The Argosy — page 159: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

146 Cynics and Hero Worshippers. who repay them with disappointments, bitterness, heart-burnings, envyings ; while the hero worshipper, elevated by his faith in what is . great and lofty, reaps a rich harvest of noble thoughts and generous emotions, which take him out of himself, purify his soul, and even console and comfort him in adversity. Let the iconoclasts then look round for some other idols to wreak their wrath upon, whose power is hateful to humanity, and leave unmolested a cult the influence of which is never. hurtful, and generally beneficial; and let the members of the condemned sect stand firm and defy the persecution of the cynics, for their faith is worth suffering for. Even though a favourite hero may sometimes trip in the battle-field of life, not for that should they abjure their faith, nor should it ever depend on the truth or steadfastness of one man. | | It is, however, a painful thing to see a hero fall, not from theshots of the enemy, but his own weakness. Mr. Browning, in his ‘ Lost Leader,” has well described the feelings of the followers on such an occasion : | ‘Just for a handful of silver he left us, Just for a ribbon to stick on his coat! Ava y: * + ‘‘We who had loved him, followed him, fought for him, Lived in his mild and magnificent eye, Caught his clear accents, learned his great language, | Made him our pattern to live or to die!”’ . But there will always remain enough, even with an occasional dis- appointment of this kind, to keep up our belief in humanity, if we only take a large view of it, and look beyond the narrow range of our own personal loves and hates. But when the hero remains firm and true, and 1s foiled and over- borne by the brutal world, then his followers feel bound to stand by him and defend him more warmly than ever. And when the voice, which has never faltered in utterances which once thrilled and inspired him with high aspirations, has passed into the realm of eternal silence, he experiences a deeper sense of his obligations. The feeling of championship becomes stronger, and all his chivalry is enlisted on behalf of the chief who can no longer defend himself by sword, voice, or pen, against calumny. It is a noble fight, and though the man who makes it may possibly be rash and _ hot-headed, he commands our respect and admiration. He would be a safe friend to trust in time of trouble, while the cynic, who in. fair weather, perhaps, entertained us with his satire and humour, would vanish from our sight like a swallow at the first breath of winter. As long as heroes exist there will be hero worshippers. | It would. be an impertinence to the intelligent reader—who we are persuaded has his own deities enshrined in some corner of his heart——to > go about proving their existence by illustrations. ‘Tastes differ in thi is as in VOOKS"EEO