Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-14

the hare and the halter in Alice in Wonder
land Why? said the hare. Why not?'
said the halter. A sensible man does not
interrogate life; he lives it
HIM" retorted Woodruff.
And we went on with the game-shuffiing.
dealing, stalking. But more and more fire.
Quently there came hours. when. against
my will l would pause. drop my cards,
watch the others; and / would wonder at
them, and at myself the maddest of these
madmen-and the saddest, because l had
moments in which l was conscious of my
own arrangement.
I have often thought on the cause of this
dssa tisfaction which has never ceased 10
grid me. and which l have learned girds all
men of intelligence who lead an active NE
| think it is that such men are like a CIV
iized man who has to live among a savage
tribe. To keep alive, to have Influence. he
must pretend TO accept the savage point OF
view, must pretend to disregard ms own
knowledge and intelligent methods, must
play the game of life with the crude clumsy
counters of caste and custom and creed and
thought which the savages regard as fit
and proper. Intelligent men of action DO
see as clearly as the philosophers: but they
have TO pretend to adapt their mental
vision to that of the mass of their fellow
men, or. like the philosophers, they would
lead lives of proiitless inaCtion. enunciat-
ing truths which are of no value to man
Kind until it redlsCovers them for itself.
No man of trained reasoning power could
fail to see that the Golden Rule is not
,
principle of practical Self-interest. Or
could anything be clearer. 10 one who takes
the trouble really to think about II, than
that he who advances himself at the ex-
pense of his fellow men does not advance,
but sinks down into the class of murderers
for gain. thieves and all those who seek 10
advance themselves by injustice? Yet. SO
feeble Is mans reason, so near 70
the brute is he. so under the RUE
OF brute appctites, that he can
not think beyond the immediate apparent
good, beyond today $ meal.
| once said TO Scarborough: Polltlcs IS
the science and art of fooling the people
THAT is true, as far as 1t goes, ne sald.
IF that were all, justice, which Is only an
other name for common sense. would soon
be established. But. unfortunately, politics
is the art of playing upon cupidity. the art
of fooling the people into thinking they are
helping to despoil the other fellow ana Will
get a share of the Swag.
And he was right. 1t is by subtle appeal
to the secret and shamefaced. but conrotl-
ing appetites of men that the clever man
ipulate them. To get man 10 vote for
the right you must show him that he is vOt-
ing for the personally profitable And very
slow he is to believe that what~is right can
be practically profitable. Have not the
preachers been preaching the reverse al!
these years: have they not been insisting
that to do right means treasure IN Heaven
only?
II was In my second term senator to-
ward the middle of it. l was speaking one
afternoon in defense of measure for the
big contributors. which the party was fore
ing through the Senate in face of fire from
the whole country. Personally, l did not
approve the measure. 1t was a frontal at
tack upon public opinion. and frontal at
tacks are as unwise and as unnecessary
In politics as in war. But the party leaders
In the nation insisted, and as the move
would weaken their hold upon the party
and so improve my own chances l was not
deeply aggrieved that my advice had been
rejected Toward the end of my speech,
aroused by applause from the visitors gal
lery, / forgot myself and began to look up
there as | talked instead of addressing my
self to my fellow senators. The eyes of a
speaker always wander over his audience
in search of eyes that respond. My glance
wandered. unconsciously, until 1t found an
answering glance that fixed 1t.
This answering glance was not responsive,
even approving. 1t was the reverse
and. in spite OF me, II held me. At first
IL was just pair of eyes, in the shadow
of the brim of a womans hat, the rest of
the face the rest of the woman hid by
those In front and on either side. There
a movement among them, and the
whole face appeared--and / stopped short
In my speech. l saw only the face, really
only the mouth and the eyes-the lips and
the eyes Of Elisabeth Crosby-an express