The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1897-05-06
HAPPY SPRING!
A MESSAGE TO THE SOUL.
1T COMES IN SPRING TIME.
Some Rambling Thoughts.
BY "NEMo." +"

BY "NEMo."
(Copyrighted.)
The ground beneath our feet is al
ready restless with the thrustlng vigo1
of seeds, whose mysterious and resist
less power is compelling the soil to
give up its dead to live agian. Our ev.
cry footstep is dogged with the tlreless
tasks of earthworms and insects, tun.
neling in all directions that the soil
compacted by the Winters storms
may be in reach of the life impelling
influences of air and warmth. Invis-
ible energies are crying aloud to the
hillsides and to the valleys, to the crea-
lures that hibernate and to the birds
| that migrate, to insects and to grubs,
"Let there be life !" and there is life,
so peryasive that though we fly to the
uttermost desert, it is there; though
we bury ourselves in the deepest mine,
1t is there.
The glory of green flung suddenly
over sober fields and naked trees, the
futter of busy birds twitterlng and
whistllng OF love and defiance, the SUBJ
tie odors of flowers and of grasses =
all unite to thrill the senses, until the
healthy heart is filled with the same
universal joy of living. The blind can
feel the change, and the deaf can see
it; every living thing answers the sum-
mons. The heart of the young grows
light, for is not the time of listening to
the birds and of gathering flowers at
hand? The sluggish blood of the
aged courses more freely again and the
devout heart swells with gratitude for
one more Spring in the "World Beau
tiful." Even the room of the invalid
becomes the home of. unselfish pleas
ure at the thought of the merriment
and sunshine that fill the world.
But there is message to the reason
and an appeal to the soul in sprlngtlme,
far transcendlng any qualification of
the senses. It explains at once to us
the almost delirious joy with which
the season is greeted. What is It?
The real recognltion-in some cases,
instructive, but none the less real
that for the time being life has trlum-
phed, though the earth for months has
lain in the valley of the Shadow of
Death. Life out of death victory out
of defeat, new energy fed by the things
that have perished This is the JOY
note of Spring.
Viewed in one way, the gloom and
depression of death is over everything
mundane. 1t is sad enough picture,
vet needful to remember in order to
gain the full lesson from the new life
now swarming in earth and air and
sky. It is unsafe to assert that there
are things the Almighty cannot do.
One thing however, is certain He has
never yet made a living creature with
a material body that lasts forever. AS
soon as the elements of living things
are gathered together the conflict be-
tween life aud death begins; with ul-
innate victory completely assured for
the latter. Everything that lives is a
battle-ground for forces that are doing
their best to send it back dissolved into
It's original elements. And they sue
ceed!
The Creative Force in the world ap-
pears to love living things and to hate
death if 1t we're not SO, why the tricks
and devices for enabling things that
live, though they themselves perish,
yet still to retain place on the earth
through their descendants? The arch
enemy of all created things may tri-
umph over the individual of any class,
but he is not triumphant all along the
line, else were this globe long ago a
lifeless desert. Victory is wrested from
death BY the various species passing on
their life into new beings of the same
species, or, in other words, by repro
duction. So while the dying perish,
the feud with death is still maintained
by the living who step into the breach !;
they in their turn passing on to others
the precious heritage of life to be guard
ed at all hazards and entrusted in un-
diminished force and beauty to those
that follow still later. The greatest Joy
of Spring is, therefore, that it is a liv-
ing picture OF conquest; a sshort-lived
triumph indeed but yet sweet while it