The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-12-30
Y~EpcARlL,FF.

BY EDGAR lllFF.
An old saying has It that "the eye
sees only that Which It has the power
Of seeing" This II only . half truth,
for. strictly speaking. the eye does not
see ct all. Eyes are windows through
which something back Of the eye looks
out aod sess with more or less intelli-
gence. That something has been call
ed the mind. the BRAIN. the conscious
ego. or the soul. The newborn in
fant does not see anything beyond .
blur Of light and shade and IT'S world
y without form and void. With de-
veloping consciousness 1t begins to
really see and distinguish one object
from another. What Is it then that
really secs: Is it the soul of man?
But animals and birds see. Have
they souls? We know this, however.
that the more soulful" one is the
more he sees In this world of riddles
and wonders. And so Goethe was
right when he said that the eye sees
IN all things what 1t brings with it
the faculty of seeing" So
As an Illustration: You journey
across the American chain of lakes;
you are enraptured with the shore
scenery; the sun-rises and sunsets;
the moonlight on the ever-tossing
waters; the scurrying clouds by night,
or the quiet and eternal stars; the
shifting. fieecy summer clouds by day;
the far-off lighthouses; the gulls fol.
lowing the boat for food; the thou.
sands OF islands in Georgian Bay or on
the st. Lawrence river; the distant
hills. the wooded slopes; the great
rock on which Quebec stands; the
passing humAn-laden boats that sail as
gracefully as the swans OF AVIAN and
the life on your own boat. You have
met a man who sees none of these.
He 10 anticipating the next meal, won
dering what they will have to eat. Or
else he was fussing about being
"stung" because they charged him
85c for a PINT bottle of very poor
beer.
Take another illustration. An &C
quaintance once borrowed the six vol
umes Of your Giggon's Decline and
Fall Of the Roman Empire" determin.
ed to read them all because someone
told him he ought to. He did read
very word, but when he sighed over
he completion of his task he knew
less than before. His brain was in a
tumble and he could give no opinion
ipon this stupendous history. He
read with the eye only, unable to see
or, visualize anything beyond the
words. He saw no battle, no strug-
Cling races. none of the great social
and political movements which were
ploughing the earth for a new era and
a modern Europe.
Some persons can 60 around the
world and see nothing worth while.
Others need only to walk out In the
back yard or take little journey to
absorb enough to write a book So
the power Of really seeing is one of
the great gifts. 1t puts a man at one
with this wondrous thing we cali life.
Such a gift has fallen to two very
able and entertaining writer's of to-
day. One is Albert J. Beveridge. and
the other is Sven Hedin. the noted ex-
plorer and traveller OF Sweden Bev-
eridge's new book. What is Back of
the War;" and Hedin's volume called
With the German Armies in the
West" fully display the rare talents
OF observation in the writer's. Both
writer's have given us record of
facts relating to the Anglo-German
war, these fact having been cleaned
from mingling with persons high and
! low in Germany, France, Belgium and
England. Mr.. Beverage interviewed
the cabmen Of London, the most
humble workers in Germany, and the
most lowly in France. as we'll as the
great leaders in all of these countries
Side by side with his interview with
Emperor William are talks with the
common soldiers and prisoners OF war
DIR. Hedin followed the same rule
Neither Of these writer's Is pro-Ger-
man or pro-English, but both are un-