The San Francisco call., 1904-09-18

Copyrighted, 19o4 by Central News and
Press Exchangel
~ EOPLE who live in the country
a know what is meant by a
"blight"-a thing which is neither
4 mist nor storm, neither cloud
nor rain "a fever of the atmosphere.
without any freshening or
cleansing force in its COM
position. Like a dull stretch Of
smoky fog, it hangs for hours ana
often for days over the face of the
landscape. poisoning the wholesome
fruit and grain in the orchards and
fields, and leaving trails Of noxious
insect pests behind it upon trees ana
flowers. whitening their foliage and
blackening all buds OF promise with a
destroying canker TO their very core.
1t is suffocating. malodorous miasnfa,
clinglng to the air, for which there is
no remedy but a strong, ay, even
tempestuous wind-a wind which Wig
orously pierces through the humid va
por and disperses it, tearing it to
shreds, and finally working UP such
a storm as shall drown it out of ex-
istence in torrents of purifying rain.
Then all nature is relieved-the air is
cleared-health and gladness reassert
their benefcent influences and the land
lies open to renewed life and easy
breathing once more.
Even as blight" is known in things
natural, so is it known and easily
recognizable IN things moral and So
ciaL 1t occurs periodically and with
more or less regularity, between GER
tain changing, and not always progress
sive, phases or epochs Of human civil
ization. 1t visited Sodom and Gomor-
rah, Tyre and Sidon; it loomed over
Nineveh and BabyIon-and in our day
it is steadily spreading its pail over
Europe and America. Its gloom is
heavy and pronounced-it would seem
TO be darkening into the true sable
or death color, for there is no light Of
faith TO iuumine it. 1t is the outcome
of the infected breath of peoples who
are deliberately setting God aside out
Of their. countings, and living for self
and the hour alone. So called ''scien-
lists" scrsping at the crust covering
of the mine of knowledge, and learning
of its hidden treasure about as much
as might be measured with a finger
nail, have boldly asserted that there
is no God, no Supreme Intelligent
Force back of the universe-no future
Iife-nothing but death and destruc-
ton for the aspiring, fighting, working
human soul-and that, therefore, hav
ing been created out of caprice, a
sport" Of chance and the elements,
and having nothing to exist for but 10
make chance and the elements as
agreeable as possible during his brief
conscious experience Of them, the best
thing for man to do is TO eat, drink
and be merry all the days of his life" E"
though even this, according to Solo
mon, is "also vanity" For of eating
comes indigestion, Of drink stupefac-
ton, and of merriment safety. Strange
ii is that If there is no higher destiny
for man than this world and it's uses,
he should always be thrown back upon
himself dissatisfied Give him millions
of money and when he has them he
cares little for what they can bring;
grant him unlimited power. and few
years suffice to weary him of its use.
And stranger still it is to realize that
while those who do not admit Gods
existence strut forth like bantams on
a dunghill, Growing their little opin-
ions about the sunrise, we are all held
fast and guided. not only in our ply
steal but in our moral lives by immu-