Los Angeles daily herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1873-1876, 1874-05-17
SATURDAY NIGHT MUSINGS.

Darwin says we are all the sons and
daughters of monkeys. And what
then? Suppose we become converts to
the doctrine of this modern philoso-
pher, shall our belief in this theory
destroy our faith in the hereafter? If
we admit that we came from nothing,
do we admit that we shall come to
nothingo Is this little rounded life
the be-all and end-all of our existence?
1t must be so. The monkey has no
soul--no ever living, neverdying spark
he is out an animal-a thing of this
world-that is born, climbs trees, and
dies. He is but an animated, caudu-
lated, very active clod of mother earth
with an acute and cunning instinct,
but as void of reason as many of his
ancestors. He has no visions of futu-
rity-no longings for higher and
better life. Are we his children, and
shall we, like him, Ego to mix forever
with the elements; to be brother to
the insensible rock, and to the slug
gish clod, which the rude swain turns
with his share and treads upon"? IT'S
an ugly thought, dirty picture, and
almost makes one ashamed of his four
legged fathers and his chattering
grand-mothers. If this man who has
found so many monkey bones in the
human anatomy is going to blot out
our beautiful faith to destroy our
New Jerusalem-we almost wish he
had lived and died as the first members
of his family did, outside of public
school house. Is he going to turn the
water from our River of Life, and
leave parched, arid channel between
it's foliage-lined banks? Shall he blot
from memOry's page the written doc
trine of everlasting futurity? Shall
our simple reliance on "Him who do
eth all things we'll" fade away before
the hard, dry-bone facts of physiology
cal science? Shall the lesson of the
Sermon on the Mount; the beautiful
teachings of the Son of Man; the sub
lime picture of the Resurrection and
the hope that in Heaven we shall
know all, all "dissolve. and like the
unsubstantial pageant faded, leave not
rack behind?" Are We, after all.
only "such stuff as dreams are made
of, and our little life is rounded with a
sleepW "Sir, am veX'd." Darwin
has wasted his time. We care more
about what shall become of us, than
about what we came from.
The coming newspaper editor will be
rare sight when he arrives. We cam
not Imagine how he will look, but we
know what he must do. He will do
wonders, and the wonder of his WON
ders will be to publish newspaper
that shall please everybody. His pa
per will be an independent journal,
devoted to everything and the oppo-
nent of nothing. He will advise peo-
pie not to put an enemy in their
mouths to steal away their brains by
drinking to excess, and yet no one will
denounce him for a teetotle temper
ance man. He will teach his readers
to do unto others as they would others
should 10 unto them, and no one shall
say he is q religious enthusiast. He
shall encourage mirth and good feel
ing, and escape the doom of the noun
tebank and buff0On. He shall advo-
cate the interests Of many industries,
and not be denounced by all others as
the special organ of the one whose in
terests he championed last. He shall
make suggestions to the farmer, and
not be called Granger. He shall en-
courage the growth of his city, and not
be considered an enemy to the cOun-
try. He shall work for the best inter-
ests of the entire community, and
everybody will believe he is using his
means and ability to the best possible
advantage. He will be wonderful
man, publishing a wonderful paper,
that is read by a wonderful people.
Neither he, his paper, nor his readers
will exist, this century; perhaps not in
the next, nor the next. The distant
future has many secrets which time
shall unveil, but elf this were played
upon q stage now, we should condemn
it as an improbable felton," n
Fame is cheap commOdity-a sort of
shoddy production, after all is said and
done. A great deal of the article may
be manufactured out of small guam
tity ofinferior material. Vasquez is
famous MANTLE most famous of his
kind since the exit of Joaquin Muri-
eta. His name has been used to hush
CRYING babies and send children to
bed, from one end of the State to the
other. The very thought of Vasquez
has caused intrepid men to postpone
journies, and compelled those who
must travel to leave their watches at
home. He has impelled the fitting
out of dozens of pursuing parties, and
caused brave men to tremble like an
aspen. He has, not to put too fine a
point upon it, kept us all in whole
some dread of visit from him. In
his way he is famous man. Yet,
now that we come to think about it,
what has he done? 1t cannot be de-
MED he is famous, and his memory
will last while bandits thrive. "Men's
evil manners live in brass; their vir-
tues we write in water" which is but
another way of saying "the evil that
men do, lives after them; the good is
oft inferred with their boncs.u