The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-04-05

Our generation has won for Itself new
tools. new laws and new liberties. but ITS
greatest achievement is its new view Oh
death and immortality. Our fathers pictured
Death as a skeleton. portrayed Father
Time with his scythe. draped the house In
black. approached the tomb with fear and
terror unutterabie. Now men wreathe the
bier with flowers and many welcome death
with outstretched arms. as enc would vel
come an angel come with messages Of con-
voy and great good fortune. Thu old pagan
philosophy Of death Is itself stricken Win
mortal sickness and now is lying"
Two days before Columbus beheld the
shores of the New World he knew that X
land was not yet sighted. nevertheless. the
shores were near. Standing on the PROV OF
the Santa Maria. the discoverer beheld a
golden bough drifting In the current, and
In the air above he saw the bright wings OF
4 strange bird that was beautiful enough TO
be a bird Of paradise. With a great hope
tugging at his heart Columbus strained MS
eyes toward the west for the sight Of a
shore that was just beyond the horizon.
Ours Is called the scientific age. but to-
day the seer and the scientist alike are
straining their eyes toward that dim line
where the physical sight stays its move
ment, while Faith and Hope spread their
pinions. looking for the outlines OF that
hidden shore. II and Is not yet sighted we
are sailing through & summer sea. midst
uIAluk DOuhu5 pENkCu ITOul tue LEGC OL
Life. whose leaves even now heal our
wounds. because these leaves are not yet
wiIted: the birds that hy overhea belong TO
chimes near. though still unseen: the air.
laden with perfume. ~foretells the continent
that lies before and lures US on
In the instinct OF the bird we find a poetic
suggestion OF Immortality. The robin and
the orioie open their eyes amidst the tenn
perate zone. The nest holds the birding IN
June. but soon the little singer finds itself
standing close beside the October frost md
November snow. The bird learns TO trust
nature: some instinct whispers to this little
creature halting On the edge OF the nest
that IL mas trust itself to the air. and in
response the air gently bears the birding
up A like instinct guides the bird TO the
spring OF water and to the hedges and
shocks. where IL finds food.
But soon the north wind blows roughly.
The robin has never seen the tropic land.
where the sunshine ever fall on moss and
violet beds. Yet, guided by that instinct.
the bird makes its way through the path
less air. Lone. wandering. ~ Is not lost
Trusting that secret voice and the inner
friend. hope becomes ~fruition. Leaving
the winter winds and the SHOWS behind. the
oriole soon sings in the orange ooughs OF
Florida. Our scientists have begun TO ana
lyze this instinct. They find the explana-
ton In the environment. Florida pre-ex-
listed ages ago. Then the birds in Florida
moved north in summer and returned in
winter.
Slowly. as the years went BY. each sum-
mer the birds went a little farther north
ward. away from the warm tropic land.
At last the pre-eNisting Florida had 6evel-
oped this ancestral memory. this hereditary
instinct that guides the bird. Therefore.