The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-04-05


for the Identification OF William Tell with
the solar heroes, and admits that there is nc
trustworthy historical evidence Of the exis.
tence OF Tell; but he doesn't believe II q
Matler settled beyond question. And he
c'rlalnly doesn't believe that Samson is
merely personifcation of the mighty power
OF sunlight. There is no evidence satisfac-
tory to him, in support of that assumption.
1t is merely, he thinks, an ingenious hypoth-
esis, based on resemblances that NAV be pure
ly accidental. II the hypothesis satisfies
*" he should accept it. We may be par
doned, in view of Schliemann's discoveries.
for disbelievlng that the tale of Troy is but a
myth of the Sun and Dawn. Helen may be,
etymologically, the Dawn Nymph, as Philip
is, etymologically, the lover of horses; but 1t
may be as unreasonable to conlound the Argive
woman with the Hindu name for the Dawn
as to presume that the "Philip, my king''
Of Miss Muloch's song has grown up TO be a
sporting man. OF course those who refuse
to accept tradition literally merely because
it is tradition, and unhesitatingly adopt a
hypothesis merely because it agrees with the
sun-myth, will differ with Yorick. They do
not see that the sun-myth would be Just as
reasonable should the story of the siege of
Troy turn out to be historically true. The
only hurt that could come to it would be
from the unwise zeal of those who would
base its truth on that one disputed legend.
Not long since scholar ingeniously Con-
structed nature-myth from the story oil
Joseph and his Brethren, and identified the
coat of many colors with the rainbow. 1t
was thought by some that he had demon
strated his proposition. But here come emf
nent aebraists, as worthy of confidence in
their specialty-the Hebrew language
the greatest of comparative mythologsts in
his, and tell us that the Book OF Genesis has
nothing to say about a many-colored coat,
the phrase so rendered being properly trans
lated by a "long tunic with Sleeves" Thus
an ingenious nature-myth, well reasoned out,
proves to have no better foundation than
mistranslation. Still the doctrine of the
solar hero is as strong as ever. The mistake
in regard to the coat of many colors only goes
to show that blunders may be made in the
application of the doctrine, and that we
should not accept hypothesis as verified
truths. One might take the nursery rhyme
OF "Hey-diddle-diddle" and argue with some
show of reason that the COW who jumped
over the moon is identical with the sacred
beast of India and the Egyptian Apis and the
Scandinavian Audhumbla. 1t may be so,
but until that is proved we need not advance
the Interpretation as gloss on Mother
Goose.
Perhaps the evidence of the indentifcation
OF the saltatcry COW with the sacred Indian
beast may be satisfactory to "X." Let him
accept it, then; all he or any of us can do in
the case is to follow the dictates of reason, to
examine for ourselves. If we haven't time
to do that let us suspend Judgement. There
need be no hurry in making up our minds on
these things. 1--we feel the need of an opin-
on let US, Professionally, accept the opinion of
those best informed. We are content to ac-
cept, without investigation of our own, the
general statements of Fraunhofer, and
Brewster and Kirchhof, concerning the
solar spectrum, though we know that some
of their conclusions were disputed. So we
may, If we choose, accept Max Muller as
authority on the sun-myth, though we en-
tertain doubts of the applicability of some OF
his Illustrations. Or we may reject him, if
we choose. His authority is still questioned
Yorick holds the sun-nyth to be hypothe
sis that accounts satisfactorily for many
legends and popular tales, and to be valu
able instrument in the hands of scholars
But he doesn't consider himself therefore
bound TO accept all the illustrations brought
forward in its support. He isn't going to
believe that the game OF marbles is relic ol
DRUID worship, just because learned man
suggests, without particle Of proof, that ii
may be SO, anymore than he is going to be-
lieve we owe the story of Cleopatra and her
pearl to pun got off by some paragrapher Of
the first century B. G. He would as soon
think of believing, without proof and an ex.
hbition OF the Hellenic patent law, that the
Wooden Horse was a patent saw.horse in
vented by the Greeks who sold "the right
to Asiato the Trojans and thereby financially
ruined the soft and confding Asiatics.
-Yorick confesses that he envies ''X;' for
his correspondent with the convenient initial
10 apparently OF those who believe and dis
believe heartily. "X." wants to accept the
sun-myth in its entirety with all its illustra-
lions or to totally reject it. Yorick envies
him because "X." desires to see but one
side OF the shield and to fight under the color,
yellow or white, that he sees because he be-
longs to the kind who do great deeds, good or
bad; who win or lose great battles
who shape policies and dictate lines OF action
and make history; who are troubled by no
misgiv.ngs; who know that they are right
and go ahead, and don't have to make sure
OF it like the Kentucky pioneer; who are
never vexed by the thought that their op-
ponents have the slightest justification for
opposition. These find striking exemplif-
cation today in Joseph Cook, man who is
cock-sure of everything, who has read all his
tory, all science, all theology, all fiction, has
made up his mind about it all, and knows for
adead certainty that those who disagree with
him are mistaken. These are the men who
succeed, who govern the world. They are
sure of themselves. They unhesitatingly
point the way, and take it, and call upon
Others to follow-and others do follow. We
may sneer at partisanship as much as we
please, but the partisans are the movers of the
world. Luther was a fierce partisan, so
was Calvin, so was Knox, so was Cromwell,
so was Pitt, so was Samuel Adams, so was
John Brown. The partisans may fail, but
they make their mark in history, be ii fair
record or smutch.
The man, las certainly as the woman) who
hesitates is lost. The story Of the shield
is a pretty one; but the knight who
sees one side only sets about fighting
under that color, knocks on the head
those who dispute his eye for color, wins
kingdom while another is looking carefully at
both sides and assuring himself that the
shield is parti-colored. Aud when the other
does convince himself, and sets out on his
peaceful mission to persuade people that the
quarrel is about nothing at all, that each COM