The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-11-21

ing that all that has gone before.
"As the whole is greater than any o.
its parts, so may we nope TO surpass and
to Guido each part of ourselves in s.le
amaIgamation of our all. We feel that
we hope that and at that we aim. and
though we, the beginners, may fail in
the full accomplishment Of our znign
reaching purpose. yet our part @ill have
been better and Drawer than that played
by those who say that the past alone Is
perfect; that our literature is but a
gsrbled version OF a worn out Inherit
ance of letters; that our art Is but poor
copy OF something bygone and once
beautiful, and that this great age In
which we live is dead before It Is nall
grown.
Such IDEAS show little faith in the
present and less hope in the future. and
yet they are 50 widely spread among the
pessirnists Of our own time that it is i'm
! possible to speak of literature, art or
science in any company of men without
! being met with some such chilling -heo-
ries.
81 read the other day an article In one
O. our most serious magazines IN which
/ > certain writer tells us that they only
/ lesson which America is row teaching
the world in the ideal realm is thar the
| literature of the future is to be the farce
which the business man goes to see OF an
evening by way Of recreation
81 do not wish to do the writer injus-
tice. but he produces the impression Of
II, atrIr CT n
ward a farce. In the name of Al those
who have spent and are spending their
lives in sincere effort to produce good
literature in America [ protest against
suca criticism or comment or opinion. IL
there were a word Of truth in such
Judgment the sn1 % culture and Of lit
erature and of art in our country could
not be far off.
sit is easy TO be pesstmistic when op-
timism means hard work. IL IS easy to
stand aside and say Of Tins runner mat
ne limps, and Of that one that his stride
IL ungainly, and that no race can be won
With ouch running. It Is quite another
timing to be in line with the lest, rum
ming like the rest. toiliIg with tie rest,
straining every faculty of strength to
win the goal How ever, success and de-
velopment are to come, they will not
come out of idle waiting, nor by lament
ing over the imppssiojlity of doing any
thing good.
Il say again, If there We're anything
general Of the army was today informed
hand, and we should De justified in 60
ing one step further tnan the prophets;
we could cay with certainty that a hun
dred years hence the reast OF our living
writeys-perhaps the best of our dead
ore-would be spoken Of by unborn his
torians az the fftful and uncertain lights
that illuminated the brief, SAD day Of
American civilization
Happily for us, the pessimists are but
a minority, while We, the workers, the
believers, the doors, are the mIny; mos.
of ALL here, in thi5 Utmost center of the
country's soul-I may say 80, without
fear of saying too much, because, PER-
haps, too much cannot be saiG-where
work is dignity and idleness is medioc-
rity.
Some such thoughts as these crossed
ny mind as 1 stood here five years ago,
before the opening Of the worlfs fair.
They are clearer now. better formed. for
they have five years growth in them
and five times more truth than then.
We do not need a coming revival of let
ters, for we are alive today. We are not
looking forward to a renaissance, for We
have neither decadence in OFT past nor
decay in our present. We are not tend
ing to a farce-We are on the ascent 10
things both grave and high.
1--WE VINO are here may not see the end,
nor CIR children, nor our children's chill
dren. But the end is abov. where we
stand now and not below us, as surely
as creation leads ont way and degen-
Grafton another. Hereafter, in the far
days, when We are ourselves bu. uncer-
tain memories to those VINO come after
US, may such recollection as is left to US
be the brief history of men who cane
in young times, strove as they could, Ia
bored with all their hearts, ana won
step forward from the darkness toward
the light
Mr.. Crawford is about 70 deliver
course of three lectures In Chicago On
Italian Life in the Middle Ages" and
Horace and His Place in Italian His
tory" He will be the guest Of the Press
Club at the University Of Chicago on
Monday evening.