Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1913-05-16
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THE MAN OF IMAGINATION
(Robert G. Ingersoll.)


say, Of genius-having seen a leaf and
Il drop of. water, can construct the for
ests, the river and the seas. In his
presence all the cataracts fall and
foam, the n,ists rise, the clouds form
and float.
Really to know one fact is to know
its kindred and its neighbor. Shak-
espeare, looking at coat of mail, in
stantly imagined the society, the con-
ditions that produced it and what it
produced. He saw the castle, the moat,
the drawbridge, the lady in the tower
and the knightly lover squirting over
the plain. He saw the bold baron and
the rude retainer, the trampled serf
and all the glory and the grief Of
feudal life.
The man of imagination has lived
the life of all people, all races. He
was citizen of Athens in the days of
Pericles; listened to the elopuence of
the great orator and sat upon the cliff
and with the tragic poet heard "the
multitudinous laughter of the sea.'' He
saw Socrates thrust the spear Of ques-
tion through the shield and heart Of
falsehood; was present when the great
man drank hemlock and met the night
of death as TRANQUILITY as star meets
morning. he has followed the peri.
patetic philosophers, and has been
puzzled by the sophists. He has watch
cd Phidias as he chiseled shapeless
stone to forms of love and awe.
He has lived by the slow Nile amid
the vast and monstrous. He knows the
very thought that wrought the form
and features of the Sphinx. He has
heard great Memnon's warning song
has lain him down with the embalmed
and waiting dead and felt within their
dust the expectation of another life
mingled with cold and suffocating
doubts-the children born of long de-
lay.
He has walked the ways of mighty
Rome has "een great Caesar with his
legions in the field, has stood with vast
and molly throngs and watched the
triumphs given to victorious men, fol-
lowed by uncrowned kings, the cap
tured hosts and all the spoils of ruth.
less war. He has heard the shout that
shook the Coliseum Is roofless walls
when from the Keeling gladiator IS hand
the short sword fell, while from his
bosom gushed the stream of wasted
life.
He has lived the life of savage man,
has trod the forest 8 silent depths and
in the desperate game Of life or death
has matched his thoughts against the
instinct Of the beast.
He knows all crimes and regrets, all
virtues and their rich rewards. He has
been victim and victor, pursuer and
pursued, outcast and king-has heard
the applauses and curses Of the world
and on his heart have fallen all the
nights and moons of failure and sue
cess.
He knows the unspoken thoughts, the
dumb desires, the wants and ways Of
beasts. He has felt the crouching ii
gers thrill, the terror of the ambush
ed prey, and with the eagle he la.
shared ecstacy of flight and poise ant
swoop and he has lain with sluggish
serpents on the barren rocks, uncoil
ing slowly in the heat of noon.
He has sat beneath the DO tree
contemplative shade, rapt in Buddha :
mighty thought; and he has dreame,
all dreams that Light, the alchemist
hath wrought from dust and dew an,
stored within the slumbrous poppy
subtle blood.
He has knelt with awe and dread a
every shrine, has offered every sacri
fee and every prayer, has felt the con
ISOLATION and the shuddering fear, ha
seen all devils, has Knocked and wo,
shipped all the gods-enjoyed al
heavens, and felt the pangs of ever
hell.
He has lived all lives, and throug
his blood and brain have crept the sh
dow and the chill Of every death; an
his soul, Mazeppalike, has been lashe
, naked to the wild horse of every fea
and love and hate.
: The imagination hath stage will
in the brain, whereon he sets a
scenes that lie between the morn q
!, laughter and the night of tears, an
l