Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-12-16

We are Taught, l believe, by the lest
critical authority that the essence Of
tragedy lies in the conflict of will and
fate, or rather in the victory of fate
over the more on less consciously strug-
Cling individual. and that the catastro.
phe, to he truly Greek, must in some
way result from deeds morally signifi-
cant. But is there not an appallingly
tragic element in the action of fate,
when, as we so often know it, the catas-
trophe has no relation to responsibilities
anywhere; when it is but a blind bolt,
falling blindly, stopping, crushing. an.
Initiating, without more moral signlfi-
canoe than is in the rain which falls
alike on the just and on the unjust: Is
it not because this is too appalling, be-
cause it frightens Us as children are
frightened in the dark, that we cling SO
closely 10 those instances Of human his
tory in which deed and doom are bound
together by brief and simple sequences?
1t is a very unimposing little figure
that is most deeply associated in my
mind with that other ard more mysteri-
Gus tragedy in which the fine and sane
and true are overpowered by that blank,
meaningless and terrible power we call
chance.
Ono spring day. years ago, it happen
ed that for few hours I, myself only
schoolgirl, Was given charge Of an IN
familiar village school. 1t was in q
nongrel southern mountain town,
where some ccal mines were lamely
contributing to TIE foundations of that
new south which as yet the old south
scarcely grudgingly admitted as pos
sibility. The school was made up Of
such variety of elements as probably
could not have been matched ut that
time in any schCOlroom south of the
Ohio river. There were Yankee chill
dren from the east and the west, noun
tain born and southern born children
Uhe mountaineer is southern only in q
shallow geographical sense), even chill.
dren with Il brogue and Il touch of
broad Lancashire dialect, but in this
crowd, so heterogeneous for the south, SO
homogeneous compared to the mixtures
the north is forced to venture upon,
there was but one child who spoke the
English language with a foreign accent
To me, as l struggled with the OPEN
ing class, they all seemed conspicuously
united by q common dullness This
class was of the older scholars, and they
were studying Peter Parley's Univer.
sal History" that absurd yet admirable
little book neutrality-suspicious. agoev-
erywhere but in forgotten and bcnight-
ed southern nooks by works paralyzing-
ly full and distressingly accurate. The
lesson was about Prussia. That torpor
which nature enables all but the liyeli-
est children to take on as a protection
against the horrors of the schoolroom
pervaded the class. The big girls and
boys sat about in attitudes of heavy
woodenness, answering questions, when
they could answer them at all, as if
badly constructed, insufficient machin.
cry were for the moment put in motion
was casting about III my mind as to
what would bring them to life, when,
as / quoted something from the lesson
about the king of Prussia (the book
dated much farther back than the seven
ties), heard the shiest, sCftest, eager
est young voice say, as if the barriers
of repression had perforce given way,
lies emperor now
turned to sec to whom all these les
son words meant facts, thoughts, some
thing else than gibberish, with sense
of unreasonably grateful refreshment.
There he was, q broad shouldered, dark
eyed little boy, about II years old, who
was seated, when sclloCl opened, half
way back i'll the long, grimy room, but
wEo was now wriggling with vitality,
suppressed interest and an overDowered
but abiding sense of misconduct on a
seat just behind the recitation benches,
drawn there evidently by force SINH
lar in its imperiousness to gravitation
itself.
Hes Dutch" remarked a boy in
the class in tone explanatory, but not
lowered
whats your name?'' asked.
Rudolph, ma am It seemed that
for purposes of convenience the regular
teacher had found Rudolph name
enough and had pointedly refused to
struggle with further Teutonic sylla.
bles.
We'll, Rudolph. come out here and
tell these big boys and girls about how
the king came to be made emperor
Come, sit there.
But Rudolph had found an opportuni.
ty for something more dear than humil-