PREJUDICES FIFTH SERIES By H. L. MENCKEN [Illustration] PUBLISHED AT THE BORZOI · NEW YORK · BY ALFRED · A · KNOPF COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS I FOUR MORAL CAUSES, 9 1. Birth Control, 9 2. Comstockery, 15 3. Capital Punishment, 21 4. War, 27 II FOUR MAKERS OF TALES, 34 1. Conrad, 34 2. Hergesheimer, 42 3. Lardner, 49 4. Masters, 56 III IN MEMORIAM: W. J. B., 64 IV THE HILLS OF ZION, 75 V BEETHOVEN, 87 VI RONDO ON AN ANCIENT THEME, 95 VII PROTESTANTISM IN THE REPUBLIC, 104 VIII FROM THE FILES OF A BOOK REVIEWER, 120 1. Counter-Offensive, 120 2. Heretics, 127 3. The Grove of Academe, 133 4. The Schoolma’m’s Goal, 141 5. The Heroic Age, 146 6. The Woes of a 100% American, 152 7. Yazoo’s Favorite, 159 8. The Father of Service, 164 9. A Modern Masterpiece, 169 10. Sweet Stuff, 172 IX THE FRINGES OF LOVELY LETTERS, 175 1. Authorship as a Trade, 175 2. Authors as Persons, 180 3. Birth Pangs, 185 4. Want Ad, 190 5. Literature and the Schoolma’m, 196 6. The Critic and His Job, 202 7. Painting and Its Critics, 208 8. Greenwich Village, 214 X ESSAY IN PEDAGOGY, 218 XI ON LIVING IN BALTIMORE, 237 XII THE LAST NEW ENGLANDER, 244 XIII THE NATION, 255 XIV OFFICERS AND GENTLEMEN, 263 XV GOLDEN AGE, 270 XVI EDGAR SALTUS, 277