The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-06-14

passed away, many years ago."
After placing my horse in one of the
numerous stalls, where the sleek
chargers of the great mobiles used to
prance on the fiesta days of old we
returned to the great moss covered
building. [ had glimpse of lofty
vaulted hallway, then [ was escorted
into room which was no doubt the
old caballeros study, for the walls were
lined with books and rare pictures:
paintings by Rembrandt, Murillo, Van
Dyke and other masters, and ancient
volumes worth their weight in gold.
An antique chandelier suspended from
the ceiling cast soft glow over the
scene, creating picturesque effect.
II have no servants, senor," he said,
turning to me and smiling, Il am
recluse, student, as you will perceive
by my surroundings. am historian;
1 am writing history of this country
which 1 hope to finish some day, if I
live, and dedicate it to posterity; there
fore prefer to live alone, away from
the busy world. It enables me to pur-
sue my occupation without Interrupt
tion.'
He made a proffer of refreshments,
which L was glad to accept, though
outwardly protesting against disturb
ing his usual routine. From some
mysterious source he produced two
cups of steaming coffee and some fruit
and cakes, and sitting down opposite
to me he said: 81 usually take coffee
about this hour, for 1 am frequently
engaged in writing and other work
until the early hours of morning. [
am an old man, very old man: have
not long to live, and am putting my
spare time to finishing my history, for
do not wish to leave it unfinished"
"a great critic has said," remarked,
slipping the fragrant coffee, 'that his
torians devote too much space to de-
tails of battles and the lives of the
great commanders, and too little space
to the acts and sciences and the social
system of the period which they are
depicting"
"That is my opinion" said the his
tOrian, "what benefit will it confer on
posterity to know that Napoleon exc
cuted such and such maneuver at
Austerlitz, or sent so many troops to
capture such and such a position
"It would be of great benefit to the
military profession, would it not ?" l
queried, "they could profit by his mis-
takes"
eyes to the military, but not to the
general masses, not to society: what
we want is to know how people lived
in past ages; what were the forms of
government, and their weaknesses; we
want a general history of the social
systems and the domestic life of the
people, so that we can build our social
systems in the future, and avoid the
mistakes of those in the past. This is
what we wish to know, not who was
king or cardinal, and all the nasty little
petty details of their personal failings."
"What was the secret of Napoleon's
success, do you think it was personal
magnetism ?" 1 enquired.
swell that depends on what you
would designate as personal magnet
ism," answered the old historian.
"Now believe that this personal mag
netism and genius that many people
seem to think Napoleon possessed is
nothing more than concentration of
will power. have read somewhere
theory of so-called genius and the
author strikes the key note who wrote
this: They talk of genius. It is this
and nothing more, that man knows
what he can do, and does it and moth
ing else. To be successful in life you
must move in straight line towards