MORE TO BE PITIED

When President Glenn Frank of the University of Wisconsin refused to allow Mrs. Bertrand Russell to speak at the student forum, he bared his side to the lances of what may be called the hard-riding school of American columnists. Not realizing that what was once merely nasty has now become the "illustrative anecdote", and that a polite interest in abnormality is expected in all those who have learned to take their Lindsey straight, President Frank barred Mrs. Russell. But since a touch of nature now makes the whole world read, where it once merely left the room, the conviction has grown that it was unfair not to give Mrs. Russell her chance to tell all.

President Frank, who had probably feared something like this, defended himself with a few remarks about the futility of taking a bath in a glass tub before the living-room window. This was purely metaphorical; the intentions of Mrs. Russell had been confined to a talk on "Should Women Be Protected?" It has been suggested that the figure of President Frank dates from the days when he was an assistant to Billy Sunday, an imputation that does not diminish its illuminating quality.

Mrs. Bertrand Russell is young and pretty, and "The Right to Be Happy" (Harper) proved her circumspect Neither she nor her husband could faint the morals of the undergraduate for, if anyone believes the smart columnist, there is no morality, there is only good taste.