Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1892-08-25

black than painted. Since the days
when England was shocked to find in
Macauley an enthusiastic defender of the
damaged reputation of Niccolo Machia-
velli, who had been held, up to that
time, as sole sponsor for political villainy,
and, in the capacity of god father, had
even conferred a new name, his own,
upon the devil, We have been continually
suffering from having our fetishes shat
tered. By the end of the next century
we will be lucky il we have one public
impersonation of wickedness left to hate.
1t begins to be clear that these villains
do not bear the light OF investigation;
their regulations, as those of the godly,
are perishable. Under analysis, the
cloven hoof aud furred ears disappear,
leaving smiling gentleman, who bears
much more resemblance to our respect
able selves than to Mephistopheles.
From time to time a new candidate for
public detestation is presented, but he
does not last as the fetish OF the middle
age lasted, for before his claim is we'll
established some biographer comes along
and spoils his reputation. What How
ellis said of enemies is true in tFfis case
also:
The trouble is not to make festishes,
but to keep them.
And now man, no less man than
Moncure D. Conway, has published
book in which Thomas Paine, Tom
Paine of Ubiquitous memory, is shown as
a patriot and man of genuine worth.
The recent demonstration in regard to
Shelley is another instance of the veer-
ing of public opinion, the dangerous
writer" of one generation becomes the
the high priest of the next. The patriot
and the reformer are never loved until
their triumph is assured; there were
many wise old gentlemen in the last
generation who shook their heads mourn
fully over that seditious upstart, George
Washington.
"Rebel or patriot 1t is heads or tails,
The patriot is the rebel who succeeds,
The rebel is the patriot who fails"
The popular estimation OF Luther and
Savonarola, one great reformer, the
other poor martyred fanatic, illustrates
the difference between success and
unsuccess.
In the time of Thomas Kempis it
was taught that the man who chose
worldly pleasures Of life thereby forfeited
all claim to eternal happiness, remote
bliss could only be insured by present
misery. Somewhat the same alterna-
tive confronts the man OF intellectual
power, the man who sweetly voices the
matured sentiment Of his own generation
has the instant happiness of recognition,
he is the perferred mouth-piece Of his
own Gay, his reward in applause comes
swiftly, and is swiftly gone. 1t is the
prophets wreath of thorns and days OF
bitter unrecognition that purchases last
ing recognition, immortality. The
genius of an actor and of an orator win
the most instant applause, and soonest
pass into tradition. While the
writer of little pieces is reading pleasant
reviews of his last volume some grave
student is quietly winning name that
will only begin to be great when that
other hand-clapping has died into silence.
There is sort of poetic justice in this,
and yet an injustice, too, since no man
can be sure Of enjoying posthumous
fame. Perhaps the real reward of the
great man is simply the happiness of
doing good work, in comparison to
which the praise or blame Of others
seems trivial. And yet there have been
men who never lost faith in themselves,
and yet who felt the oppression Of public
disdain as deadly paralyzing weight.
Walter Savage Lander, when he believed
that the MS. Of his Imaginary CONVEX
sations," had been rejected wrote:
This disappointment has brought back
my old bilious complaint, together with
the sad reflection on that fatality which
has followed me through life, of doing
everything in vain. 1 have, however,
had the resolution to tear in pieces all
my sketches and projects, and to for
swear all future undertakings. try to
sleep away my time, and pass two-thirds
of the twenty-four hours in bed. 1 may
speak of myself as dead man. l will
say, them, that these Conversations
contained any nominadang as exists on
earth. ~ am today, bN
S,.-5z5.--. sss<2- AZ
Landor's position in English literature
today forms curious parallel with the
estranged social position which his proud
and imperious nature forced him into in.
relation to his contemporaries. Popular,
Lander never was and never can be. To
be popular in broad sense calls for a
certain high-class commonplace quality
which is antipodal to Landors unique
and uneven genius. The heavy stateli-
ness Of style whose dignity begins grad
ually to move with more and more of
grandeur until a sentence comes, superb
as one Of Shakespeare's own, and then
without warning the fire dies out and
leaves the stately GOODNESS as before, is
one to appeal strongly to the student who
cloves fine phrase like mistress J"
l...k - H., L