Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-30
Jekyns and Bydes.
By GRAHAM HOOD.

You have read Robert Louis Steven
sons remarkable story, DIR. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde: but how did it affect you?
Did you regard it merely a psyche
logical story-an exhibition Of the abb
normal side in one mans nature. which.
while interesting enough when portrayed
SO graphically, had no real application
to the general run of humanity?
I have talked with many people who
have read Stevenson's book. or who
have seen the play which was adapted
from the story, and 1 regret to be COM
PEELED to say that in the majority OF
cases the lesson missed fire. They
some or more or less improbable; but
practically nobody said: 1T took right
hold of me; it gripped me so hard that
I didn't get over it for a week: IL Is
SO perfect a picture of the struggle con-
stantly going on in my own SOUL
/ wonder If it is true that moral les
sons when taught by means of the novel
and the drama often miss fire to this
marked degree. Certainly DIR. Jekyl
and Mr.. Hyde" is a story that ought to
impress it's moral upon its readers most
emphatically, yet they seem to miss the
point il We may judge from those with
whom 1 discussed the book. They do
any personal meaning for them, and IL
Stevenson, with all his art and all his
appreciation Of human weaknesses and
needs. could not make people see them
selves in the picture he painted, what
is the use of the moral tale or the
problem play" anyway?
But to get back to DR. Jekyll and MI.
Hyde" 1t is the story OF the abnormal
development OF mans mental weak
nesses yet il is not so abnormal as TO
be an untrue picture of life. In every
one of us there is the dual nature that
maintains constant struggle. There
are the good traits and the evil traits.
battling against one another for suprem-
acy In some men the good traits tri-
umph and we say that they are good
men" In others the evil traits get the
upper hand, with the result that these
men are condemned and often sent to
prison or executed.
1t is the story of DIR. Jekyll reproduced
in real life. The worst mep who have
ever lived have had good traits which
came to the surface at tim eS In their
lives. History describes many persons
who We're abnormally evil and who did
a great deal of harm i'm the world. yet.
in nearly every instance. history also
relates that these individuals have ex-
hibited, under certain conditions. amaz-
ingly tender hearts. surprising integrity.
great depths of human sympathy.
And what does this mean? Simply
that these people whom the world calls
wicked are suffering from an abnor-
NAL Developments development i'm the
wrong direction. And. so far as We who
sit in judgment upon them are con-
cerned, it may be by the merest hairs
breadth that We have escaped the fate
from which they suffer. There isn't one
of us who couldn't descend to the low
est depths of infamy were We once to
start in that direction and let ourselves
CO. Within each of us are the qualities
of the saint and the qualities of the
demon, one as eager for development as
the other. What kind of a person do
we elect to become? 1t is all a question
of election-of determination-of strength
Of will.
Dr. Jekyll in the beginning. probably
had temptations no stronger than those
which attack many of us. Had ne re-
sisted them the story of his dual life
would never have been written. Instead
of resisting, however he submitted to
the appeal of his lowe: nature, and SO.
gave these traits of character
so strong a hold Upon him that resistance
became next to impossible
And there Is not one of us who could
not shape. a destiny as sad as that OF
DIR. Jekyll il we We're to be weak as
he. This is the point that Stevenson
tried to make. This is the point that
many Of his readers have missed.