The Alaska citizen., 1916-08-28

young man has turned his eyes and head away from the clubs, while in the case of the hearts he gazes full on.
 Likewise. did you ever notice the way the king does2 Lay out the four suits of kings before you and see At hearts, his noble majesty gazes with only a partial gaze; at clubs he looks with somewhat of frown; at spades he looks not at all. in fact turns his back; while at diamonds-sl glorious. red. cube shaped diamonds glimpses as if he wished they might never escape him TOT a moment.
 Whats the reason? Easy Only you have to dig little for it. You l have to look up some strange old volumes that you don't often see In some of these queer books it Is told that when the ancients-the very ancients-began to think over what life meant, they decided that 1 the whole thing could be divided. | like a circle, into four quarters
 First, said they. is the quarter of l the heart, the quarter of the begin ming of life, the quarter of love ou' of which life is born. Then. sec ondly, there is the quarter of knowl- edge, by which man learns how to manage his life. Thirdly, the man agement of life having been well | learned there comes the time for accommodating the riches, the good things. the worth while things ot life. That is the quarter of wealth. Finally, all these things having been acquired. what is there left but that man should die?
 Then, argued these ancients. We must have symbols for these guar ters We most have something that will represent these great divisions to us when We wish to talk of them when We wish to write of them, when we wish to contemplate them. So. for he first quarter, that of life and love, they took the emblem of the heart. The second emblem was not so easy to decide upon; but they eventually chose the clover leaf. or the shamrock leaf, which is the first plant form to be seen in spring and the last to leave in the fall For the emblem of wealth, what more natural than that they should choose something resembling the rare and most costly, brilliant and desirable of all gems, the diamond And, for the last Quarter-we call what they chose a spade; but it wasn't spade, It was something far more imaginative than a mere spade. It was something that typi- fled the final ripening of life, like the acorn on the tree which. once ripened. would fall into the earth and spring, like man, into a new existence. In fact, it was the acorn they chose. And the spade of to- day is merely a modification of the acorn, symboliZing death and reSur- rection.
 Now go back to the picture cards and look again at the jack and the king-and don't omit the queen Isn't it a little more simple to un- derstand why the king, the ruler gaze with fiyity upon the diamond, the emblem of wealth? And isn't it rather natural that you should find the jack, who is the youth turning his head both away from the clubs, which symbolizes knOwl edge, and the spades, which symbo lize death? What youth cares to | address his thoughts to learning when love is near? And what youth even knows that there is such a thing as death and regeneration when this same sweet temptation of the heart appears in the blue heavens?
 Of course, the king should hold an open mind to knowledge; for sooth should cultivate it. But isn't knowledge or the acquiring of it rather a bother, rather a labor, rath- CT an interruption to one so busy as His Majesty? And as for death, it may be admitted to be something that all men should know is coming to them sooner or later and for which they should prepare But why dwell upon it? Why keep il perpetually in front of one9 Why not-well, why not put it behind one. until the time comes?
 Why, too, not put death behind the queen? She is the embodiment of woman in highest form and high est rank. Why not turn her eyes away from this unpleasant thing, and let them dwell-not 50 ful- somely as the jacks, but albeit sweetly and kindly-upon the hearts Look at your cards and see if the ancients did not possibly ar. range things this way. It may give you a new respect for the playing card
 For it is said in these same curi-