The Washington times., 1920-12-05
Today
Omar, the Old Fanatic.
Number One, the Argentine
| An Angel Missing.
William Duffy Answers.
BY ARTHUR BRISBANE
Copyright. isss,.

he1OfnllnB BchsichSh
would force a sour Sunday OF
boredom upon a tired nation
should read of Omar, great caliph,
ruler Of the Mohammedans thir-
teen hundred years ago. He meant
well, and it's a pity the Persian
slave, as fanatical as himself, as
sassinated him.
This Omar, full name, Omar
Ibn Al-Khattab, you may read
about in Gibbon. He thought he
represented the only God and that
he alone knew just what God
wanted.
SO he gave the order to destroy
the magnificent library at Alex
andria. 1t was not the first burn
ing; Caesar unintentionally had
caused the library's destruction
about TOO years earlier, when he
set fire to the fleet in the harbor
Of Alexandria, that the Egyptians
might not get it.
Gibbon gives you Omar's words
in ordering the destruction. They
might come from some blue Sun
day advocate today:
"If these writings OF the Greeks
agree with the book Of God, they
are useless and need not be pre-
served; II they disagree, they are
perniclous and ought to be de.
stroyed."
The priceless books of papyrus
and parchment we're used for heat
In the four thousand public baths
Of the city. Their vast number,
perhaps, 100000, supplied heat for
six months.
The magnificent Greek genius of
centuries burned to heat water to
wash a lot of barbarians. What
can you suggest more sorrowful
than that? Gibbon treats 1t lightly,
but should not.
But for that fire, we should now
possess complete the works of Eu-
ripides, for the wise and for the
young; all the poems of Sappho,
among many others, lost forever.
Cheerfulness, in real life, is as
important as genius in books. And
the puritanical fanatics, as thor
oughly out Of date today as Omar
himself would be, would do irrep-
arabic harm If they could make
the one weekly day of rest and
harmless pleasure a weekly night
mare.
Cheerfulness is the handspring
Of progress. Puritans used to put
decent men in the stocks for try
ing to make Sunday a cheerful
day. Now those fanatics should
be Jailed, say. one day every week
for year, to cure them Of their
vicious inclinations. What fool in
Congress will introduce the fanat-
les bill to make men and their
families dismal once in every seven
days?
That same Omar, by the way,
shows US how facts become twist
ed. He built the great Mosque of
Omar at Jerusalem. In that
mosque is housed very important
rock. Foolish Mohammedans say
it is the rock on which their
prophet stood as he rose to Heaven.
Pious orthodox Jews. however,
visiting the mosque in reverent
crowds, know that it is the rock
on which Abraham was about to
sacrifice his son Isaac when the
substitute ram appeared, caught
in a thicket by his horns" The
attempt of Mohammedans to fall
sify the history of that stone can
not be too strongly condemned.
1t is old, no longer among the
six best sellers, but the young man
is foolish who does not add Glib
bon's history to his book collec-
ton. to be read slowly and
thoughtfully.
Coming back to modern times
and the news of this morning, you
learn that our Argentine neigh
Dor on the south has officially
withdrawn from, the League Of
Nations. That Is number one.
Our northe neighbor, Canada,
demands elimination from the
League covenant of Article X,
which would compel nations in the
League to provide men for fights
in Europe, Asia or Africa. The
United States, Heaven be praised,
stayed out, and Harding will
know enough to continue staying
out.
The Greeks have discovered that
Heavenly "self-determination" has
its limitations. They think they
want Constantine for king. The
League says, you can't have him,
or II you take him, W ~ let you
shift for yourselves; r" help
from u.s."
II this nation had 5he
league, should we hav, !
a little later, whom W :.
might not have for Pre-
A little newspaper, oW
office of J. p. Morgan
pany, prints a touchineV
"The Vacant Chair" A
tions, John Bull IN the
are sitting around
empty, The ghostly