Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1892-01-15
"ZEZULA,s"
A Leap Year Lecture,

"A Leap IeAr Lecture.
If it were given to mortal minds to
discern the intricate designs of Omnipo-
tence, it would be a universal interpreta-
ton Of the plan of creation that, begin
ming with that first perfect pair in para
disc, the IONS and daughters of men
we're pre-ordained to walk together in
couples, side by side, in orderly pro-
cession through all the countless years
to come. For each was elected bis spirit
mate. Strength was allied with beauty,
and with devotion on one side and pro-
lection on the other, the happy children
of earth, drawn each to his W by the
inlmitab]e law of natural attraction,
might have passed down peaceful ages
in serene and smoothly-howing lines.
But man fell from his high estate and
his fall Jared upon the earthly fabric
and marred that perfect plan. The re-
suit Of that fall was a shaking up of all
the social elements and a disturbance of
the divine harmony Of life that has con-
tinued until the present day.
Men must now seek for their aftinities
and, having lost that finer sense of intu-
ition, oftentimes choose the wrong part
ners. Others there are who walk lonely
through the earth and seek in vain for
the companionship of kindred souls.
Few and h~eeting are the glimpses
vouchsafed to such of that paradise
from which men fell.
Were it possible to preserve in each
locality on the globe on exact propor
ton of the sexes and endow them all
with the health and good looks that are
the natural heritage of perfect martale,
there might be inaugurated a rule of
conduct closely .approximating to the
primal law of Eden. But from the un-
equal distribution of mankind (Which,
of course, embraces womankind)
throughout the earth, the disparity of
numbers, the prevalence of disease and
a completely Of other causes, there
have arisen conditions hat will yield
neither to the theories OF the moralist
nor the remedies of the reformer.
In the patriarchal days, when wars
decimated the ranks Of strength and left
a surplus of beauty, men sought to emu
late the sun, whose rays may shine for
many a masculine ambition not yet
wholly extinct, but which modern civil
l~ization diligently seeks to repress.
Even though in barbaric ages has been
preserved that changeless law of para
disc, that strength should seek and
beauty should be sought. 10 ask is
mans prerogative; to refuse or to accept
is woman's privilege. Only under I'M
natural conditions is this natural law of
selection ignored, and it may have been
that under such conditions, when the
woman greatly outnumbered the men
and there were not enough Of the latter
to go round and public sentiment WAS
opposed alike to the lottery method and
the sunlight plan, the gentler half of
the race may have been led to reverse
the order of courtship in hope of secur-
ing an imagined prize. IL this way
may have originated those leap year Gus
toms that exist now only in tradition
and are seldom practiced save as a pleas
ing diversion in beauty's masquerade.
Certain it is that leap year itself origi-
mated in mans vanity, and the interca-
larry day is added every fourth year to
the end of February to replace the
one flched thence by Augustus to
lengthen out his namesake August
which. by the original plan of Julius
Caesar, had but thirty days.
Earth has doubtless lost much of the
pristine glory Of Eden, and the shock of
that disastrous tumble of the first Great
ed pair is yet felt in the d%isordered So
cial forces of the modern world. But
fair flowers and wholesome fruit grow
amid the ruins. Strength and beauty
still endow the sons and daughters of
men with athletic grace and social
charm. Love lives always in the recur-
ring romance of youth and into the
lives of the happily mated, and whose
mutual love has been raised by the
touch of mutual sorrow from the plane
of the material into the realm of the
spiritual then comes at last that sweet
content that forms the prelude to the
divine joys of paradise restored.
ZEzULA.
A Little Girls Experience in A Light
house.