The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-06-05
Architects Of Fate.


Architects of Fate.
It was LongfeIlow who said that we
are "au architects OF Fate;' meaning
thereby that Fate is not an indomita-
bic monster. before whose mighty power
we must all succumb. but something that
we can, if we are strong enough and
worthy, wrest to our own purposes and
build to our own uses A common
enough expression In our language is
railing at fate" as if any good were
ever accomplished by railing. 1t is doing
that counts. It might be easier to strug
gle against what we are pleased TO call
an evil fate, If fate were something tan
gible. to be seen and recognized and so
subdued. Lew Wallace had some such
thought in his mind when he wrote:
'The quarrel is with fate It
were well In such quarrels, IL fate were
something tangible, to be dispatched with
look or blow, to speaking parsonage
with whom high words were possible;
then the unhappy mortal would not al
ways end the affair by Furnishing him
SELF
Among our forefathers OF long ago the
Fstes had all the attributes OF the lesser
gods; it was decreed that the workings
of the Fates were immutable; It was, in
a measure, impious to combat them.
Seneca, the wise philosopher, said that
Fate made his circuit. and '1f for a time
iteth them. He aaiicteth some more
rarely. and others more often. but he
leaveth nothing free and exempt from
evil''
To the Greeks there may have been
some comfort in such a philosophy as this.
which so easily could be made use OF to
account for failure. Fate was too strong
for me" was often a ready excuse. But
to accept this philosophical dictum is not
in the modern spirit. It would eliminate
all striving all battling with evil and
twisting good things to evil uses. man
might sit down and fold his hands, NUT
tering to himself:
There's a divinity that shapes our ends.
ROugh-hew them how we will"
Or. quite without hope of accomplishing
anything against Fate, we might quote
Shakespeare again to the effect:
What fates impose, that men must needs
abide;
T. boo.- vos g., -a.sss t,o4t, -
But this is not true. and never was
true Wind and tide both against US. is
it not our glorious privilege to strive TO
make the harbor? Against the adverse
ties of Fate we may fashion weapons in
the strength Of our souls-our hopes. our
sorrows, our despairs.
What right have we. in this workaday
world, to rail at Fate? We are not ON
niscient yet, and it is not given US to tell
what effect to-day's happenings will have
on the morrow. The i'll that seems so
unreasonable now, may it not, after all,
be but a blessing in disguise?
Fate holds the strings. and men, like
children, move
But as they're led
AS Lord Lansdowne wrote; and Butler,
in 'HudIbras." gave expression TO the
same thought:
Success. the mark no mortal wit
Or surest hand can always hit;
For whatsoever We perpetrate.
We do but row, were steered by fate"
And that is true! We are but voyagers
on the ship OF life. Fate steerst All that
is given US to do is TO work the ship, trim
the sails, and TO keep on striving. conf
dent in the belief that all our labor is
not wasted; that some day. without fail,
we shall reach the port. 1t may not be
the FL Dorado Of our desires. but it may
hap to be a fair land that the Fates have
prepared for US. where it may be given us
to work out our own salvation. II we be-
lieve this and act on our belief, we can
obey. with cheerful heart, Bailey, who,
in his ''Festus." cries
Fulfill thy fate! Be-do-bear-and
thank Cod"
That is the spirit that conquers evil
circumstance and adverse fate. TIE diff
ficulties of life may threaten to over
whelm us; our dearest friends may hold
aloof; those we love arm themselves with
a silence that we cannot penetrate; and
all our ambitions and our labor may
seem to be in vain.
But If we cultivate strength of soul we
shall learn, II we must, to stand alone
and, whatever the pain at the heart, to
smile cheerfully at Fate's grimmest jests.
And that is true strength. never 10 have
10 say with Bohn:
my fate depends alone on you.
l am but what you make me:
Divinely blest in you prove true,