The San Francisco call., 1899-02-26

TF we wonder how it was that this
! I jewel should have cast the spell of
its splendor over the. eye and heart
of the humble artisan, some hint
Il may lie in the intimations we pos
sess that this was the time for what
may be called a carnival of pearls
among the masters of the world-"the
singular and only jewels" Pliny says,
and natures wonder" They were
wearing them then, not alone in carca-
nets and on coronets, but on their very
sandals.
1t may be mentioned also as bit OF
curious trove, which hclds an
other CLEAN for me and for my purpose
here, that among the dreams and specu-
lations of those times, touching the
origin of the jewel, these may have lain
among the folklore to which the Doy
would listen: That the pearl was born
of the dew from heaven, gathered into
one peerless globe falling through the
sunshine or the shadows, to create the
clear or the clouded splend0r. Or again,
it was born from an angels tear falling
from on high, while the rarest and most
beautiful caught their beauty and their
worth from falling athwart nash Oh
lightning in a storm.
These dreams may have reached the
teacher of divine things as he listened
to the talk at the fireside or in the mar
ket nlace. and may lie among the rea-
sons or the guesses when we Wonder
whv he takes the pearl for symbol OF
tho mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
in our human life and lot.
There is a truth at the heart of the
symbol. in it's creation. We learn from
the masters of our modern time that
the primal reasons for the wonder may
no traced to a grain of flint which has
invaded the close-encrusting shell ana
stabbed the delicate creature, down
there in the deeps, so that from 1ts
own life the ichor flows for help and
protection against the hurt. covering
the flint slowly, but surely, and round
ing to the pearl. Or, they say. 1t is a
narasite with which the creature must
do battle by encasing the invader. fold
on fold. and then dying; but there Is
the Jewel born Of the battle. And again
that it comes from the frustrated
nroroise Of another life-a promise
which can never be made good but
pearl. And the poet sings:
90 the poor shellfsh of the Indian Sea
Lies seven years sick of its sore malay
IFS pearl elaborates in the unresting main,
In worth proportioneu 70 tne creature
I1ntfi. in rosy luster perfect grown.
II comes to light as worthy Of a crown
May we not blend the imaginations
of the old time with the revelation of
the new? For the truth l would touch,
in some poor fashion, is Of the myster-
les which we can never fathom. yet
must ever ponder, while we also have
to suffer the impact of the fiints. to
fight the parasites, and to meet the
frustra atoms of life-the great and
beautiful mystery, to me. of the way
some noble treasures may be won for
the worlds life and our own through
the f1ints of circumstances, the Staying
of some dear hope and joy, and the
angels tear falling athwart the bolt
in the old imagination; the shining
treasure which may not and cannot be
won through ease and pleasantness and
the wealth of a good which knows of
no hearts bruise, no sore invasion of
our life in the shell of this human tab
ernacle, no blighted hope and no sore
burden: but by these, rather. and
through them, the jewel brought forth
in your life and mine, find in the
worlds life through all the ages-and
always true to the proverb. Where
pain ends, gain ends"