Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-02-19
ACCIDENTS AND TRIPLES.
Some Slight Occurrences Which Hav
Led to Great Result.


Some very wise men hold that there
is no such thing as an accident and no
such thing as 4 trife; that what looks
to us the merest chance is inevitable
and must have happened, as part of
the great foreOrdained history of the
world, and that there is no great and no
small in the eyes of Him
Who sees with equal eye, as Lord Of ALL
A hero perish or a sparrow fall.
Something of the same thought was
given expression by Michael Angelo.
A visitor at his studio marveled that
he should spend the whole day in adj
justing some infnitesimal bit of
clay on a statue. Gentlemen"
said Michael Angelo, this may seem of
you trifle, but it is trihes that make
perfect; and perfection is no tritie"
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 or less
trif1ing circumstances. If the nose of
Cleopatra had been shorter" saws Pas
cal, boldly, the whole face of the
earth would have been different" "A
common soldier" says Edmund Burke,
"a child, girl at the door of an inn,
have changed the face Of fortune, and
almost OF nature" A glass of wine too
much is said to have turned the course
OF French history. The son and heir of
Louis Philippe, always confined him
self to certain number of glasses, be.
cause he knew that beyond that
number he WAS sure to get
drunk. On a certain morning he
forgot to 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 over
threw the Orleans rule, coniscated the
property of the family, and sent them
into exile. If Mary had lived a little
longer, or Elizabeth had died a little
Sooner, John Stuart Mill thinks, the
reformation would have been crushed in
England, ltwas a chapter of accidents
that gave to Spain for many generations
the leadership in the New World and
the consequent wealth which made her
at one period the most important
of European nations Columbus. it
will be remembered, after APPLYING
in vain to number of other courts,
dispatched his brother Bartolommeo
to ask aid from Henry VII. of England.
Now, it happened that Bartolommeo
tell into the hands of pirates, and
landed in England so destitute that he
was not presentable at court. But by
the time he had earned a little money
he was too late; Columbus had had his
memorable interview with Isabella of
Spain. Even that interview was the
result of accident. If Juan Perez de
Marcana, the Queens confessor, had not
happened to be passing by the door of
the La Rabida monastery at the very
moment when the weary mariner was
asking aims there, and if the reverend
gentleman had not possessed the pene-
tration to be struck by the noble Inca
ments of the ragged and dusty
beggar, Columbus might never
have been presented to the
Queen. Therefore, if Bartolommeo
had reached London in time,
or if Columbus had been a moment
earlier or a moment later in applying
at the monastery door-indeed, if Co
lumbus, like any other great men, had
been OF insignificant face and stature
the fate of the new world might have
been entirely different. Who can con-
lecture what the history of the world
might have been if the Genoese. after
the peace of Paris, had not sold Corsica
to France; if Luther's friend had es-
capped the thunder storm; if the spider
had not woven its web across the cave
in which Mohammed had taken refuge?
Sallust says that a periwinl1le led to the
capture of Gibraltar. The cacklinr
of geese saved the Roman nation from
the Gauls. "a chambermaid," wrote
Chesterfield to his son, has often made
revelation in palaces, which was followed
by political revolution in kingdoms; the
subtlest diplomacy has sometimes been
interrupted by cough or a sneeze." If
trifles seem to have determined the fate
of nations, accidents equally small have
led men into pursuits which have made
them benefactors of their race Cowley
became a poet through reading the
''Faerie Queene;" Reynolds had never
thought of painting until Richardson's
treatise fell into his hands; Corneilie
showed no liking for any except legal
literature until he fell in love and felt It
necessary to relieve his passion in verse:
Moliere might have continued weaving
tapestry had not his grandfather piqued
his pride by wishing he could be an actor
like Montrose. If that sturdy soldier
Don lingo Lopez de Loyolo had not re-
ceived wound which led him to be-
guile the leisure of convalescence by
reading THE Lives of the Saints, " the
world might have never heard of him as |
Ignatius Loyolo, nor of the famous
order of Jesuits which he founded. |
Every one has read of the falling apple |
which led Newton to investigate the |
laws of gravitation; of the boiling tea
kettle which suggested to Watts the
power of steam; of the swinging |
lamp which gave to Calico his first |
idea of the pendulum. In the history of /
science, of manufactures, of literature,
of art, in every department of human
activity, instances of the happy accident |
may be found. Accident made Sir
Walter Scott novelist. It will be re-
membered that he threw away the un-
finished manuscript of "Waverly" In |
disgust, and about eight years after
ward, rummaging in the drawers of an
old cabinet for some fishing tackle,
came across the discarded manuscript.
Was there ever more striking instance