The Portland daily press., 1899-11-03
DO NOT THINK OF DEATH,
Net upperme.t tn Meas Minds As u
Wa. ia Past Ages.

Otnt0 - - m0AAN0 ~ @NtA1&H1s
baps the most distinctive note Of the
modern spirit Is the practical disappear
anoe OF the thought Of desth - an infu-
encs directly bearing upon practical lifs.
We insure our lives, ., is true. but nav
ing done 90, think no more Of the matter
except In the spirit Of William Mioawbsx
when hs slgnei q promissory note.
There are no skeletons ct our fsasts now
adays, or ut worst. they are living ones.
Death has lost Its terrors. and 10 10 often
regarded As ths last and best friend.
One OF the main causes Of this remark
able change In sentiment 10 the improve
ent In modern sanitation and hygiene
and the increased average duration OF
life. In the Middle Ages nothing was 80
uncertain NJ death. Duets and privsie
wars, feuds and bandits. plaques and pes
tiiences, made men uncertain OF their
lives from hour TO hour. When mems
position In lie depended upon the
strength OF their right arm. they ceased
to be effective when they became stale"
as athletes Ihus old ago began for men
early In the forties. The average age was
younger. yet death came more frequently,
so that his visits were the more and more
unwelcoms. When any day might be
ones last. it was natural 10 be always
thinking what came after death. Nova
days death comes later, with more warn
ings of his approach, and takes Us less by
surprise. We are more willing 10 20. lees
eager to stay.
That increase In the average aye of
men has wider results than would appear
at first sight. The forties In . mans life
are the decade of oisillusion, and q socie-
ty In which the tone lie mainly given ty
men Of 20 and upward is sure to be praot-
ioai and pessimistio. Now the tendency
\ Of modern life is to put power into men q
hands mainly after they have reached the
age of 40. Mr.. Gallon has noticed In his
Hereditary Genius that men do not get
into the Biographical dictionaries till af-
ter the age of 40. 1t Ia only in the pres
mt generation that the cumulative effect
of the increased age Of the men of innu-
ence has had time to show itself. and the
result has been what Is known as the flu
de steele tone. Part Of this tone Is char
actsrized by the dying OF death. More
and more death tends to remove the Old
est. and the gaps 1t causes seem more nat
ural and normal. Often, too. medical
science protracts life at the cost OF greas
suffering, and that death comes at last
more as release and frequently causes
more relief than grief to those who re.
main.
Thus on all sides death Is losing Its ter
rors. We are dying more frequently
when our life's work Is done. and 10
seems more natural to die. We live so
hLrriedly that the final cessing to be IL
getting to be regarded as the SUNNI um
bonum. The favorite text on tombs IL
getting to be-"3od giveth his beloved
sleep" This sentiment expressed on
Prof. Huxley's tombstone, "It 10 well,
even II the sleep be endless" expresses
IA general feeling. Life Is hecomlng so
complicated that any one man SEEMS lest
i'm portant and significant In this life, SO
| Il Is harder to Imagine him having any
more Significant function In any other.
And when the joys aud fears of q future
life become dim, death as motive disap-
pears.
1t is not as If any marked revolution Of
feeling with regard to continued life In
the future existed; that remains the great
faot perhaps 1t always was What people
think about 1t, when they do not think
about It, depends OIL their temperament.
But the point am making Is that they
do not think about 1t at all; and the
whole subject Is ceasiDg to have praoti-
col effect on the life Of man.
There are signs of this every where.
The Increasing popularity Of cremation Is
one Of them. Still more significant is
the disappearance of hell from popular
theology. "That Is all very WE'LL" said
the Scotch Csivinist when ne heard Dean
Stanley, "but give me my hell" But
few win be found TO rs-eoho his cry. And
with the disappearance of he'll the diver
genoes Of the various orseds lose much Of
their Significance; aud SO we have tolera.
ton, which SO often wears the garb Of in
difference.
The most significant Of all, however, 10
the attitude of the church in all It's
branches. The idea Of the clergyman
was Of the man who prepared us for
another life This Is being gradually
changed to conception OF him as q So
oial Regeneration. Acts OF corporal obari-
ty are taking precedence Of the saora :
ments. Other woridliness Ia giving way
to worldliness Of another sort. At the
root OF half the socialism of tina day IL
the thought that this life Is the only one
with which men have practically to do.
While heaven and hell could act as oom-
pensating balances ths Inequalities OF
mems lives couid he regarded with some
thing approaching equanimity; 1t would
all be made right In another w0r Id. But
now this thought fails In efficacy. and as
a consequence we are socialists now.
What further effect the dying OF death
may have upon the tone of civilization
would bs hazardous co predict. Gener-
ally speaking, the lons or beiief in person
al immortality may Influence the charact.
or in two opposite directions. Either
there will be olutohing after the good
OF this world for oneself, and the feverish
activity OF enjoyment OF thsn, or. with
the higher and better mind, there will
be increased social activity and striving
| hafta all Thara