Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-14
XIV.
Retrospective.

Show me those invisible, imperceptible
steps by which mans honor hrst de-
scends: show me the way back to the Sc
rene altitude of clean conscience, and will
undertake to enlighten you upon the secret
of every great historical event, tragic or
otherwise. If you will search history care
fully you will note that the basic cause OF
all great events such revolutions, civil
strfes political assassinations, foreign
wars and race expressions lay not in men S
honor so much as in some one mans dis
honor. A man, having committed a dis
honorable act, may re-establish himself IN
the eyes of his fellow-beings, but ever and
ever he silently mocks himself and dares
not look into the mirror of his conscience.
Honor is comparative, as every one will
agree. Ii is only in the highly developed
mind that 1t reaches its superlative state
Either this man becomes impregnable to
the assaults of the angel of the pitch-robes,
or he boldly plunges into the frightful
DlackneSS which surrounds her. The great
greed of power, the great greed OF wealth,
the great greed of hate, the great greed of
jealousy and the great greed of love- only
these tempt him.
Now. of dishonors, which does man hold
in the greatest adherence? This question
needs bordering. 1t may be answered
simply. The murderer, the thief and the
rogue-we look upon these callously. But
Judas, Treachery to our country! This Is
the nadr of dishonor: nothing could be
blacker. We never stop to look into the
causes, nor does history, that most upright
and impartial Of judges; we brand in
stantly. Who can tell the truth about Judas
Iscariot, and Benedict Arnold, and the host
of others? / can almost tolerate Judas
who betrays for a great love- There seems
to be a stupendous elimination of self in
the who betrays for those he loves,
Drawing the consequences, the ignominy,
the dshonor, the wretchedness: otherwise
l should not have undertaken to write this
bit of history.
To betray friend. that is bad: to be-
tray a woman, that is still worse; but
to betray ones country!-to commit an
act which shall place her at the mercy of
her enemies! All, the ignoble death of the
men who were guilty of this crime! And
if men have souls, as we are told they have,
how the souls of these men must writhe as
they look into the minds of living men and
behold the horror and contempt in which
each traitors name is held there!
Have you ever thought of the legion of
men VINO have been thrust back from the
very foot of this preclpice, either by cir
cumstances or by the revolt of conscience?
These are the men who re-eStablish them
selves in the eyes of their felloW-beings, but
who forever silently mock themselves and
dare not look into the mirror of their con-
sciences.
In this world motive is everything. A
bad thing may be done for good purpose,
or, the other way around. This is the story
of a crime. the motive of which was good.
Once upon a time there lived a soldier
gentleman born courtier, a man of fine
senses, of high integrity, of tenderness, of
courage; he possessed a splendid physical
beauty, besides estates, and a comfortable
revenue, or rather, he presided over one.
Above all this, he was the father of a girl
who worshiped him, and not without rea-
What mysterious causes should set
to work to ruin this man, to thrust him
from light into darkness? What step led
him to attempt to betray his country, even
in times of peace, to dishonor his name.
name his honesty had placed high on the
rolls of glory? What defense can he offer?
Well, l shall undertake to defend him; let
yours be the verdict.
Enforced idleness makes a criminal of
poor man; 1t urges the man of means to
travel. Having seen his native land it was
only natural that my defendant should de-
sire to see foreign countries. So accom-
panied by his child, he went abroad, visited
the famous capitals, and was the guest of
honor at his country'S embassies. 1t was
a delightful period. Both were as happy
as fate ever allows a human being to be-
The father had received his honorable dis
charge, and till recently had held respon-
sible position in the War Department. His
knowledge had proved of no small value to
the government, for he was born strate-
gist, and his hobby was the coast defenses
He never beheld a plan that he did not re-
produce it on the back of an envelope on
any handy scrap Of paper, and then pore
over it through the night. He had com
mitted to memory the smallest details, the
ammunition supplies of each fort, the num-
Der of guns, the garrison, the pregnabIe
and impregnable sides. He knew the re-
source of each, too; that is to say, how
quickly aid could be secured, the nearest
transportation routes, what forage might
be had. He had even submitted plans for
a siege gun.
One day, in the course of their travels,
the father and daughter stopped at Monte
Carlo. Who hasn't heard of that city of
fever? Who that has seen it can easily
forget its gay harbor, It's beautiful walks,
Its crowds its music, its hotels, its white
temple of fortune? Now, my defendant
had hitherto ignored the principally of
Monaco. The tales of terror which had
reached his ears did not progresses him in
it's favor. But his daughter had friends there,
and she wanted to see them. There would
be dances on the private yacht, and din
ners, and teas, and fireworks. On the third
night of his arrival he was joined by the
owner of the yacht a millionaire banker
whose son was doing the honors as host |
believe that there was musicale on board
that night, and as the banker wasn't par
ticularly fond of this sort of entertain
ment, he invegled his soldier friend to ac-
company him on a sightseeing trip. At
midnight they entered the temple of for
tune At first the soldier demurred: but
the banker told him that he hadn't seen
Monte Carlo unless he saw the wheel 60
around. So, laughing thew entered the
halls.
The passion for gaming is born in us all,
man and woman alike, and is conceded by
wise analysts to be the most furious of all
passions and the most lasting In some.
happily. the serpent sleeps forever, the fire
is forever banked But it needs only the
opportunity to rouse the dull ember into
flame, to stir the venom of the serpent 1t
seems simple thing to toss a coin on the
roulette boards. Sometimes the act is done
contemptuously sometimes indifferently,
sometimes in the spirit of fun and curios-
ity; but the result is always the same
The banker played for while, won and
lost, lost and won. The soldier put his
hand into pocket and drew forth five
franc piece. He placed it on a number.
The angel in the pitch robes is always w.
ing in wait for man to make his first bad
SEP; SO she urged fortune to let this ma i,
win. 1t Is an unwritten law, high I'D on
Oiyn pus that the gods must give to the
gods; only the prayers of the mortals go
unanswered.
So my defendant won. He laughed like
boy who had played marbles for keeps"
and had taken away his opponents agates.
His mind was perfectly innocent of any
wrongdofng. That night he won a thou
sand francs. His real first bad step was in
hiding the escapade from his daughter The
following night he won again. Then he
dallied about the flame till one night the
lust of his forebears shone forth from his
eyes. The venom of the serpent spread
the ember grew into fame. His daughter,
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