The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-31


the Lord.-Isaiah SOS.
The ways of Providence are in
scrutable and past finding out. Out
at Oakland yesterday afternoon one
funeral service was held over four lit
tie bodies. Two homes have been sud
denly darkened; the sky of The future.
only few days ago bright with hope
and promise, is now overcast with
clouds and gloom.
Why Is IT.?
When Topeka parents read on
Wednesday of the, sad death of four
little boys by drowning, a shudder
ran through the community. and
every parent thought Of other little
ones to whom danger might come. AT
the same tirne 4 wave of sympathy
went out to the stricken parents, I'M
known; of cou-se. 10 the great ma
jori.y of peopI> yet for whcm the
commt bond of humanity induced
the .slncerest of sympathy in their
sorrow and suffering Willing hands
were extended 70 all the bar2aved,
and many long II lur5 strong men
sea-c bed for the LIST bndies Of the IL
tie victims of the cruel river
And near ciraa thu question ever
rose, Why must this be? Why were
these four children created and given
TO loving parents, only 10 be snatched
away ere their young lives had well
begun, causing untolI grief and sor-
row to those parents
ONLY a few wee Ks AGO Tut On the
broad Pacific q gallant shin went
down, and as it sank beneath tie mid
night waters I carried - Watery
grave two of Top ella fair tau 'nt"rs
ami grief came like lightning
stroke from a ciea- sky to 4 Topeka
home. Two beautiful lives, just at
the threshold of womanhood, the
pride of loving parents who needed
their comforting presence in their de-
Ginning years, were sudd euly blorted
out.
1t does not SC. ln s. fearful that
man, after he has lived his allotted
span on this little earth. after he has
fulfilled his mission and had done the
work his Creator designed for him,
should pass into another sphere
When a man or a woman has lived to
a ripe old age, honored and revered,
il is but natural that rest and reward
should come after life's work is done,
although 1t may bring sadness t" in
innate friends; but the death of youth
and childhood, whose mission. % our
earthly eyes. is yet unfulflled, some
times seems out of harmony with the
justice and mercy which must be at
tributes of the character of a kind
Creator.
The mystery of death we finite
beings can no more tarnom than we
can the infinite stretches of space or
eternity. This little life that men
lead here is only as a second Of time.
In the great scheme of creation there
are many things that the mind of man
cannot grasp, and the mysterious
headings of Providence are some of
them. Just why the blue waters of
the Pacific or the treacherous current
of the Kaw should suddenly snatch
youth and childhood from those whose
hopes and joys are conferred in them,
bringing unfathomed and bitter gcief
to hitherto bright and happy homes,
we may not understand.
Yet in the bitterness of such sorrow,
faith in the goodness and mercy and
love of an all-wise Creator sustains as
nothing else can. Without it humanity
would often go mad. The unfaltering
trust, of which Bryant speaks in Than
atopsis, is the mainstay of man when
sa BILE grief seeks to rob him of his rea-
| son. 1t is Cowper who says:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footstep in the sea-
| And rides upon the storm.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense
But trust His for His grace;
| Behind = frowning providence
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