The Washington herald., 1908-04-28
THE OPTIMIST.

Il Is strange how some Of the old
axioms that take up a subject and seem
10 settle it, dogmatically. Sor all time, in
an epigram, need explaining. Take. for
instance. that saying. Facts are stub
born things first put into that concise
form by lie Sage in ell Bias whith.
alas. few people read nowadays
The truth of the matter is that facts.
so far from being fixed quantities. are
what the individual makes Of them. LIS
ten to Stevenson:
The word facts" Is. IN some ways. crucial I
have spoken Wilh JesIits and Ply1nonth Brethren.
mathenatieisns and poets, degmatic replcsns. and
dear old gentlemen IN bird s-eye necscloths, and
each understood the word facts ia an occult
sense Of his oRn. TFy as ! might I could get no
nearer the pEibeiple Of their division. What was
essential to them seemed 10 trivial or untrue.
We could come 10 compromise as 70 what vas,
OF what not. important 20 the life o. man
fuTn as We pleased, We all stood back 10 back ~
big ring and neither quarter Of the heagens,
with different mountain tops along the skyline ana
different consultations overhead. We had each o;
us some whimsy IN the brain, which We believed
TaoTe than aynthing else and which discoloTed all
experience 10 its oGu shade How would you have
people agree. when is deaf and the other blind
I think that there are few subjects
about which poets and philosophers have
bothered themselves 10 explain, so diff
cult to explain as this one Of facts. or
truth 1t is well enough that Ballou
says Truth is courage. that EpietetSs
declares truth to be immortal" that
Hawthorne calls it fantasy" and
Lowell says truth is simpIe;" but it
is plain 10 be seen that even the poets
do not agree. and that so far from truth
being simple-or even simple to explain
it is one of the most complex Of problems
with which poor human nature, per-
picked by many problems, has TO deal,
In an address on Democracy Lowell
came very near the mark, perhaps. when
he said:
Truth after ali. wears a different face to every
body, and 1t would be too tedious 70 wait until all
agreed. She is said 70 lie at the bottom Of a
Weli, foF the very reason, perhaps. that wboeFel
looks down IN seanh of her sees his 0En image al
the bottom. and is persuaded not only that be has
seen the Goddess but that she is far better locking
than be had imagined.
If It were true that facts were such
stubborn things. set things. as it were,
there could not we'll be differences OF
opinion about many matters and con-
verse would be we'll nigh impossible. If
a statement is incontrOyertible, that is
all you can say about it. Black is black
and white is white-y0u can't hammer
out any sort Of a dispute or exercise for
tho mind on that point II Is when we
seek 10 prove the truth of an assertion
that fire strikes from the mind and the
heart of man gets warm within him.
Mark Twain said IL was difference OF
opinion that makes horse races; il is
equally true that it is difference OF opin-
ion that makes conversation, and most
differences Of opinion are not differences
about the truth, but different ways Of
looking at the same truth. Stevenson.
in mis- essay on Talk and Takers" lays
down the proposition that there are only
three talkable subjects in the world.
That / am I, taat you are you, and that
there are other people dimly understood
TO be not quite the same as either
The gist Of the matter is that there are
facts in eveFything-some Of us can see
them, others cannot. Nothing that ever
was was wholly a tissue of lies. Rufus
Choate said:
All that happens in the world of nature and mar
every var, eTery peace, even horn Of prosperity
egery horn Of adversely eveTy election every death
every life. every saccess. and every failure. al
change. al peETnaneuce, the perishsd leaf, the uG
u1teFable glory q the stars-aH things speak trntt
10 the thoughtful spirit
And so, if we are going TO cling TO the
old axiom that facts are stubborn
things" let US try and be quite sure that
We know what the facts are: let US seek
out the truth without didacticism: in
humility Of spirit. remembering that IT
Sc e-s-- 70 60 aF -Fs
dren, mostly-to know the truth when We
come across II, and 70 be grateful 10 any
genius who can point US 10 a glimpse