Prev | Current Page 304 | Next

Brisbane, Arthur, 1864-1936

"Editorials from the Hearst Newspapers"



FROM MAMMOTHS TO MOSQUITOES --FROM MURDER TO HYPOCRISY
You are standing with this writer on the edge of a stagnant pool
in Northern Europe, fifty thousand years ago.
The trees are strange, the life is strange. There are certain
familiar things visible. For instance, on one side of the pool
there is an angry mammoth, with long hair and long tusks.
He is a huge, savage beast, monster of power with tiny, vicious
eyes, and a curled trunk of unlimited force.
You recognize his resemblance to the modern elephant, and you
feel at home.
In the middle of the pool, standing up to his waist in water,
there is another queer creature. He has long, red hair, and
through his lips you can see that in his rage he is grinding a
large set of teeth with the canine incisors abnormally developed.
He is a shaggy, savage-looking brute, with a bloody and an
apprehensive eye. You will recognize him as a human being.
As he stands in the pool there is a familiar slap of his right
hand on the back of his left shoulder--he has killed a mosquito.
That is the picture. We leave the mammoth, primitive man and the
mosquito to settle their troubles.
We call your attention to this. If you really witnessed that
scene you would have undoubtedly said to the red-eyed savage in
the pool:
"My friend, you can kill that mosquito easily, and possibly in
time you will kill all the mosquitoes.


Pages:
292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316