The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-10-29
THE OPTIMIST.

II is not often that we men, optimists
or not. dwell much IN thought on the
qualities OF the soul. II seems rather to
be a theme FOR the poets than for the
materialists and it probably requires,
for most of us. sharp twinge Of
suffering and sorrow, before we even
give the E1atter consideration. And yet.
as Young in his Might Thought says;
Who tells me he denies his SOULS immortal.
Whate'er his boast has told me he's a knave;
His duty. It's 10 love himself alone
Nor care though mankind perish If be smiles
Who thinks ere long the man shall wholly die,
Is dead already. nought but brute survives.
There is nothing quite so wonderful in
nature as the human soul There is more
OF God in II than in anything we are
permitted to grasp; it is the one thing
that cOnvinces us beyond cavii that
though we are finite IN the past, infnity
stretches before us. AS Henry Ward
Beecher said: THE soul is a temple.
And God is silently building it by night
and by day Precious thoughts are build
ing il; disinterested love IS building it.
All penetrating faith is building il.
Life means so much more to the one
who recognizes the sublimity, the force,
the capacity for tenderness Of the human
soul, than mere eating and drinking and
sleeping and working Life was intended
to be so adjusted that the body should
be the servant of the soul and always
subordinate TO il.
As r. II. Dana in his Thoughts on the
Soul" wrote.
IL is the Souls prerogatiFe. its fate.
To shape the outward % its own estate.
II rigHt Itself. then. all around is well:
II wrong, It makes Of all without a he'll
80 mUltplIes the Soul its JOYS or pain
Gives ont Itself. itself takes back again
Transformed by thee. the world hath but one face.
It has been the theme Of poets that the
character Of the soul was writ large in
the face. Her soul shone through her
eyes; how many poets have written that
In various forms, and how true It is.
The poets vision sees clearer into such
matters than ours. Of the poets mind
TenuysOn wrote:
An within Is holy ground
Thou canst not fathom H."
But bit by bit scientists have been
coming to the poets view and Lombroso
and his friends have taken the poetic
theory and have grated science on II
and now can tell US by the aspect of the
face something OF the character Of the
soul within.
The light II love, the purity Of grace
The mind. the music breathing from her face
The heart whose s0ftnes hamOnized the whole
And oh. that Cye vas IL itself a soul"
F4n4F1sf.- Of
widely us the features Of our faces and
the forms Of our bodies. but these facul-
ties depend upon ourselves to a much
greater extent that We are usually will
ing 10 acknowledge Even the old
heather, who recognized 10 relation be-
tween the soul and Christian doctrine
yet felt that the spirit within our breasts
was a vital influence for good or H.
EpiCtetus wrote. A soul which Is con
veTsant with virtue IS like an overflow
ing source. for il IS pure and tranquil
and potable and sweet and social and
rich and harmless and free from mis-
chief Marcus Aurelius also speaks Of
ten Of the soul; and that the old pagan
Omar felt that the sins Of the body held
the soul in thrall is shown by that qua
train.
WHY, Il the Soul can fling this dust aside
And naked on Tie air % heaven ride
Vert not shame. vert not a shame.
u tins clay carcass crippled % sbide!''-
a verse which has too often been taken
as sort of Justification for suicide
II Is not thus that we can free the soul
from the flesh limitations that hold il
back from is highest development The
burden is given 10 US 10 carry and 10
carry worthiiy; not 10 be cast away, SO
that with duty neglected we may come
quickly to the end. II is our duty so 10
live this brief life that the soul may be
strengthened for eternity. To aid the
soul TO expand by loving kindness and
honest work and charity TO all men
To pray as Mrs. Browning prayed that
despite LIES changes, chances" we NAV
cease our dreaming and find.
Gods patience in ny s0ull
That no dreamer. no neElect0r
ol the presents work uusped
may wake Up ard he doing,
Life's heroic ends pursuing
Though my past is dead Hector
And though Hector IS twice dead"