The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1900-05-17

of all; that animals preyed upon plants
and man upon animals and bacteria
upon man, cycle of suffering; that
every species was an Ishmael; that
birds and butterflies were not the care
less, joyous things the poet thought
them, living only for beauty and pleas
ure, but were engaged in a terrible
struggle for existence; that the
song of birds was war-cry aud the
ndornment Of the butterfly was merely
war-paint. It was found that there
was an awful waste in nature, waste
of time, waste OF work, waste of life.
OF million seeds sown by the wind
only one lived. Athousand eggs were
cast upon the waters to produce one
fish. A hundred men labor and
sweat that one might rise. 1t was an
awful revelation, that of science fifty
years ago. No wonder that it drove
men insane; made. them pessimists,
atheists. If science had stopped here
it would have been q gospel of des-
pair.
But it did not stop; another step
changed it to a gospel OF hope. 1t was
discovered that this, suffering, that
looked to a casual glance like an i'm.
pediment to progress. was really its
cause; that pain was the. handspring
of the universe; that war was the
mother of all things, as the Greek bad
said long ago; that therod Of affection
was the modelling tool by which God
created all living things; that there
could have been no happiness now if
there had been no suffering in the
past; that JOY is the offspring of sor-
row, out of war, comes. peace and
through death comes life. This
changed the whole view: 1t put OPP
timism in the place of pessimism. Man
could see the uses of adversely.
There was n time when there was
no suffering in the world. But that
was when there was no life; when the
earth was without form and void and
darkness was upon the face of the
deep. With life came suffering, and
increased with it. Progress may be
defined as increase in the capacity for
suffering. A stone does not feel pain,
probably plant does. Ancient ami
mails suffered less than their descend
ants. The gigantic saurians that used
to creep across the Rocky Mountain
plains were as big as house, but
their brains could have been put into
tea cup. Not much chance fer pain
there. And finally man came. q crea-
ture built upon new and improved
plan; but his chief endowment was
that he was able to suffer more. Saw
eral new kinds OF suffering We're i'll
vented expressly for him. He alone
of all the animals suffers in anUicipa-
ton of coming perils, and grieves over
the errors of the past. It is the greater
capacity for suffering that has made
men what they are. These are they
who have come up out.of great tribu-
lation.
The earliest animals were built to
avoid suffering. They were as big as
an animal could be, and walk. The
sensitive parts were protected, as in
our modern iron -clads, by defensive
armor as thick as could be carried
ulNlG anu OCuiGo ulLlOob IOll
Now these animals are. all extinct.
They were beaten in the struggle for
existence, and by what2 By little
animals with the nerves on the out
side. The animals that were easiest
hurt conquered those that were most
protected. Now, our museums are
filed with the relies of these obsolete
forms, models of Inventions that did
not work well, and on the walls are
hanging the armor of the knights OF
the Middle Ages. who were beaten by
men without armor.. The best pro.
tected animal now i'm existence is the
clam; the least protected is the man.
To try to escape suffering is not good
plan. 1t has been tried on g. large
scale, and it does not work.
There was a, time when there was
no death in the, world. This was long
after the creation Of living beings; if
by death we mean a definite and cer-
tain period to life. The infusoria, the
simplest organisms, are immortal.
They do, not die natural death, al
though. they can be killed. These
tiny specks OF protoplasm grow and
| divide. but we cannot say that one
part is the parent of the other. 1t is
the same individual, only separated
into two parts for convenience. II
lives and grows as long as the proper
conditions prevail; not merely fol-
three score years and ten, but foi
thousands OF years. In fact, the frs
created speck of protop!asm is living
yet, divided into innumerable parts.
Later there came beings that died
spontaneously, at the end Of a giyer
time. 1t was apparently great dis
advantage that an animal should die
when it had acquired the strength ano
skill of maturity, and that new IN
dividual should have to pass through
the period Of helpless infancy. Blu
the animals that died progressed anj
developed, while those that did mo-
die remained stationary Death cams
into the world that we might have
fuller and comp!eter life.
Now we see more clearly whGt j
meant by the many mysterious saying