The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): CollectsTraubel, Horace
General
The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): Collects
Traubel, Horace
American essays -- 20th century; Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals
It is better to be a pauper outside than a millionaire
inside. I would rather die in the life of the crowd than live in the
death of myself. You are in on the ground floor. The ground floor is
hell. Dont you feel the flames lick and bite at you? I cant put anything
between myself and others. It is perfidy. It is as if I sold the people
out. Any personal wish. Any individual instinct. Anything. Any
interrupting item however innocent is a crime. That is why our proud
profits are ignoble. That is why the professional successes are
cluttering debris. That is why nothing but absolute abandon will signify
in the last count. We dont want to be hid away in holes. Our fortunes
hide us away in holes. Our eminences hide us away. Getting ahead of
competitors hides us away. I get a little more money than the next man.
Then I hide away from him. Then I hide him away from me. A private
victory is not integration. It is dissolution. Social wealth stands for
the open door. Personal acquisition stands for the frowning wall. I
indict the systems because they drive men apart. Every institution
created for a caste sits with closed doors. It thinks itself the
custodian of a treasure. It is only the trustee of an assumption. For it
always closes out infinitely more than it closes in. I indict the
systems because they close their creators in. Because they make
themselves useless. Because they are arrayed against the mob. There's
only one good side to the mob. That's the inside. The mob. All. There's
only one good side to it. Nothing is so little as a big thing in a jail.
Nothing is so big as a little thing free out of doors. Our civilization
is a big thing. But it's in jail. We've got to get it out of doors. That
is, you've put our civilization in vaults and used it for the few
against the crowd. We've got to level the vaults. We've got to get our
civilization out of doors. We've got to hand it around. Open all the
doors. Let everybody in. Yes, even the derelicts. Hand civilization
around. Let everybody help himself. That's crazy? So it is. But nothing
in this world ever got its growth till it was crazy. No man ever did
anything to push things along beyond till he began to be called a fool
and a suspect and was avoided by his friends. Throw everything wide
open. Dont worry about the weather. The weather with love in it wont
hurt whatever it is. Your job, my job, is this: To leave no door
unopened.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account