Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-16

To be q partisan is well enough, to
take sides Is good, but to demand that
ones reading pat one on the back, as
1t were, Is absurd.
The open mind is nowhere so neceS-
sary as when one is reading.
Then, II ever, comes the demand for
absolute fairness. Fairness, let it be
stressed, not so much for the books
sake as for its effect upon the readers
mind.
Yet there Is nothing more common
than to see some reader foaming at the
mouth because the author is writing
what he, the reader, does not believe,
is pulling down some pet idol, maybe.
| Opposition Is always good for man,
be it physical or mental. but the latter
| the most Of all. It must be terrible to
hold such a position that no one dares
oppose you.
Such holders Of power and place get
| at the truth of situations slowly, be-
cause no one dareS to tell them what Is
| what. They work under a handicap
which they little realize themselves, al
though 1t is perfectly plair to others.
That they do as well as they do, In
many situations is very much to their
credit as plain human beings. For, as
Montaigne said, though a man sit upon
the highest throne in the world, yet
must he sit upon his own bottom.
| \ X
Is it not pleasing to think that
though man do no more than read a
book, yet may he thereby achieve in
tegrity of thought?
He may do this, of course, only
through being master of himself as he
reads.
One has but to think Of his own re-
actions to many book to know that
the thing Is not so easily achieved as
breathing.
Many a reader, in coming to H. G
Wells description of Napoleon, in The
Outline of History" has swelled with
| indignation at the ultra-British, the
| traditional British, way of regarding
| that great man.
Here, with malice undated after the
| passage of years, Wells pictures Ma
| poleon I as a simple murderer, YER
dict at variance with all history and
| science of man. The color and vivid
ness of the CorSican, as human being,
the romance of his rise, triumph and
fall, the domination of his character
(no matter whether one approves Of
that character or not) after all these
years. all these left England's most
prolific author unmoved.
All he could see to Napoleon-or, at
least, so he professed in the Outline
was a little, scherning fellow, totally
| without merit, who somehow managed
| to sneak for himself power and author
ity, sort of supergangster, who was
forced at last to give up his ill-gotten
gains to the rightful owners.
The reaction of many a reader to
this tirade against a personal hero is
to become indignant at Mr.. Wells. This,
one may admit, is all wrong.
What the reader should do is to feel
that he is privileged to be present at
a moving picture OF the traditional
English mind working on the moot sub
ject of Napoleon. England and the
English have never forgiven Bonaparte,
and especially the English writer's have
never forgiven him
The reader who goes through the
Outline of History" ought to rejoice
at getting so fine writer's opinions, be
interested in checking them against
his own, and to null over in his own
mind how much truth there may be in
| the WellSian views.
Maybe Robert Ingersoll was right,
after all. Perhaps no one should be
| interested in that imperial personifl-
cation of murder" Perhaps every one
had rather be simple peasant. beside
his cottage door, than the great Ma
poleon, in his purple robes with the
golden bees embroidered thereon. But
one may suspect that many a reader,
living again the great tragedy which