The Detroit times., 1916-09-15
AndOrra
BY Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. BY Frank Crane)

There are moods wherein we want to
go TO Andorra. There are people who
naturally long for, are natural citizens Of,
Andorra, though they never heard of
the place.
Andorra Is the queereSt little nation In
the world. 1t Is composed OF people the
world forgetting, of the word forgot" Ii
mas no dealings with other countries, no
ambassadors, no foreign relations. no
pollcy except To mind It's own business
and TO wish the habitants of other coun-
tries to mind theirs and keep away.
1t is not land of fancy, il is not an
Alce-of-Wonderland place. II actually
exists. You can go thereby mule, how
ever, for no railroad runs To it, not even
a wagon road.
II IS hidden up in the Pyrenees Noun
tains, between France and Spain. Ii is
some eighteen miles long and sixteen
miles wide, and has about 5000 inhabi-
tants.
II is somewhere around LOO years
old. and in all that time the customs Of
the people have changed but little.
IL has never been famed for anything
Its people have no ambition no desire.
no progress, welcome no strangers, and
ignorant. and glad Of it.
1t is a republic in the sense that i
has not much Of any government at ALL
almost approaching that condition of the
ancient Jews when in the era OF the
Judges "every man did what was right
in his own eyes" There is no king, no
nobility, no classes, social or legal.
The president is farmer who works
for a living and whose official salary Ia
$40 a year.
They have no police Anybody can
arrest you if you disturb the peace.
They have never produced any Iitera-
ture. art music. or science. They use
only the tools Of their ancestors. They
want no change, and any one who tries
10 improve conditions is looked upon as
mentally unbalanced.
One enterprising citizen, who had
travelled in France, built a hotel by
fine spring but as nobody visited It. and
rs there are few travellers who penetrate
the country, II closed its doors. The only
hotel thew have now is used also as school
house Jail. town hall and court house.
Outlandsh as the place is II is really
symbol II the goal Of many souls, OF
all souls az certain times, when We sigh
for "a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some bourdlcss contiguitv Of shade.
Thousands Of people. for instance. look
forward 70 q heaven which they imagine
% be a kind ~ everlasting celestial An
dorra. who're nobody does anything nor
wants anvthng where we never will he
postered nv Improvement but VIII sit in
the shade and drink some forRetful
drauqht forever anC ever; amen.
There are tircs when existence irks.
and we ask nothing better than 20 cease
70 be. We want to quit, to be forgotten
We CIV:
. Tesr Iosr mako nv bod.
And ferdfr'y tuck tho sod
Draw the green grass coverlef over my head.
And forget 10 tell my God
We are angry at the mother VINO bore
us. Our grievance against the world is
that We exist
There's a strong streak OF Hamlet in u.s.
"Who would these fardels bear who
would not Shuttle off this mortal coil
did he not fear 70 exchange his sad lot
here for sadder hereafter?
To all. therefore. who have this KIND
Of muIhqrubs. and would like 10 go way
way off somewhere and crawl into hole
and pull the hole in after them, we rec
ommend Andorra, where there is no
Roosevelt or Billy Sunday, no colleges TO
make YOU want 10 get on. no milIionaires
60 excite your envy, no war, no business,
no socictv-iust nothing.