Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-12-20
THE DRAMA OF THE AGES.
Baltimore SUM

Baltimore SUM
Fate, destiny, some mysterious di-
recting and controlling force, some
awful power which shaped events ac-
cording to a prcdcstincd plan was
the thought suggested i'm ancienC
tragedy-seemcd to be the moral
more or less subtly conveyed in the
ailegorics of the Grecian stage. Be-
hind the particular story could be
detected the consciousness of a great
dramatic motive in the affairs of men
"a sense of inevitable and unalterable
Encouragement by an indefinite but
supreme authority, which in those
days men called the fatcs. The more
modern doctrine of prcdestination
contains the same dramatic implica
ton. as does also the blind Puritan
pocl'3 lofty vindication of the WAYS
oil Providence to men. Perhaps it Is
not forced construction to see IL
recognition of the continuous Drama
oil the Ages that has been staged
upon TINS sphere in the familiar
phrase OF our Declaration of hide
pcndence-"Whcn in the course of
human events"-as if there wnra :,
prescribed and foreordaincd route
| NfNIto IIuSl proceed.
rms sense of the dramatic has been
lnsistent and all-pervadinp i'm the last
four years. We have all used The
word lightly and often, but every dnv
and every month of that time it has
grown in reality and Significance
And now as we look back to the
mighty though fearful procession of
events and us we look forward to the
goal toward which they seem march
ing, even the most prosaic magma
lioh must confess Il certain majestic
dramatic character and suggestions in
IL all that IS most impressive auI
awe-inspiring.
In all that has been said for AMI
against the presidents extraordinary
voyage to Europe, however, most
persons seem to have ignored this
controlling dramatic element. Con-
Sldered purely as a man-made drama.
now greatly it would have lost in et
iect II this climax had been wanting.
from mere theatrical standpoint
the concluding scene would have been
robbed OF its chief color, pageantry
ana glory, had the dominating actor
been absent. The eternal fitness of
Things dramatic, the logic of even the
human playwright demanded this
grand and essential finale.
But the devout believer i'm n divine
dramntlst must see in this VOYAGE
something more than the will of one
man or of one nation. "Thcrc was
II man sent from God whose name
was john" Even the most skenti
cal must perceive combination OF
rare circumstances connected with
Woodrow Wilson's career that looks
IKE Il calling or Il selection, of a mis-
SION imposed from without or above.
Ten years ago nothing seemed more
UNLIKELY that that in loss than n dec
AIDE Woodrow Wilson should be tho
most commanding figure i'm the world
that he should be regarded as the
molder of its future destiny. AS if
events answered to the promoters
cue, he came upon the stage lust nj
the appropriate moment, and, lust as
ne came. way was opened for him
to the White House by the fatal feud
m the Republican party. The rest is
history, but history amazing, history
incredible. had we not read il from
day to day.
NOW this American, obscure until
the fullness of time, makes his first
Visit to Europe to give fresh mean
ing to the phrase--"the course of hu
man events" He is sailing on a mis-
sion not self-selected entirely. 1t is
not too much to think that he has
gone because he was "sent."
Someone has said that it is limos
sible Tor an astronomer not to be
ceV0ut. Some historians have sue
cecded IN being cynics, but it is diff
iicult to see how they have managed
1t IN the light of the living and un-
unsuitable drama which history has
untolded from age to age. With won
der we may well look on as this seem
lngly predestined voyager sails across
the seas. God help him, he could do
no other. The Dramatst above called
TOR this eliminating act. No voice bu.
his can call him from the scene.
AS he sails across the ocean which
divides but does not separate us from
our leiiow-men on the other side, Oil
TINS the most momentous voyage in
human history, we can repeat as
never before, with slight modi6ca
tion those noble lines of Lonrfcl.
low:
Sail on, sail on, o ship of state:
Sail on, o statesman, strong iond
great;
humanity, with all its fears.
with all the hopes of future wears.
Is hanging breathless on thy fatei
FROM / w RAEER