The Indianapolis journal., 1893-12-31
GREAT MEN BLUNDER
Famous Events i'm History That
Resulted Through Mistakes.
The Way of the World Would Have
Been Entirely Different but for
Many Unexpected Breaks"

Julius Chambers. in New York Recorder.
Soon shrivels up heart that harbors re-
grets. The man with a grievance Is gem
orally crank and always nuisance. He
borrows a great deal OF trouble vvho broods
over the past who wastes his time in theo-
retical retrospect as TO how much more
brilliant might have been hts career had
he lived I'm a more propitous age. how
much more wealthy he might have become
had he staked his money on enterprises
other than those that came I'm his way.
Such a man resembles the mental specula-
tors catered to by one OF our contempo-
raries. who. on the morning after every
racing day. amuse themselves-rather should
1 say, distress themselves-by calculating
how much money they might have made by
placing SO on the winner I'm the first race,
"parleying' their winnings on the best
horse in the second event. and that money
again upon the third down TO the end OF
the days sport.
knew a man who closed a brilliant
career by committing suicide out OF che grin
and regret for the loss OF a fortune thac he
never had made and that existed only in his
distorted imagination-the creation OF ava
rice and desire for outward show. Misery
is the companion and insomnia the de-
stroyer OF such n mind.
A clever young artist recently typiaed
the fate of the man who cffngs 10 the
dead past" He represented young poet.
artist. lawyer parson--as you wiil-seat-
ed at a table, and upon his knee a CHASTITY
grinning skeleton. There was the taint OF
madness in his eyes and his face was
pinched with care and anxiety. Artist
Burns was not so very far wrong. because
for every man who grows tired OF life
when contemplating the future thousands
look back upon the past and borrow trouble
for the present. Nothing can be more un-
necessary and absurd than for any OF Us.
with traits OF real manhood in our hearts,
to brood over the mistakes OF life.
Show me the man who never has made a
mistake. and 1. for one. will give him the
widest possible berth. l once knew a very
clever employer of skilled labor OF the
highest class who had an absolute fear OF
any employe who never erred. He dreaded
the occasion, sure TO come. when that man
would make a mistake that would cripple
his entire business. Nothing I'm all history
has produced so many successes as mis-
takes. Did that ever occur to you? The
careers Of the most successful men are full
OF breaks"
I'd like to talk at length OF the Great
Breaks If History, and if L could take
month OFF. or find the Lenox and Astor IL
brarles open on holiday. ia give the time
| willingly to a study OF the subject. AS it is,
not having at hand any boks OF reference,
| only recall a few of the breaks due
to youth or overzeal. that have led 10 glor-
lous results. some of which. indeed. are the
guide-postS of historyi
| FORGOT EYES MISTAKE.
| The first l think OF was the break that
| Paris made in carrying of Helen AIme.
| Menelaus. so to speak, TO Troy; and yet,
had that not happened there wouldn't have
been any Trojan war. no theme for Homer;
| and Achilles, Ajax, Diomedes,- y. yssvs, Ifd>r
| tor of Troy and Aeneas would never have
graced the pages OF history. real or mythi-
cal. The respect that literature and art
| have paid to that great break cannot be
| set down in hundred volumesi We owe
| the best story of all time TO a rupture of the
| ex post facto Seventh Commandment.
On the face of the situation young David
| single-handed and alone and armed only
| with a bean-shooter. TO kill the giant, Co
liah. Nothing but the achievement OF his
| vainglorious boast pulled him out, for had
the brutal Goliah got his hands upon him
| David would never have adorned a throne
and very much good history would have
| been spoiled Indeed, different arrange
ments would have 10 have been made re-
| garding some of the most important events
i9g IL Christian history Very startling isn't
II is exceedingly doubtful If the course
| of Leonidas at ThermOpylae had the ap-
| tainly an act or the raShest loOlhardiness
| in attempting TO check the Persian hosts;
but he did il, and Immortality and glori-
Gus death were his. What may nave been
| said of him In the seven thousand deso-
| lated homes OF Thebes, Sparta and the
| States Of PeloponneSia is not handed down
TO us by tradition or written record. / am
| very much inclined to believe that contem-
| poraneOus comment placed General Leon
| idas and his achievement on the very same
level as that given TO the glorious break
at Balaklaya 2,S0O years later.
Young Cyrus made a fearful blunder
when he started with his ten thousand
| Greeks to upset his brothers thfone, but
how incOnspicuOus he would have been In
history had he not made this break and
taken with him the first and the greatest
of all special correspondents Aenoph0n.
TO write a reporters narrative OF what
otherwise would have been only foolish
The whole career OF Rome is fun of blum
ders on the part Of Its most llusirlOus men.
Caesar himself was irresOlute AT times
| notably so in reference to the crown. That
| bit Of double dealing cost him his lie. MARK
Antony, after a career OF unuslai sIhSh9or'
| made the monumental ''breaK' Of all his
| tory when a willy woman crossed his path
Indeed, now that / think OF II, the ltomans
of courteous host, after dinner 10 arect
| sleep in order that his guests might discuss
his family affairs %itn Perlles6 9 Ireegom . ne
| most correct guests, after leaving the
houses Of their entertainers.
uL-FATED CRUSADES.
| / take IL that opinion would be about
! evenly divided to-day in stamping the Cru
/ sades as mistakes OF the gravsst charac-
ter; and yet. what would history Re with
out those glorious enterprises. 50 utterly
without result or real advantage TO the
centuries that have succeeded?
| Remember how many things dear old Soc
rates forgaVe In AlciDiades. Why, DO you
| suppose that gentle Petrarch 50 fondly
| dotted on Boccaccio? These two young ras-
| Gals of two widely separated eras were
| constantly causing their friends chagrin
| and modification. The smallest mcidents
| affect an time-and very many such Incl
| dents are breaks" Two little bridges on
| which my own eyes have rested mark the
| locations of two of the most important
| events in modern history. ard yet those
events were mistakes, unfortunate and TAR
reaching in their results!
Near the railway leading up the beautifu "
plain from Antequera 70 Granada, and
within plain sight OF the towers OF tbs
tie bridge upon which Columbus was stopped
bv Isabella's messenger when on his way
to England, a disappointed man. 10 onei
his services % Henry VII Columbus made
the mistake of his life IN turning back
for had ne proceeded 10 England, the ga.
/ gacious KinG Henry. ever alive 20 mari
time expeditions, would have certainly es
pcvssd his cause. and to-day South America
would have been the greatest OF all an
glish colonies. free and ricn, instead Oi
bigoted beggarly and b.oOdthirsty. rent bJ
rt,yolution and unstable ia government
Richard Ford a who knew EuaiF