reputation among us without them. American literature exists because
American women appreciate it and love it."

"But surely your men read books?"

"Some of them; not many, comparatively. You will often hear a complacent
ass of a husband and father say to an author: 'My wife and daughters know
your books, but I can't find time for anything but the papers nowadays. I
skim them over at breakfast, or when I'm going in to business on the
train.' He isn't the least ashamed to say that he reads nothing but the
newspapers."

"Then you think that it would be better for him to read books?"

"Well, in the presence of four or five thousand journalists with drawn
scalping-knives I should not like to say so. Besides, modesty forbids."

"No, but, really," the Altrurian persisted, "you think that the literature
of a book is more carefully pondered than the literature of a daily
newspaper?"

"I suppose even the four or five thousand journalists with drawn
scalping-knives would hardly deny that."

"And it stands to reason, doesn't it, that the habitual reader of
carefully pondered literature ought to be more thoughtful than the readers
of literature which is not carefully pondered and which they merely skim
over on their way to business?"

"I believe we began by assuming the superior culture of our women, didn't