The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1919-03-04
MYSTERY OF LIFE
Who Knows Where 1t Comes
From or What 1t Is?
Marked Difference Between Mankind
and the Wild Things, in Their View
Of Death-Lower Animals Lit
tie Impressed.

Some folks talk about "the mystery
OF life," and it is as good way as any
to speak of it. For, truth is, nobody
seems 10 know anything about life.
Yet everything pays more attention to
living than to anything else. Prac-
tically every motive In the world,
among the wild things, is to live.
Not even man, with all his knowl-
edge, knows where life comes from, or
what 1t is, George F. Burba writes In
the Columbus Dispatch.
1t is just the opposite of death, he
will tell you; one either lives or dies.
If he is living, the body is in certain
condition. The blood flows through
the veins. The heart beats. The body
Is warm. One is conscious of that
which goes on about him. The very
opposite is true when thing is dead,
whether the thing is a man or a dog
or bird or fish. But the why of it
all-nobody understands that.
The wild things strive with all their
might to escape death, but they pay
little attention to the dead things about
them. 1t doesn't seem to make any
impression upon an animal to run up
on another animal that is dead, out in
the woods. They fear death, but they
do not respect the dead, nor show any
emotion in the presence of DEATH
They do not know what it is-that Is.
they do not know that the dead crea-
ture they encounter in the woods is
dead and done for. If 1t is something
they want to devour, they devour it /;
If 1t Is not they pass on without pay
ing much attention to 1t.
Death is more of mystery to man.
That is, 1t impresses him to a great.
er extent. He thinks more of it. He
tries no harder to live than do the Wild
things, but there is something In con-
nection with the presence of dead
creature that impresses human be-
ing. This is especially true If one en-
counters death out in the fields or
woods. Tramping through forest, and
coming suddenly upon a dead animal,
one pauses In contemplation Of the
mystery before him. Yesterday a
splendid stag, let US say, roaming the
woods in triumph; strong and swift
and beautiful; conscious of his strength
and fieetness; living-breathing, see
ing, feeling. Today-there he lies.
His coat roughened by the winds or
rain, his eyes sightless, his limbs with
out NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. he lies there
like log rotting in the elements. Can
this be the stag of yesterday? Is the
thing called life all he needs today to
arouse him from the slumber-to
smooth his splendid coat to bring the
CLEAN of light into the eye, to give
speed to the limbs? Then, whence the
thing called life? Or, from whence did
1t come in the beginning?
Thus do we mediate and marvel
at the mystery of life and death when
we are in the presence of death-espe-
cially If we encounter 1t In the great
shadows of the fOrest-out where there
is nothing to interrupt us, out where
reigns that which gives life and which
recalls It'll
rs to use, ana we shfl05ii!Hi.. retire 1t on
pension and substitute do your ut
most"
Garry on" another British phrase,
S splendidly and nobly Anglo-Saxon
md should not be sacrificed for any
When the British at
Mons and after were overpowered and
and outnumbered and all
'ut crushed by the enemy's superior
ty in strength and equipment they
simply carried on" and so made the
'eversal at the Marine possible. What
'ver betides. however black the hour
nay grow, however hopeless the out
ook may seem, 1t is the Anglo-Saxon
labit to carry on" and the courage
md persistence 1t stands for have
'lucked victory out of many a defeat.
Garry on" will have won this war: SO
ct us, who share the same spirit with
'ur British cousins. never forget the
word and the spirit 1t stands for.
"Strafe." being German, we could
pare readily enough, as well as the
pirit of venom and hate that It sig
lifies.
Words don't win or lose wars. Let
IS launch our "drIve" "over the top"
ach man doing his bit" and let us
carry on" until we "strafe" the Hun"