The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-05-19
shslls WesBe Able Some Day To- Resui
late Their Course.
prasFfse SIaeterlinck "a N. Y. Ameri.

late heir Course.
Maurice Maeterlinck In n. Y Ameri:
can.
M are living Just at a moment
when thousand new reasons for
having confidence in the destinies Of
OH Kind are being born around us.
For hundreds and hundreds Of cen.
turtles we have occupied this earth,
and theSgreatest dangers seem past
Tkey were So Threatening that we
lave escaped them only by chance
that cannot occur more than once in
Thousand times IN the history Of the
worlds.
The earth, still young, was poising
continents, its islands and Its seas
before fixing them. The central fire,
die first master Of the planet, was at
ssveryS moment bursting from Its gran
te prison, and the globe, hesitating
III space, wandered among greedy and
4 hostile! stars, ignorant Of their laws.
Our undetermined difficulties float.
al blindlyS in our bodies like the nebu.
ne in8the ether-a mere nothing
could have destroyed our human flu.
tureS al the grouping hours when our
brain was forming itself, when the
network 81 our nerves were branch.
ing out.
To-Day the instability Of the seas
md the uprising of the central fire
arefniniteIy less to be feared: in any
Ease 4 8isSunlikely that they will bring
about any more universal catastro.
phes. AS for the third peril, the COLI
zion with a stray star, we may be per-
mittedEthat We shall be granted the
lew centuries OF respite necessary for
IS stoslearn how to ward It off.
When we see what we have done
ind what we are on the point Of doing
Il IS not absurd to hope that some day
ne shall lay hold Of the essential sec.
ret of the worlds, which for the time
being v ! have called the law Of gray.
nation.
There Is nothing mad in supposing
That the secret Of this sovereign force
ICES hidden within us or around us
min reach o our hand.
4 Is perhaps tractable and docile
! as light and electricity. 1t il
perhaps wholly spiritual and depend.
1I1rsa very simple cause which the
dfspracing of an object may reveal t
us. The discovery Of an unexpected
property OF matter, analogous to tina
SHtcil has Just disclosed to us the dis
cuncerting qualities Of radium, ma.
lead us straight to- the very sources o
heEenergy and life Of the stars, ant
rm that moment mans lot would b,
changed, and the earth definitely say
ed, would become eternal.
II would, at our pleasure, draw
aloser to and further from the cen
tersof heat and light,it would he'
ronwornout suns and go in searcl
b the unexpected fluids, forces an
lives the orbit of virgin and inc,
haustible worlds.
Egrant that all this is; full Of que.
donable3 hopes, and it would be a
most as reasonable to dispair Of tn
d%estniesS of man. But already 1t
much that the choice remains poss
bic and that hitherto nothing has bee
decided against us.
Every hour that passes increase
our chances Of holding out and CO..
q9ering.
ttmay be said, ! know, that fro
The point Of view of beauty, EMO
ment and harmonious underestimate
Of life, some nations-the Greeks az
Romans at the commencement Of Il
empire, for instance-were superior
ourselves. The fact, nonetheless, !
mains that the sum total of civlli1
fionssuch as that Of Athens, Rome
Alexandria, formed but a lumino
islet which was threatened on eve
side, and which ended by being sw
loved ups the savage ocean that s
rounded 1t,
n SSowadays-apart from the Yell
Peril (which does not seem seriou:
itis nos1onger possible for a barbar:
Invasion to make us lose in a t
aays&ou essential conquests. Z
barbarian can no longer come fr
without; they would issue from
fields and from our cities, from
shallow waters Of our wi life. Il
would be saturated with civilizat
Rhich they would lay claim to
astroy, and it is only by making use
sfts conquests that they would succ
IN depriving us Of its fruits. Til
AESSGSeWunld Wherefore. at worst he h,