Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-08
ACCIDENTS AND TRIPLES.
Some Slight Occurrences Which Have
Led to Great Results.

From Lippincotrs Magazine.
Some very wise men hold that there is no
such thing as an accident and no such thing as
a trife-that what looks to us as the merest
chance is inevitable and must have happened,
as a part OF the great foreordained history of
the world. and that there is no great and NO
small in the sight of Him
Who sees with equal eye as Lord Of all,
hero perish or 4 sparrow fall.
Something Of the same thought was given
expression by Michael Angelo. visitor at
his studio marvelled that he should spend the
whole day in adjusting some infnitesimal bit of
clay on a statue. Gentlemen" said Michael
Angelo, this may seem to you a trife but il
Is trifles that make perfect and perfection is no
trihe."
Nevertheless. there Is a certain amount of
amusement and even Information to be gained
IN specializing on what might have occurred
but for some more less trlfing circum-
stances. III the nose of Cleopatra had been
shorter. SAYS Pascal boldly. ''the whole face of
the earth would have been different" "A
common soldier" says Edmund Burke "a
child, a girl at the door of an inn, have
changed the face OF fortune and almost of ma
ture." glass of wine too much is said to
have turned the course Of French history.
The son and heir of Louis Philippe ALWAYS con-
fined himself to certain number of glasses
because he knew that beyond that number he
was sure to get drunk. On a certain morning
he forgot 20 count the glasses and drank one
more than usual Entering his carriage he
stumbled; the frightened horses ran away; the
young prince leaped out of the carriage, struck
his head against the pavement and was killed.
That extra glass of wine overthrow the Or
leans rule, coniscated the property Of the
family and sent them into exile.
IL Mary had lived little longer or Elizabeth
had died a little sooner John Stuart Mill thinks
the reformation would have been crushed in
England. IL Napoleon had been well at the
time Of the battle of Waterloo the result might
have been different His indisposition, so some
historians tell us, made il impossible for him to
SIT IN the saddle without discomfort. Nay
when Noah was in the ark, would not the most
rlnlng error IN steering have shipwrecked the
whole human race!
IL WAS chapter Of accidents that gave to
spain Tor many generations the leadership In
the New World and the consequent wealth
which made her at one period the most i'm
portsnt OF European nations. Columbus it
Will DC remembered, after applying in vain TO a
number of other courts dispatched his brother
BartolOmmeo to ask aid from Henry VII of
England Now II happened that Bartolommeo
fell into the hands Of pirates and landed in
England so destitute that ne was not present.
able at court BY the time he had
erv1.ed little money he was too late Colum-
is had had his memorable interview with
Isabella of Spain Even that interview was the
result OF accident II Juan Perez de Marcana
the queens confessor, had not happened to be
passing by the door Of the La Rabida monas-
terry at the very moment when the weary mar
liner was asking aims there and If the reverend
gentleman had not possessed the penetration to
be struck by the noble lineaments of the
ragged and dusty beggar Columbus might
never have been presented to the queen
Therefore. II BartOiommeo had reached London
In time or If Columbus had been nome mt
earlier or moment later in APPLYING at the
monastery door-indeed, if Columbus hike
many other great men, had been Of Insignificant
lace and stature-the face of the new world
might have been entirely different