DEAN SWIFT AND A CATHEDRAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 83, 2 January 1919, Page 6

DEAN SWIFT AND A CATHEDRAL

Sir,—My prototype, in bis "Thoughts on Various Subjects," remarks: "A man should never J>e ashnriied to own he has 'Ini wrong, wliich ii but saying, in other words, that lie is wiser to-day' than' lie was' yesterday." My prototype did wish to become , a bishop and to have a cathedral, but I feel certain he' would have repented of having wished to he a bishop the first time that (as a bishop) he should be-called, upon to take his legs out for a walk! As for a cathedral, while he, no doubt, would have appreciated its grandeur aud significance (if imposingly situated and not throwing its shadows over slumland), his appreciation of a "mental hospital" or n "home for imbeciles" would, undoubtedly, have been infinitely greater. Here is an epitaphal anticipation of his own "On the Death of Dean Swift": ' He gave the little wealth he had To build a house for fools and madj To show by oue saliriq touch No nation wanted it so much! The Dean actually did so. ' While thinking we should be nearer the mark were we to take a leaf out of the Dean's book on the matter of a. national memorial for our fallen soldiers; I feel wiser and humbler to-day than I did yesterday, and to the extent that I do wish 1 had claimed Daniel Defoe (and not Dean Swift) as my prototype, for was it not: dear <Jld Daniel who |a,ve us the following classical rendering of an old "saw" or proverb?:—., Wherever God erects'a house of prayer, The Devil always builds'a chapel there, And 'twill be found, on examination, . The latter has the larger congregation. The moral, this lime, surely is: Dont build more houses of prayer!—l etc.# JONATHAN SWIFT, JUN. December 31. Sir,-I am. sorry that your correspondent, "Jonathan Swift, Jim., , 1S allying •himself with the gentle Hun in. his detestation of spiritual things. " of a type that proves him to be a lillipu tian literarw descendant of the , nnthan. The world at large has learnt what to expect from a nation given ojer to materialism, and is now devising means of showing present and future reerations how to deal with peop• It is because we recognise tho need tor the spiritual in our corporate life tlmt our people havo determined to build a cathedral that will have this constantly suggested to all who Have ejes to sea or hearts open to appreciate grandeur and beauty. Just as I , bs ', h tor^° t to other lethal weapons, and the trantio foamings of an enraged Hunland were ineffective as a means, of quelling t e ardour or of lowering the courage of our race during the war, so, iri like manner will the clieap sneers, um and Baal-like mouthings of this poor.pre-sent-day satirist prove Aenwelves equall} ineffective in stemming the now ol our pMple's offerings in a direction which cannot concern "Jonathan bwift, J"'-, for he says thi)t it is the concern of the An- cans alone.' Then why should he want to deny the "luxury' of prayci, praise, and thanksgiving to the sonwiful or to the thankful? Why should he deny to people tho right to perpetuate tho names of their dead in a way that should not offend the «ye of even 'such an 'XfheThink' that the fount of our people's generosity will run dry as a result of their gifts to tins great object? Past history does not 6how that it is a likely, or even a possible, contigenc.v. The venom exuded- from the letter 16 to be found scorpion-like in its . tail, make's one "furious to. think t iat t fanot, after all, the cathedral, .church or chapel, but tho message and the mas aengers that he is attacking. I _ that tho tail has been wagging the dog. I am, STKEI , ( no t junior).