The Fire Fiend
Amongthe many inventions which German ingenuity and science have devised for the effective conduct of this war, and for the elevation of Germany to supremacy in the world, the most repellent in general estimation has been the use of fire; but this commends itself with peculiar zest to Mephistopheles, who here sits on a chair beside the telephone and calls up the Prussian Palace at Potsdam. He cannot restrain his admiration and delight at this new invention. It is entirely to his heart. He sits with one leg rested on the knee of the other; and you will notice that the foot of this leg, with its carefully careless drawing, suggests a cloven hoof, while the scanty hair, by its arrangement, gives the effect of a pair of horns: even in this figure, an ornament of high-class society, there linger the signs of the half-bestial figure of Satan. The face is wholly the countenance of the devil, conceived as the man of society, who has moved amid the luxury of the most fashionable circles, where his wit and cynicism have made him popular.
All his surroundings are suited to his character. The chair on which he sits has goat’s feet, and its back is the bearded head of a goat. The very telephone has something about it subtly suggestive of the devil. A gorgeously attired flunkey who stands behind the chair does not attempt to conceal his delight at the joke; for he is not the conventional English serving man, who betrays no appreciation of what is said by his master. He is in perfect sympathy with the devil, for he is himself a devil. The nature of the devil is expressed more completely in the footman than in the master. His legs are the legs of a goat, and his feet are its cloven hoofs; and, whereas on the master’s head the idea of horns is suggested only by the arrangement of the hair, horns openly protrude from the bald skull of the serving-man. There is no veneer of fashion and intellect and wit here: the hateful animalism of the face is in keeping with the animal limbs.
From these surroundings comes the message to Potsdam. The Prussian monarchs have always been given to the outward forms of religion in their messages. For every success which they have announced to their people they have professed their appreciation of the good conduct of that German God whom alone they recognise. But Mephistopheles has been struck with one omission in the series of messages from the Kaiser at the front announcing the stages of his success. There has been no expression of thanks to the “dear old God” for the application of fire as an agent of victory, and he calls up his friend at Potsdam to twit him with the omission.
WILLIAM MITCHELL RAMSAY
BURNING FIRE“Hullo! Potsdam? Did you thank your dear old God for this new success?”
BURNING FIRE“Hullo! Potsdam? Did you thank your dear old God for this new success?”
BURNING FIRE
“Hullo! Potsdam? Did you thank your dear old God for this new success?”