The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-31

. devil, sealing the bond with his blood. If he strives at the last evil is destroyed and goodness triumphs. I said that Faust excites no moral sympathy. In this how unlike Hamlet, or that wondrous creation King Lear, or Dante, in the Divine Comedy, is hel He is not man hard pressed by fierce temptation. He seeks temptation and sneers at 1t. Instead of his experiences quieting the turbulence and passionate restless of his soul and bringing out of Its heart-depths his better nature. he is except at the last moment, rendered less human, less considerate of others and a repulsive egoism fills him entirely. Po- sltion makes him imperious and wealth brings heartlessness. See this Illustrated by the repulsive covetousness that en- vies the old brown hut where two aged people dwell the linden grove, and the bit of land on which stands simple little chapel Faust raves whenever he hears the chapel bells ringing, and loses him. self in scovetousness when he sees the brown hut and the cluster of lindens Mephisto suggests the removal of the old people, to which Faust makes reply:
 "Go; to remove them be thy care"
 How they were removed is explained immediately thereafter. The darkness of night has fallen upon the earth; the old warden is in his watch-tower and he sings his song is interrupted; he sees a strange light in the distance. and thus describes the scene:
 What dire vision-horror waking From yon dark world now scares mine
 eyes?
 Fiery sparkles see I gleaming
 Through the lindens twofold night By the breezes famed, their beaming Gloweth now with fiercest light; An, the peaceful hut is burning; Stood it's moss-grown walls for years. They for speedy help are yearning- And no rescue, none appears:
 An, the aged folk, so kindly,
 Once so careful of the fire,
 Now prey to smoke, they blindly Perish, O. misfortune dire.
 Mid reddened flames, the vision dazing Stands the moss-hut black and bare; From the hell so fiercely blazing Could we save the honest pair? Lightning like the fire advances, Mid the foliage, 'mis the branches; Withered boughs-they flicker, burning Swiftly glow, then fall-Ah me! Must mine eyes this woe discerning, Must they so far-sighted be?
 Down the lowly chapel crashes, Meath the branches fall and weight; Winding, now the pointed flashes, To the summit climb, elate.
 Roots and trunks the flames have
 blighted,
 Hollow. purple red, they glow;
 Gone what once the eye delighted, With the ages long ago"
 Of course Faust regretted the disaster; he was always regretting something. And yet, he does not seem to have sense of moral horror at the knowledge of his wrong doing at any time. Sin is an error, foul deeds are not pleasant to the mem- ory, and for the time they annoy; but this is all, for they are soon forgotten. Regret is not repentance. Of the base deed that destroyed the home of the old people. he said:
 Rash mandate; rashly. too obeyed--
 What hither sweeps like spectral shade"
 Then enter the shadowy forms. the tor menting spirits that emerge from the cloud of smoke borne towards him by the winds, presaging Faust's death. These spirits appear as four gray women, their names being Want. Blame. Need, and Care. end oome to EAust ct midnight and