Gilpin observer., 1913-12-25

OTHER HAND?
build their air castles without any fear of any
dissilusionment for over the lies Spain.
We can get all the exaltaton which came to
Abou Hassan when the amiabe deception of
+. .Haroun al Raschid was played upon him, without
any of the Ill effects which we may presume came
to him when his dream of power dispelled itself.
The day and the scene invites us to enjoyment,
and to contribute to the enjoyment of Others For
this one day at least, Of the year the golden age
is myth. 1t is here with us, and we must ut-
lze it while it stays. This s the hour when life's
wireless telegraphy carries greetings of good will
between all the individuals and all the peoples of
of the earth. To every one of us the world
stretches forth the glad hand and salutes with
a May you live long and prosper
The old prophets conceived the sublime thought
that the Creator set the heavenly bodies in their
places to mark for man the progress of time The
early leaders of the human race who watched the
stars in their courses, and from their movements
worked out the division of the days and years.
left blessing behind them for all time to come
For If we to believe the records of the rocks
and cays the first men who lifted their faces to
the skies in profound and with germs of
thought stirring in their brains had little If any
more conception Of time and of the moving planets
than the brutes that shared with these primitive
savages the the huts which all
the houses they had. 1t took long ages to learn
that the sun is fixed body as regards EARTH
TO QlVl0e the glODe INTO degrees ana the DAY into
"a hours. The seasons came and went and savage
man had>no conception of why beyond the suns
declenson below his zenith and the return of the
fiery orb to place high above his head. Then
from the crude superstitions of astrology men of
high civilization worked out our year and set the
day that, this we now live, marks the beginning
of new circle of the four seasons.
The crudest savage needed prophet with
message from the skies to teach him that II he
desired to proong his life he must work. He
%
that ''n the sweat of his face" he "eat
bread" If he ate at all Storedup wealth there
was none. Each generation began practically
where the last did. with no inheritance to profit
by Nor was there spark of charity to minister
to the needs of age or sickness The child born
with low vitality met its fate early in its career
The man who met with an accident sufficient to ia
capacitate him for the chase or for left
to perish miserably where he fell. When age
dimmed the eye made the hand nerveless the
useless not permitted to be burden on
society. AS the wounded deer is left. as the aged
wolf is abandoned the wounded man or
the toothless woman Parentage other relation
ship counted nothing
AS civilization climbed the path OF progress to
higher levels toll became more constant. more
pressing The savage has few needs and there
fore much leisure He needs no weekly day of
rest. With increasing needs to meet man had to
bend his back more necessarily and to strain mus
Gle. tendon and ligament. Life had more enjoy.
ment at the cost OF longer hours OF toll that made
rest seem very sweet. Then the leader OF
men. the reformer, the teacher philosopher or
prophet who ordained that there times
and seasons there should be days of rest II we
were to run the world around would find many
Sabbaths The follower Of Mohammed takes his
rest oil Friday. the Hebrew on Saturday the Chris
tian on Sunday. And the man of advanced ideas
who gave man his Sabbath was a leader and a
benefactor In very deed.
The who stands In the EscorIal in Spain
and looks on the sepulchers Of kings reaching
back 300 years. has span about long as the
most ancient history OF America. When he goes
to Granada he is face to face with the times of
the Moors whose invasion OF the peninsula was
centuries before Columbus born. As he looks
on some paved road some aqueduct he is car.
ried back to the Scipios. to Hannibal, and back to
his forefathers who moved about here and so
we go back to Carthage. which was a great city
before Rome was founded. and Carthage takes
us over the sea to Asia where Moses people and
some Philistines came into combat. And we 20
back to Egypt and its pyramids. to the Pharaohs
and Jacob and his children and on back to Abra-
ham and the nomad chiefs who fed their hocks in
the fat plains Of central Lsia as long before the
Christian era as is from the year 1911 In these
lands among these races OF men, grandfathers
and greatgrandfathers count for little. One meets
men whose ancestors took part in the expulsion Of
the Moors. with others whose ancestors resisted
them when they nrst invaded Spain and still
others whose forbears we're in the armies of the
Scipios or Of Hannibal. The mind loves to dwell
on the memory Of these faraway days and to
dream OF the way Of life Of men and women who
died SO long ago. and to whom we owe our being
and our civilization. The Oldest title lands in the
Pacific states do not 90 back far. There are
titles In Spain that date back centdries Castles
here are owned by families who come down d.
rectly or collaterally for ages. To these a gen.
GRAFTON is as short as year to us In our brand.
new civilization It is all impressive, but after
dreaming of such things the mind inevitably re.
verts to our own generation. to our own time