Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-11-12

, The tall antlers of the deer may be the
pruning hook to lay bare branch
| The keen ak may slaughter the leaves
as ruthlessly as the farmers scytht
mows down the golden grain In order
that the woodman passing the night In
the forest may have soft couch to
sleep upon at, the foot Of some giant
oak. The sullen blizzard, sulklng be-
( hind an arctic iceberg, may decide to
make a spring journey back to the
place where 1t had tried In vain to bat
ter down the doors of a summer cot
tage during the past winter months
and in one night destroy all the sprout-
Ing leaves. A forest fire may allow
the flames to feed upon the tender foil
age which has been exposed by nature
| for a few weeks to be colored by the
| light of the sun. Some men in their
youth or in strong middle age In full
health may be struck down by some
accident or contagious disease as quick
| ly as a soldier upon battlefield may
have a bullet pierce his heart and In
stantly drop dead. And some men may
instantly exterminate their lives by the
evil effects of sin.
Man Dies as the Leaf.
But. after all, most leaves do not die
a sudden death. They live on through
the spring. They live on through the
summer. They live until the cold of
oncoming winter makes dormant the
wonderful forces which give life to the
tree. They die as gradually as the
summer days slip into the fall days;
as gradually as the ebbing tide, each
wave Of which is o little lower down
the beach than the preceding wave; as
gradually as the twilight slowly grows
DINNER; as gradually as the echoes In
the mountain ravine become softer and
softer. Man dies as the leaf, gradual
ly. 1t Is sickness after sickness. 1t
is fewer walks, less work, less physical
energy. 1t Is a gradual benumbment
of the mental and physical faculties.
You know you are not as strong as
you used to be- What is the matter?
We are all fading away as the leaf, as
the autumnal leaf.
But this autumn day. as the leaves
are everywhere falling from the trees,
I know God has a purpose In their
death as well as in their life. One rea-
son why God every fall strips the trees
of their leaves is that the next year
the forests may be robed with another
covering Of green. And one reason
why God makes one generation Of hu-
man beings pass away from earth is
that another generation may be born
and live and have the opportunity to
do the work which Is necessary for
them to do and then pass on to the
eternal life beyond the grave, as past
generations have done and as we must
do.
Did you ever stop to consider from
an earthly standpoint the blessings Of
death as well as the blessings Of life?
Every year in order to make the fruit
trec~ and vineyards bear we'll the
farmer with his pruning hook has to
go among them and ruthlessly destroy
hundreds Of buds in order that the
other buds may have enough nourish-
mept to grow and do their work. In
order that the human race may be
strong and physically well God has to
keep his pruning hook busy or else
this old earth would soon be over
populated, and there would not be
room for man to live by the side Of
man. $50 great are the possibilities
of growth" said the old sage, Benja-
min Franklin, "that the productiyeness
Of the vegetable and animal life is In
conceivable and almost without limit"
BY the Malthuslan doctrine we learn
that II death did not destroy one gen.
Grafton almost as soon as it was born
the world would soon be an impossible
place for human residence. BY that
Malthusian doctrine II there was no
death the human race would double
itself every twenty-five years. In the
United States there are today over
100000 people. In twenty-five years
from now there would be 1400O0.OOO.
In fifty years from now there would
be 2SO,OOO,0OO people. In seventy-fve
years from now there would be $780,
900, 900 and in a hundred years 1,12O,-
100000 people. Thus the race would
keep on doubling and redoubling until
at last man as a cannibal might be
driven to feed upon man, as the earth,
with all its productiveness, would be
incapable ultimately Of supporting
such multitudes.
Span of Life Is short.
The span of human life on earth is
very short, yet like that Of the leaf
God does not permit mans life, short
as 1t is. to end until his work has been
fully accomplished. The Bible tells
us that mans earthly days are as
grass. as the flower of the field so he
flourisheth. For the wind passeth over
it and it is gone and the place thereof
shall know It no more" But, though
the life of the grass or the leaf may be
short as that of an insect, yet its life Is
absolutely vital to this country. Once
destroy the vegetation Of a land and
you turn that land into Sahara.
Leaves suck in the moisture. They are
reservoirs for water. They decide
whether a country is to be fertile or
not. Once destroy the forest with its
leaves and the orchards with their
leaves and you change the whole at
,noSnhorio condition of the country aS