The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1898-04-03
EDITED by Enoch Knight.)
THE TWO MYSTERIES
(Mary Mapes Dodge)

Whitman, surrounded by little ones anu
holding a beautiful little girl on his lap/fhe
child looked curiously at the spectacle OF
death, and then inquiringly into the ola
mans face. "You don't know what II is
do you, my dear?" said he, adding, I'VE
don't either"
We know not what 1t is, dear, this sleep
SO deep and still;
The folded hands, the awful caim' the
cheek SO pale and chill;
Che lids that will not lift again. thoush
we may call ard call;
The strange, white solitude of peace that
settles over all.
We know not what 1t means, dear, this des-
olate heart pain;
This dread to take our daily way ana
walk in 1t again;
We know not to what other sphere the
loved who leave us so,
Nor why we're left to wonder still; nor
why we do not know.
But this we know: Our loved and dead.
If they should come this day
Should come and ask us, What is hfe!'
not one of us could say.
Life is a mystery as deep as ever death
can be;
Yet oh, how sweet it is to us. this life we
live and SEQ.
Then might they say-these vanished
ones-and blessed is the thought!
$50 death is sweet to us. beloved! though
we may tell we naught;
We may not tell it to the quick-this mys-
tery of death
Ye may not tell us if We would, the mys-
terry of breath"
rhe child who enters life comes not with
knowledge or intent.
30 those who enter death must go as little
children sent
Nothing Is known But believe that God
is overhead;
And as life is to the living, so death is to
the dead.
1t is not, friends, what men hold true
that here concerns us, but that they should
be so faithful to that which they hold true,
Sew or Christian, believer and unbeiever
alike Times change, beliefs alter or are
forgotten, the religious formula of yes
tsfday may prove insufficient to the i'm
patient children of today, but that devo-
ton to principle which those witnesses"
exhibited is itself the pith of religion And
may that be ours in the new age, that we
may also be willing to die for our princi-
pies, If that supreme test should ever gain
be required; nay, better than to die for our
principles, that we may at all times be
willing to live for our principles, FOR that
Is greater and nobler still.-Felix Adler.
MARK TWAIN.-We have only read ex-
tracts from Mr. Clements new volume.
''Following the Equator" but it is full of
the very keenest observations He who
expects Joe Miller's jokes will be disap
pointed, but he who is anxious to hear
bright, new and worthy comment on mat
tiers pertaining to travel will find them in
abundance here. His surface aspect is that
Of the joker, but his undertone Is that Of
the philosopher. AS one critic has said of
him, "If he had not been Mark Twain he
might have been a Carlyle" We have
only room for one extract from this new
volume, on Reverence:
1.-THE reverence which is difficult, and
which has personal merit in it. is the re-
spect which you pay without compulson,
to the political or religious attitude Of
man whose beliefs are not yours. You cam
not revere his gods or his politics, and no
one expects you to do that, but you could
respect his belief in them if you tried hard
enough. and you could respect him, too, If
you tried hard enough. But it is very DIFF
ficult; it is next to impossible, and so we
hardly ever try. If the man doesn't be-
Neve as we do, we say he is a crank, and
that settles it, I mean it does nowadays.
because we can't burn him"
THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS. Fly
Mrs. Alec Tweedie, author of "A Win
ter Jaunt to Norway" "A Girls Ride N
Iceland" etc. The Macmillan COM
pany; price, $500
This is a splendid volume, thoroughly
good in matter and artistically and honest
ly made up. The illustrations are many
and fine, and the volume has full index
and maps. The first thing that strikes one,
as we said, is the thoroughness of the work
and its general excellence of makeup.
The main matter of the volume is the
account of a journey undertaken in the
summer of 1896. The journal of the trip
really begins at the Finnish harbor of
Eelsingfors, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The
journeys by land were made in the curious
little cramped carts of the country which
were always peaceful, If not always excit-
ing or amusing the object being to find out
as much as possible about this strange,
cold region, with its seven or eight months
of blocking snow and ice a region about
as little known to the outside world as
Lapland, its neishbor in the far north of
Europe A photograph of the little vessel
in which the party made the sea trip,
though 1t was in June, showed it to have
been clad in ice, its shrouds showing like
huge icicles.
The marvel of the story made plain by
this helpful volume is the spirit OF patriot
ism amongst the people, their unity of pur-
pose, despite the fact that they speak sew
eral tongues, cnd their helpfulness all
through the terrible struggles they have
had to keep even national existence. Con-
Quered by the Swedss, and in turn brought
under the dominion of Russia, which do
nlinion still exists. the FiNanders still
have kept their schools, their worship
and they enjoy the very best home rule
possible short of absolute independence
The type of literature is simple, almost
childish, indeed, and reminds one of c,o
Swiss peasantry.
There is touching pleading in their
national hymn, a heartfelt exhortation to
abide and trust. We subjon the closing
StanZas:
''Then. child OF Finland, ne'er forget
Thy noble fatherand;