The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1895-10-25
THE INTERPRETATION
OF LIFE.
1T Is MOSTLY IN THE EYE OF TIE Oh
SERVER.

Bacon defined history as philosophy
teaching by example; and the realis-
tic novel is sociology teaching through
the concrete, writes Mr.. |. Zangwill
in the Pail Mall Gazette. The aim Of
the realistic novel being to give the
impression of life, it is above all nee
cssary that the author should be a
careful observer of life, should under
stand the stuff of which it is made.
Is it possible to render life, and yet
omit the humOr which s0ftcns it for
all of us? In short story be as
tragic as you will but to deal with
great tracts Of life in the epcal shape
Of a long, realistic novel, and to miss
the hum0r of the thing, is surely to
fail. The realistic novel, we know
from Zola, that apostle of insufficient
insight, is based on ''human docu.
mcnts." and human documents" arc
made up of "facts.' But in human
life there are no facts.
This Is not a paradox, but Il "fact.
Life is in the eye Of the observer. The
hun0r or the pity of it belongs en-.
tirely to the spectator and depends
upon the gifts Of vision he brings.
There are no facts, like bricks, tC
build stories with.
What, pray, in the realm of human
life, is fact? BY no means stub
born thing, as the pr0yerb pret6nds.
On the contrary, a most plant, shift
ing, cllamclcon-colorcd thing. as tleXi-
bic as figures in the hands of the sta
tistician. What is commonly called
a fact is merely a Onc-sidcd piece OF
information, a dead thing, not the
series ofcomplcX, mutually intcrwork-
ing relations that constitutes fact
as it exhibits itself to the literary
vivisecti0nist. walked with a friend
in a shabby district Of central Lon
don, Il region that had once been gen.
tccl, but was now broke up into apart
mcnts. Squald babies, with wan,
pathetic faces, pullulated on the door.
steps they showed from behind dingy
windows at the breasts Of haggard
women. The fronts Of the houses
were black, the plaster had crumbled
away, the paint had peeled off, it was
the ruins Il minor Carthage, and, like
Marius, | was lost in mournful revc'
rie my companion remarked: "ThosC
houses are going up; they now pay
per cent" He was perfectly justified
There are hundred ways Of looking
1T any fact. The historian, the
scientist, the economist, the poet, the
philanthropst, the novelist, the an
archst, the intelligent foreigner
each would take away a different i'm
preston from the street, and all these
impressions would be facts, all equally
valid.
Life, l repeat, is in the eye Of thu
observer. What is farce to you /,
often tragedy to the actual performer
The man who slips over an orange
peel, or chascs his hat along the
muddy pavement, is rarely conscious
OF the humor of the situation. Or
the other hand, you shall see person.
involved in heart-rending tragedies tt
whom the thing shows as farce, like
little children playing in the church
yards or riding tOmbstones astride
70 the little imps Of comedy, who
according to Mr.. Meredith, SIT VI
aloft. holding their sides at the spec
taclc of mankind, to the
Spirit OF the world,
BchOlding the absurdities OF men,
Their vaunts, their fcats. -.
Human life must he a verJ different
matter from what we poor players on
the scene imagine it; VIC are cutting a
very tferent figure, not only from that
which faces us from the mirror OF
vanity, but from that which Is "as
others see u.s." Not only, then, may
our tragedy be comedy; our comedy
may be tragedy. The play of humoI
at least suggests these alternatives.
Life is faced, and the lumorist
invests his characters with II double
mask /; they stand for comedy as well
as for tragedy Don Quixote wears
the buskin as well as the sock.
HumOr, whose definition has always
eluded analysis, may perhaps ito at.
tempt a definition curentc calamo) be
that subtle flashing from one aspect
to another, that turning the coin So
rapidly that one seems to see simIl.
tancOusly the face and the reverse, the
pity and the hum0r OF life, and knows
not whether to laugh or weep. HumOI
is, then, that simultaneous revelation
OF the dual aspects Of life; the syn.
thctical fusion OF oppositcs; the gift
of writing with Il double pen, OF say
ing two things In one, Of showing
shine and shadow together. This Is
why the humorist has always the gift
Of pathos; though the gift Of pathos
does equally imply the gift Of humor
The tragic writer must always pro-
duce onc-sided work; SO must tliC
"funny man" that Is only funny
man" and not a humorist Though
that is rarcr). Each can only show
one side of life at u time the humor'
ist Gun show both. Great novels Ol
romance aud adventure, great works