The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-12-29

, tions Of vice reveal the old sins OF the
| soul.
| AS OF old too we stand and sigh as
| Israel sighed for our salvation. For free
dom we cry out shackled as we are and
out OF the narrow window OF it's prison
the soul leans and longs for
| liberty and flight. Whether we
turn 10 literature or art or
| politics or religion II is the longing for
what ought TO be, rather than what Is.
About us on every hand lies the objects
OF our handiwork We have thrown them
aside as the child throws aside Its old
tent. The ideal of something better per-
our best. Above all we are conscious
we are not our best. In this paradox we
find both discomfort and hope. We, are
ties far surpass our actualities. The
deep In earth and heaven and sea seems
calling TO the deep within us to go out
stand upon the shore OF our destiny.
feeling we ought TO embark, yet ever
waiting for the tide 10 ebb or flow. We
ssTaticn ses Il sqar wslreH o ike ,or SH sSn
ing star. yet It does not bring us
Simeon's peace. We ask for life. not
death.
THE DEMON OF UNREST.
We long and long, yet wait. Oh. ,..-s
demon of unrest that has laid hold upon
us. We seem to have drunk 1t in from
our mothers breast Yes and more We
read. and the longing OF other mems
lives fan IT. We cannot read one mas
terpiece Of literature, study one piece of
page of history that does not fan our
discomfort and teach us once again our
thraldom
Shall we doubt again the old Eastern
curse and bane of life. That cessation
OF desire is the hoped for haven of rest;
To lie so down to sleep and seeD T and
ears the noise and feel no longer life's
beat. even as Matthew Arnold tells us
Heine had done sleeping with opiates no
more In trim Montmarte." To feel the
peace that the soldier feels after the
battle. Not the peace OF him who sleeps
TO dream and wake, but the peace OF
ness and night coming on. never TO be
disturbed by high blast or dawn. IL is
no surprise that come OF those who have
seen life steadily and seen IL whole
have summed II up In the wall OF pes
simism and have seen life's only hope in
lifc's eternal cessation, sin. eternal sin.
discomfort eternal discomfort, salvation
hoped for, even the salvation, not OF
larger life but the cessation OF all life.
THE BoTToMLEss PIT.
| In this chasm between what life is and
| what IL ought TO be one peers into the
| depths OF bottomless pit, pit not
empty. but filled To the brim with lite.s
bridge IL is like building way from
earth to Mars. Yet let this be sure that
i mankind has ever been courageous. II
may have been I'm the past the courage
I born OF ignorance IL may be now the
courage born of despair Yet the same
man who bas suffered and doubted and
/ despaired has yet had the courage to
| hope and believe.
| IL he has doubted his own strength he
has yet believed that there was strength
! greater than his. that the weakness or
4 a ha mi iQht
Can IL the empty faith of vain imag-
in1ng Call IL the straw after which men
drowning grope. Call IL the vain IL
/ lusion OF ignorance, yet you must admit
tho fact. Man has not only felt his pain
and smart. but he has felt as well his
dependence dep Grant that he has not only
| II in terms OF the age.
Yet In all things whatsoever feeling lies
back OF intellect and is the foundation on
which intellect with its train OF logic and
reasoning builds. / cannot expIain to
you why Carrots Dawn" impresses me
as few paintings do.
Is NOT CONVINCED.
Its perfection OF outline. its delicacy
or coloring its curved lines and Its true
( ness TO nature are for the artist. IL you
try TO convince me by reason that an
other picture has the same virtues as
this and point out in the other ali that
the one l admire possesses then j can
only grant II. yet 1 am not convinced.
not cammand feeling leads me TO choose
that and no other. II you tell me that
this sense Of dependence I'm all ages and
all classes and conditions Of men has
been only an Underlined feeling then re-
ply that back of the outward show OF
friendship between David and Jonathan,
back of the written Faust and the Italian
sunset. back OF the Dawn and the Clean
ers was feeling, and IL Is feeling and not
spoken words or skillful brush power "a
excite feeling that gives them immor-
We shall not set this feeling which We
call religion aside, because it Is feeling
first OF all and fundamentally. otherwise
we shall be left without art and friend
ship and even science This sense OF
its high handed claim. the claim 20 bring
the peace for which men struggle and
hope.
THEY WHO SIN AND SIGH.
II springs up too. in the midst OF this
struggle out OF the same souls where
thee battle wages Il comes These mer
who sin and sigh for salvation and Ions
for that which they are not are the re-
ligious ones. Just as night seems some
times personal, like black mighty
thick clouds. breathing threateninss and
instilling dread and then as ~ To mock
those who fear and tremble pushes aside
the clouds and In the rift one sees a star
star all the brighter because Of th'
goes down into the depths. torn ant
baffled with despair, Is the one that look,
up and sees the star OF the East and
following q hnds itself before a mangei
! and child
m YOU ask me why hope FIRST comes on
the battlefield % despair and faith famel
! up brightest In the darkness OF doub