Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-04-06
THE, DAYS WE 1--we IN-AND
OTHERS.

THE DAYS WE 1--we lN-ANp
OTHERS. /,
AS might be expected, the book
''Marse Henry" In which Henry Wat
tersonS reconections have been col
lected and published, lis fullNof sug-
gestion to the student Of life. Moth
ing in it, we think, affords more food
for reflection than the opening Of
Chapter the Fifteenth. which he de-
votes chiefly To memories of Paris.
1t is not merely in its bearing upon
Paris, however, that we find the
passage Pregnant. but as a statement
Of a general law, affecting all eX-
%perience.
Mr.. wAtterson says:
Each of the generations
thinks ITSELF commonplace. Fa-
rniliarity breeds equally indiner-
ence and contempt Yet no age
Of, the world has Witnessed SO
much of the drama of life-of
the romantic and piqturesque--as
the age we live i'm
is the repining one hears at the a
which has condemned a man-per-
haps ofener, q woman-te go tfe+eugh
life in his or her allotted epoch. 1t
vas part of he cant OF the mid
Victorian times TO long for the Age
OF Chivalrs." Burke had proclaimed.
some half a hundred years before:
hat that age was gone. But. how
mistaken il all was! If by the Age
Of Chiva!ry the %yearning' swains
meant, say, the period Of the Cru
sades. s~ilcy would have been deucedly
disappointed and disillusioned could
they have been translated back
thereto. The preponderancc OF beer
and buffets over rosewater anc idyl-
lie sentiment would have impressed
them most d~isagreeahly.
Theirs "a the period when young
men with ,monoc!es and Dundreary
whiskers stood over the piano and
sang: I'm afloat. I'm afroat on the
fierce rolling tide; the Oceans me
home M me barque is me bride
I'm afoat, I'm af1oat and
the rover is free-e-e-ee," OF perhaps
it vas Y.
Some like TO roam on the deep
seas foam
With a wind that follows free:
But an outlaw band in noun
tain land
And a home in the woods for
Girls lived on lark.si wings in pub
lie and fed'to the privacy Of the pan
try for solid food tvide Thackeray
pr%ovocaticn> when young men were
there to see.
Yet tina, was the age Of Cardigan
n /the Six Hundred and of Flor
ence Nightingale.
1t would be trite to dwell or the
romantic character of our own par
ticular day and generation. Not
even the perspective OF years IS need
ed to throw into> relief it's phases of
agony and ,of hefoism, Of devotion
and Of glory. Thousands yet unborn
will gaze at it through the mist of
their own tears and wish that they
lived through it. The ideal in
thought is in every ones " heart
and brain. n supreme interest in
action awaits every wight just round
tho C0PnAr To ic ~ - .-l,-
on it in spite of himself; let him only
be prepared TO recognize the moment
n the opportunity when it arrives.
Colonel Watterson illustrates the
principle before the cpd of his chap
ter by citing an incident told by
Thackers's daughter in her memoirs.
She WAS taken by a lady. Countess X,
to see a mag dying Of consumption.
He got up and played the piano for
her. With streaming eyes. the Count
ess said to her as they went away.
Never. lever forget, my child, az
long as you live. that you have heard
Chopin play
All, did you once see Shelley
plain.
And did he stop and speak to
you:
And did you speak to him
again?
How ~slrangeft seems and new!
The world is full Of the great. the
beautiful, the thrilling, the inspiring
in word and picture and in deed
full OF experience and of opportun-
ity. 1t is so at all times alike.
Everything depends pon ourselves,
whether we have eyes to see, ears to
hear, hearts to cherish and brains to
comprehend.