University of Maryland College Park - Terrapin / Reveille Yearbook (College Park, MD)

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Here is the origin of the term quixotic, and its inanj ' derivatives. The time was when it bore a somewliat different interpretation from that in which it is here used. Like all comprehensive terms, with great ideals, its origin was a badge of reproach — syn- onymous with exaggerated motives; a striving for the unattainable, an abnormal development of effort in the striving for a state or condition confessedly ideal- istic — all of which, in the eyes of practical men, is but an emanation from a mind distorted. The demonstration to the world, by men with ideals, that sometime their children may become realistic and be potent factors in the product of good found in the world, has led men to broaden the scope of the word, until now it is used to characterize actions or ideas which are not in the same category with those bearing the stamp of approval of the general com- munity. Conformity to type is plainl - seen in the position of the defenders of tradition towards newly arisen scientific or philosophical teachings. Such can only be witnessed with genuine sorrow bj those who heartil} ' and sincerely care for the truth. It is a sa} ' - ing of the great Spinoza that human affairs are neither to be bewailed or smiled over, but to be un- derstood; to read them in the light of calm, sober judgment, and accept conc lusions based upon such, no matter how contradictory to the usual order of things. The average man, like trees and animals, clings to his type. The old, the conventional is agreeable to him; customary scientific and religious opinions have grown into his very being. Although possessed of a power to critically examine and decide questions b} ' the criteria of truth. Mental indolence, defective spiritual mobility, superfl.uous respect for authority unite with dependence upon the conven- tional and the love for long-cherished habits and ideas, in order to stifle in the bud thoughts of a possibility of a change in such deeply settled convictions as one has been acctistomed to. This is all wrong. Every thinking man must see and know that the world in which we live is one of change, so far as he is con- cerned: must be conscious of something within him- self which calls upon him to decide questions for himself. Conformity to type and veneration for it have been productive of most of the great tragedies in the his- tory of the world. It lead to the French Revolution, and by a reactionary development of Quixotism, made it possible for the key to the Bastile by a remarkable fitness of things, to hang forever off duty, on the walls of Mt. Vernon. The Inquisition of the Middle Ages was its child, and England, during the dark eras of her history, was suffering from this leprosy. It is not to be understood that conformity to type in the field of its proper activity is to be condemned. In all creation up to man any other state of things than this is monstrous. In man the power to act inde- 13

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Conformity to T ypc vq. Quixotism. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ TjONFORMiTY to Type is the Law of the Workl. V The yearly- foliage of the trees, the delicate p ainting of the rose-bud, the morning psalm- ody of the Springtime songsters, and the delicate weaving of the cocoon for the chrysalis, all bespeak the fact tliat this law threads the universe — each thing conforms to its type. Does this law permeate the human creation of the universe ? The inherited beliefs, the persistent, blind and unyielding respect to traditions — all bespeak, in a language too plain to be misunderstood, that even in the crowning act of creation conformity to type finds its home- And yet man, in distinction from the brute, possesses a power beyond this. Quixotism is the child of Don Quixote. Knight errantry, as an institution, was called into existence at a time in the history of the world when the ex- ercise of its functions was unique and of vast impor- tance to the world. Many of the names which adorn the pages of history did work in this order and moved the world forcibly along towards the position of its highest ideal. Perhaps the brightest gem in this galaxy was the Chevelier Bayard, sans perir, a sans rcproch, and one such product makes it impossible to say that it would have been better had such an institution never been. Dike many good things in this world it outlived its day; the death of the period of its usefiilness was not accompanied by the death of its child, and this child grown to manhood ' s sturdy strength, with many accompanj ' ing exaggerations, became a monstrosity when incorporated upon a different order of things. Cervantes, seeing this, set himself the task of eliminating it from the civilization to which he belonged. How gently he handled the subject may be seen in the tender pathos which threads the book, and make its perusal, with all of its exaggerations, a source of pleasure to age as well as youth, wherever that age or youth ma} ' be found. And this will continue in all time and in all places, so long as heart can be found which will beat in sympathy with a human heart when moved by a pur- pose, (no matter how exaggerated ), whose aim is to relieve distress: and wherever unhappiness can be found, by individual effort, weed out the cause and plant the growth whose only flower is human con- tentment.

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pendentlj- would never have been given without the obligation to do so. Therefore it is claimed without the fear of contradiction that no man should inherit his belief in anything. Taking the world as it is at the age of maturitj ' , let him calmly weigh the con- ditions upon which solid judgment rests, with all the light the past will give, all the aid which the present affords, and with such prescience as he can summon, make the future pay tribute to his power in forming his views of all the various conditions of life. This is the only rational scheme; this the only sensible course for rational man. China is a nation of conformity to type, and with as unerring exactitude as the birds and other irre- sponsible things, her children build, sow, think, and live in their vocation as their fathers did. The Celes- tial Empire, with its teeming millions, with its almost infinite power for good, drags its weary course far in the rear of the car of progress. Innovation to them is a crime; a disease upon the body politic, against which the strictest quarantine is laid. Confucius is to them their past, present and future. America is tainted with this same conformity to type. The millenium is not yet here. Our religion and government are good, but we have not yet reached ideal perfection. Many Americans are jealous of any criticism upon their religion, customs or laws. Dickens ' American Notes in many particulars is exaggerated and I ' ar away from the truth, still, at the same time, every honest American can see running through his vein of satire, ridicule, and word-painting much that is true. One instance is sufficient. How far away from being true to nature is his picture of our House of Representatives? We have all been, no doubt, spectators of its deliberations; what do we think of them? Right here are formed laws which constitute the chart by which we are guided. Is it our opinion that dignity and gravity sufficiently charac- terize their deliberations? I am sure that we cannot be far away from Dickens ' own notion, in this one particular, to any nothing of others. Any man, sincerely and praj-erfully seeking for help, may abide in the assurance of perfect faith, with the light given, no matter how incompatible his con- clusions may be with those who are guided alone by the law of conformity to type. Metzrott, the shoemaker, Henry George and Bel- lam)-, each and all announce Quixotic doctrines. And why? Because their ideas are awaj ' from conformity to type, and still there cannot be found an honest thinking man who does not realize that the present principles upon which the basis of society rests and is accepted generally by the unthinking are radically wrong. There should be no conflict between labor and capital; these twin elements in every product of man ' s ingenuitj have no right to be warring against each other; symphony alone should be the result of their combination. Neither extreme will ever settle 14