The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-12-26

Read Old voItaire.
Try "zadig.'
Or "Micromegas."
The philosophical Die
tionary."
Arthur BRISBANE


(copyright, 1911
Read Keats "On First Looking
INTO Chapman's Homer" to learn
what . book can do for . recep-
i've mind. That book inspired
the FIRST rood sonnet that Keats
ote-boyish. but with wonderful
lines. He read the ancient hook
all night. and before he went to
bed wrote:
Then felt / like some watcher of
the skies
When q new planet swims into
his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with
eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific--and all
Looked at each other with wild
surmise-
Silent. upon a peak in Darien." |"
That is the way to use books:
Read. feel and THINK.
Not every man can be a stu
dent or well acquainted with the
worlds great literature. but each
can and should read the few really
great writer's Of the world. The
first three are Homer. Dante,
Shakespeare. Others among the
army Of genius are Cervantes. Of
Spain; Moliere, Of France; Goethe,
Of Germany; Bunyan. Of England; !;
Franklin, Poe and Emerson. Of
this country: Tolstoy, Of Russia.
and, chosen for today's discus
sion, Voltaire, gigantic French
intellect. wit and brave fighter.
Read his story, "Zadig, a Mys-
terry Of Fate" And with the CO.
nundrum Of the grand magi that
Iadig had to solve, to marry the
lady.
''What. of all thinss ~in the
world, is the longest and shortest,
The swiftsst and the slowsst, the
most divisible and the most sx.
tsndsd. the most neglected and
the most regretted, without which
nothing can be done, which de-
YOURS all that il little, and en-
livens all that 10 sreat?"
Yeu guess Zadis's answer-
TIME.
"Nothing," said he, sis longer,
since Il is the measure of eter-
nifty. Nothing 10 shorter, since il
10 insufficisnt for the accomplish
msnt Of our projects. Nothing
more slow to him that expects,
nothing more rapid to him that
enjoys. In greatness it extends
/, TO in6nity, in smallnsss Il is in
f;nitsly divisible. All men neg
lsct il; all regret the loss Of il,
! nothing can BE- done without it.
IL consisns to oblivion whatsvsr
IL unworthy Of bsips transnit-;
ted to postsrit., and Il inukertak.
izss such actions ~ are truly
great"
There is wisdom in few words,
\ Business men might have the
quotation printed inglarge type,
hung up where it will be seen by
young men, still ignorant Of the
fact that time is their only asset.
The grand magi's next ques-
ton was:
"What is the thing which we re-
ceive without thanks, enjoy with
out knowing how and lose without
perceiving it?" :.
Zadig naturally answers Life"
so we'll described in the question.
Read in Zadig the story of two
married ladies. One, Zadig's wife,
Azora, is in a great rage because
"the young widow Cosrou" two
days before "had raised tomb to
her young husband near the rivu-
let that washes the skirts of this
meadow. She vowed to heaven, in
the bitterness of her grief, to re-
main at his tomb whilst the water
of the rivulet should continue to
run near it."
The indignant Azora found the
widow Cosrou turning the course
of the rivulet."
Zadig pretends to be dead, invites
his handsome friend Cador to COM
fort his widow. Cador pretends to
have a pain. cart thou subject to
this CrueI QlSOrueT AZOTd dShS.
at sometimes brings me-" re-
piled Cador, ito the brink Of the
grave; and there is but one remedy
that can give me relief-and that
Il to apply to my side the nose Of
a man who is lately dead"
Promptly Azora, thinking her
self a widow, goes to cut off the
nose Of Zadig, her late husband, to
relieve the pain of a new-found
friend. Zadig, rising from his bier,
MADAM, don't you exclaim so
violently against the widow Cos
rou. The project of cutting off my
nose is equal to that of turning the
course of a rivulet."
A young widow in Arabia is
determined to burn herself alive
with the body of her husband.
Aalthough she hated him. because
"suttee" was the fashion. After
the handsome Zadig had talked to
the young widow she loses inter
est in "suttee" and wants to
marry him. He tells the chiefs
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