St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-20
THE BARCELONA BOMB.

and women have read and been edu-
Gated to merciful deeds by that tender
and caressing adjuratIon of My Uncle
Toby to the busy and pestiferous blue
bottle fly which disturbed the after
noon siesta of that excellent and hu-
name soldier and citizen of England:
Go. little creature; there is room
enough in this world for both thee and
me-" And then the gentle, kindly and
living old hero closed the window
and returned to his couch to dream
OF the Storming Of redoubtS, of assault
and repulse, Of the reSounding cry Of
"Vlctory" surglng up from the throais
of bleeding, begrimed and persplring
men; and TO recall i'll visions. regret
fully. how terribly the army in Flanders
was given to the vice of profanity.
The blupbottle incident has had a
most amiable ard humaniZing influence
upon the English-speaking and English
reading races of the world. VINO would
presume to measure the private comfy,
the public graciousness, the personal
courtesy that has grown habitual with
men and women of culture from the
study of the strongest yet sweetest
character in all the range of British
bellies lettreS.
But My Uncle Toby was something
more that sentimentally humane. Be-
cause of the evidence of his own innate
modesty. no less than through the test-
mony of Corporal Trim, we know that
he had the courage of Ajax, sense of
honor so keen as to make him the rival
Of Chevalier Bayard, a faith in God
and men and women worthy of Knox
or Luther. And SO My Uncle Toby
stands in literature for the truth OF the
couplet, that
The bravest are the tenderest.
The loving the daring
1t would perhaps hardly be worth
while to indulge in the criticism of
character gilded as it is with the love of
| our remote ancestors. were there not
| lesson for today to follow. My Uncle
Toby and his blue-hottle fly together
constitute a text for a brief lay sermon
to the readers of the SUNDAY GLOBE.
Only few days ago, in the city of
Barcelona, Spain. the people of all the
classes which 20 to make up the large
| cities of Europe and America had gath
cred within the walls of one Of the pop
ular theaters, intent upon an evenings
innocent enjoyment. Like all theatrical
muitltudeS, 1t was composed Of old and
young. rich and poor, Intelligent and
ignorant; because the modern theater
Is very cosmopolitan - much more SO
than the church. There were old men
and women present, with their children
and grandchildren. There were men
and women there in the prime of
life ana usefulness - the fathers and
mothers OF innocent and dependent litss
tie Ones, tucked snugly away in cradles
at home under the care OF nurses or
| relatives. There, in that audience, were
vrile young lovers, with their rosy
| checked ana bright-eyed sweethearts
| clinging fondly to their strong arms.
There were beardless boys, the hope
ana promise of honored names; sweet
| little maidens, to whom Cupid had not
yet whispered his first charming
sentences - children as beloved as
| yours, neighbOr, or our own. The
! gathering was altogether innocent
nay, praise WOrthy-because the grega-
rious instinct of all life is right, and out
| OF it springs every pleasing element
| that blesse$ and adorns the race of
! Adam. Reverence for the aged, sympa-
| thy for the sick, beneyolence for the
poor, balm for the Wounded-thoSe who
| have been pricked upon ''the briarS of
! this WOrkingday world"
The theater is crowded. The boxes
! are alight with the jewels of the gentry;
| the parQuette all agloW with the cOlOrS Of
the ladies and gentlemen of the trading
classes; the galleries, tier on tier, radi-
ant with the faces of the laboring ele
ment, cap-Sheafed with the noisy but
| good-natured gamins of the street.
| The music OF the orchestra is superb
! it always is. when combined with the
sights, and sounds, and sachets of the
| we'll ordered theater.
Suddenly there Is a fearful explosion
the horrible roar OF The dynamite
! bomb-and the house resounds with the
| shrieks and groanS of the injured, the
curses and maledictionS of excited men,
the Wild screams Of frightened women.
| All is con fusion, aud the terr0rlzed
multitude, relapsed into The fierce bar
DHl 1911 VI GOJCCG Wv al IISSs
trample to death their friends and
neighUorS in the reaSonleSS desire to es-
! cape a cataciysm that has already
| done its work OF devastation and death.
! There is no need TO dwell upon the
| sickening details. These were only too
| graphically told by the newspaper re-
| ports, covering even the smallest incl
| dents of death, horror and mutilation.
Reason? What was the reason? Why,
bless your good heart, there was no rea-
! son, unless, perchance, there was some
sort Of reason for the instruction 10
heaven, when Lucifer, ''son of the
morning." rebelled against the right
eous and benefcent edicts of God!
Suppose the annoying blue-bottle so
mercifully released by My Uncle Toby
had been provided with the deadly
sting of the asp? Suppose, instead Of
having his after~dinner nap disrupted
by the over-officiousness of trouble
some but innocuous fly. he had awak-
ened to discover that he had rattlesnake
for bedfellow? Suppose the excel
| lent and amiable Maj. Shandy had been
aroused from his dreams by the social
demonstrations of a full-grown cent?
pede? What, under these circum-
stances. or any other one among the
| countless possibilities of venOmous con-
| tamination, would have been his duty
or his pleasure, think you?
Ii the trade Of the bomb thrower be-
! comes common, another generation will
scarcely pass before mankind will find
| itself divided into two distinct classes
assassins and towards. No gathering
will be safe, and men and women will
be compelled to live in AFFECT segrega-
ton. 1t is no use to waste eDithets upon
or distribute adjectives among these
vermin. The liberty ~ that tolerates
the anarchist and the nihilist falls little
short of crime. The time is ripe for the
man or woman who publicly proclaims
adhesion to the doctrine of universal
murder to be outlawed. There should
be no time wasted or useful life risked