The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-17
HEINE AS PROPHET

The German attitude OF mind has
been the subject Of numerous dis
cussions since the war, but there are
many Americans who make a virtue
OF disclaiming any opinion on this
subject, writes 81. ST. of Brookline,
Mass, in a letter to the New York
Times All Judgment and appraisals
Of what constitutes Germanism, they
tell us are engendered by the passions
which the war has unleashed. But
the following deliheation Of the spirit
OF Kultur was written in 1895, before
kultur, as such, was born. AS a
prophetic forecast, this description
amounts to more than scrap Of
paper:
TT IL the fairest merit OF Christian
ity that 1t has somewhat mitigated
that brutal German gaudium GER
aminis, or joy in battle, but it could
not destroy it. And should that SUBJ
DUNG talisman, the cross, break,
then will come crashing and roaring
forth the wild madness Of the old
champions, the insane Berserker
I. and sing. That talisman is brittle,
and the day will come when it will
pitifully break. The old stone gods
will rise from 1ong-forgotten ruins
and rub the dust OF a thousand years
from their eyes. and Thor. leaping to
life with his giant hammer. will
crush the Gothic cathedrals! But
when those days shall come and yet
hear the stamping and ring Of arms,
guard We we'll. We neighbors' children,
We French, and put not forth your
hand into what we are doing in Ger
many, for verify evil will come upon
you for that. Beware lest We blow
the fre and take good heed that We do
not Quench It: We can in so doing all
too easily burn your fingers. And
laugh not at my advice, the advice of
q dreamer who warns you against
Kantiana Fitcheans, and philosophers
OF nature, nor at the dreamer who
awaits in the. world Of things to be
seen that which has been before in
the realm OF shadows. Thought goes
before the decd as lightning precedes
thunder. German thunder is indeed
German. and not in hurry. and it
comes rolling slowly onward; but
come II viii. and when We hear 1t
crash as naught ever crashed before
in the whole history OF the world,
then know that der deutsche Bonner,
our German thunder, has at last hit
0dRl06
will fall dead from on high, the lions
in ronaotest deserts in Africa will
draw their tails and creep into their
royal Caves. There will be played in
Germany a drama compared to
I which the French revolution will be
! only an innocent idyi, Just now all
/. IL toisratiy quiet, and IL here and
i there some pne behaves in a lively
I manner, do not believe therefore that
1 tho great actors have az yet appear
ed on the stage. They are only the
little dogs who run around the am
phitheatre and bark and bite one an
other before the hour begins when
the great army OF giadiaEers will en-
ter and war to the death or for life. u
+ These words show remarkable
insight into the workings OF the Ger
man soul, The prophecy they con-
tain II now enacted before our eyes
Ths man who ferssaw what is now
CuFaHY was not an "eutsider." He
was q German, one to whose genius
the faktafland is greatly indebted
Heinrich Heine, the incemparable
HFist, Clearly our latteF-day apo1e-
Ststs OF fufeF tsutoaicus have had
their precursors In Heine's generation
Through them he then saw the gath
Z sFing ct the Winds and read the mean
Ing OF ths whiriwind to comet
Strange, 10 1t not, that Heine
shoald meatien specifically the Gothic
cathedFals as doomed to destruction
under the hammer Of Thor, DEF
AeHkecfae BoHner!