Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-03-19


are weak and Whimsical fantastic.
J. one little know, what dccp and :!
p cred depth: can be plumbcl in tn
fathoms Of human character until h
has bchcld this greatest of I'll mir
IclcS, until he has witnessed the ru
= in%-down of Il woman into and be
l yond the Valley of the Shadow o
Happiness to find the Singing Soul
of the unborn children, cnticc It'll,
aoul away by the tenderness of hcI
eyes and the compassion of hcl
: armS-and bear it up the sleeps anC
l OUT into the world Of earthly sun
, light through the pink and colder
/ portals of birth.
A man marricS woman. The
ceremony lies in the past There
! comes the return from the honey
5 moon. The event is but fey para
graphs on an out-of-datc ncwspapc!
page and to all but their relatives
and q few intimate friends the new
home stirs not ripple in the social
sea OF great humanity. And then
Il baby comes!
A baby comes!
In some side room where curtains
arc drawn, footballs softened and
sounds are hushed, diminuitive
gasping human creature convulSes
systematically on nurses arm. The
first brcaths of earthly air are burn
ing like fire in its tiny lungs. Its
black face is slowly turning pink. It's
features are becoming understand
able. Its fists are opening and
closing, its vocal chords are strength
ening, its breathing regular. It's
head is misshapen, its eyes twisted,
its legs crooked,-its general anato-
mical design sends panic through
the household, through all but re-
lieved physician, a smiling nurse, a
mother who dimly knows that all is
well.
This is new human life begun.
This is the commencement of soul.
Gases may swirl out in the seeth-
ing immensities of space, cool, form
a planet-and tomorrow that planet
be rolling cold and dead in the in
finite zeros of ether. Continents may
be discovered and civilizations es-
tablished-but the cycles of eternal
time speed onward and seas blot out
the one and evolution ride down the
other. Empires may rise and states
may fourish-but peoples rise
against peoples, they go down
H. the dust, tomorrow the sands
of the eternal deserts lie heavily
unon them. Cities may become
great, ships may pillow the oceans,
markets may teen with trade
md statesmen rise to glory:
fortunes may be made OF lost and
men may lose their souls for ambi.- Z
ion or the love of woman. But what
indeed of all these things unless ever
down the ages comes the inexhautihlc |
Niagara of new babies. How pale
and insignificant do all these things
which men term great sink down he
side the onward march of hoardes
of children, watching as they come
for mothers faces.
A baby comes, indeed!
Jack Purse looked down unon his
little son, his frstboln, the gift of the
girl whom he had asked to share his
life beneath the old russell arple-tree.
And though he did not frame the
concrete thoughts, he knew what
every father know" who has had sons
born unto him.
That there will be days of play and
nights of fever ahead, months of
helplessness, a few brief years OF
banging on the table with a spoon
and ruling households heart. Tncra
will be the time of awkwardncss-
saucer eyes, big knees, bursting but
tons and rending seams. There will
be times of calf-love and seasons of
heartburn. There will be years of
conceit unbearable; periods, too, Ct
cruel chastisement. Then it will
know real love and the beginning of
the Golgotha of seeing visions and
dreaming dreams. Sorrow and trag-
edy and disappointment will be it's
portion. And then, far far ahead
somewhere down the dim corridors
of saner, cooler, finer ycars--may
come to a brief decade of real useful
ness, to itself and to the race.
And as poet has sung and author
has written from the days Wien
Pandora's box was opened and all
the troubles of the world We're loosen
ed--so long that only the fool would
claim he thought for his ow'l--Some- ;
one must be tender. faithful, no. - ,
full, ever-patient, never discouraged,
always confident through all those
years and times,--ttC Someone who
lies upon the bcd--as John Purse
looked that day on the wife of his :
love lying upon the bed-her body
limp with agony, her eyes hollow,
her checks haggard, her smile mask ,
to hide the pain,--thc Someone who
reaches for the little Redeemed
creature, lays it upon her heart and
soothes it's hunger with her breast
This is the grandeur and infnity l.!
Of God focused in the instincts of a
woman. This is our genesis and our |
decalog. This is our Vision of the -,
Most High, life's fourth experience I
which should come first! }
1t was evening. Jack was alone in I
the room with his wife and the new
Il, 4