The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04


 rushing to misfortune; l ask you to suppress the will to live that trembles through the immensities of space, to suppress, in short, the source of life. Can you do it7 No. Then leave us in peace. Since no one can hold life in check is 1t not better to respect it and use it than to go about making other people disgusted with it3 When one knows that certain food is danger ous to health he does not eat 1t, and when a certain fashion of thinking robs us of confidence, cheerfulness and strength we should reject that. certain not only that it is a nutriment noxt0us to the mind, but also that it is false. There is no truth for man but in thoughts that are human, and pessimtsm is in- human Besides, 1t wants as much in modesty as in logic. To permit one self to count as evil this prodigious thing that we call life one needs have seen its very foundation, almost to have made it. What a strange atti- tude is that of certain great thinkers of our timesl They actsas If they had created the world very long ago, in their youth, but decidedly it was mis- take, and they had well repented 1t
 Let us nourish ourselves from other meat, strengthen. our souls with cheer ing thoughts. What is truest for man is what best fortffes him
 If mankind lives by confidence it lives also by hope-tAat form of confi- dence which turns toward the future. All life Is result and m aspiration; all that exists supposes an origin and tends toward an end. Life is progress sion; progression is aspiration. The progress of the future is an inf1nitude of hope. Hope is at the root of things and must be reflected in the heart of man; no hope, no life. The same pow CT which brought us into being urges us to go up higher. What is the mean ing of this persistent instinct which pushes us onf The true meaning is that something is to result from life, that out of It is being wrought good greater than itself, toward which it slowly moves, and that this painful sower called man needs, like every sower, to count on the morrow. The history of humanity is the history of indomitable hope; otherwise everything would have been over long ago. To press forward under his burdens, to guide himself in the night, to retrieve his falls and his failures, to escape de- spair even in death, man has need of hoping always, and sometimes against all hope. Here is the cordial that gus- tains him Had we only logic we should have long ago drawn the con clusion, Death has everywhere the last word, and we should be dead of the idea. But we have hope, and that is why we live and believe in life.
 Suso, the great monk and mystic, one of the simplest and best men that ever lived, had touching custom. Whenever he encountered woman, were she the poorest and oldest, he stepped respectfully aside, though his bare feet must tread among thorns or in the gutter. ''I do that" he said, Ito render homage to our holy lady the Virgin Mary" Let us offer to hope like reverence. If we meet 1t In the shape of blade of wheat piercing the furrow, a bird breeding on its nest, poor wounded beast, recovering itself, rising and continuing it's way; peas ant blowing and sowing a field that has been ravaged by flood or hail, natl, slowly repairing it's losses and healing it's wounds = under whatever guise of humanity or suffering 1t ap- pears to us, let us salute it When we encounter it in legends, in untutored songs, in simple creeds, let us still sa- lute 1t. for it is always the same, inde- structibie, the immortal daughter Of God.
 We do not dare hope enough. The men of our day have developed strange timidities. The apprehension that the sky will fall-that acme of absurdity among the fears of our Gallic forefa- thers-has entered our own hearts. Does the raindrop doubt the ocean, the ray mistrust the sun? Our senile wisdom has arrived at this prodigy. It resembles those testy old pedagogues whose chief office is to rail at the mer- " pranks or the youthful enthusiasms of their pupils. It is time to become little children once more, to learn again to stand with clasped hands and wide eyes before the mystery around us: to remember that in spite of our Knowledge. what we know Is but a trife. and that the world is greater than our mind, which is well, for. be- | ing so prodigious, 1t must hold in re- serve untold resources, and we may 1 allow 1t some credit without accusing ourselves of improyidence. Let us not treat it as creditors do an insolvent debtor; we should fire It's courage, re- light the sacred flame of hope. Since the sun still rises, since earth puts forth her blossoms anew, since the bird builds its nest and the mother smiles at her child, let us have the courage to be men and commit tho rest to him who has numbered the stars. For my part I would I might find glowing words to say to whomsoever has lost heart In these times of disillusion: Rouse your courage; hope on. He is sure of being least deluded who has the l daring to do that The most ingenious hope Is nearer truth than the most ra- tonal despair.
 Another source of light on the path of human life is goodness. I am not of those who believe in the natural per lection of man and teach that society corrupts him. On the contrary, of all forms of evil the one which most dis- | T7..k aff c