The Republican journal., 1902-11-06
and vital kinship between our life and
L L. AZ

nection with it. In our ordinary Ian
gauge and thought we are lnstinctively
reading ourselves into nature and at the
same time reading nature INTO our
selves. We speak of al angry storm,
smiling sunshine, whispering breeZes
and laughing brooks. Everywhere i'll
our language and thought, if we were to
look for it We would find evidences OF
this instructive recognition of the re
lation of human life to the universe OF
nature, of which it is a part, and OF
which God is the life, lin whom We
and all things, Give, move and have
our being" Pope gives expression to
this same idea in these words:
"All are but parts of one stupendouS whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul;
That changed through all, is yet in all the
, same.
Great in the earth as in the ethereal frame !,
Warns in the sun, refreSheS in the breeze,
CLOVIS in the stars, and blossoms in the
trees;
Lives through all life, extends through all
extent,
Spreads, undivided operates unspent.
In the spring time we feel this SYM
pathy with nature more intimately, es-
pecially in the spring time of life.
Naturally the keenest sympathy is felt
between the young vigorous life that is
unfolding and budding and lowering,
and the nature world in the same stage
OF its growth. This natural sympathy
with the upspringlng lte is beautifully
expressed by Lowell in the opening
lines of The Vision of Sir Launfal:"
"Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward STRIVING;
tbs as easy now Ter the heart to be true
As for grass to be green or skies to be
blue,
It's the natural way of living"
In the vigor, and earneStness of the
prime of life, and especially in youth,
it is easy to realize this connection with
the natural world. But as time passes,
and we begin to find that our life is be-
coming more and more a memory OF
the past the future becomes short
er and the past lengthens-it is then
that we begin to shrink from that ana
logy. which is not mere figure of speech,
but fact-that as the leaf buds, I'M
folds, lives its season, performs its func-
lions, and then fades and fallS,-so do
we all. We are ready to accept all but
the last. Why should we shrink from
it, since it is just as natural and essen
tial as the first:
How strange and awful the gusty
wind and whirling leaves of the autumn
nal day. says Coleridge, and he but
voices what We all feel. When the
leaves tiutter from the trees, and the
bleak winds are moaning through the
forest, it is the dissolution of nature
that comes to our minds. We instinc-
lively shrink from it. 1t is not by acct
dent or chance that we are so. 1t is a
wise provision of nature that it should
be So For in order that life be pre-
served and attain the most, it must be
negatively charged. so as to repel its
| opposite-death. This is the very law
of life.
Ash life we shrink from death. it
! is wise and right that we do,-juSt so
when death does come, it should be met.
not as cruelty inflicted by the ruler of
/ the universe, but as the closing event
OF our career. How much of unhappi-
ness and uneasiness could be saved II
we could always rid our thought OF bit
! terneSS toward death and accept It as
! simply the final fact of this lie, and
| the opening event of the next. 1t would
! be we'll If we could be thoroughly pos
sessed with this thought, that as with
| the leaf there is a true time to fade a
! time when nothing else is appropriate,
natural on desirable.
/ ]. et us remember that the autumn
| leaf fades and falls honorably. 1t has
| done all that a leaf can do. 1t has con-
/ tributed all that it could to the beauty
! and comfort and welfare OF the common
life OF the world. 1t has done what it
could. 1t can do 10 more. Why should
it remain
/ The beuilicent purpose of the Father
] Of han M u t..ir
no Leaf can 1ail, provides that when it
/ has performed all its functions as a
| leaf. it must fade and fali.-but not to
/ eMd,-only that its latent forces may be
! liberated and 90 Oh to perform other
service III the universal economy.
Just so also with the human life, this
J fading and falling is not defeat and
i death. but rather it is victory and life.
The leaf fades after it mas had its
| summer. From the little bud in the
/ early spring it has expanded and open
ed, not to merely hang 1iutterlng in the
/ wind until autumn. 1t has to strug gle
for its life. 1t has had to bear the
heavy rains, to wrestle with the storm,
shudder with terror of the lightning S
| flash, to battle its way against various
! foes, parasites and insects. But it has
| fought d good fight, and now it simply
| fades to maturity | is its time to fade
and after all there is nothing so sad
about it. 1t is the natural thing to ex-
pect. 1t could not be leaf and do
otherwise.
There is something more pathetic in
the leaf that does not fall. Have
you ever noticed one lone leaf left
on branch when all of its companions
have fallen to rest about the roots of
| the tree? When the cold and sleet are
beating upon it does it not carry to our
thoughts suggestion of infinite pathoS
and sadness? The sad thing, then is
not the leaf that has fallen, but the
one that is left alone.
We sometimes dream of an earthly
| immortality. We enjoy life: for it is
good to live, and we wish it might con-
tinue forever But, as with the leaf,
| there comes time to fade If the
| falling be unduly delayed, the desire to
remain will gradually leave. One by
one our companions yield to the natural
law of life and fade and fall. All our
dear ones, those whose associations have
made life delightful are gone We try
to make new friends and acquaintance
| We try to get interested in the life of
the present, but it all fails by and by
We find that the world which we have
enjoyed is passed. After all it is in
finitely better to fade and fail and
mingle with the larger company. than