In our pagan civilization it is "indelicate" to speak of the death of a person, death being for the atheist an *irreparable catastrophe.*

Our great-grandparents manifested all their personality in the written word while modern man in his depersonalized mediocrity prefers to send telegrams or nondescript, unorthographic notes dictated to a secretary through a phonograph. In the eighteenth century western Europe had about 70 per cent illiterates and eastern Europe about 90 percent, but from the bourgeoisie upward everybody was able to express himself (or herself) in writing. This alone almost justifies a limited, selective education from an ethical as well as from a practical point of view. Anybody who goes to school in order to be able to send telegrams and read the sporting news wastes his time and the money of the taxpayers. Mr. Averageman will rarely read a book; such an activity by itself would already be too personal. He rather sticks to magazines. Books have editions of several thousands; magazines go into millions. Magazines are "broader"; they satisfy the great mass.