The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-06-09
FIND UNIQUE PAPERS
Documents Left by the Late
NereuS Baldwin of Wichita
HIS LETTER TO THE FUTURE
Il Was Written Here Twenty
Five Years Ago.

The first is addressed to a Wichitan 10
The year 1876. 1t was written a quarter
Of a century ago, and a copy of it re-
poses in the corner stone Of the First
Presbyterian church 1t reflects in It's
every line the deeply studious. highly
spiritual character Of the man who wrote
It so long ago.
The second document Is q thesis on
the writer's longings for immortality.
and the third probably written at later
beriod is his assertion, OF the imper-
stability of the soul
Nereus Baldwin was q scientist, and &
han of extraordinary artistic instincts.
Although he was one Of the earliest
citizens Of Wichita, so exclusive were his
- habits. and so reticent the man that only
few ever enjoyed the fruits Of his pro-
found researches.
but nearly all the people were ac-
puainted with his familiar figure and his
kindly spiritual face and for that reason
the documents have an unusual interest
The first is as follows:
Wichita. Kan. July T. 1876.
TO Somebody Who is 10 be, the year Of
1876:
Friends: Too vague are my concep-
lions of you and your surroundings.
also. Of that upon which the present is at
work forming the conditions out Of which
you shall grow, to find any satisfactory
method of addressing you.
ITO write 10 those who we know and
with whom we are in sympathy from
present customs, modes Of life, and
channels of thought and feeling, is no
difficult task. But 10 think Of one hun
Gred years intervening between the
thoughts I may write and somebody s
mind 20 receive them, is almost over
towering. To bring to many varied
thoughts into the field that nothing al
most seems the result
What viii be one hundred years from
this centennial Fourth What will be
come Of the places and things THAI are
now so familiar 70 me2 What viii
this city, this county. this whole country
then be2 What win become of the soul
through whose impulses these lines are
penned? VIII 1t go down and perish in
unfathonable oblivion. and in its place
grow other souls only to return to the
same inevitable fate What mark shall
be left upon the future from which can
be traced the life of so fraI a wanderer
II
this soul Of mine when il has passed the
boundaries Of physical life. From
whence came !, and whittier shall I go2
Who can trace the so dimly lighted fu-
fure? The wheel is rolling and a cen
fury, hence is q part of that wheel.
think I family see much changed a
revolution OF what now is the throbbings
Of the great heart Of the world. Change
Is written upon all things and an advance
step seems almost ready to be taken in
the political. the social and the spiritual
worlds Of living humanity. Underneath
S. flowing stupendous current which
now almost silent and unnoticed IS wear
sne its way Now and then its murmur-
ings are heard by those whose sense TO
the real life nas been the most Qulckened.
How and why it is. time alone can dem
onstrate.
..As all things are based upon truth and
i1nmitable law. so is the present a result
of an the influences and conditions of
the infinite past. That which is to come
must be development and embodiment
by the hidden powers, which are all
things OF themselves. the great lever of
cause and effect, which connects the in
definite past and the infinite future
making them as one grand present
II submit these thoughts with due con
sideration OF my imperfecuons and weak
iesses. with a dim vision looking out
into the future I see YOU above me upon
broader planes, having higher concep-
lions OF life. and more complete eonneo-
ttons with sources from which flow pure
aud unalioyed happiness. IN accord
with these thoughts I feel these con-
nections more plainly that you must be
growth from the past and that mS spir-
ii. however. silent and unnoticed, is q link
fn the chain leading unite. you. Then,
think of me as bound to you in ties OF
near relationship and however unworthy.
as being d minute cause in the production
Of some condition or surrounding with
which you are familiar.
with solemn thought I bid you good
1--we You nos seem real and ] feel a
sympathy OF relationship with you. Long
before these thoughts come TO you 1
shan have made NY transit from the
physical, What I may then be. and
what influences may be exertng within
and around YOU. I know not Whatever
my mission I fan into eternity from
causes as inevitable as that The leaf
mast Quit its parent stem Accept this
as from the honest impulses of a soul just
opening into conditions where the light
that is TO illuminate the future becomes |
visible. in humility, I am yours truly.
Marcus BALDWIN"
-Photographer and Of Quaker descent,
porn the year 1870. without his consent
Without previous calculation has lived
81 years Has not settled FOR his indi-
<iduaI identity; is not worth much in the
balance. inherlled inequalities. heavy, yet
the old min is ever grinding
The second manuscript is this
You inquire as 20 my religious ex-
s,erfence anu prospects for better world
snan this. 7 cannot answer very favor
sblv 10 either OF these. yet I think ham
mt The greatest Of sinners. unless such
= ouaitting to 90 and work for the
,--satest good 20 myself and 10 the
x.,rla some times feel that I am a
blank specimen Of humanity, existing and
oecnpving space as an automaton Of no
value For I can hardly see as the
world win be better or worse for my
hsefne lived II it, TX is true / have g
great deal OF enjoyment and at times
Nace faint glimpses Of a higher. deeper.
rs more perfect state OF bliss, which is
possible u obtain i'm the light and life OF
things spiritual ] some times almost
3nvoluntarily retire within myself and
IND way down deep I'm my interior ma
cure q demand. q longing for something
10 strengthen and nourish 8 principle OF
.hifa which seems 10 be rh. real man. 2nu