Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-07-23

and baccili that infest all things with which
man has 20 DO save boiled water that has
not set come into contact with the atmos-
phere. Mr.. Wells is not alone IN his
conception Of his supernal intelligence.
Mystios before him have dreamed OF immor-
tally and omnisoience, and OF the POSSIBLE
ity, even OF tho probability, Of man develop
ing to that state where he shall be az gods,
knowing good and evil" All speculation as
TO the ultimate man leads in the general
direction OF mental development at the ex-
pense OF the body, to the end that in time
man will be a creature OF the intellectual
alone, with no bodily emotions or sensa-
lions beyond the most meaEer TO consider,
and will be beyond the reach OF such sub
terfuges or expedients as now stir his ma
ture or arouse him to action.
Ultimate man will be very likely 70 be
devoid Of imagination; he will have wrested
from nature her last secret, and, master Of
all that Is to be known, win be deprived OF
the pleasure Of reaching out for the UNI
movable, or seeking TO frame some con-
crete and tangible conception Of the I'M
known. Without imainstion, he will deal
solely with facts; he will have attained
that unfortunate condition Of absolute rest,
because nothing will be- left for him to
discover, and thus he will have no spur to
activity. Possessed Of all knowledge, and
master Of all conditions. he will be the
most miserable OF creatures, for past,
present and future will all be alike to him.
q deadly waste OF monotonous certainty,
UNMARRIED by sensation or surprise. Ulti-
mate man will have none OF the present day
limitations to contend against, nor win he
know the rapturous Joy Of the inventor or
discoverer, nor the eager anticipation with
which the world OF waiting minds hangs on
the announcement that another step has
been made into the darkness in which We
now grope Ultimate man is not to be en-
We'd, II speculation as to his probable con-
dition be even approximately correct.
.
What has this got to do with the theater,
or how does the theater IN any way tend
to establish the fact that ultimate man
will be without his intellectual pleasures
even IL he has absorbed all that Is and Is
to be known? Simply this: Reduced to its
final analysis the stage is a place where
our imagination is stimulated where our
fancy is tickIed and where our emotions,
either elementary or of the higher degree,
are. appealed to and called into activity.
Just as man has advanced, 50 the theater
has made progress. Each forward step in
civilization has been marked In some de-
gree by an advance in stage methods and
attributes. And mans course is more and
more toward the concrete With the diff
fusion Of knowledge comes the turning OF
the imagination TO more practical things,
and the poetry and romance of life is lost
amid the solemn march Of protentous
facts. Maurice Maeterlinck not very long
ago went so far as to say that even God
had been eliminated from human calcula-
lions, and seriously propounded the state
ment that the drama Of the future would
deal with questions as practically deter
mined, eliminating the essence of unreality
that permeates all the works of past writ
ers. This conclusion may be somewhat in
advance of general thought, but it has
something of weight behind it. Man has
long since ceased to attribute to the agency
or interference of the supernatural that
which is not Immediately explicabie; nova
days we seek an explanation of any phe-
nomenon, no matter where exhibited, in
such facts as we have at hand and by APP
plying our limited knowledge of nature s
operations we come to an understanding
more or less lucid without ascriblng the
demonstration to a direct manifestation of
the approval or displeasure of one or many
gods. This is with all due regard to the
course Of the Russians, who sent ikons to
Manchuria when they should have sent
soldiers. Mankind still ascribes to the
Deity all the attributes claimed for him in
the beginning. but seeks for the solution
of strange or unusual happenings in a
more practical way than was once the
custom.
with this freedom Of thought has come
a demand for exactness and accuracy OF
statement that is respected by all who
make any pretense to intellectual attain
ment Writers OF drama or fction must
now be as absolutely correct in their es-
sential premises as the mathematician.
Shakespeare was permitted to land one of
his herolnes on the seacoast of Bohemiai
Scott, wasn't 1t, who killed character in
one chapter and resurrected him little
later, when he was needed? George Eliot
had carpenter put the panels into door
after he had completed the frame. and, In
deed, o long list of anachronisms Of this
sort might be cited. yet these will sufice