The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-02-11
&nats on the Wheel.

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"A certain gnat, Esop tells us, happen
ing to alight on the Wheel of chariot.
became dizzy with the elevation, and
cried aloud: g Behold how furiously L
drive the world! See how fill the heav-
en- with dust!" Very likely Esop in this
story only meant to give a sly dig at
some little great man in the Lydian
court whom he did not like; it may be to
the purse-proud Cr9sus himself. The
aunchback slave was not likely to be
afazzled by the money of CrGsu5 or the
.spIendor of his Persian conqueror.
bumps on the back, slave's collar, an
empty pocket, or like ugly gifts of fate,
usually open our eyes very wide to the
znsigniicance of our more lucky neigh
R5ors. Esop, outside of the palace gates,
tPiling his jeering stories to the mob,
could see plainly that the rich Cresus
AND the mighty Cyrus were nothing but
gnats which had lighted for a moment
on the great wheel of life, His savage,
1rHe laugh Of scorn at them has echoed
down through thousands of years. But
If -AEsop himself had been a fat, hand
some, magnificent courtier, he too would
slave been tete 7D0ntce with his elevation
and have Tapped his tiny wings on the
top of the Wheel crying, fs' See how fur
iously l. drive the world around!A OF
course we can all see how neatly the
story fitted those pompous fellows two
thousand years ago. The great wheel
WAS turned and turned ineXorably age
SITTER age; and down and under they
went, Cr@sus and Cyrus, and even the
empires and the myriadS of people whom
they ruled, crushed out of sight like
gnats; dead after one summer day. They
drive the world! We can see now that
they could neither help nor hinder its
flow, steady progress, any more than
The beating of an insects wing could
check the wheel, We are far enough
removed from them to see how insigniti-
cant they were in the slow-moving prog
EeSs of the countless -Inultitudes of hui
man beings. .... ..
But tits quite different with ourselves
Almost every one of us is convinced that
she Wheel of Life has very nearly stopped
Turning nowadays, and that it Deepen DIS
"A good deal upon us whether it shall
keep moving or not. Whatever our
pursuit or hobby, we are sure that it,
and we behind it, are driving the world
1t is not only men who handle great
religious or philosophic truths who are
tilled with this singular initiation. ANY
hobby Or pursuit, no matter how insig-
nisicant, furnishes wings for the gnatS.
Such men honestly believe that the dis
G:overy of a passage through the Arctic
seas is the only object now before man
Kind which makes life worth the living;
others that humanity has nothing better
30 do than to listen to music, or accu-
y1ulate rare editions or old china All
these things have their uses; but the
world is big and full and old, and book
binding and pottery are not among its
primal forces. A beautiful landscape or
3igure or a fine bit of drapery is pleas
ant factor in the universe, and so is the
successful imitation of them with paint |
on squares of canvas; the harmonious
S0ning of colors in a mans coat and |
trousers or the set of woman's skirts |
may also be very useful things to I'M
S7erstand, even if one is not tailor; but |
really. we must doubt whether they are
50 the Secret of Life It's the tendency
of modern society to eXaggerate all of
ITS trivial discoveries or successes. The
man who fancieS he has advanced an
Rneh beyond his fellows in the training
of his eye or ear is not satisfied with an
n0uncing his little discovery, but becomes
the founder of school, and poses be-
fore groups of PROSTATE admirers. '.Be-
hold they Cry, show furiously he
drives tbe world and fills heaven with the
dust"' The smaller the success, too,
the more the poor human gnat capers
and exults. The height of autocratic
arrogance and complacency is probably
fnuched by the women who rule the
fashionable clique in any town-who lay
down laws as to the trimming of q gown
or The courses of meal Thegreat Wheel
Turns and the gnats buzz and buzz and
disap pear. Can there be any sermon
fruer than this which Ksop preached for
Rls ages agoP-M Y. Ti5baU2ae. s..g.-
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