Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-09-20
KNOWLEDGE Destroys FEAR.

DESHOYS FEAR.
Fear is the parent Of weakness, SUI
perstition and manifold evils and suf-
iering. Mankind are under its domin-
ion so long as they are in ignorance.
Man commenced his career upon earth
as inexperienced as child and his in
telligencc was at first barely separated
from the natural forces from which his
being was evolved. He found himself
in the midst OF the wondrous phenom-
ena OF nature, with mighty powers at
work all about him and strange scenes
going on. The scenes We're
daily and constantly shifting and new
exhibitions Of power are always
being made. The movements Of the
heavenly bodies, the ebb and flow OF
the sea, the succession OF day and
night, the forces OF the winds, the pro-
gress OF the season bringing various
phases of verdurc and fruitfuluess, the
conflicts OF the elements in storms and
tempests, the hurricane, the flooded
river, the snow and rain and ice, heat
and cold, to all these his external
senses were opened. And there were
agencies also which seemed direful
only. The fruits were cut off and fam
inc, disease and pestilence, with vio-
lence and destruction in their train, APP
peared. Amidst these scenes and
agencies, man began his existence on
the earth, with some dawning OF
mental and moral consciousness with
in him; with desires that were some
thing, although but little more than
the instincts OF the brute; with some
faint perceptions of order, beauty and
right; with very decided dispositions
to acquire and possess; and with a
wondering wish to know what all this
means, and to do and provide some
how for himself. But all these faculties,
though in time to become so mighty,
were at first rs weak and futile as a
child's vain first efforts at walking, or
the readings out of its feeble arms
after things that are utterly beyond
its grasp. He soon found his desires
thwarted, his expectations disappoint-
ed, his will put to nought. AS the
scenes shifted the mighty forces
played around him and the myterious
agencies, not only OF life but of death,
kept at their work and he stood there,
wondering and helpless, the seeming
puppet or victim of it all. His strong
est sensation was that OF bewildering
ignorance and helplesness, and his
first emotion, therefore, toward this
strange power which somehow held
the destiny of his life in its control,
was that of awe and fear, before which
he trembled and whose favor he at
once endeavOred to propitiate.
As fear sprang from mans sense OF
his ignorance and helplesness when he
first found himself face to face with
the mighty powers and mysteries of
nature, it is evident that just so far
and so fast as knowledge has taken the
place of ignorance and instead OF utter
helplessness amid the forces of nature,
man has learned to control and use
them, to just that extent has fear sub
sided and disappeared, and manly con-
fidence, courage and reliance came
into its place. AS man has developed
his capacities, as he has learned to use
his reason and apply his inventive
powers, to just that extent has he
found his existence to be in harmony
with the wOndrous, mighty agencies in
the material universe around him, and
discovered that nature is not his enc
my but his best friend. The more per-
fectly he unfolds his own being-that
is, the higher he rises in the scale of
intelligence and power as true hui
man being-the more completely does
he come into sympathy with Natures
laws to find her ends his own. Fear
must vanish before intelligence, knowl-
edge and the growing sense of power
and reason. Therefore, the institu-
tons Of learning established and fos-
tered by our public-spirited citizens
and which are the pride of our beauti-
full city, will diffuse knowledge and in
crease the intelligence, power and hap.
piness of the rising generation, and
dissipate fear as the sun does the mists
OF the morning.