South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-12-03

from somewhere But where?"
This simple question touches nothing less
than the affecting and inevitable problem o.
death What the unfortunate Ortegues WIDOW
wished to know whether there Is eternAi
severance or a mysterious relationship De-
tween the living and the dead; whether our
present activity eXhausts itself, or whether u
has extension elsewhere in a spiritual uni
verse. If this extension exists, death takes on
another meaning or, rather, death mas no
meaning if this extension exists Otherwise
death is only an end, and what difference can
there be- apart from pain, between one death
and another? All deaths are equal Tor the
dying man, because all annihilate equally. In
the ordinary paths OF life we overlook this
essential problem, which We ought TO nave
solved, or at least meditated.
How can we fail TO be obsessed with IL to-
day, when a universal cataclysm, this i'm
mense and terrible war, presents II daily
hourly, and for how long. from one end or
Europe TO the other, to millions OF beings 70
those who fight and those who stay behind
to those who fall and those who survive, TO
individuals to families, TO nations, TO the whole
of humanity? Has the spilling OF so much
blood. so many tears any significance In any
other respect? Or is this world conflict but
frenzied accession Of collective delirium. the
sole result Of which will be the premature re-
turn of innumerable human organisms TO the
cycle of physico-che mical decomposition and
decomposition?
That is the problem of my story. ] see on
one side a superior man, Ortegue, equipped
with all the intellectual arms loaded with all
the favOrs of destiny. Death suddenly rises
up before him. He cOnfrOnts IL with a certain
doctrine. He cannot adapt himself TO IL
To him death represents the annulment OF
his intellectual psychism. His pupils win
doubtless continue his activity. The patients
he has operated upon will survive. His mem
DRY will not perish, but the most precious
QUESTION Of his work his thought, with the
accumulated treasures Of his reflections. that
power given by knowledge 10 associate his
person with eternal laws-all that viii col
laree into nothingness In the end he &C
cepted this collapse OF all his being with pa
theuc grandeur but IL was the grandeur OF an
overwhelmed resignation. In a gesture or des-
perate pOwerlessness the mind bent beneath
the pressure Of irresistible sovereign forces.
which seemed monstrOus TO him since they
did but create him only to crush him.
On the other side ! see very simple man.
lie Gallo, a OF action but unpretentious
action His idea OF the world seemed equally
unpretentious. He did not formulate his doc.
trine, he received il. An Ortegue despises t.
Is he right? Does a lie Gallo not UnwittIngly
bring the residue OF a secular empiricism to
the Interpretation Of life? Death confronts
him also. His traditional doctrine enables him
TO accept it Immediately. 10 make il an op-
pOrtunity 10 enrich himself and others. HIS
sentimental psychism adapts itself to death
because his doctrine enables him 10 offer his
suffering. his agony, with the conviction that
the good Of his sacrifice will revert 70 those
he loves. His intellectual psychism also adapts
lLSeN TO death he duIIia a. mucl Wlen ne
speaks Of his salvation" Salvation Is the
keeping alive OF the best OF his being. His
resignation Is JOY, a love, an enthusiasm.
Where the other weakens he triumphs For
an Ortegue death IS a catastrophe phenome-
non which is like a trap and an absurdity
For lie Gallo it IS a contamination, a com
pletOn.
What are we 10 concude7 or the two bv.
potheses on death sketched above. one 4.
utilisable. the other is not I know this sim.
pie test may seem puerile, but from the prac.
teal point OF view, strange though II NAV sem
a lie Gallo appears to me more scientific than
an Ortegue.
To sum up. death has no meaning II Il be
only an end: IL has a meaning IL IL be a sac
Tihce But the sacrifice itself must have
meaning. Soldiers offer their lives IN fhs
trenches for their country. The sum Of these
acts OF devotion constitutes the army II
saves this country. Nothing can be said ahout
II II IL be not that the present sacrifices .tsell
for the future. and one cannot quite see Nv
what right the future can claim this privilege
II conscience. enlightened by revelations from
elsewhere, did not give the imperative order