Evening star., 1925-06-29

The Forthcoming evolution trial''
| In Tennessee had it's duplicate In
Greece thousands Of years ago, when
Socrates was put to death for not
| worshiping the gods the city wor-
ships
The real question then was not
| whether Socrates corrupted the youth
| of Athens: and the question today will
not be whether man is descended from
| a monkey; but the question behind
the question was and Is whether man
! is to think with the brain God gave
him.
Fear not. gentle reader, am not
going to discuss evolution. Socrates
| is my theme. l never recall his tragic
end but what l become indignant,
| much as l do every time / think Of
the treatment given the late Prof.
! Langley, whose airplane was dubbed
''Langley's Folly"
Socrates was an ugly old boy who
| lived in Athens between 469 and 399
Be, as near as the historians can
| figure 1t. The date of his death Is
! probably authentic, as his trial and
death by poisoning made a stir in his
day, as it has ever since.
OF all secular figures in history
there was none less deserving the
treatment he received than he, and
this was felt so keenly that even at
his trial he would have been pardoned
If he had humbled himself q bit.
Humble himself, that fiat-nosed,
thick-lipped. prominent-eyed, bald
headed, squat son-of-a gun? Not on
his life, To this day we may all be
proud, as men, that there lived one
| of ancient Greece who refused to bend
the knee when he thought he was
right.
X X
Socrates is guilty of crime, first, for
not worshiping the gods the city wor.
ships, and for introducing new di-
whites of his own; next, for corrupt
ing the youth. The penalty due is
death"
So read the Indictment against the
man who always listened to the warn.
ing of an internal voice. a sort OF d.
vine Mentor, who told him what to do
especially warned him against doing
| wrong. Since his day it has been
called "the still, small voice" and is
responsible for more good than all the
public voices in the world.
Plato in his Apology" makes Soc
rates speak as follows concerning
this voice, with which we are all
familiar to some degree:
20 my judges, l should like to tell
you of wonderful circumstance.
Hitherto the familiar oracle within me
has constantly been in the habit of
opposing me, even about trifeS If I
was going TO make slip or error
about anything; and now, as you see,
there has come upon me that which
may be thought, and is generally be-
lieved to be, the last and worst evil.
But the oracle made no sign of
opposition, either as 1 was leaving my
house and going out In the morning.
or when l was going up into this
court, or while / was speaking, at
anything which 1 was going to say.
What do l take to be the explana-
ton of this? 1 will tell you. I regard
this as proof that what has hap
pened to me is good, and that those
OF us who think that death is an evil
are in error. This is a great proof to
me of what l am saying, for the Gus
tomary sign would surely have op.
posed me had been going to evil and
| not to good"
After all the centuries, il is we'll to
read, now and then, the wholesome
| brave reflections of Socrates on death,
! for, after all, death is something we
| all face-and automobiles have been
| introduced since 399 B. c.
Let us reflect, and we shall see,'
| said Socrates, that there is great
reason to hope that death is good
| for one of two thingS-either death Ia
state of nothingneSS and utter un-
CONSCIOUSNESS, or as men say, there is
| a change and migration Of the soul
| from this world TO another
If death is but a dreamleSs sleep, he