The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1904-12-28

fcient to send you back through the
years to some distant scene. Mother
This spoken word calls up a vision of
the tender hands that guided us; the
tender lips that taught us.
"By what standard will you estimate
the value of this inner man?
"'What is a man profited if he shall
gain the whole world and lose his own
SOUL or what will man give in ex-
change for his soul?
"To him God speaks and waits to re-
ceive an answer. To him eternal
truths are revealed. God shows his es-
innate of mans value by seeking to
hold communion with him. By seeking
to inspire him with Hottest, noblest,
hottest aspirations. Mans intrinsic val
Tie is seen in the victories that he has
won.
"IIe is the destined conquerer of the
earth, because of his potential genius
for civilization. When We compare the
present with the past we are compelled
to pause with wonder and astonishment.
Present conditions of civilization wear
such an air of permanency that we
scarcely ever think of the time when
they did not exist.
'But turn your steps backward and
sweep away, as you 60, the evidences
of mans triumphs in nature and So
citey. Cities vanish. Cherished insti-
buttons disappear. This country soon
becomes a vast, unexplored tract of vir-
gin forest. Cross over to England and
the continent.
'How soon the work of the last few
centuries is swept away. We come to
the fuedal period with its castles for
the mobiles and the huts for the common
people. With its petty wars, strife and
violence, with its ignorance, supersti-
ton and brutishness.
Back still further! For in order to
see man as the conquerer you must
know him at the beginning and know
also the tools that he had to work with.
Think of the savage, our ancestor, liv-
ing in forests primeval, guided by in
stinct, looking, with dull wonder, upon
a world whose mysteries battle him,
whose secrets seem utterly beyond his
power of penetration.
His knowledge is limited to his
scanty needs. He knows the path
through the forest, the course of the
streams, the haunts of beasts and the
fight of birds. He is conscious of the
pressing need of food, slight clothing
and shelter. These are the objects of
his existence. Hunting and fishing are
mis- labor. War is his pastime.
"The life of the human beast of prey
is not much above the lives of the birds
of the air or the beasts of the field. His
body is supple and strong. His mind
seems to bear closer kinship to instinct
than to reason. His soul is dim stir
ring of superstitious fear. wondering
awe and awakening self consciousness.
He is ignorant of the uses of fire, knows
nothing of the properties of matter. He
never dreams of the occult forces of ma
ture in full activity about him. When
he does begin to dream he must coin
words to express his ideas. He must
create language to embody his
thoughts,
Constructive Ability.
Ills constructive ability is manifest
in the crude fashioning of rude weap-
ons and tools out of materials that lie
nearest his hand. See him as he stands
helpless on the bank of forest stream.
He is unable to cross, until the current
lodges a bit of driftwood at his feet. He
is more helpless than bird or beast, and
yet, when his genius shall awaken we
shall see him building cities, construct
ing empires, forming governments, snap
ing policies that shall reach far into
the future. spanning rivers, crossing con-
tinents, traversing seas, exploring every
corner of the earth, subduing nature,
reading her secrets. solving her myster
les, employing her forces to his own
ends, studying the stars. Analysing the
drops of water. ransacking earth and