Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-11-12

10 please the children. When the pho
to@riph came home you We're shocked.
Why when You placed that picture
alongside of tie last photograph OF
your father and mother you found that
you looked Just as old as they were
when they died. Yes like the leaf. an
average man dies gradually. He be-
gins To die first 1T the eXtremities. His
hair whitcns His skin wrinkles. His
land trembles The ONE steady beat
o. the heart becomes unsteady The
windows of his eyeSight are bedimmed.
lie mas pain ut the hase of the brain
because the circulation is poor. God
gives 10 almost every Ilan thousands
OF warnings instead of one warming
that he is fading away as the leaf. as
the autumnal leaf
Is not the figure Of the leaf dying
gradually the symbol of the average
mans death: OF course some leaves
do meet violent and quick death,
as nearly all wild beasts in their ma
tive haunts end their lives by sud
den tragedy. 4 mischievous squirrel
its mornings and toss il to the ground.
The tall antlers Of the deer may be the
pruning hook to lay bare branch.
The keen ax may slaughter the leaves
as ruthlcssly as the farmers scythe
mowS down the golden grain in order
that the woodman passing the night in
tie forest may have a soft couch to
- ~. -
oak The sullen blizzard. sulking be-
hind an arctic iceberg. may decide to
make Il spring journey back to the
place where it had trieC in vain to bat
ter down the doors of summer cot
tage during the past winter months
and i'm one night deStro; all the sprout
ing leaves. \ forest fire may allow
the flames TO feed upon the tender foil
age which has been ex posed by nature
for 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
~ as soldier upon battlefield may
have Il 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 ms 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 Il 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 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.
know God has Il purpose in their
death as well as in their life One rea-
son why God every fill strips the trees
of their leaves is that the next year
the forests may be robed with another
covering of green. And one reason
xt.l,t .I1 Nf ht,
man beings pass away from earth is
that another genera ton 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 rs the blessings of life?
Every year in order to make the fruit
trees and vineyards bear well 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-
ment TO grow and do their work. In
order that the human race may be
strong and physically we'll 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 so great are the possibilities
OF growth" said the old sage. Benja
min Franklin. that the productiveness
of the vegetable ard animal life is in
conceivable and ali1ost without limit"
BY the Malthusian doctrine we learn
that IL 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 If there was no
death the human race would double
itself every TWENTY-FIVE years. In the
United States there are today over
70,000.000 people In twenty-five years
from now there would be 10000 900.
In fifty years from now there would
be 2S0.O00.000 people. In seventy-five
years from now there would be $780,
100000 and in n hundred years 1920