The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-01-02

An old question. forsooth, James
asks IL here, Just to show how little
the best answer contains in ratio In
what it does not. How old art thou?"
said the king to Jacob. Few and evil
was the gist of the pessinist's reply.
And yet this self-same pessimist shows
other circumstances And Jacob served
seven years for Rachel. and they
seemed unto him but fe wdays, for
the love he had to her"
And so ii is with the rest Of us.
The state OF mind, the tinge OF mel
ancholy. the powers OF appreciation.
disappointments. sense or failure, elas-
ticlty or inelasticity Of hope, the spur
TO the motor centers In the renewed
craving 20 act, the sense of things yet
to be done, or of things not worth
wilhelm fine. disease or health, Oh
body or mind,-these determine our re-
What is your life?" And what liz 1t.
sure enough. Curious, is II not, that
the something We are have had with
us since ever we began to be as "a
this should remain a riddle?
Here again the optimist rises TO as
sert himself in assuring us that II were
better far for us that we've round no
answer to the riddle. for with the an
swer comes deathly pail to the
minds relish, a dullness TO the edge
OF human quest, "a safety with every
thing.
Tie view-poin. determines every
=.
yet we are healthy in body and mind,
propose TO ourselves the resolves and
habits. which In turn shall hold US
ever TO that sanitation of body and
sanitay Of mind which. in turn, shall
estimate all life. at every prospective,
as beautifully worth while. In fine, let
us fix a Rachel. or her emotional
esthetic and moral equivalent, at the
end OF every projected seven years
Perhaps ere we are done, we may ma
something greatly beautiful enough 10
make an objective for more than seven
years,-grCat enough to lure on unfall-
inEly through the endless ages.
To the end, therefore, that we may
adjust tho balance OF our Judgment
make quick our appropriations, SO that
when we get At the truth we may
know il as the truth about life, let us
proceed 10 investigate how Things APP
pear.
Now. literature is simply an interpre-
tation OF life at one or another race,
or angle, and we beg to choose out
three specimens. Of varying quality
each giving an estimate OF life. one
We may call at heart, pessimism; the
second optimism; the thiId, faith.
The FIRST is said to have been a favor
tie with Abraham Lincoln, and in that
fact we merely note that Lincoln :
sinyularly melancholy strain of mind
Will explain the liking. III Is plec"
of verse by one William Knox. who
struck off this one with vitality enough
to il TO live beyond "A most transient
existence Now, melancholy has It's
pleasurable stage: II Is sort or mar
cotic in this respect. These following
lines may find a "dgrant seat or dell-
cious pain in most OF us at certain
moods.
"Oh. why should the spirit of mortal
Like swift heeting meteor. fast
flying cloud,
A fash of the lightning. break OF the
wave,
Man passeth from life 10 MS rest III
the grave.
Well, sure enough. but II to lie there
were no progress, and we neeued no.
to hasten on from stage to stage ~
order to complete our course. then tlS
awful pace might appall Why Ia
ment! Yonder meteor is part or vast
system: rest assured should YOU anhu
the law OF it's being. you'd destroy
universe Better burn To gases, any
how, and become part or earth
chemical economy than be floating ou'
in vacuity. Yonder fast fying CLOUD
1t will fade; but into dcWs' rams OF
SHOWS u viii change Its form TO al
vantage its ministry. That llashiht
lightning, Aye. it's the product OF
! laws of the clouds condensatlon,-mos
| benoficent better knowledge OF phy.
! sics tells us that the flash gives u
rains their enrichment OF nitrogen, anc
! rains carry this enrichment, m turn
! TO the soil, and the soil 20 the SEED
and the seed to man. The wave! Win
|
! stagnate and breed universal pest
| Ience. The stern-eyed scientist or 70
| day is better poet withal. than the
rhymer of yesterday
Rhymer Makes Poor Re"son'
But does man pass from ne iife; VINO INC
rseson TO believe II? And what shall
we do with the forty million reason
for thinking otherwise ana VINO =,
the authority for the statement tha'
man goes to the grave, or that wh'i
| ever lie goes is TO STAG sc' W
anything else but have AT paCk a,u
call prodigious energies anu the ]"
satiable passion TO use them -,
All the rhymer makes soou az
rhyme. hc makes POOR reason. II rs
i'm the same vein that ne passes on w
his verses TO remark thut oaNS Iau,
and there's an end ut tue oah' " i,.,
ana together shall lie And so they
do hut what OF it, Beauty tades on
cheek" to the rhymer. ana the mem
DRY OF IL il gone. kluss anu '" YEA,
Nothing IL exempt from the raNages oi
tLnt invisible chiselling hetore which
nil forms melt from sight
weU what OF IL Tennyson was d
~, and wrote I'm MemorianI" al
intsrnrrtatIon OF Life. Knox was a
rhvmcr and wrote his verses. Tenny'
son deals with the enduring substanc'
- tTfe. Knox writes verses about Us
/ FADING forms. Form Is nothing save
| sor lis present moral uses: substance
/ 10 everything under every CtrCum
stance 50 much for the pessimist.
Now let US walk through Westmin'
stc, Abbey with Joseph Addison. Lee
| ~ keen great silence, aud let Inn
/ talk. our little words Will I'LL up q
/ little time. his great words have
capacity for eternity We've lsten''
| 40 tho moduIations OF his phrases
| melloycd to the sacred surroundings
and We have felt how just were III
| observations or the fOllics oft perpe
| trated Ia sraVcyards, ana now W
| II know that entertainment OF TIM
| ma ture Is apt to raise dark and disma
thoughts in timOrOus minds u an'
gloomy imaginattons' but Tor my owl
mart. though / am always serious, / IL