n Baltimore.
During the same year I published my first book of criticism. Thereafter,
for ten or twelve years, I moved steadily from practical journalism,
with its dabbles in politics, economics and soon, toward purely
aesthetic concerns, chiefly literature and music, but of late I have
felt a strong pull in the other direction, and what interests me chiefly
today is what may be called public psychology, ie., the nature of the
ideas that the larger masses of men hold, and the processes whereby they
reach them. If I do any serious writing hereafter, it will be in that
field. In the United States I am commonly held suspect as a foreigner,
and during the war I was variously denounced. Abroad, especially
in England, I am sometimes put to the torture for my intolerable
Americanism. The two views are less far apart than they seem to be.
The fact is that I am superficially so American, in ways of speech
and thought, that the foreigner is deceived, whereas the native, more
familiar with the true signs, sees that under the surface there is
incurable antagonism to most of the ideas that Americans hold to be
sound. Thus If all between two stools--but it is more comfortable there
on the floor than sitting up tightly. I am wholly devoid of public
spirit or moral purpose. This is incomprehensible to many men, and they
seek to remedy the defect by crediting me with purposes of their own.
The only thing I respect is intellectual honesty, of which, of course,
intellectual courage is a necessary part. A Socialist who goes to jail
for his opinions seems to me a much finer man than the judge who sends
him there, though I disagree with all the ideas of the Socialist and
agree with some of those of the judge. But though he is fine, the
Socialist is nevertheless foolish, for he suffers for what is untrue.
If I knew what was true, I'd probably be willing to sweat and strive for
it, and maybe even to die for it to the tune of bugle-blasts. But so far
I have not found it.

H. L. Mencken

I. The Feminine Mind

1. The Maternal Instinct

A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit
and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something
akin to pity. His most gaudy sayings and doings seldom deceive them;
they see the actual man within, and know him for a shallow and pathetic
fellow. In this fact, perhaps, lies one of the best proofs of feminine
intelligence, or, as the common phrase m