The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-06-03
Written for TIE EMPoRfA NEW.
LIFE AND DEATH. 5es

That man should be strongly attach
ed to this life, is not only natural, but
necessary. Without such powerful mo-
tives, he would be essentially untitled
to act his part in the great drama of the
world. Mighty indeed should be the
ties to bind us here. for this world is in
one sense, and primary one, our home.
Here we are born our senses are wise
" adapted TO the external objects by
which we are surrounded, and design
ed to be gratified in their contempla-
ton. We are charmed with the out
ward beauty and loneliness with which
the universe is filed. All nature is
made TO speak to our hearts in her null
tiplied forms and moods in her aspects
of genueness, of grandure and terror !;
she utters forth living language which
the human soul understands and feels
in its Utmost Depths
AS Ihave stood upon the hill top, and
gazed upon the outstretched, and glo-
rious sky, and looked upon the land
scape spread out beneath my feet, re-
hillside, and valley, and gentle stream,
and interspersed with cultivated fields,
flocks and herds, and dwellings of men,
all bathed in flood of sunlight, and
all repOsing in calmness and serenity, |
have then felt, as / seldom fell, how
great boon is life. And who has not
been exalted to a fuller consciousness
of himself and the worth of his intel
lectual being, as lie has looked up by
night into the heavens, and contemplate
led those far off worlds, which were she'd
ding their mild light down upon him,
and all things earthly? In their eternal
silence they seem to speak with prophet
voices, of peace and hope, and rest
above. .fr.
But it is not the sights and sounds of
nature alone, the beauty of the flowers,
the song of the birds, the light of the
tend to bind us tn earttI--Ihere arc yet
stronger ties-strouger as they appear
more directly to mems business and
bosoms. AS the scene of our present
being, this world is the field of our la
bors and activity, and here are contrast
ed many of our wants and hopes. Our
daily necessities teach us our depend
ence upon mother earth-we must
breath her air, eat her fruits, and drink
at her fountains. Indeed most of our
faculties are fitted alone for this varied,
and changing scene, where they find at
once exercise and qualification. #t'
Thus the world presents itself as a
mighty mart into which we enter and
where we engage in the labors, and
cares, the anxieties and trials of life
here are multiplied objects of pursuit,
we are wooed by ambition, and allured
by wealth-we are surrounded by the
hum and hustle of business-we see on
our right, and on our left, all our fellows
struggling onward toward the attain
ment of some darling good, fancied or
real, and we ourselves join in the eager
pursuit. and seek our individual prize
Still, whatever may be our success, we
never fully attain our object, Or, rather
should say, our desire increases with
its very qualification, and never yet did
man accomplish, or acquire all he had
purposed or learned to wish. Come
death when itmay, some work must be
left unfinished, some desire unsatisfied.
IL it strange then that we should love
life, and cling to it with an almost IN
yielding grasp? --
But there are higher hopes why hui
man life is dear-necd / say what they
are ?-Do we not all feel that our hearts
are filed with affections, and gushing
with and interviewer with kindred
sympathies, which bind us almost in
to our families, our friends,
and our race With all it's vices, and
its crimes, this is still a social world, aud
we are social beings--our friends are
here, and i'll them are garnered up much
that we love and hope for. would not
say that our existence is all bound up in
our affections, but he who has not OBJ
served how much of the better part of
life they constitute, has not yet done
justice to human nature. f1f
There are few hearts so narrow and
mean as TO be satisfied with the treas
ures of wealth, or the honors ofroyalty
they instineiively seek for love. and
one trusting and faithful spirit is of
greater worth than the riches or domin-
ion of the world-this is the last tie
that is broken, when the soul is SCHOOL,
ing itself amidst trial, and suffering for
its final exit, when all other thoughts
are passed and gone, the departing
spirit often still fingers around the altar
of friendship. and " hen the tongue has
become dumb, the eyes sometimes still
speak the well known language of af-
lection and 1oye-there is bitterness in
the thought of separation from those to
whom we are bound by such silken ties,
and beyond . doubt no Inconsistencies
portion of the dread of death itself
arises from this source. bae
Love is the sun which throws its light
over human life, and makes it what it
is. Without its genial influence we
might exist indeed, but we could hardly
be said to lire. 1t makes. existence
precious by filling it with joys, and
waking ever in the bosom hopes of hap
piness yet to come. 1t is the star that
shines upon our pathway, and points TO