The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1923-07-27
ADVENTURES

What is an adventurer? One who
has adventures? Surely not. A per-
son charged by a wild rhinoceros is
having an adventure, yet however
wild the animal, however wild the per-
son, he is only somebody wishing HIM
self at home, not an adventurer. In
dictionaries the adventurer is lone
who seeks his fortune in new and
hazardous or perilous enterprises"
But outside the pages of a dictionary,
the man who seeks his fortune, who
really cares for money and his own
advantage, sits at some desk deriding
the fools who take thousand-tO-one
chances in a gamble with Death. Did
the patron saint of adventures, Saint
Paul, or did Saint Louis, or Francis
Drake, or Livingstone, or Gordon seek
their own fortune, think you? In real
life the adventurer is one who seeks,
not his fortune, but the new and
hazardous or perilOuS enterprises.
There are holy saints and ScoundrelS
among Adventures, but all the thou
sands 1 have known were fools of the
romantic temperament, dealing with
life as an artist does with canvas, to
color it with fierce and vivid feeling,
deep shade and radiant light. eXulting
in the passions of the sea, the terrors
of the wilderness, the splendors Of
sunshine and starlight, the eXaitation
of battle, fire and hurricane.
All nations have bred great adven-
turers, but the living nation remem-
bers them sending the boys out into
the world enriched with memories of
valor, heritage of national honor, an
inspiration to ennoble their manhood.
That is the only real wealth Of men
and of peoples. For such purposes
these stories are written, but so vast
is the theme that the compilation
would outgrow all reasonable size I'M
less we set some limit. A man in the
regular standing forces of his native
state is not dubbed adyenturer. When,
for example, the immortal heroes
Tromp and De Ruyter fought the
British generals at sea, Blake and
Monk, they were no more adventures
than are the police who guard our
homes at night. Were Give and War
rem Hastings adventures? They would
turn in their graves if one thought
such charge The true type of adj
venturer is the lone-hand pioneer.
t. =. Of min t1,at
the worthless of Switzerland, the Teu-
tonic empires and Russia, are shut out
of this record; but because it seems
that the lOne-hapd oversee and over
land pioneers :'cme mainly from
nations directly fronting upon the
sea. AS far as / am prejudiced,
1t is in favor of old Norway, whose
heroes have entranced me with
the sheer glory of their perfect
manhood. For the rest, our own Eng
disappearing folk are easier for us to
understand than any foreigners.
AS to the manner of record, we must
follow the stream of history il we
would shoot the rapids of adventure.
Now as to the point of view: MY
literary pretensions are small and
humble, but claim the right of an adj
venturer, trained in thirty-three trades
of the Lost Region, to absolute free
dom Of speech concerning frontiers
men. Let history bow down before
Columbus, but as a foremost seaman,
1 hold he was not fit to command a
ship. Let history ignore Captain
John Smith, but as an ex-trooper,
worship him for a leader, the paladin
of Anglo-Saxon chivaIry, and very
father of the United States Litera-
ture admires the well advertised STAN
ley, but we frontiersmen prefer Com
mander Cameron, who walked across
Africa without blaming others for his
own detects, or losing his temper, or
needless blood. All the celeb
rites may go hang, but when we
take the field, send us leaders like
Patrick Forbes, who conquered Rho
desia without journalists in attendance
to write puffs, or any actual deluge of
public gratitude.
The historic and literary points of
view are widely different from that of
our dusty rankers.
When the Dutchmen were fighting
Spain, they invented and built the
first ironclad warship-all honor To
their seamanship for that! But when
the winter came, Spanish cavalry
charge across the ice captured the
ship-and there was fine adventure.
Both sides had practical men.
In the same wars, Spanish man.
alarms in the plundering of a city,
took more gold than he could carry.
so he had the metal beaten into a
suit of armOr and painted black to
hide its worth from thieves. From a
literary standpoint, that was all very
fine, but from our adventurer point
Of view, the man was a fool for wear
ing armor useless for defense, and so
heavy he could not run. He was
killed, and good radiance.
We value most the man who knows
his business, and the more practical |
the adventurer, the fewer his misad- |
ventures.
From that point of view, the stories |
are attempted with all earnestness; |
nd if tba rac1I1tS appa.sr hizarra Iat