The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-04-09
ALPHA.
Night.
o1l----

ALPHA
Night.
Silence.
"A struggle for the light.
And he did not know what light
was. An effort to cry. And he did
not know that he had a voice.
He opened his yes "and there was
light" He had used his eyes
before, but he could see with them.
He parted his lips and hailed this
| world with a cry for help. A tiny
craft in sight Of new shores; he
wanted his latitude and longitude.
He could not tell from what port he
had cleared; he did not know where
he was; he had no reckoning; no
chart. no pilot.
He did not know the language OF
the Inhabitants Of the planet upon
which providence had cast him. So
he saluted them in h n universal
speech Of Gods creatures-a cry.
Everyhody-every one of Gods chill
dren. understands that. .".-r
Nobody knew whence he came.
Some one said. He came from
heaven" They did not even know
the name of the little life that came
t%hrobbing out of darkness into the
light. They had only said, If 1t
should be a boy" and IF it should
be a girl" They did not know.
And the baby himself knew as
little about it as the learned people
! gathered to welcome him. He heard
them speak. He had never used his
! ears until now, but he could hear
them. "a good cry" some n said.
He did not understand the words. but
|; kept ON crying.
Possibly ne had never entertained
any conception Of the world into
whose citizenship he vas now re-
ceived, but evidently he did not like
it. The noises Of it were harsh to
his sensitive nerves. There was a
mans voice-the DOCTORS, strong and
~reassuring. There was a woman's
| voice, soothing and CONFERENCE.-The
voice of the nurse. And one was a
mothers voice. There is lone other
like it. It was the first music he
had heard in this world. And the
sweeteSt.
By-and-by som ebody laughed softly
and said in coaxing ones:
Observation-Disclosures him his
dinner"
His face was laid close against the
fount of life, warm and white and
tender. Nobody told him what to
do. Nobody taught him. He knew.
; Placed suddenly on the guest-list
Of this changing old caravansary,
he knew his way at once to two
| rlaces' in this bedroom and the
dining-room.
! Wherever he came from he must
have made a long journey, for he
was tired and hungry when he
reached here. Wanted something to
eat right away. When he got it he
went to sleep. Slept a great deal.
| When he awoke he clamored again.
in the universal volapuk for refresh
ment. Had it and went to sleep
again.
When he grew older the wise
men told him the worst thing in
the world, of many good and bad
things that he could do. was to eat
just before going to sleep. But the
baby, not having learned the Ian,
guage of the wise men, did this
very worst of all bad things, and,
having no fear Of the wise men,
dehantly throve upon it..
He looked young, but made him.
self at home with the easy assur-
ance of an old traveller. Knew the
best DON in the house, demanded
it, and got it. Nestled into his
mothers arms as though he had
been measured for them.
Found that gracious hollow that
God made" in his mothers shoulder
that fitted his head as pillows of
down never could. Cried when they
took him away from it. when he
was a tiny baby with no language
but a cry" Cried once again,
twenty-five or thirty years after
ward, when God took it away from
him. All the languages he had
learned, and all the eloquent phras-
ing the colleges had taught him.
could rot then voice the sorrow of
his heart so well as the tears he
tried to check.
Poor little baby! He had to go
to school the first day he got here.
He had to begin his lessons at
once. Got praised when he learned
them. Got punished when he missed
them.
Bit his own toes and cried when
he learned there was pain in this
world. Studied the subject forty
years before he learned in how
many ways suffering can be self-in-
f1icted.
Reached for the moon and cried
because he couldn't get it. Reached