The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1911-08-10


yet the Prince of Wales. embodies the
tragedy of degeneracy. am not sure
but that Shakespeare s greatest tragedy
is not learpelted by the pitiless storm
out into which he has fled rather than
to submit to his unnatural daughters,
not Romeo and Juliet clasped in their
last embrace and not Macbeth
with his hands imbrued with the blood
of his host and sovereign, but Falstaff.
So in the Old Testament the sadest
pages are not those that tell of Jerus-
alem in heaps and her children led away
to captivity nor those that tell of the
prophets rejected and slain, nor even
that which tells of Cain, the first rur-
derer, but those that tell of Solomon
and those that tell of Saul. So in the
new Testament the great tragedy is
not that of Stephen, the first martyr,
nor even that of Jesus betrayed and
crucifed, but it is that of Judas who
was in the circle of the Masters teach
ing and who decended from the ranks
of the Disciples to be the apostate and
traitor. And this because the tragedy
of tragedies is the degeneration of
character full of fine powers that
might have seen turned to high and
noble uses; it is sad indeed for any life
to be lost. Every petal fallen from
the great flower # humanity and
blighted is loss to the creator "who
sees with an equal eye. as lord of all a
hero perish or sparrow fall" " But
viewed as men view it, the loss be-
comes more potent and the disaster
looms up more awfully whenit happens
in the case of one who was meant by
nature for great and wide usefulness.
1t seems more catastrophe. Deep
calls unto deep when the louder clamor
when the lost one is soul eminently
fitted for noble purposes, Falstatf chose
the primrose path that leads to the
everlasting bonfire when he might
have scaled the heights of Duty and
Purity. He might have become hero
and saint: He became degenerate.
AS Falstaff is drawn for us by his au-
thor, he starts out with a good name
and standing. He is more over gifted
with rich, rollicking, racy, humor,
and never failing fountain of wit and
laughter. But after the jesling is over
Reflection steps in and strikes another
note. Here is white haired old man
whose youth was full of promise.
How has this promise been fulfilled?
The bud of that flower is cankered.
Instead of an honorable place with
home, children, respect and influence,
he is in low tavern coming his bril-
liant wit into ribaldry among drunkards
and thieves. Humor is a choice gift
from Heaven. Joking-fun-gayety
-mirth, all this has large place in
life. But when these are sought in
dissipation, in lawless indulgence, then
as the Preacher says "It is the laugh
ter of fools" which "Is the cracking
of thorns under pot.
Falstaff is wonderfully attractive.
There is great magic about the man.
Rough, dull, Bardolph who has been
the butt of his witty jests, when he
hears of the Knights death, breaks out
into passion grief and calls out
"Would were with him wheresomever
he may be either in heaven or in HE'LL"
Drawn to Eastcncap Tavern by his
witchery is a young man in whose face
are the marks of genius. The day will
come when he will be hailed as the
greatest military commander of his
generation, He has turned,hi back on
his fathers court, is lowered by the
wicked old Knight, And not content
with the ruin of his own soul, that
hoary old reprobate is dragging the
youth less than half his age down to
the same moral abyss that has engulf-
ed him. What a power for good he
could have been! But he has sold him
self to do evil. And in time he finds
it bitterly true that he who sows to
the flesh must of the flesh reap corup-
ton. When Harry's father dies, and
the madcap Prince is crowned King,
Falstaff flies to London expecting
warm reception. But Harry has
changed. His fathers death has
brought him to himself. His new and
high responsibilities have sobered him.
The evil enchanter's wand is broken.
The young King sternly rebukes the
disappointed old libertine.
81 know thee not old man: fail to
thy prayers. How i'll white hairs be-
come a fool and jester! Presume not
Hal L L. i.