The St. Charles herald., 1920-12-18

one whose NAP announces that II Is
devoted to ire stories, and sub
title calls atptien to the good old
that Eruth is stranger than
TrlH in this case makes
tile concessiofpf trying TO appear az
much like fidpn as possible. But ii
is not i'm the Slim of Imagination tl,a;
one would fl first for the verifi-
cation of ourNlcienf adage that truth
is stranger III fiction. The news of
the world as is turned ont day hS
tlly is TO pery large extent con
cerned with y strange and unusual
thing, often Nrallellng fiction. often
going beyonH. The variety of the
possible coialations of circumstan-
ces is so gie as TO surpasS the I'M
acination oil most fertile tictionist,
says the NeKork Times.
ASK any what events chroni-
cled in the Nyspapers are or have
hpen Strangrtlian fiction. and tn"
first answerNl probably he The war
itself. The Dr.. certainly. No one
did and no df'ould have imagined or
written dowblch stupendous trag-
edy as tlekorld has just gone
through. Itx ease where he plain
facts have outtiistanced the tis-
,ionists MS n as the historians
looking intoA future. Old Bernardo
knowing wliEle German ruling class
had in min knew that war with
France andssia was coming and
the world akvhole had slowly heeD
prepared ~ kh years for Euro
pean clash MDt no one foresaw =
| conflict in &ch. the whole world
would he IN etl. war which would
cost millior lives and money rum
ming into 4 undreds of billions Of
dollars.
What niger Than This7
| Not only war as q thing In IT.
4 self. but vi bered phases and Incl
dents Of II mr. passed beyond the
! Imagination he inen who wrote be-
fore 1914. <rica's part in 1t alone
forms an unbelievable episode.
What writ uld have dared. a dec
ade even to have told of an
American OF 100000 men fight.
| ing over, Il battlefields Of North
/ ern Frr,nc Belgium
j What b] / fictionist could have
\ picturetl d butts of the war? The
restoration rusied nations OF En-
rome. the up Of old empires;
What rev nury genius OF fiction
would ha} eietl a Russia under the
Bolshevild& nearly three years?
who cou given an air OF real
ity to ee IN 1913 dealing with
the fate |e Gar Of Russia or
kaiser W Of Germany?
The trJ lies Of the heroic deeds
Of the " e pers0nai experiences
and tragt ents. are In many cslxes
too stran unreal 10 have passed
un0uesti( b the pages Of ficfion.
A gun range Of scventy-five
miles slr( hell into n Paris church
nj the nj Il Is crowded for Good
Friday No wonder that for
days the would not believe that
such hd happened! The first
use OF the Germans against
the Bril- the Ypres sector was
another ke world could not bring
Itself Il Ee " tlloni great effort.
The fir ruitls. the first subma
rine at passenger ships and
even til hncement that the Ger
man tn Ire marching on France
through I'M upset all the order
OF thu y a supposedly sane
world. Ortd which has ! lived
throug Flays since August, 1914.
will II reason to doubt that
truth ger ihan fiction.
oes jules Verne.
Il For the imaginative story Of
4 Jules on submarines, called
.sTwe usantl Leagues Under the
Seal BROMIDE amnng writer's
ard 4 Tho wished to mention tbs.
ultrn and the Enthusiastically
fmag Yet the vividness Of TINT
story ed nothing 50 picturesque
and nothing 80 true az that
epic underseas suffering anu
hero |ught INTO this port anu
Phil from on the i'eiawafe
caps " by the survivors OF the
Am( ibmarine SD.