SEEING THINGS
AT NIGHT
BY
HEYWOOD BROUN
NEW YORK
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
1921
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. BY
THE QUINN & BODEN COMPANY
RAHWAY, N. J.
TO
HEYWOOD BROUN, 3RD
Introduction
THE first difficulty was the title. It was felt that Seeing Things atNight might suggest theatrical essays to the exclusion of anythingelse. That was not the author's intention. He meant to suggest rathernewspaper articles of any sort done more or less on the spur of themoment for next day's consumption. There was also some question as tothe order in which the various "pieces" should be arranged. The authorwas tempted to follow the example of Adolf Wolff, a free verse poet whopublished a volume some years ago called Songs, Sighs and Curses, andexplained in a foreword, "When asked in what sequence he would arrangehis poems, Wolff threw the manuscripts in the air, saying 'Let Fatedecide.' They now appear in the order in which they were picked up fromthe floor."
Broun, however, feared that some of his essays might crash through thefloor like the mistakes of a cannonball juggler and that others wouldprove so lacking in weight when put to the test that it would benecessary to pluck them from the ceiling rather than the floor. Thearrangement, therefore, is premeditated though haphazard. In respect tohis age the author also wishes to explain that the character, H. 3rd,who appears from time to time is his son and not his grandson. He alsowishes to acknowledge the courtesy of The New York Tribune, VanityFair, McCall's, Collier's Weekly and The Nation in permitting himto reprint various articles which first appeared in their pages.