Spanish and Italian. Always it is seen that words
derived from " right" are eulogistic, those from the
"left" uncomplimentary and sometimes disgraceful.
Mr. Reade unlocks all this store of learning to prove
that the distinction is traditional, and not instinctive;
and he urges the world to hasten the coming of the
" Both-handed," by beginning now to teach children to
use each hand with equal skill. There would, no doubt,
be great advantages in this; but we fear that Mr.
Reade's own exposition shows mankind to be too closely
wedded to "right-handedness" to make the reform a
rapid or easy one.
ABSOLUTE justice in current estimates of literary and
artistic performances is, no doubt, unattainable, but is
there any foundation for the accusations of prejudice
and improper bias which are so common? These alleged prejudices are frequently attributed to sectional
dislikes and preferences. We hear, for instance, the
West continually complaining that criticism in the East
upon its art and literature is unfair; the South utters
the same charge against the North; New York repeats
the accusation against Boston; and the whole country
unites in denouncing England for its apparent hostility
toward American authors and artists. In all these complaints it is confidently assumed that the local estimate
is the correct one, and that the less favorable criti cism from foreign or remote quarters is necessarily
prejudiced. Sometimes this is true, but there may be
just as rationally unreasonable prejudices in behalf of
neighbors as unjust depreciation of strangers. It is
impossible for people to remain uninfluenced by their
surroundings, to have the same sympathies for the near
that they have for the remote; but in criticism the very
indifference of those who live apart from the influences
that surround an artist or writer may be favorable for an
accurate judgment. No author can be sure of his ground
until he has won the suffrages of the world beyond his
own section. An author should always wisely distrust
the applause that comes from friendly circles, and re main satisfied only with the approval that his genius
compels from distant and perhaps unwilling listeners.
No writer ever yet won fame by whining about the
prejudice he must encounter; he recognizes that there
is some measure of indifference which he must over come-people are not going to assume, off-hand, that
he is a prophet, nor are they ready to take him promptly
at his own estimate-but he is conspicuously foolish if
he expect a busy world to be as enamored of his performances as his own centre of acquaintances is. If
VillavillZe set up a maw of straw, the rest of the world
will not acknowledge him, even if it roar itself hoarse
declaiming about sectional prejudices; but VillavillZe
never yet set up a man of substance that mankind generally did not soon recognize and accept. There is too
little genius in the world, and the love and admiration
for it are too deeply implanted, for people willfully to
shut their eyes to it. It should be remembered, however, that genius when strictly original must work its way
slowly into recognition both at home and abroad; for,
whatever is wholly new has to create, according to
Coleridge, the taste and knowledge which are to understand it and be in sympathy with it.
THERE are not many public parks in the heart of the
city of New York, but the few that exist seem to afflict
many of our citizens with restlessness and discontent.
The trees, the grass, the shady walks, the groups on
summer days of merry children, make them apparently
unhappy, and set them to scheming against these open
oases in the desert of municipal brick and stone. The
once beautiful St. John's Park long since fell into the maw
of a devouring railroad company, and a gigantic freightdepot now stands in gloomy sullenness where once superb trees wedded their high branches, fountains sported,
flowers bloomed, and laughing boys and girls played in
happy freedom. The greater part of City-Hall Park has
reached the ultimate fate of nearly all town pleasuregrounds, and been diverted to business; and our remaining parks are threatened ceaselessly by the schemers who
cannot abide their green beauty. The latest project of
these gloomy spirits looked to the conversion of a portion
of Washington Square into a site for an armory. This
scheme was met by organized resistance in the formation
of a Protective Park Association. This is excellent, and,
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