The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-06-19
TINE DEAD sOul..


And In the night was painfully awake
And struggled in the darkness TIL day
break.
For not at once. not wi,hou. any strife.
II died; at times 1t started back TO life.
Now at some angel evening after rain
Builded like early Paradise again
Now al some flower, or human face. or
sky,
With s!len; trenbie Of infinity;
Or At some watt of fields in midnight
sweet.
Or soul OF summer dawn in the dark
street.
Death sometimes comes before the
physical form. attenuated by old age or
decay. is ready to succumb to the
reaper. He has his revenge, for no
separation between spirit and body
brings such suffering as when the soul
dies first. When the light Of welcome
life has died out In the heart, and all
else is but q mechanical performance OF
the operations Of vitality, death is pres
emit in It's most despairing form.
So strong Is the instinct of life that
the soul dies only after a struggle. 1t
grasps at hopes shadow after hope Is
gone. 1t will silently seek succor from
a human face passing unnoticed by, at
a new young life--thirsting for some OF
its promise Of love and happiness; it
will snatch al new ambition, drinking
in from 1t a momentary inspiration: in
the solitude Of the night 1t will clutch
at Intermittent CLEANS which are not
the rays of coming dawn. but the de-
parting pickering lights Of that sun
which sets never to rise again.
The death of the body is a merciful
death With it all knowledge dies. con-
seriousness is put to sleep. and the rest
is a blank The death of the soul leaves
memory awake. and the spiritless body
nurses it's departed anina as the dazed
mother holds to her bosom all that
serves to remind her of the little life
that was part of hers. Nature, which
claims the mortal remains. is kind in re-
moving from. the panied sight the dead.
sightlesc, voiceless thing which was,
but Is no longer, the embodiment OF an
Intelligent creation and the incarnation
of a loved and loving being
When the soul dies it is entomhed in
the heart. where none can see 1t but the
watcher who knows that the end OF
hope and ambition and lovingness has
come to the body it animated. 1t is not
SO very rare an occurrence: the obse-
auies are attended only by the one be-
reaved and he shrinks from sharing his
dead secret with any other OF his kind.
Sometimes IL is suspected. The listless
eyes and the patient submission may
betray the sufferer. but more frequently
the cause and the consequence go to-
gether and are buried deep down SO
that none shall know.
The death OF Il little child rarely brings
this grief. The loss, either by death or
| otherwise. of a grown son or daughter
who has lived long enough 10 entwine
| his distinctive individuality about the
hopes Of a parent. may carry with it
| the life which gave the birth. Disap-
pointment nj the perverslty Of human
fate, WEAKNESS with a struggle in which
good motives and weil-meant purposes
go down crushed before the merciless
sword % circumstances. can xiii thu
soul and leave the body a walking
sepulcher, as devoid u sympathy with
| surroundings as the casaet Of the de-
parted. hut withou; the unconscious
ness Of the past which brings peace and
rest 10 the WORKOUT body.
The whisperings BY the stars OF an
Infinite and more just future are the
| only SQUADS heard; and the uncertain
Ugh; u instructive trust IN the ultimate
eqaj,y e all things IS the only solace
Irt, tae only sllmmcr by which the
lettering footsteps are led in the dark
neSs ot eStlngutsheA hope 20 the grave.
with IS lnpene,f4ble Yeil and its
so.eEu mysteries.