The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-01-07
THE HOLY MAID
Mark Twain's Euolgy Of saint
Joan OF Arc"
Most Extraordinary Person
Race Has Produced.


Mark Twain contributes an article ell
titled Saint Joan of Are He says
that the official record of the trials and
tribuationS of Joan Of Arc is the most
remarkable history that exists in any
language, and he styles Joan as the
NEST extraordinary person the human
race has ever produced" Mr.. Clemens
concludes his sketch us follows:
We can understand how Joan of Arc
could be born with a military genius,
with lconine courage, with incomparl-
bic fortitude, with mind which was
in several particulars a prodigy
mind which included among it's spe-
cialties the lawyers gift of detecting
traps laid by the adversary in cunning
and treacherous arrangements of
seemingly innocent words, the orators
gift of eloquence, the advocates gift
Of presenting case in clear and COM
pact form, the judges gift Of sorting
and weighing evidence, and finally,
something recognizable as more than a
mere trace Of the statesman's gift Of
understanding political situation and
portunities as it offers; we can COM
prehend how she should be born with
these great qualities, but we cannot
comprehend how they became immedi-
ately disable and effective without the
developing forces of sympathetic at
mOsphere and the training which
comes Of teaching, study, practice,
years Of practice-and the help of a
thousand mistakes. We can under
stand how the possibilities of the fu-
ture perfect peach are all lying hid in
the humble bitter almond, but we can
not conceive the peach springing d.
rectly from the almond without the in
tervening long seasons of patient cult
walton and development. Out of cat
tle-pasturing peasant village lost in the
remoteness of an unvisited wilderness
and atrophied with ages of stupefac-
ton and ignorance we cannot see a
Joan of Arc issue equipped to the last
detail for her amazing career and hope
to be able to explain the riddle of it,
labor at it as we may.
1t is beyond us. All the rules fail in
this girls case. In the worlds history
she stands alone-quite alone. Others
have been great in their first public
exhibitions of genralship, valor, legal
talent, diplomacy, fortitude; but al
ways their previous years and associa-
tons had been in a larger or smaller
degree u preparation for these things.
There have been no exceptions to the
ule. But Joan was competent in law
case at 16 without ever having seen a
law book or a courthouse before; she
had no training in soldiership and no
associations with it, yet she was a
competent general in her first cam
paign; she was brave in her first battle,
yet her courage had no education-not
even the education which boys
courage gets from never-ceasing re-
minders that it is not permissible in
mimi iiniiinun uu ufn .;:;;TAO N
a boy to be a coward, but only in a
girl; friendless alone, ignorant, in the
blossom of her youth, she sat week
after week, prisoner in chains, before
her assemblage Of judges, enemies
hunting her to the death, the ablest
minds in France, and answered them
out of an untaught wisdom which over
matched their learning, baffled their
tricks and treacheries with a native
Sagacity which compelled their Won
der, and scored every day victory
against these incredible odds and
camped unchallenged on the field. In
the history of the human intellect, un-
trained, inexperienced, and using only
it's brthright equipment. of untried
capacities, there is nothing which ap-
proacllcs this. Joan Of Arc stands
alone, and must continue to stand
alone, by reason of the unfellowed fact
that in the things wherein she was
great she was so without shade or sug-
gestion of help from preparatory teach
ing practice, environment or expert
encc. There is no one to compare her
with, none to measure her by; for all
others among the illustrious grew to-
wards their high place in an atmos-
phcre and surroundings which discov-
cred their gift to them and nourished
lit, Intentionally or unconsciously. There
have been other young generals. but
they We're not girls: young generals,
but they have been soldiers before
they were genrals; she began as n
general; she commanded the first army
she ever saw; she led it from victory
to victory, and never lost battle with
it; there have been young commanders
in-chief, but none so young as she;
she is the only soldier in history who
has held the supreme command Of
nations armies at the age of II.
Her history has still another feature
which sets her apart and leaves her
without fellow or competitor: there
have been many uninspired prophets,
but she was the only one who ever VEN
tured the daring detail of naming,
along with foretold event. the events