The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-06-28
PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS.

PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS.
Crime always richly deserved its
pain, but misfortune might be entirely
unmerited. This is expressed nova
days by the word luck, but this flow
in mems fortune is due to personal
ability. to SUPPLE causes of which we
know little. We know, for instace,
that the divine impulse which brought
forth Shakespeare was of long growth.
and all it's smaller forces came togeth-
er at one moment, but we cannot
trace them. 80 in the case of Charles
l., two prerogatives came together at
once. and the king was crushed be-
tween them. Some people are no
more accountable for their ill-luck
thanis the befogged ship when it runs
against the icebergs. Take Marie |
Antoinette for example. She was
not great sinner, but she was a |
representative of centuries OF dynastlc |
power. Just as she was being lifted |
by the whirl of French gaiety the |
counter-Whirl tore her away. and 1t
did not care one whit that her only |
crime was frivolity. Never in the
history of the world was there an era
so full of retributiOn as was the latter
part of the last century. To the
| Greek it would have seemed that the
divine powers were doing nothing but
dealing out punishments for the mis-
deeds of mortals. The retributiOn.
however, seemed to fall with greater
severity on the innocent rather than
on the guilty, and in this proved fatal
| ily. 1t would have been satisfactory
to know that the. scoundrels OF halt-a-
dozen generations had received the
punishment rather than those who
did. Napoleon did not have a vaulting
ambition which overleaped itself. but
he was brought to eminence by a
combination OF events over which he
had but little control. Other families
have been vastly more wicked and
vastly more fortunate than his had
been.
Mr.. Thackeray represents his noble
and irreproachable hero, stripped OF
all his property and the income OF
, gentle relationships. going at last to
sit in the paupers gallery during
divine service. to listen there to the
grand boast of the Psalm: Il have
/ been young. and now am old; yet have
| not seen the righteous forsaken nor
| his seed begging bread That
5 anthem often breaks against misery
!. as if to mock it with illusions to a
more deserving fate. If you say
when YOU see suffering, that there is
compensation elsewhere, you must
bear in mind that the sufferer is here.
a not there. and that the misfortunes OF
4 private individuals are due perhaps
r to there being Il screw loose ut the
' start. They cannot help it. Let the
t individual be what he will, there is al
X unexplained residue. which was the
: element of fatality in the Greek trag-
edy.
g The story of Edipus is in effect a.
n fsllows: L4aios. King of Thebes Greece
5 and Iocast' e his wife. had been warn
:. ed bv Il oracle against having children
= declaring that thereby he would meet
h his death and she commit incest will
e her son. At length. when IA son wa
Q born to them, to avert such calamltleS
h they gave him to a herdsman to b,
IS exposed to death on Il mountain. Blu
e the child fell into the hands of Peri
# bpa. wife of Polybns, King OF Corintl
$ and was adopted as their son. the.
g giving him the name of Edipus he
/. cause his feet had been injured durln'
It his exposure. Many years after
Laios. on the way TO Delphia. me
&c his son. also driving. on Il narrow pas
n sage. and in the dispute of way tn
5 king was killed by his son. but III
n known to each other. Creon. brothe
h of Iocaste. became king of Thebes
lie after which occurred the well-know
n episode of the Sphinx. Creon offerIn
rs his throne and the hand OF his sister
y Incaste.in marriage to whoever Woul
a solve her riddle and free the land
n. the monster. Meanwhile. Gdipu
e. had been reproached with the doub'
lie full character of his birth, and-gettin
= no satisfaction from his suppose
nd mother. he consulted the oracle, wh'
of ignorant himself of the real parentae
nd of his auestioner, advised him to shu
tn his native country lest he cause I'll
st death of his father and disgrace OF IL
m mother. He accordingly. supposln
all Corinth his native land. turned |
at Thebes, just at the time to solve Il
te- riddle-What animal with one yolc
,ul four feet in the morning. two at noe
Ne three at night. and weakest VINE
he having the greatest number OF Zee
re Man. So Edipus became king, ma