The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-01-16
The Pipes Of Pan

self to human beings. When once he made his
appearance blowing his pipe, the people were so
smitten with terror they fled in panic
The great god Pan is dead, but his pipe still
calls it's note of dread across the world. Every
calamity, every earthquake every catastrophe,
these are his pipings. The Messina earthquake,
the Baltimore fire, the San Francisco fire and
earthquake the Titanic disaster and the Dayton
flood-these are the notes of Pans pipe.
And now the terrible and shaggy deity has
once more blown blast of destruction. In two
islands in the south of the Japanese archipelago
fire, lava, and earthquakes have once more
wrought their work of destruction. Hundreds
were buried in extemporaneous graves Homes
were destroyed in an instant. And all the pray
and cries of human souls availed nothing
against the terrible forces of destruction
The first effect of these catastrophes is to
shake mems confidence in the frendliness OF the
universe. Men lose their faith in life and in the
Source of life. The first effect of the Portu-
guese earthquake was to topple religious
confidence. ct was, by the way, none other than
the so-called atheist Voltaire who was the first
to seek to reconcile the people to the ways OF
Providence The first effect on almost every
man as some devastation like flash IN the night
lights up the abysms beneath his human feet is
to shrink back feeling that the whole universe
cares for him as little "as the sea needs pebble
cast The 'ptiless passioness eyes, OF these
horrors burn his nothingness into man.
1t is this shaggy side of existence which has
made the great pessimsts it has been the pip
ing of Pan that has turned their life's wine sour.
Lucretius said man in the world is ship-Wrecked
babe drifting to the reefs Schopenhaur wrote:
KNOCK at the graves and ask the dead whether
they would rise again; they will shake their
bod 1od in fhni1
veins by the hoarse cries of calamity and despair
TO our mind these affairs have no such slnls-
ter aspect. We believe any open-minded person
may look upon them with entire cheerfulness.
Tragedy is an integral part of the universe
1t is woven into the very wool of existence. 1t is
normal, inevitable. We made that we
must suffer and nature is SO made that she
spires to give us pain. There is getting away
from it. The tragic is no accident, no interpoa-
ton. Evidently it was intended to be here. 1t
seems to be part of the general scheme of
things. AS George A. Gordon writes, "The ulti-
mate reality, whatever it may be, is hard upon
human beings. There many points at which
the black antpathes of the universe toward
human beings gather and pour in upon in
floods
But if this side of life was intended from the
to grow panicky about it. That very fact argues
that it is good for us to live in such a world 1t
argues also that the human beings existing in
such universe are planned for heroic things and
made for vast destinies. Had been intended
for soft life of and amusement the condi-
tons would have been different. But the evil
dences show we were meant to be heroes. And
heroes all strong men are. Your nincompoop
lies back in the depths of his upholstery and
shivers with fear while your downright brave
swings round the Horn in deadly gales or
struggles ,bravely through the actics.
The tragic reveals the source and nature of
our real wealth. In our hours of weakness we
imagine happiness depends the things in
our possession, but after some dreadful disaster
strips us to the bone. and leaves us with nothing
discover to our surprise we have still every
thing left that is worth while in the long run
THE world,' cried fanatic to Emerson, will
end next week.. Let it end" was the imper-
turbable reply 81 can get along without it."
Strange to say every catastrophe brings il
the long run not doubt Of the friendness of the
Universe but surer confirmation of it. Ono
comes across the Eternal Love while stalknc
through the wreckage of his fortunes. The most
impressive thing about the Dayton flood was that
it released spiritual energy and strength
based on the Unseen of which the people had not
were huge and vast but alongside the depths
opened up in human souls were nothing.
And after all it is we ourselves who deter
mine what the effect of these experiences
will be. AS water takes the shape of the vase
into which it is poured, do all events of our
lives assume the shape of character into
which thew fall AnV event will strika