The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1916-05-25

VI Cuc I'LL upOSSlUlc anu tH0 dUSuIu!
Usually to be accorded a place in
the classics OF time clear note
must sound in tune with the vari-
able elements of comedy and
tragedy in universal existence.
Of the craving for the best in
llterature-what need of praise is
too great? What is able to satisfy
the mind or stir the imagination to
higher flights than the crescendo or
rising power in the Roman empire
reaching it's climax and then des-
cending to the depths of decay!
The story of her warriors, her
statesmen, her rulers, the mighty
men in philosophy and art and re-
ligion and all of those who vivifed
the centuries of her career as a great
nation under the guidance of mytho-
logical gods-are these things not
of vital import? Why, the very
story of the life of their gods and
goddesses is a thousand fold more
captivating than many a momentary
literary loveliness dying in the
early infancy of its puerile years.
For in the myth-life, all the ambi-
tions, the passions, the strength
and the frailty of our modern every
day round successively appear as in
the slides of a photo. play.
And of Greece, can we forget her?
Behold her genius for art and beau
ty as great as the Roman yearning
for conquest and government, enter
into the halls of philosophy. the
temples devoted to her various re-
ligions and come under the fascin-
ating spell of her sculpture, her
chanting chorus and of the Thesplan
art in all it's supremacy! The pass
of Thermophylae and the plains of
Marathon-can any greater heroism
be shown today in Europe than up
on the fields of the Grecian conflicts?
And to realize that such wars were
seemingly necessity in the career
of people whose ideal of the beau
tlful is the universal inheritance and
inspiration of the art of all time
from those days of Phidias! These
things-are they not worthy of our
knowledge and our reverent regard?
Then, too, in reading of the He
brew people with its genius, not
for art, nor for government, but
for God-what story of pastoral
simplicity was ever penned of more
surprising value than the book of
Ruth? Or is there a more majestic
figure IN world history than that of
Moses, the law-glver, as revealed in
the Pentateuch's pages or as sub
timely sculptured by the hand of
Michael Angelo? Truly, the genius
for God has brought this race thru
the stress of persecution by fire and
sword, past the path of famine and
pestilence, leading it into the prom
ised land of power today, as the
other old civilizations whose God
was not Jehovah exist only in the
memories Of long, lost past.
The best books, then, are friends
of royal birth. They are true in
terpreters of the real. To those of
clear vision, sounding brass never
can resemble pure gold. The imi-
tation of truth marks the value of
the original. The spurious ever
4 pays such futile mock homage to
the real!
Is it not wise to redeem the pass
ing hour by making of the best
books the friends of lifetime?
Not that there are not many
works of interest or humor with
which to divert the mind from too
serious tasks these are surely uee-
full utensils for light literary feast.
One does not need stimulant and
mental recreation to require light
some diversion at times. Yet the
journey into the realm of thought
full reading leads one into the most
! fascinating paths and by-paths of