The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-04-22
NO SURRENDER
Mana Indomitab1e Courage In the Face
Of 6tupendous Dangers.

Man,s Indomitab1e Courage In the Facs
Of Stupendous Dangers.
Mans unwillingnes to yield to cir
cumstances Is one Of his most impress
sive characteristics. Sometimes It
seems to be mere stubbornness, I'M
reasoning and purbdnd. Far more
often, however, 1t is admirable In a
high degree, betokening the supremacy
If mind over matter and the primacy
of man among created things. Over
many things man triumphs. over
many others he may never hope to
triumph. The elemental forces OF ma
ture are beyond his control. Before
such a catastrophe as that which oc-
CURED in the Windward Isles, for ex-
ample, man, with all the knowledge
Of the schools and all the resources OF
twentieth century civilization, Is as
helpless as the cattle of the fields and
the worms Of the dust. One witness
of the destruction of st. Pierre says
the people persisted like flies. The de-
scription is accurate, and its sugges-
ton is q true one. The flies of an
hour, the gnats that dance in sum-
liner sunbeam, are not more helpless
than man in the face of such con-
vulsion of nature, says the New York
Tribune.
Yet man remains defiant and indOm-
table. Pompen was and Herculaneum
was; yet Naples is, and it nesetles
fearlessly at the foot of their still
restless and menacing destroyer. To
day the horror stricken world says OF
st. Pierre that it was, but it Is no
more. Yet tomorrow men will found
new city at the base Of that same
Raid mountain which has done this
awful deed. A striking instance OF
such perseverance is seen in the
neighboring island of St Vincent,
which has suffered less only than
Martinique. Its great sulphur noun
tain erupted ninety years ago with ap-
palling violence and devastation.
Forthwith some said the island should
be abandoned, and the British govern
ment actually began to make plans Tor
the entire removal Of the people and
the distribution of them among other
islands less menaced by volcanic action.
But soon the idea was given up, and
the people remained, some 10000 OF
them, clinging resolutely to some 1872
square miles of beautiful and fertile
but ominously unstable land. To-day
the revival and execution Of those
plans are suggested, even urged. But
doubtless this, too, will pass, and for
all the throes Of La Soufriere the
people of st. Vincent-those who are
left of them-will remain where they
are. There will be no surrender.
It Is the same trait that causes the
Finn and the Icelander to cling to
their semi-arctic homes rather than to
seek more genial and more fertile re-
gions, and the Switzer and Highlander
to prefer their rugged rocks and cliffs
to the soft, smooth lowland plains. It
IS the same spirit that nerves man to
endure pain and trouble, to repress
the groan and tear, and to meet with
smile the darkest frowns of disap-
pointment and misfortune. Columbus
bidding his mutinous crew "Sail on"
and Palsy burning his house to keep
his furnace raging, and Gordon serene
~ awaiting his martyrdom at Khar-
toum were similar types Of the uncon-
uuerable man who knows not how to
frame the word "surrender." There
are those who would desert st. Vim
cent and Martinique, who would aban-
don all efforts to reach. the North
Pole, who would yield, defeated at the
first touch Of elemental rage. They
also would have had Columbus turn
back in midvoyage and every great
inventor stop work in despair at fail
ure of his first or his f1fueth expert
ment Controlled by faint hearts, the
world would know no progress. Those
who lead mankind forward and up
ward are those whose watchword,
even in HOPELESS sacrifice, is mo sur
rnndorpS