Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-10
History Doesn't Tell All.

In Lne iater Times tnat history dealS with,
history puts us off with scraps. There was
plenty of greatness only little less than
the greatest. But the men who were less
than Antony, and the women who were less
than Cleopatra might as well have been
pigmies for all their power to impress u.s.
We simply know nothing about them.
Even those whose names the world still
continues to conjure with, have left but a
shrunken record. Moses was a man of
some account. So was Plato. So was Paul.
Take the recorded history of all three; add
the written words they contributed TO the
permanent wisdom of the race, and the sum
total will be something less than the official
record OF one short session OF Congress; con-
siderable less than the literature OF one
political campalgni Probably not more
than one or two men in the present Congress
might conscientiously declared the peers
of Moses or Plato or Paul; but look at the
relative amount OF space to-day's politician
fills in to-day's field of vision!
So the wholesome reflection is suggested
to rs that We are all in a manner subject to
the point Of view. Close at hand we are all
fellows of goodly size. The greatest among
us will grow small as they fall into per-
spective; and by the time there is perspective
enough to justify picture of our time those
less than the greatest will have quite dissp-
peared behind the vanishing point. And
the picture will not be crowded.
1t ls worth while to stop and think on
that fact just Tor q moment. There is
wholesome correction in the thought that
our descendants, many generations in the
future, will not care fig whether we were
elected or defeated; whether we moved in
the first circles or the tenth; whether we got
everything we wanted or only very little
OF it; whether such persons as
We ever existed at all or not
There is further wholesome correc-
back upon ourselves from the standpoint
Of those same descendants, we shall care
very little more than they. The gray-haired
man, in thinking of his childhood, smiles
in half contemptuous pity at the foolish little
fellow he used to be. He wonders how those
griefs and joys, those pains and ecstacies,
those triumphs and defeats of infancy could
ever have been so important to him. They
were only trifes. In still later stage Of
his immortality, i! he can remember these
years as he now remembers those, he will
smile again at much of the childishness
which now possesses him.
Looking Backward.
All THIS 1s rather humbling, no doubt,
but there is no use in trying to push it to
one. side. 1t is simply the conclusion Of
cold and implacable iacts, and will not be
pushed to one side: We may shut our eyes
and turn our backs, but that will make no
difference. The facts and the conclusion
will be there just the same. Perhaps the
more sensible thing to do would be to ac-
eept the standpoint Of the future and make
it, to some extent at least, the standpoint Of
the present. What revision of life
codes there would be If that were donel
Men and women would modify their
standards to such degree that life would
be even better worth living than it is now.
For there are plenty OF things in the COM
pass Of every human life we'll worth taking
account Of no matter whether property
or even cotemporaries-take account OF
them or not The point Is to change the
focus 80 that the really important matters
shall be estimated at their full value, and
the trifing matters shall be seen as trihes.
Such . change as that would upset affairs in
q very interesting fashionl
Among the friends OF q certain young
woman little story is whispered in the
strict confidence OF ternoon tea gatherings.
1t 10 . very simple little love story, and ~