The San Angelo press. (San Angelo, Tex.) 1897-1907, 1904-06-30
p Man, the Enigma &


will recall the words Of Hamlet:
"What a piece of work is man
How noble in reasonl How in
finite in faculty. In form and
moving how express and admira-
BILE! In action how like an an.
gel! In apprehension how like
god The beauty of the world
The paragon of animals ~
And yet to what depths of folly
and contempt this mighty being
can fall!
Infinite as he is in faculty, is
he not, along with all, the most
foolish creature in the whole
hierarchy of being?
Despite his godlike reason,
what wretched things he is always
doing!
In action how like all angel
sometimes-and then, again, how
like II BEAST
A saint today and satyr to-
morrow. Today inspired by the
noblest ideals tomorrow the dupe
of appetite and passion, his crown
in the dust, his royal robe to tat
ters or soiled beyond all resogni-
tion by the eilluvia of his un-
speakable corruption.
This strong being called man-
how he perpleXes and puzzles us
as we see him, now with his
bursts of great heart" and now
with his "slips in sensual mlre"--
the eternal paradox, the enigma
of enigmas, the mystery of mys-
teries.
The bit of advice that used to
be carvad into the rock Of the old
Greek oracle of Delphi, know
myself" might just as well not
have been given.
We can not know ourselves.
Within us the Darkest Africas'
that have never been explored and
that never will be explored,
We have found the long hidden
sources of old Egypt's mighty
river, but the spring of human
conduct, the reasons of the
strange, sad, shameful contradic-
tions Of human nature are as dark
to us as ever.
We have measured the dstan-
ces of the stars. We have count
ed them, weighed them, mapped
them, analysed them; but to the
question, "What am ~" the
wisest man can make no answer.
Much is known about the laws
of the heavens; but about the
laws that have their field in these
beating human hearts and throb.
bling human brains we know abso-
lutely nothing.
Human nature breaks every
slate and upsets every calcula-
ton. You never can figure out
what it is going to do. 1t will
not be reduced to a schedule.
Sometimes the beast suddenly
subsidies, and rising upon it
stands the god, fair to behold, all
the fairer, perhaps, because you
were not looking for such happy
transformation.
And again, quite as suddenly,
y the god will fall, and where he
once stood III his beauty the
brute will rear itself in all its
hideous deformity.
N,nr ,,,nut ~ r,nta finland lie
liable, at any moment, to give
q, you one of these surprises, either
to your joy or sorrow.
; You have trusted him II hun
-. dred times and he has never dis
) appointed you. The hundred and
first time he may break your
. heart with his amazing unfaith.
: fulness.
And you are as ignorant OF
: yourself as you are of your neigh,
= = Dor, or, for that matter, rs you
. are of some one on the other side
of the earth.
sis thy servant a dog, that he
: should do such things?" And yet
tomorrow you do lido the thing
that you hate and despise: do the
thing that brings the great rec
badge of shame to your cheek
and makes you look upon yourself
: with loathing and shame,
y Such is mainland by man
mean woman,toO--human nature
= Well, the only thing to do,
u suppose, IS to keep the flag a-Ay
ing, and when it falls to put it VI
, again, as the rallying point TO,
: another battle.
u The battle ia the main thing, oj
= rather the battling spirit, the un
: conquerable resolve, when for tn,
n time being you are down, to ge
V up and try again.
The man who in his heart hate
the wrong which for the momeu
has him in the tolls, who fights i
Z avian whilp IL hos hin, INV th,