The times., 1901-05-27

| just Judgments As good an example
of the old-fashioned type of hero as can
be found-typicaI because somewhat
exaggerated-is in the recently drama
tized novel, Under Two Flags" Here
we have a man of rank, wealth, and
social traditions who is evidently in
tended by the author to be a perfect
man, nobly planned His nobility con-
sists partly in doing some impossible
things, partly in making unnecessary
sacrifices, and partly in being Wis
count Compelled by circumstances to
sacrifice his brother or be unjustly pun
ished in his stead. this hero unselfshly
chooses the latter; escaping the punish
ment by lucky chance, he enlists as
private soldier in the French army in
Africa, and is supposed to win great
sympathy from the reader on account
of the hardships which he, in common
with all the other private soldiers of the
regiment, suffers at the hands of
tyrannical colonel. 1t never seems to
occur to the author that there was no
earthly sense in this geptleman's stay
ing there and suffering these horrible
things unless he wanted to; he could
have emigrated to some colony, taken
another name, and been a useful and
respected citizen quite incognito, in
place where his heroism would have
done somebody a little GOOD. If he
chose to dump himself into the ranks
of the French army, refuse promotion
for fear of recognition, and put up with
all the consequences, he may have been
plucky, but he was nothing much of
martyr. There is a good deal Of pose in
a hero of that kind; and, what is more,
he is not very probable. and his intro
duction into literature tends to give the
public which knows no better the idea
that there is something very much finer
in aristocracy than there is. The aver
age young Englishman of Cecils posi-
ton would no mere act as the hero of
Ouida's novel did than he would stand
on his head on top of the Nelson monu-
ment.
Common sense, in fact, levels all
ranks in romance as it does elsewhere.
Mark Twain's Connecticut Yankee had
as deep a respect for women, as keen a
sense of justice, and as firm a determi-
nation to protect the weak and see fair
play as any hero of the days of chival-
ry; the difference was that he went
about manifesting these attributes in a
sensible way. There is scope nowadays
for all the chivalry and all the heroism
of King Arthur's or any other court,
and possibly a good deal more than
ri "a
sham chivalry is getting knocked out
of literature and life, and the real ar
ticle is coming in. Contrast the old
poem from which Browning took his
subject for THE Glove" and the later
poets Interpretation Of the incident. 1t
will be remembered that the story is
that a court lady, to test her lovers
devotion. threw her glove into lions
den; the lover leaped after it, and,
bringing it back. threw it in her face.
The judgment of the court was that the
lady was well paid for her vanity.
Browning's view of the matter was diff
ferent. He pictures the lover as one of
those faciIe heroes fond of declaring
that they would die to show their de-
votion, and expecting to be paid for
this declaration with the love of the
woman who happened to be listening to
the speeches. The poet makes the
ladys caprice test of these fine words
which results in proof that they were
nothing but words after all. He notes
the fact that good many common men
had probably risked death in one way
and another before that lion was put
into the den, and that the heroism Of the /
gallant was not SO great in contrast
with his declarations that he needed TO
make much of it. And all these things
are good common sense.
The railway engineer, fireman, and !
brakeman, the miner, the worker in a |
dynamite factory, the worker Of iron. !
and dozens of other mechanics of to- |
day risk death and injury in their daily |
labor without thinking anything about
it. The world is coming to see that the /
bravery which adds to the heap of |
human good is the kind worth having, |
and that, as King Arthur suggested TO |
his knights of the Idyls when they !
started after the Holy Grail. purely |
esoteric quests are rather foolish busi- !
ness when there is real work in the (
world to be dcne.
II, x-iayy NJ Count Won yVat1arsaa's ca rIv, |