The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-04-20
PRESENT DAY THOUGHTS
Let us Lift Our Thoughts and Act
Nobly.
THE SPRING TIDE OF LIFE.
BY G. GROSvENOR DAVE.
Written for The Commonwealth.

Writ en- for The Commonwealth.
To Young Men Once More.-Where.
for months, in the Northern States
there has been chill and discomfort,
the air has now begun to take on
milder character. There is the sing
ing of birds and the Joy of physical life
again, so that earth and tree and crea-
ture throb with the knowledge that
out of death and darkness OF the WIN
ter there is to come the beauty OF
abundant life.
We talk of life as a mystery, but so
also is death for though death seems
to end all, yet what is 1t but the death
of rock and tree and creature that rem
ders possible all the wondrous and beau
teous forms of life that now solace our
ewes, weary of dun and gray tlnts.
*x*
There is the thought tor you, TEL
lows. Your limbs are strong, your
, arms are corded and knit, your powers
are superabundant, your eyes are clear
see, your brains are fresh to think.
1t Is we'll, for you and the dear girls
like yourselves strong and vigorous,
! are the spring of our humanity. The
blithesome birds on the wing are not
gayer than your hearts and the thrust
9 Ing buds of tree life shed no greater
e beauty over bare woods than do you,
along highways that would be bare in
deed without you. But whence this
i beauty, this charm, this gaiety? Its
/ sap, it's sustenance, its power, its gloryn
r. is drawn from the dead and the past.
d Those who have been are part OF the
substance Of those who are, and just as
seed-time and harvest have never failed
so have new generations of men ever
u come forward to go on With the tasks
st OF the dead and to draw inspiration
e from the leaves of human lie that
9 have Drowned in the autumn breezes
and then futtered to rest.
-
" All the glory OF the world is Dor
Is rowed glory the past is In it; the
20 present is not sufficient unto itself
ID An unbroken chain connects all those
-. who are proud OF themselves bacl
through the ages by gradual steps t
simplicity-back even to savagery.
*x*
Your thrill of pride, therefore, shall
IN not be this glorious Springtide, th
I'd pride that makes you feel self-sufficient
I'd but the pride that you are in the rac
no and of the race, and that some ham
before you, feeble and frail with age
has passed into your stronger hand th
% torch of truth and OF life. And you,
ns YOU are a fit product Of the death-po
I'D sessed past are here to live and to lov
a. and to strive with might that is II
,oe herited until your own hand grow
weak, and until to stronger an
younger hand you again surrender tn
ne torch of truth and of progress that yo
nd have kept blazing throughout tt
'ri- years.
he
Viewed in this way there is nothir
OF sorrow or of shock in realizing TIL
oo the living must die, in order that tt
es. living yet to be may live. The u
lit wholesome fear of death lnculcat'
ont into some of us from mistaken !
ligious view IS nothing but unwho
some; death is the order OF thing
-, death has been the forwarding OF o
race. How else would all things
n'' possible to US, did not the exhaust
a and the enfeebled give over into t
will charge of the fresh and the vlgoro
their own uncompleted work? Dea
.4o has neither victory nor sting; ca
Sprlngtime proves it, each uprlg
glorious young proves 1t. This acce
ems ance of great truth produces
who mawkish desire to die, but rather
of sire to live and to be worthy OF
bo proud lists of the grand souls that ;
gone before. Yet, if in the glorlt
Springtime of our lives, we qule
eii reckon upon death as factor In
careers, we can live all the better a
, to stronger for it, because we shall
the freed from the fear of death, which
ming a strange paradox, takes away the VI
;ates Joy of living.
'ork.
}, OF So then, you lissom lasses and sine
er lads, lift your eyes from the gro'
and and look about you; turn your
here away from that which is degrading
lssell walk abroad open the windows OF
his souls to the gentle air OF a glorl
,eum universe and learn. The glory OF
me- tree is that it is clothed anew in ru
may and in freshness, the glory OF the g
you is that it fulflls Its work In huml