Aaron Kelson, prompted by seeing two 100-year-old busts in a theatre in Gilbert, MN, contemplates the significance of Sophocles and Aeschylus for early-20th-cen. settlers in the Mesabi Range:
...Their works reveal a profound understanding of human nature. Their philosophies helped to provide the foundation of our own beloved nation. I wondered what Sophocles and Aeschylus would have thought about the production “Casey at the Bat.” Surely they would have been pleased, as Sophocles once wrote, “Whoever neglects the arts when he is young has lost the past and is dead to the future.” This ability to connect the present with the past and the future is critical to humanity. We call the ability to see beyond the present “vision.”
Our region has long been blessed with vision. Just two years ago the city of Gilbert celebrated its 100th anniversary. By 1911, when the city was only three years old, a school literally on the frontier of the United States dared to align itself with the greatness of Sophocles and Aeschylus. I have tried to envision what the presentations of those statues must have been like. Where were they purchased? On what dirt roads were they hauled to their destination? How did students whose families were largely linked to the back breaking, endless toil of logging camps and truck farming have the audacity, the fortitude, the vision to connect their own experiences and education to such notable philosophers? In 1910, Northern Minnesota wasn’t exactly the center of the western world. Yet, last Thursday evening, Sophocles and Aeschylus gazed solemnly at the audience gathered to watch “Casey at the Bat.”
Thank you for your wonderful article
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