The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-13
TEARS, IDLE TEARS. "
Some Observations by Andrew Ian.
on Masculine Weeping.

+ some observations by Andrew Lang
on Masculine Weeping.
The heroes of Homer, great, strapping
fellows, weep on the slightest opportun-
Ily. MenelauS cries when he is wound
eQ-not badly. Mr. Kipling, I think, is
my authority for saying that every one
cries when he is shot in the hand, says
the London Morning Post. The foot
seems less apt when injured to cause
tears. l lately met very young gen.
ulenan who, after adequately bayoneting
Boer, was himself shot in the foot.
But, from his description of the sensa-
ton, IT was as If somebody had thrown
stone at him. and he did not weep. AT
any emotion Homer's men cry, without
any OF our false moGesty. In one place.
a hero is described by the great poet as
weeping like WATERFALL which to US
Nofuhern people seems rather absurd.
The heroes of the old French epic, 1.-The
Song OF Roland" cry the whole army,
without exception blubber when they
think OF sweet France during a peninsu-
lar campaign. On the other hand,
do not remember q single instance in
which the tough warriors of the Morse
sagas weep. Our early Norman kings,
hardoltten men, rolled on the floor and
gnaWed at straws in stead of crying;
they also swore terribly, especially VIII
Lam Rufus. Now, if you come to think
OF 1t, the Romans, and still more the
Greeks, appear to have been practically
ignorant of profane swearing. Homer
never tells us that "our men swore ter
rlbly IN" Troia. They could curse, I
admit, but to curse was rather an elab-
crate affair usually resorted to by in
1ured mothers, not a mere, explosion of
irritation No Homeric hero, however
angry, exclaims, You go to Tartarus|
They had not even a word for our brief
popular expression of hostile interest in
the future life Of an irritating person.
Fielding makes the village boys say to
Phaethon, the sonaof the sun:
Hou, the Suns son, you rascal-you be
ID! But here the lea ned author of
Tom Jones" permits himself to enjoy
an anachronism. The inference from
these considerations is, that the early
Greek warriors cried so MI CO. because
tney cid not know now to swear. a prac
ice lar more military and marty Swift
tells us that when all London expect ed
the last day the officers of her majesty.
queen Anne, swoI e. even more than com
mon, lest their m6n should think that
any occasion, however serious, coul1
daunt gentleman nNho wore the queens
uniform. The intention, by itself WIS
excellent, but AehfI-s and Agamem on
would nave sat Gown and cried a t. ing
detrimental to discipline.
Inc next best weepers known to history
are the philosophers of the eighteenth
century. Their great idea was to return
TO state of nature, which was ntly
done i'll the savage fer citi S of the gior
lous revolution. But before blood wa3
shed III rivers the philosophers returned
to a state of nature by weeping like
waterfalls, Rousseau, especially, outdi1
job Thotter, Mr.. Jingl,'s servant in
"RlckWick," a gentleman whom Thu
lackey genius greatly resembled Fous.
seau tells us that she used to walk along
the road weeping when he thoue hit what
line old fellow the Earl Marischal was
Even Agamemron would not have CT e I
at the reflection that Ne5tcr was a fine
old fellow. On the Scottish shoulder an
velvet coat, adorned. with yellow butt r
flies, Mr.. David Hume d Jean JACQUES
also shed the tears of feasibility greatly
d1sconcerting Mr.. Hume. daisy,
pretty girl, 81 bird in the branches. a
flower by the way were enough to set
the lachrymatory glands Of the phil
osopher at work. He went out on the
main and did the briny" The practice
became fashionab BIZ as the novels of the
period show, if we can trust the novels
of the period.