Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-11-09
THE TINE OF DEATH.

man and the monkey is in the man.
ability and occasional willingness Il
consider of his own death. Yet a yer,
large proportion of us shun th,
thought and force ourselves back I,
the level of the animals by refusal t,
remember an inevitable fact which
should not be terrible, and is not I,
minds properly trained. The on,
thing we may certainly know of oul
future in this life is that we mus
presently die; and that one tbins
most Of us try diligently to forget.
Despite our reluctance, most of u!
must think sometimes. "Lord, teach
me to know mine end and the mum
Der of my days that l may be cert,
fed how long l have to live" The
stately words roll solemnly from
chancel and choir above the coffin
lids beneath which lie those who have
learned, and express ap old yearnine
of the heart. They come to us
through the thousands of years in.
terveniag since they first gave form
to the universal and ever unanswered
prayer, across the graves of the uu-
numbered millions who have lived
and died before us. There has al.
ways been the belief, shared alike by
the massive Hebrew worshipping the
One God, and by Homer, the Greek,
half believing in many, that some
where there is exact knowledge of
the end and the time Of each of US
that from the moment OF the draw
ing OF the first breath the hour and
moment Of the exhalation of the last
is precisely determined by inexorabIe
decision. Therefore the prayer has
gone out continually into the mystery
and the darkness, The awful silence
has continued through the ages uu,
broken. No passion of pleading has
brought an answer. AS the time
has come the stroke has fallen surely,
and the lives have leaped out and
vanished beyond the darkness and
mystery and silence from which none
return and no whisper nor faint echo
OF sound nor gleam of light comes.
When child dies there is depriva
ton and compensation. We know
more of death than of life. The
promises and the assurances of all the
All Wise and All Powerful and the
Unfailing Power are to be so fulfilled
that we may understand the fulfill
ment only beyond the grave. So
when the child dies we feel that we
know its future as we could not
know if it had lived. We know that
it has avoided the unbappiness aud
heartaches, the miseries and dangers
that come to the human lives most
carefully guarded and zealously cared
for. We know, too, that aside from
the singing pain of loss left in our
hearts, much of happiness has been
missed because to every young, strong
life there comes happiness of many
kinds.
When the old man dies we nav
say and try to feel that it is we'll.
Strength has gone and the COM
panions and friendships and associa-
tions of his youth have gone-but
yet, his life was at it's ripest, he was
just nearing the fullness of his know
ledge, the work of his life was just
beginning to accumulate about him
aud bear fruit. So we let our tears
fall over the white heads and worn
and peaceful faces of the old as we
do upon the shining hair and
smooth cheeks of the childre n
called away. And if any newborn
child could by special power be
given the right to choose when it
should die, with knowledge of what
was to be in the common human
life, what and what time would il
choose?
Let any of us who have come some
way along the road imagine ourselves
newly come with the knowledge We
have, how would we choose? Sun
pose each of Us at time of birth was
given supernatural understanding OF
life as it is and permitted to select
the time for ending the life new
given? How would We choose:
Childhood or youth with all the
power and the strength and happi.
ness and passion and splendid
strength of life but barely tastedl
The summer and fruitful time oi
life when strength is at its strongest
and realization of hopes and pur.
poses in sight? The autumn tim,
when the sheaves of the work of oul
lives are gathering thick about III
and yet there is work to be don,
with the winter and the frost coming
fast? The winter time, when ther,
is yet work to be done, but we hav,
merely begun to understand life an(
ourselves and to be snug and com
Portable and at rest?
When would we have it? Sup