The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-12-20
Esy 7zs A1&aRasw IyaUekv.
 MYSTERY ALL MYSTERY!!
A Reply te Robt. Ingersoll.
BY JAMES NJ. GIBSON.

little child sat on his fathers knee, And he looked abroad on the Hower'd field, And he looked above at the stars of heaven, Where Orion high on his cycle wheel'd, Where the clouds between were darkly
 driven,
 And he elasped his hands in wondering glee, As the night sang softly its favorite hymn, For all the scene was to bis mind so dim
 Mystery All mysteV!! Soon a young man, bold in the world was ne, Where the old and the young, the sad and
 the gay,
 Crowded and jostled each other about. Where the good folks wept as they kneit to
 pray,
 Where the wicked mock'd heaven and
 laughed in doubt, And said they would pass as waves of a sea From the face of time, and arise no more; And the world was to him with its rust and
 rear,
 Mystery All myste3!! He saw of life as few others did see; He read men s hearts as few others could read He drank of pleasures soul-maddening drink, And he felt of pain as but few have need His soul had wings and he dared to think, But life was to him, as to all it must be, Who cannot, or will not keep him back To simple faith or beaten track
 Mystery! All mystery!! He passed the quick by, but paused to see A face as cold as sculPtured stone, Where death was the carnival and king, Tn the heart shut hard to grief or moan, And he saw how frail was the creature thing, An l he thought of the wide eternity Thought strange is life, and how strange is
 death,
 And does all end with the last sad breath
 Mystery! All mYsteryl Thus life with it's days of sorrow and glee, Its busy throng and its idlers, all- Its false, fair women; it's great mean men, From its cradled babe to the funeral pail; As 10 why life is, whence i, cones, ard d when, If it doth not cease like wave on the sea, Will these things be solved in the life to come, Or whether will still be deep and dumb
 Mystery All mystery! It is all a mystery, and so it must be To the poor, frail worm oH its grea, sad breast. We may have our creeds and have our faith, But to never think much of it all is the best; For we may not lift up the silence from death; Its lips are as mute unto you as to me; For what we were placed in a world of woe, Why we shall die, and where we shall go-
 Mystery All mystery There are many suct questions; but still
 there be
 Far simpler ones that we cannot explain, That fools and the children ask of the wise, And 'tis idle to trouble the poor human brain, With infinite Aime and with infinite skies; Better hunt what is good for you and for me, In life's fettered days ar d earth's pleasant
 bowers
 Than to try to find out in the waste of the
 hours
 Mystery All mystery! It is better by far for you and for me, Not to pause, to wonder, or wander in doubt, But to take up the good of the Nazarene's
 creed,
 And to hold it fast, nor to reach about For the logic or light of the world to lead Through life and death and eternity; It is good to follow and il cannot harm, And it brightens with beauty as a magic
 charm
 Mystery All mystery! The skeptics may rave" Let the soul be free From the love of God, or the dread of hell," But, what do they offer to give insteadi The fruit of the life of fair Jezebel, Who of old, on the hearts of Israel fed, Whose kiss Is as fruit of the foul Dead sea Who would toy him moment and let him go, And points not to heaven from burden be
 low
 Mystery! All mystery. 
 ~YE rxHn pDnrunDc