Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-05-10

large rs a man nanu on winch we
may plant our foot.
Whether a man believes in a human
like God or no is Il small thing Wheth-
er he looks into the mental and phys
ical world and sees no relation be-
tween cause and effect, no order but
blind chance sporting, this is the
mightiest fact that can be recorded in
any spiritual existence. 1t were al
most a mercy to cut his throat, if in
deed ne does not do it for himself.
We. however. do not cut our throats.
To do so would imply some desire and
| feeling, and we have no desire and no
| feeling. We are only. cold. We do not
wish to live. and we do not wish to die.
One day a snake curls itself round the
waist of a Kaffir woman. We take it
In our hand, swing ii round and round
and fling it on the ground-dead- Ev-
| cry one looks at us with eyes Of admi-
ration. We almost laugh. Is it wonder
| ful TO risk that for which we care
nothing?
In truth. nothing matters. This dirty
! little world full OF confusion, and the
blue rag stretched overhead for a sky
/ is so low we could touch 1t with our
| hand.
Existence is a great pot. and the old
| fate who stlrs 1t round cares nothing
what rises to the top and what goes
| down and laughs when the bubbles
| burst. And we do not care. Let it
| boil about Why should we trouble
ourselves? Nevertheless the physical
| and
| thirst: therefore we eat and drink. In
action pains us; therefore we work like
galley slaves. No one demands ii, but
| we set ourselves TO build n great dam
| In red sand beyond the graves.
In the gray dawn before the sheep
| are let out we work at 1t. All day,
while the young ostriches we tend
| feed about us. we work on through the
| fercest heat The people wonder
| what new spirit has seized us now.
| They do not know we are working for
| life. We bear the greatest stones and
| feel a satisfaction when we stagger
| under them and are hurt by n pang
| that shoots through our chest. While
| we eat our dinner we carry on baskets
| full Of earth, as though the devil drove
us. The Kaflir servants have n story
| that at night witch and two white
| oxen come TO help us. No wall, they
| say, could grow so quickly under one
mans hands
| At night alone In our cabin, we sit
| no more brooding over the fire What
should we think Of now? All Is empti-
| ness. SO we take the old arithmetic,
| and the multiplication table, which
| with so much pains we learned long
| ago and forgot directly, we learn now
! In a few hours and never forget again.
| We take strange satisfaction In
| working arlthmctlcal problems. We
| pause in our building to cover the
stones with figures and calculations.
| We save money for a Latin grammar
and an algebra and carry them about
| In our pockets, poring over them as
over our Bible Of old. We have thought
| we were utterly stupid, incapable Of
| remembering anything, of learning
| anything. Now we find that all Is
easy. Has new soul crept into this
| old body, that even our intellectual
| faculties are changed? We marvel,
not percelvlng that what man ex-
| pends In prayer and ecstasy he cannot
| have over for acquiring knowledge.
| You never shed tear or create n
| beautiful image or quivcr with emo
| tion but you pay for II at the practical,
| calculating end Of your nature. You
| have just so much force. When the
one channel runs over. the other runs
| dry.
| And now we turn TO Nature. All
| these years we have lived beside her,
and we have never seen her. Now we
open our eyes and look at her.
The rocks have been TO us blur Of
| brown. We bend over them, and the
| dlsorganizcd masses dissolve into n
many colorcd, many shaped, carefully
arranged form OF existence, here mass
es OF rainbow tinted crystals half
| fused together, there bands Of smooth
| gray aud red mcthodlcally everything
each other. This rock here is covered
with delicate silver tracery, In some
| mineral resembling leaves and branch
ca. There on the fiat stone, on which
we 80 often have sat to weep and pray,
| we look down ana see IL covered with
the fossil footprints Of great birds and
| the beautiful skeleton OF fish. We
have often tried 10 picture In our mind
what the fossilcd remains Of creatures
must be like, and all the while we sat
on them. We have been 40 blinded by
thinking and feeling thnt we have new
or seen the world.
The fiat plain has been 10 us n reach
OF monotonous red. We look Mt II,
and every handful of sand starts into
| life That wonderful people, the ants,
we learn TO know; see them make war
and peace. play and work, and build
their huge palaces. And that smaller
people we make acquaintance with who
live In the flowers. The Ditto flower
has been for uB n mere blur Of yellow.
We find It's heart composed OF hun
drcd perfect flowers, the homes Of the
tiny black people with red stripes, who
move In and out In that little yellow
city Every blucbell has its inhnbitant.
Every day the "sarroo" shows uB n
new wonder sleeping In It's tecming
bosom. on our way 10 work we pause
and stand to see the ground spider
make It's trap bury Itself In the sand
and then wait for the failing In OF It's
enemy. Farther on walks n horned
beetle, and near him starts open the
door OF spider, who peeps out care
fully ana quickly pulls II down again.
On "Garroo" bush green fly is lay
Ing her silver eggs. We carry them
home ana see the shells pierced. the
spotted grub come out, turn 10 green
fly and hlt away.
We nrc not satisfied with what Ma
turc shows uB and will see something
for ourselves. Under the white ben
we put dozen eggs and break ono
daily 10 see the white spot wnx into
tho chicken. We are not excited or
enthusiastic about Il. But n man i5
not 10 lay his throat open. lie must
think OF something SO we plant seeds
IN rows on our dafn wall and pull one
up daily 10 see how II goes with them.
Alladccn buried her wonderful stone,
and golden palace sprang UP nt her
feet. We do far more. We put
brown seed IN the earth. nnd living
thing starts out-Btnrls upwnrd-why,
no more than Allndccn can we say
starts upward. ana does not dcHigt til
IL is higher thnn our hcndg. sparkling
with dow In the carly morning, glitter
ing with yellow blossoms, sinking
brown seeds with little embryo souls
on 10 tho ground. We look ut IL sol
cmnly from the time IL consists OF two
leaves pccping above tho ground and
noft white root I'LL we have TO raise