The herald., 1896-06-28
second. and from that second on to eter-


Darwin, Humboldt, Agassiz, nor a
score of others whose writings have per-
petuated their names. They are simply
| guessers, backed only by the convictions
evolved by such minds as theirs. There
| are times, too. In all mems lives, when
! extreme views and tendencies will con-
troll them on subjects for whose investi-
| cation they are peculiarly fitted. and
will carry them beyond the boundaries
Of plain reason and incontrovertible
facts; the relaxation which always fol-
| lows this tension Is not SO obvious to
the rest Of the world, whose attention is
attracted to the excrescence on the out
line of argument, but sees not the after
math. the sequel Of the tense strain up
on the resources of intelligent belief;
and as mature age comes on apace. these
| extreme opinions and views of the years
| in mans life when experience has not
yet completed its stern catechism, are
softened and modified by the possibili-
| ties of mistaken zeal having overridden
certain established truths and circum-
stances. and a multitude Of unseen con-
tingencies, in the race for self-advance-
ment and public adulation.
I consider 1t a criminal act to destroy
| the belief which is the comfort and hap
piness of old age by such an assault as
man Of Ingersoll's intellect and in
genuity is capable Of. About the only
consolation Of the majority Of those
who have passed life's meridian is the
| expectation Of, and belief in, a happier
hereafter, when the night draws near
its close. and old age begins to see the
light beyond in the new day, it is the
very essence of cruelty to break down it's
hope and belief by the power of argu-
ment and force them to the conclusion
that after all 1t Is q dream, a mirage
which they can never reach.
D,,k -y>
anyone can answer that positively. AS
correspondent (who states that he is
fatalisD not long ago said, there does
seem to be something commend
able, something. in extenuation
of the act Of man who
drowned himself Il believe the Bryant
Park affair in New York was the refer
ence) that his wife and little ones might
secure his life insurance. The cores
pondent referred to further fortified his
views by a reference to the New Testa-
ment. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for an
other" Undoubtedly this man had ex-
hausted every means his life and station
afforded to provide for his family in life,
and when he faced the last great al
tentative he saw there his opportunity,
and he embraced it; and it seems to me
he displayed. besides. the courage Of
Leonidas, Horatio or Paynim, for I do
towards, though have frequently heard
the remark that the taking Of ones own
life is coward s final coup de grace. The
hasty judge of this might change his
opinion very materially if the truth were
possible of attainment.
But for all that to applaud such trag-
ical acts is a dangerous precedent to
set. for it might be that in some time to
come his example would be followed,
when. If the act were made to appear to
disordered and desperate mind
as bearing the seal of Almighty
stay the deed. For little things
will turn great destinies some
times. At all events. the less Ingersoll
and his followers indulge in such mani
festations as his advice to those con-
templating suicide the better for the
world and the felo de se-to-be.
What is fatalism? l do not know its
real meaning, though from what have
heard, generally and vaguely, it is a
brief way of saying What is was to
have been," etc.
My own idea is that we are, from the
day of our birth, left to our own resource
es in this world, except as the rule is
modified by parental discipline and guild
ance, and I do not know that we will
not have to account for the use we make
of our talents in the same proportion
dS tudC III WHICH we are tIeTeWlun en-
dowed as in the parable of the master
and his servants. I do not know what
there is to prove that we are pre-ordain-
ed to die or perform any other unpleas-
ant and inevitable function in any par
ticular manner This, have been told
is the essential quality Of fatalism. But.
suppose for instance, man attempts
suicide by drowning? A fatalist stands
by and sees the body taken from the
water. He might impart comfort, in a
measure, to the near relatives by assur-
ing them ut was to be, and never could
have been avoided" Then, by chance
after hard work the man is resuscitated
Now, which was to be, the resuscitation
or the drowning? The fatalist said the
drowning, but the man was not drowned
AS the principle Is solely one of mental
solution, and never can be, in this world,
subject to mathematical demonstration,
it seems to me the theory of fatalism is
weak somewhere, that is, If I understand
it correctly. 1 have always felt shaky
when discussing the matter, and an H.
lustration of this order or else that of a
man throwing himself in front of a To-
comotive going at full speed, and acci-
dentally recovering from the conse-
quences of such rashness. has always
been my refuge. To practically demon
strate that the belief in fatalism Is
grounded upon facts, it seems to me the
power of unveiling the future is neces-
sary. But this cannot be, for the fu-
ture is sealed and can only be opened
by the final conqueror, Time. We may
guess, and guess, and prophesy, and
sometimes these haphazards are declar-
ed by the arbiter Time to be quite accu-
rate, and he illustrates it. But these
chance opinions are based on natural
grounds. personal peculiarities the like
of which have always. or often enough
to make rule, produced certain condi-
finnc in, q Of
ternal influences, or circumstances un-
der, or in which, he is thrown, by birth,
accident or other causes And I guess
this best explains fatalism-the fact
that we are so frequently the victims
Of circumstance.
The Ticking Of the Clock
1.-THE ticking Of a clock" says Mr..
Bugleby, ''is sound so familiar that
we take no thought of it till it ceases.