The Washington times., 1919-12-28

MaeterIinck Is Here.
Some Things He Says.
He Interests Women.
Read His "life of the Bee."
By ARTHUR BRISBANE
fCopyr4ghe is1aD

fCooyrgnt fs1eD
Aaeterlinck is here. II you
don't know him, read one or two
Of his books; then you will know
him. A man is what he thinks.
"The Treasure Of the Humble
and the life of the Bee" are rec
commended to the average reader.
The ninety-nine per cent that con-
sider themselves above the aver
age may try some Of his plays, but
they won't like them.
You would rather read what
Maeterlinck said than what any
body thinks about him.
He believes all souls are great,
only few find expression.
"To every man there come
noble thoughts that pass across his
heart like great white birds"
Every man is Shakespeare in
his dreams, and in the spirit there
are mysteries "a thousandfold
more transeendental than those
circumscribed by speech"
Read his essay on ~Silence." He
quotes Carlyle. Speech is of
Time; Silence is of Eternity"
Thought will not work except in
silence, neither will virtue work
except in secrecy.
Not William the Silent only, but
all the considerable men / have
known, forbore to babble of what
they were creating and projecting.
NAY, in thy own mean perplen-
ties, do thou thyseh bat hold thy
tongue for one day; on the NOR
row how much clearer are thy pur.
poses and duties; what wreck and
rubbish have these mute workmen
within thee swept away, when in
trusive noises were shut out"
A woman who interested him
wrote to Maeterlinck (quite few
women have interested him): "Wa
do not know each other yet. We
have not yet dared to be silent
.o1ether."
Only the body commits sins, not
the soul, he thinks. Separated from
its body 'the soul even of the
prostitute would pass unsuspect-
ingly through the crowd, with the
transparent smile of the child in
her eyes," In Maeterlinck's opin-
ion, the spnl, sitting OF by itself,
would pot worry shout the sins of
tApp o1iss, bot would ask, Has
she, the soul, inflicted suffering
sr beon the eaNss Of eeafs!
@sIps a good dDc<,ins for the fr1e
and easy, but the Bible do<sfrt
s46fae With EaetsSiinek there. or
66hee pla $.
ne4sriin chapter On Awor,-
- wiz Int st women and -
sa- He I 4 = theory that
asbss eur ! ,.dys ia The ve{y csdS
n 81 fhe ~. shi8ls 4hs star Of
n dsstin<S ave- ia in that
u, iliuni 1 by u rays. every
5nssion ths .tirs ss NH e>,.ss 20
Re. even ts ths md Liss<s ~
Ais:
And If, i,ke IVA Juss. we tskt
a thousand ard fhreS --ID& a
braces. still shall We npd. % uls
evening whaH srnsa f.Ii asarder
and lips disRnite. that = Is a. s
the same womau. good or es 3.
tender or cruel. loving or faithless,
that is standing before u.s."
That's the kind OF thing that m
terests women. although it isa'r
true, and Maeterlinck probably said
something different. to the charm
Ing new young wife that cnmss
over with him. You may be sure
that to her he said, 'You are differ
ent from verybody else; | was mis-
taken about that star up there
You are its oDly inhabitant."
Maeterliuck appreciates women,
in his way. "All women have com
munications with the unkrCwn
that are denied to u.s."
IF you think that you have ae-
ceiyed her, that her impressiee is
wrong, be sure that 1t is she who Is
right, and you yourself who are
mistaken"
Also and very truly about women:
TT is they who preserve here be-
low the pure fragrance Of our
soul. like some jewel from heaven y
Theirs are still the divine emo
tons Of the first days. and the
sources Of their being lie. deeper
far than ours, in all that is illimit-
able"
There are several Maeterlincks,
the one that wrote "Pelleas and
Melisande" Is different from the
stronger genius that wrote The
Life OF the Bee" Read that IL you
don't read anything else OF Maeter-