The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-03-11
twilfred T. Grenfell In Outlook,

= al OuIIOOh.J
From earliest childhood / have been
endowed with the keenest love for
life. Looking back on my boyhood
days. I can remember nothing but one
long delight In the healthy body which
my parents tranmitted to me, in the
simple and free open-air life ! was en-
couraeed to live. and in the RESPONSE
bility for looking after myself without
apron.strinE rule. I am not respon-
lust a 1t is natural to do so.
Higher powers. whether mortal or I'm
mortal. are accountable. in my case,
for a deep inrooted joy in being alive
"a JOY which has grown with the
passing years. I am familiar with
death. A man cannot be a surgeon
without recognizing that there comes
a time TO every human body. some
times after only q few years Of ten
ancy, when it becomes impossible as a
desirable habitation any longer: when.
were it my own, l should ask nothing
better than to be permitted to get out
Of it.
can honestly say that it never oc-
CURED to me until some one put 1t in
to my head that l could never leave It.
because I was it. The dissecting.room
was never for a moment more to me
than a deserted village. in which we
students were pulling down the walls
Of abandoned houses to enable US bet
ter. later on, to keep occupied ones
In repair. 1t was exactly the same in
the wards Of the hospital. I used to
get very fond Of my patients. But
have often been far more sorry for
hard environment crippled, handicap
ped. or continually bound to suffer
than for those who left their damaged
bodies behind them when they went
out of the hospital.
More than once ! would have hast
ened what is called DEATH" out of
pure charity. had l dared. A splendid
old oversee sailor, who appealed to
my temperament especially for that
reason, was under my care with can
Ger of the throat. Each night, as /
went round the wards before retiring,
l used to tiptoe past his carefully cur
tanned bed. hoping that ne would not
hear me. For, as surely Is he caught
the sound OF my footstep. he would
call out, make the dose larger to.
night. doctor. All I want is not to
wake up n more" 1t was morphine
in a lethal draught he was clamoring
for. He had no craven fear Of death,
though he had no doctrinal education
in Immortality. He just believed that
God was his Father. and 1t never en-
tered his mind to doubt that there was
something in store for him beyond.
He was content to leave 1t at that.
To toll the rock-bottom truth. in
spite Of my particular calling, my
views" on immortality have always
been closely allied to that. I have
had az little time for, as I have had
bias towards. theology.
AS with my love for life here. SO it
Is with my faith in immortal life here
and hereafter. Now that I come to
write 1t down. 1 find that the chief
reason that I believe in 1t is Just be.
cause I am sure Of It. Ny experience
of h world leads me to suppose 1t is
Of causes and results. Moreover. this
is strictly the view Of science. / fully
expect II to go on reasonable. and end
catastrophe. Il any man says in re-:
ply. go to! That 10 intuition-and
that is not knowledge" ] should say
that I believe that intuition brings
me into most direct ana most reliable
relationship with what 10 most vital
and true. Any man who. to my mind,
10 worth while worrying with believes
in honor and love and truth, and that
It Is better to he unsel1sh than sell
fish, to be pure rather than impure.
and that virtue IL better than vice.
It IL best to believe It. I was taught
that it was T at my mothers knee.
and there ] learned Of immortality. L
took in n with the other, and I
mean to cling to both OF them.
I pray. that the day ma never come
whom ] believe that this beautiful