Would Clarence and Wilmot have admitted for an instant
that they intended to default in our duty pledged on the fields of
France; or that they did not desire international peace? Certainly
not. Would Marie and Spencer have admitted that they were in favor of
entangling alliances or the surrender of American independence? They
would have argued with you that the League was, as President Wilson
called it, a disentangling alliance, as well as a Declaration of
Independence for all the world, plus a Monroe Doctrine for the planet.
2
Since the offering of symbols is so generous, and the meaning that can
be imputed is so elastic, how does any particular symbol take root in
any particular person's mind? It is planted there by another human
being whom we recognize as authoritative. If it is planted deeply
enough, it may be that later we shall call the person authoritative
who waves that symbol at us. But in the first instance symbols are
made congenial and important because they are introduced to us by
congenial and important people.
For we are not born out of an egg at the age of eighteen with a
realistic imagination; we are still, as Mr. Shaw recalls, in the era
of Burge and Lubin, where in infancy we are dependent upon older
beings for our contacts. And so we make our connections with the outer
world through certain beloved and authoritative persons. They are the
first bridge to the invisible world.
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