The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-08

Ana because it would be unpleasant.
they naturally do not admit its posi-
bility. Nevertheless, without belief in
the Creator and Ruler of all things
without faith in the higher spiritual
destiny of man as an immortal and IN
dividuS1 soul, capable of progressing
ever EDWARDS to wider and @rander
spheres of action, life in this world ap-
pears but a poor and farcical futility.
ITO pace the same duh round, on each re-
For seventy years or more till strength
To trust ana be deceived. and standing
And md no resting-place: Can this be
all?
ITO i've as lives the grass. and the au-
Born Of the sun ana sod, and fertilising
And pass away like them at scythe and
And leave no trace behind: Can this be
all?'
/ Yet it is precisely the poor, farcical
and futile view of life that is taken by
1 thousands of European and American
I people in our present period. Both
press and pulpit reflect it; it is openly
shown in the decadence of the drama,
of art, of literature of politics and of
:
/ The blight of atheism, infidelity, Callous-
ness and Indifference to honorable prin-
/ ciple-the blight of moral cOwardice,
/ self-indulgence, vanity, and want OF
heart. Without mincing matters, it can
/ be fairly stated that the 'aristocratic'
Jezebel is the Fashionable woman of
/ the hour, while the men vie with one
/ another as to who shall best screen her
/ from her amOurs with themselves. And
| so far as the Sterner sex are personally
| concerned, the moneyed man is the one
most sought after, most tolerated, most
! appreciated and 6attered in that swarm
/ of drones called society where each
i buzzing insect tries to sting the other,
| or crawl over it in such wise as to be
/ the first to steal whatever honey may
4 be within reach And worst of all
i things is the selfish apathy which per-
Vades the majority O% the Well-tO-dO
classes. AS little sympathy is shown
among them for the living, as regret for
/ the dead. The misfortunes of friends
are far more often made subject for i'll
natured mockery than for compassion
the deaths of parents and relations are
] accepted with q kind of dull pleasure,
/ money or estates. No real delight is
4 shown in the arts which foster peace,
/ progress allo wisdom; and equally little
| enthusiasm is stirred for such consider
/ atoms Of diplomacy or government
which help to keep nations secure. A
great man dies one day. and is forgot
/ ten the next, unless some clumsy and
seandaIous biography which rakes up
all his faults and. mistakes in life, and
/ publishes private letters of the most in
/ innate and sacred character. can be
/ hawked to the front by certain literary
vultures who get their living by tearing
out the heart OF a CORPSE.
Say that a dire tragedy is enacted
such as the assassination of the En-
4 press Elizabeth of Austria, or the
atrocious murder of the late king and
queen of Servia-or, what is to many
minds almost as bad the heartless
and un-Christian conduct of Leopold,
king of the Be1gians. to his unhappy
/ daughter Stephanie-and though
each event be as painful and terrible
as any that ever occupied the atten-
ton of the historian, they appear to
excite no more emotion than a few
cold expressions of civil surprise or
Il Indifference. eling-warm, honest,
4 active. passionate feeling-for any
cause is more difficult to rouse than
the sloth from its slumbers. It would,
in truth, seem to be dead The church
cannot move it The drama fails to
stir it. Patriotisn-national honor
have no power to lift it from the
/ duagmire of inertia. But let there be
a sudden panic on the stock exchange,
lief the Paris bourse be shaken, let
Wall street be ablaze with sinister
lrumor, and then hey and halloo for a
treclxless degrading, humiliating, mis-
cradle human stampede! Like infu-
rated maniacs men Shrek and stamp
and wrestle-with brains on FIRE, they
forget that they were born to be rea-
soning creatures, capable Of self