The Detroit times., 1916-01-24
THEFOOLA
eV DR.. FRANK CRANE
Copyright 1915. b. Frank Cranel

/ '''~ anu PAuNehl, ana the WhOle WOflQ
that follows them, take no account.
II is the fool
In Wagner's ''ParsifaP' II is the fool
who is to recover the lost cup to heal
the kings wound, and to redeem the
knights Of the holy grail from their op-
preston by the forces of evil magic. The
continually recurring motif is:
The pure fool,
Made wise through sympathy
Walt for him
Whom God hath chosen"
And herein is great truth symbol
lied, to wit: that it is not by the shrewd
and powerful that the world is to be re-
deemed. but by the simple.
In other words, it is pure, devoted
purpose, unconscious of or Indifferent to
obstacles, that overcomes the intrenched
forces of evil that bind the earth.
In one of Kipling's tales it is shown
that the soldiers who capture impreg-
nable fortresses and conquer superior
forces are the young men, the inexper-
fenced the fools that don't know enough
to appreciate the danger.
When a wicked institution gets its
growth in the human race its roots go
so deep and its trunk is so hard and
thick that it is commonly supposed TO
be impossible to uproot it. Everybody
says We must be careful lest in destroy
ing it we destroy also the good Kings,
congresses, statesmen, churchmen, and
/ philosophers temporize, compromise, and
preach caution.
Nobody but a fool will tackle t.
Sometimes the fool does tackle it, and,
to the amazement of all, succeeds in re-
moving it.
John Brown was a fool, they said, and
met a fools death but when the armies
that abolished slavery went forward
they sang:
John Browns body lies a.mouldering in the
grave.
But his soul goes marching on"
Garrison and Wendell Phillips we're
heartily disapproved by the wiseacres,
yet it was because they threw them
selves soul-foremost into the cause Of
emancipation that at last it gathered
strength to succeed.
Savenarola was fool to his times,
/ yet to those who stand now in the Piaz-
"a at Florence where his body was
burnt, his figure looms in history as a
giant among dwarfs.
Luther the poor monk Of Erfurt, was
considered a fool by the learned in his
day. but he did what no monarch or
scholar or organization could have done
toward rectifying the abuses of his
age.
And have you ever read the story Of
Saint Catherine of Siena, the little girl
Of Italy who brought back the Pope from
Avignon to Rome, when the high and
mighty could not?
Doubtless TO the best people" Of HIS
day Jesus was but fanatic, they paid
scant attention to His death and regard
ed His mission as but pin-prick in the
mighty body Of the Roman empire; yet
in three centuries, Gibbon tells US, Chris
tianity mounted the throne Of the
| Caesars, and all that is now left of the
]
tuition that bears its name.
American and European newspapers
have wed in ridiculing Henry Ford. He
has been called all kinds of fool.
My only fear is that he is not fool
enough, that the clever and experienced
and wise will get him.
For few realize how utterly the evil
institution of militarism has the mind
and imagination Of the world in It's
grasp The whole daily life Of Europe
is saturated with it, even in times Of
peace Every family has its soldier.
Every dynasty increasingly plans for
war
War has gone too long in the world
for statesmen or wise diplomats to stop
it,
Nothing but supreme fool, wholly
reckless of his own life or reputation, In
different to sarcasm and contempt, re-
gardless of convention, authority, or
prudence-nothng but some sublime
Fool Of God can touch the fire and hor-
ror Of the worlds heart and turn them
against the magnificent deviltry OF war.
The pure fool,
Nada Mao through gympathy--