The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-09
THE DEUEr EPIC.
Sober Natures Experiment in the Field of
Heroic Romance.


Won't there be horrible row when Dewey
comes home said the youngster. breaking
tho silence Of the hour OF pipes and evening
papers.
Tinkleton smiled lazily for moment as il
the interruption only served to fan the glow Of
his pipe dream. Then he reused himself to
answer
Yes. he said. if he ever does come home"
His chum and the youngstcr both looked up in
some surprise. II he ever does come want
to be right in the crowd with the rest and get a
good. certain look ut him. Until that time
shall never be quite sure in my mind that there
is such man."
Here his chum settled back again with a
good-natured smile. The younGster looked
his wonderment. and Tinkleton turned to him
earnestly.
Il IL cam" he continued, "a real material
organic unit of living animal tissue like our
selves. that will look intelligent when you say
Admiral Dewey There may be such a thing.
but how do we know anything about it He- o
we are. three simple men, VITO live and work
and peer out curlously from our insignihcance
at the momentous affairs OF the life around us.
We learn a little from what We see. and mag
inc great deal more. For our ideas of things
beyond the immediate range OF our senses
we must depend altogether upon hcarsay-thc
word OF other people who have seen little,
and Imagined great deal more. Zach Of us
cherishes his own peculiar version OF every
thlnK remote to which q dozen varying iancies
hav" contributed How can we know how
much is fiction? The proportion is. doubtless,
characters familiar enough to US have no real
existence at AL but nrr born Of pure insptra-
that Dewey Is not Que Of them"
that's az pretty TAR. OLD man. said his
likely seen picture or two Of the Admiral-
say him all alike"
You underestimate the possibilities Of in,
spiratlon,' IinkIeton returned. How about
Uncle sam Don't you think you'd know him
minds do you thinl, It took to imagine him
No. my dear fellow, must have better evidence
than that Considering all the circumstances
seems to me more probable than that our be-
loved Admiral is only a BIT Of interesting folk
,,"Oh. .colne on broke in the youngster.
ehum E5 Wss m ap
a,pretty fable. Just as the conventional lover
signs at the cruelty OF Cupid and jnst as chill
Winter coms SO the RoN czeHs Of New Tni
puzzling over the vagaries of their city Govern
ment. attribute them at last to some inscruta
Croker is at work again. 1t is an interesting
instance of a trick OF the Imagination once
very comf1on n but now almost obsolete in its
NOTHING elementary about Dewey! that's
myth, II may, call it so. is a quite recent de-
bay VIII Ths n nsne Hwsh eaed
up the tute!ary spirits Of savage races, and was
the basis 81 the vast solemn IN mythologies Of the
The trouble is, as suggested before. that tho
s6SSi iu'i S al 'ns @
Rp odr sans Nf Tor Wh 'n nas
els on the side, But newspaper writers
91 tSe1 aGnt ha Gsy to goTd all Ts
is they sd to the IrrSs3 ,bsI mpqs9
they y are nS' to write, cnSs 10 the most pleasing
pictures that are set before it,, and begs for
rouraged the tendency OF late years, until we
simple men are in much the same, state of g-
outer world was peopled with giants, dragons
and enchanted princrsSes., our KNIGHTS OF the
r 9Ens Us r 3Ta p ST%S
class Of myth" ~,
Then there wasn't oE any war With SpoiF1b
"O6. i wouldn't say that" said Tinkleton;
the giants and dragons But the versions tn that
that we can form no proper concert ion OF the
originals. We heard good deal Inst summer
manding hattleship, lie was a biustering
Old fire-cater, marked by an insane des re to
fight Spain sinRehandeu, ana an !nhDliiy
10 utter sentence without the word hell in
it. Now, do you suppose that the real Cart.
Robiey Evans II there is such a man is any
thing like that? / haven any idea what he is
like: but it wouldn't surprise me at n! 10 dis
cover that he's q credit 70 the navy ana per
feet gentleman. The Flghting, bon that we
properly as Long John silver. Newsp9perSare
RAPIDLY dcgcneratnG into storybonks, in which
We : read picturesque md spirited accounts Of
the doings Of the world, with about as much
foundation in fact a, the historical romanccS o;
n""lK And Dewey 5 the hero. l suppose" said the
YOungstcr, =,
make cried TinklotOn. THAT was lust what
aroused my suspicious about Dewey IN the first
nince, The story OF his fleet from tho time it
ieit Hong Kong until Manila was ~ our hanIS.
forms one of the most perfect bits oi heroic
romance in all literature, II is ha u,
/ TO believe that the sober; unsympathet,
10 course OF nature could have brought rough,
IN accord with ali our notions OF the way things
ought 10 be-. theory much moro plausible Is
| hat Dewey il a truly epic hero. whose story,
| iiiE" the Odyssey is merely the final setting for
| tbe gems OF romance born OF many EFFORTS TO
| rise euual to great occasion. 81, T.,
| A.. s,aad 20 ha trtla ~