The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-30

' Aeic uduSnler Gods china
but I consider her mine. too ar 5"md'
most grateful 10 Him for giyin 1a m
to me. But that Christian Set neF
mother had no human, tndiyidnaI ace A
lection for her child at all! u
ROBINSON CRUSOE AND TRmw
Would Robinson Crusoe's Lot uau
Been Happier Had His Man Fr,dax
Been q Woman?
columbia State.J
h boys and girls OF a literary -
ciety in Pennsylvania discussed tho
other day h interesting Question
Would Robinson Crusoe's lot have
been happier had his Man FRIDAY hean
a woman" The girls cbos. tba
affirmative. and argued ardentlv in
favor of the feminine companion for
Cruso on his island Eden. The bows
stoutly stood up for Friday as a bet.
ter every day and every weather com.
rade in exile. It is an unimportant
and u~nessential detail that the audi.
ence rendered judgment in favor o..
a una chum for Cruso. The cues.
ton was one for Robinson alone. while
the audience probably was consider
ing h charming girls, any one Of
w I1OA1 u1dy have 1ldOS the wilderness
of Juan Fernandez, or M~as-a-T4erra az
the Chileans call it. blossom like the
rose.
The question is in itself of perennial
interest-which makes the better
friend or companion for a man. a
man or a woman? AS to the broad
general problem we believe that most
Of the men that have gone deepest
into the study Of the mind decided in
favor Of woman Such. we believe.
we may accept as the Judgment Of
DAMS, Homer. Shakespeare, Brown
ing, BalZac. We bar from the dis
cussion the philosophers and a~scetics.
who would exclude woman from their
hmbos and systems. 1t seems to he
the accepted opinion that woman
makes the better and more faithful
friend. There are some great friend
ships in history and fiction between
men-Jonathan and David. Damon
and Pythias, Achilles and Patroclus.
to name only a few: though we could
readily oppose to these the equal and
more beautiful friendships between
men and women friendships that ele-
waited character, inspired noble litera~
ture or heroism, and that have served
and still serve as the inspiration to
virtue and to love.
It is hardly remarkable that soma
later writer's, like Stevenson and
Crusoe 70 have a woman for compan-
ion instead OF the savage Friday. but
we do not think they leave us the I'M
preston that the lonely man was nap
pier. Old Umar thought he couid
cry Peace to Mahmud on his golden
throne" if he could only have his
ideal of a beloved companion in a
asst solitude:
A book Of verses underneath the
bough.
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread-and
thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness
Oh, wilderness were Paradise eloW.
Even the sedate old Cowper, who
sang those terribly depressing hnes
on Alexander Selkirk, the marooneo
buccaneer whose experience OF lo1i
years residence on Juan teTDahueI
suggested Robinson Crusoe to Deloe'
would probably have decided IN 14'ol
OF a woman cmDanton-sWeet Ma.
Unwin. no doubt~to tell him 'H@'
solitude is sweet"
I praise the Frenchman, his feiiaIA
was shrewd-
How sweet, how passing sweet Is SUR
tude!
But grant me still a friend m ply -
treat
Whom I may whisper, "Soh'-d' >
sweet.
But, as we began by saving. the
question is one for Crusoe, such d ~
creator made him. Both for the I"u9I
and ready man, half buccantrr am
all adventurer. Alexander n
and for his image-in fiction, RON
son Crusoe, a woman compah'o-
the ~desolation and struggle aNo 49,
tai anguish Of exile on Juan f9'H%Ta
deZ, would have been lnlpo9' n
Defoe's genius revealed its SAM a.
gertrude when he chose the cruz
savage, Friday, for Cruso' -'"
paniOn-