The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-05-23

terialization thru this art; the sound
Ing harmonies of unsung songs that
begged to be born to the waiting world.
And the great characters of history
passed by as a great, glorious army in
his mind; and misunderstood as the
greatest of them were in their time and
among their generation, and had been
contln ually misunderstood. They
wanted him to explain to the world their
true personalities and the mission they
were sent to perform, but could not
because they came to their own: but
their own did not know them, neither
wanted to understand them. And
then came the personalities and the in
stltutions, the law and the prophets,
the government and the governed, the
naughty and the class proud, rich and
educated, and the poor and ignorant,
whose faces were ground by the other
class every day in his sight and of his
own time.
Here let me mention a cartoon he
made. Late. one evening he had seen
poor widow with four young children
in rags and weeping bitterly, being
evlcted from rented hut belonging to
two rich, greedy and hard-hearted men,
who, nevertheless, were regarded as
pillars of society and the church. The
widow and the children, too, had worked
and shaved for these two men in their
kitchen, in their cellars, in their gar
dens and by washing and ironing their
clothes, but were paid such an abomi-
nable pittance for their work that they
were unable to pay even the small rent
with 1t, not to mention the most neces-
sary things of life. And on a certain
date late in the fall, bitterly cold, the
police OF the locality were sent to evict
that poor family and throw their hum
BILE belongings into the street. Ibsen
passed by and heard and saw. He was
about nineteen or twenty years of age
at the time. When he arrived home
he went direct to his room and placed
paper and pencil before him and start
ed to work. In this cartoon, two fat,
bellowy men with greedy eyes, very
red of face and blowed out cheeks, are
seen standing with their chubby hands
and nervous fingers on their knees,
eagerly looking into huge machine,
that grinds and grinds; and what does
it grind? Human beings, old and
young, men and women and children,
all partly or wholly In rags. Some of
them give shrieks of fear, some pray,
some weep, some sigh, and the chill
dren cry like lost ones. They are
turned in at one end of the machine as
living human beings, at the other end
they come out as gold, that has a blood
like lustre about it and drops into
baskets at the feet of the two, who are
crying all the time: "More. more!
This fact proves eminently that the
grand, illustrious dramatist and uthor
to be was not void of the finer senti-
ments of the heart. He simply was too
proud and too great to placate them
for mobilize society, who would not
have cared to understand or appreciate
him anyhow. Because it is histor-
ical fact, that no matter how great the
prophet, no matter how much his mis-
sion is needed at the time and by the
people he is sent to, he is never hon.
ored by his own country, and especial
ly in his own immediate locality.
About this time young Ibsen went
to the capital of Norway to enter an
academy as student. Poor as he
was, his school days heightened into
years and was not of the inspiring
or enjoyable kind. He often suffered
hunger and want and had to fight his
way thru many miseries. But he kept
doggedly at his studies and prepared
himself for the great mission before
him. While yet student he wrote his
first drama, entitled aCatilina," or Cati-
line, as the name is given in English.
1t was q dramatical study of the con-
ditions, events and characteristics of
the institutions OF Rome and her
classes and leading men, that lead up
to Catiline's Benedict Arnold act inbe-
traying his country and it's cause.
Ibsen minimized the fault or crime Of
Catiline and enlogizee that historical
PERSONS good sides and tries to prove
that. instead Of his act being of a GRIM
inal nature, It was an act of true, far