Page:Under Dispute (1924).pdf/128

 ells, observant and sympathetic, welcomed its dawning, and the fullness of its promise. He was of the opinion that this form of composition represented "the supreme Christian contribution to literature"; and, while admitting that there were bad as well as good specimens of the art, he stoutly maintained that one more autobiography, however indifferent, was better than one less—a disputable point.

The question which confronts the reading public is this: "How far should the law of kindness, which we all profess to follow, influence us in allowing to our fellow creatures the happiness of writing books about themselves?" There is no use saying that it would be impossible to stop them. Nothing in the way of inhibitions is impossible to the United States. "There is no country," says the observant Santayana, "in which people live under more powerful compulsions."