The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1915-02-25

sically valuable was a truism |
had never questioned. But when
he challenged the truism was
speechless.
I'VE were talking about this
yesterday" he said. Il held that
life was ferment, yeasty some
thing which devoured life that Il
might live, and that living was
merely successful piggishness
Why, IL there Is anything In sup
ply and demand, life is the cheap
est thing In the world. There Is
only so much water. so much
earth, so much air; but the life
that Is demanding to be born Is
limitless. Nature Is a spend
thrift. Look at the fish and their
millions of eggs. For that mat
ter, look at YOU and me. In our
loins are the possibilities of mill
lions OF lives. Could We but find
time and opportunity and utilize
the last bit and every bit OF the
unborn life that is in us, we
could become the fathers of ma
tons and populate continents
Life? Bah! Ii has no value. OF
cheap things II Is the cheapest
Everywhere 1t goes begging. Ma
ture spills 1t out with a lavish
hand. Where there Is room for
one life. she sows thousand
lives. and it's life eats life till the
strongest and most piggish life Is
left"
You have read Darwin" said.
But you read him misunder-
standingly when you conclude
that the struggle for existence
sanctions your wanton destruc-
ton of life."
He shrugged his shoulders.
You know you only mean that
In relation to human life, for OF
the flesh and the fowl and the
fish you destroy as much as ] or
any other man. And human life
Is In no wise different, though
you feel II is and think that you
reason why II is. Why should ]
be parsimonious with this life
which is cheap and without value?
There are more sailors than there
are ships on the sea for them,
more workers than there are fac
tories or machines for them. Why,
you who live on the land know
that you house your poor people
in the slums of cities and loose
famine and pestilence upon them,
and that there still remain more
poor people, dying for want of a
crust OF bread and a bit OF meat.
(Which is life destroyed), than
you know what to do with. Have
you ever seen the London lockers
fighting like wild beasts for a
chance to work ~
He started for the companion
stairs, but turned his head for a
final word. DO you know the
only value life has Is what life
puts upon itself? And II is of
course overestimated. since 1t Is
of necessity prejudiced in its own
favor. Take that man | had aloft.
He held on az il he we're pre-
cious thing, a treasure beyond dia-
monds or rubies. To you? No.
To me? Not at all. To himself?
Yes. But ! do not accept his esti-
mate. He sadly overrates him
self. There Is plenty more life
demanding to be born. Had he
fallen and dripped his brains upon
the deck like honey from the
comb, there would have been no
loss to the world. He was worth
nothing to the world. The supply
is too large To himself only
was he OF value, and to show how
fictitious even this value was, be-
ing dead he is unconscious that he
has lost himself. He alone rated
himself beyond diamonds and
rubies. Diamonds and rubies are
gone, spread out on the deck and
washed away by bucket of sea-
water, and he does not even
know that the diamonds and
rubies are gone. He does not
lose anything, for with the loss
of himself he loses the knowledge
Of loss. Don't you see? And
what have you to say?"
THAT you are at least consist
ent," was all / could say, and |
went on washing the dishes.
At last, after three days of
variable winds, we have caught
the northeast trades. | came on
deck, after good nights rest in
spite of my poor knee, to find the
Ghost foaming along, wing-and-
wing, and every sail drawing ex-
cept the jibs, with a fresh breeze
astern. Oh, the wonder of the
great trade-wind! All day we
sailed, and all night, and the
next day, and the next, day after
day, the wind always asstern
and blowing steadily and strong.
The schooner sailed herself. There
was no pulling and hauling on
sheets and tackles, no shifting Of
topsails, no work at all for the
sailors to do except to steer. At
night when the sun went down,
the sheets were slackened; in the
morning, when they yielded up
the damp of the dew and relaxed,
they were pulled tight again
and that was all.
Ten knots, twelve knots, eleven
knots, varying from time to
time, is the speed we are making.
And ever out of the northeast the
brave wind blows, driving us on
our course two hundred and fifty
miles between the dawns. II sad
dens me and gladdens me, the