Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-03-30
EASTE


rebirth OF the earth. The strange MT
tingnasS Of times and events only
strikes us now and then when we stop
to reflect, but this side of life the beau
tiful, undulating order of the universe,
| is what gives man his sense of secur-
| ity; it is the root of all the gayety
and tine buoyancy with which we tread
the appointed paths. What. shall the
| orbit of the star be mapped out. and
the hir-jOint Of the locust's leg be set
so that he can make music through the
hot and sutry nights and the, blows
that fell upon the yearning soul Of
man be meaningless and haphaZard1
only when we are TWO tired to think
dc we fail To feel the necessity of the
existent order OF the universe.
1t is not 10 detract from the value of
a symbol, therefore, to realize that it is
in its essence of the intrinsic nature of
the human heart, the result of that in
cvitable IreOccupalion of man, AMI
that in all ages, all chimes. he has
reacted in some way or other against
the numblng conclusion of possible
ending. In the lowest tribes of the
farthest days some care was taken 10
provide the dead with sOlace on the
long journey. dark and mysterious
| upon which they were supposed TO go
who can looked unmoved to-day upon
this relic of past age. in negro
cemetery, and see the toys laid about
a little child's grave, the photographs
and favOrite possessions about those
of the older human child without being
| touched by this cropping Of the mind
| into the darkness beyond which it can
| not yet see clear. In its own way this
! is reafiirming of the unity of all life;
| il, too, is a realization that is it the
same universal life showing 4 new
| face. Man himself myriad-minded,
confused by feeling one thing at one
| time and q wholly new one at another,
yet holds over in some dark chamber
Of his thought the conviction that all
| things are one, and that multifOrmity
is but a way of looking. by turns, at
| the parcelied kingdom of the universe.
1t is in the child's song of a new poet:
What does it take to make rose,
Mother mne?"
| '"The God that died to make it, knows,
| II takes the worlds eternal wars.
It takes the moon and all the stars.
| II takes the might of Heaven and Hell,
And the everlasting Love as well.
Little child"
No atom, Of dust. no star-burst nor
i
Of the whole perfection which is the
| thinking body of divinity. All the
| SHOWS and the storms. the short cold
| winter days. go to the making of the
| sweet and wasteful hours of the long
| twilights. 1t is just this faint taste
| and premonition in the air of what is
| to come which makes spring the season
of deepest gladness: it is a foretaste
Il nf oh q
| warm breathing earth when the I'M
expected visitations of the best
| thoughts fall, such thoughts as can
only deign to come in blessed idleness
to the passive mind. And who at such
a moment. in the presence and renewal
Of all life. could recklessly hazard Il
doubt of lasting blight? How often, in
locking uIon Greek vases. we see the
tiOwerlike wilted figure of Persephone
falling lax in the arms of the fiery
chariOteer AidoneuS. And who IAN
forget-Who, at any rate that has ever
looked upon the keen-eyed pitiieS Sor-
row Of the wandering Demeter of
Cnidus. in the British Museum, can |
forget the grief Of the desOlte mother |
and the resultant sterility of the earth |
the sad news handed on by Hecate, |
who heard the ravished :naiden's cry
and by Helios, who saw the theft. Then |
ZCus, taking pity upon the earth. sent |
Iris with message to Hadcs ordering |
the redeliverance Of Persephone 10 her
mother, that the grief Of death might
not he devastating and overpowerng.
So is has always been in the mind of |
man. this strange anguish and despair
at the glowing human life which SEEM
ed to suffer sudden eclipse in death.
and its reaction, till, from the annual
rcbirth Of the year, he fashioned him-
self hope and a consolation. assuring
himself that even as the seed falls into
earth and darkness, only to come forth
in due season in more giorified aspect,
so the soul of man suffers mOmentary
and partial eclipse to be born more
glcriously: but alas! not within the
scope of cur vision.
The festivals of Demeter were held
in the spring and autumn. The eth
of April was the day set apart for the
games of Ceres. Demeter corresponds
to Reltus in Ractrian and to Armaiti in
Zoroastrian mythology. Armaiti too.
wanders in sorrow from place to place.
She caused all growth and pervaded |
the whole material world, even being |
said to dwell in the hearts Of men. and |
frGctify there into fair activities ami |
noble pursuits.
How intimate and familiar how
strangely modern and near. seems the
last great fact of resurrection. as We
turn to il from the more ancient as
poets. How sonorous and living are
the words Of the medieval ritual:
Die nobis. Maria, quid vidisti in via Z:
And the detail verification of the an
tiphonal chant:
Sepulchrum Christi viventis ct eIor-
lam vide resurgentis
To know One risen from the dead. to |
feel TIE life once reaching only a hand |
full Of folk on strip Of land by the |
Mediterranean, now filing the world |
and leading men everywhere. Is ia |