Show J. J IT TIMELY TOPICS TIMELY TOPICS 1 MENTAL OLYMPICS It has as been rumored that the committee ommittee in charge o of th the Olympic games thought of or reviving on one phase ot t the e ancient Greek festival w which ch has been en neg neg- in the modern edition Poets Poets and and or orators tors did didn n not 1 lake ke part art In the reg regular r. r ev events at old Olympia but t they tiey ey were an Important factor In the side shows They ey also made themselves useful by celebrating the triumphs of ot the charioteers the sprinters and the wrestlers This custom might have meant the presentation presentation pre pre- at the Theatre Francais or the Odeon o of ot plays by the dramatists dramatist's of all nations or the be bestowal bestowal be- be by an international Jury of first second ana and third prizes for philosophical lectures delivered by let us say an Englishman an Italian and an AmerIcan Ameri Amen can at the Sorbonne The project however was apparently too ambitious and little has ihas as been h heard ard of ot it S In behalf of such an Olympic festival of ot the mind wo would ld be bo the improved chances for the little na na- na- na Finland is la an extraordinary ex exception from which h no general rule can be deduced The little peoples peoples' as a whole hoie have not made much of of a showIng showing show- show Ing lug since the first modern games at Athens twenty- twenty fi the eight il years yara ag ago They have done much better beer In 1 intellectual Olympics that go by the n name me of the Nobel prize Out of 15 Nobel prizes distributed since 1901 In physics chemistry medicine literature liter liter- and peace the small nationalities have haye carried of off 35 or nearly third one Almost the ex exactly one one-ha one half f number have gone to Scandinavia Little Switzerland Switz Switz- erland has won 8 prizes Holland 6 Belg Belgium um 4 Austria 4 4 Bengal which can scarce scarcely y be imagined as carrying of off an any decisive honors in the stadium scored one Nobel Wl winner winn r in the person of Tagore New York TImes |