Newspaper Page Text
SIX
(Copyright 1914, by the Smr Co )
Great nrltain right* reserved.
Man I* made up of fleah and apirlt.
The BODY of man we know and un
derstand. We can trace iU rtae
through millions of years on this
planet The eye of Science- patient,
exact —trace* the PHYSICAL ascent
of man from a single living cell In
the water* of the ocean through a
million form* of life up to luun»
present shape.
Even In the unborn child, moat mi
raculously and swiftly like some mov
ing | Icture oT man's earthly history,
the Individual man once more Is seen
passing, BEFORE IBS BIRTH,
through every stage, beginning with
the s gle cell to the finished man
of today.
WE KNOW THE BODY, the flesh
of man.
We see the bonee of man In the
skeleton of an ape. We see the live
fingers of the nj>« In the foot of the
aalamai ter that lived mliltona of
years ago.
We know that the ear of man was
once the gill ot a fish. We know
that even now. by a strange throwing
back to ancient times, babies are oc
casionally horn with “gill-silts' In
their necks.
Science tells us how the body of
man haa grown from Inferior bodies.
And we can see that growth, Juat a*
we can see In a book on mechanics,
the gradual growth of the powerful
locomotive of today, from the primi
tive locomotive of the last century,
and from the two-wheeled ox-cart ot
thousand* of years ago.
We know the flesh, but w* do not
know the spirit of man.
Wt know that the spirit of man 1*
forever fighting against the body ana
its weaknesses.
All progress has coma through vic
tory of the spirit over the flesh; "tho
spirit indeed is willing, tho flesh is
weak.”
ATI or His betrayal by Jndaa, In tho
bitter hour of GethFcmane, Christ,
lying upon 11IS faro, uttered that piti
ful prayer: “O my Father, if it bo
jxistible. let tills cup pass from me;
nevertheless. not aa i will, but as
Thou wilt."
The spirit of the noblest being in
all the world's history was willing
for the sacrifice, ready for the ordeal
on the croas. But the weak fliwh
< rled out, "If 11 be possible, let this
cup pass from me”
To the soldier who cut off the ear
of the high priest's servant Christ
said:
“Put up again thy sword nto hla
place. They that take the sword
shall perish by the sword.”
And he added, doubtless Intimidat
ing the soldier's rude intnd: "Think
est thou that I cannot now pray to
my father, and he shall presently
give me more than twelve legions ot
angels T"
The struggle of the flesh sgalnst
the spirit goes on In every htimsn
being with even the faintest spark of
spiritual life.
Despair and weakness are followed
by determination to do what Is right,
confidence In the power of goodness
which Christ expressed when he told
the soldier that his father would send
'more than twelve legions of angels.”
The duty of man is to realize that
this battle between the spirit and
the body goes on forever and MUST
go on.
Bomewhere. mysteriously, man
finds the power to fight against temp
tation, against ail the animal Inheri
tance stretching buck through many
centuries,
It help* a man in life to understand
WHAT he must fight, and WHY he
tnuat fight
You can make your struggle in the
world better If you can see yourself
as the man 1* shown in this picture.
His mind and his hands reach out to
ward the stars, toward the highest
and noblest things. His feet are
held to the ground by the earth giant
of selfishness, laziness, sensuality
sad all other weaknesses.
When you fight against yourself,
remember that the power that holds
you down to the earth represents
every one of the animals that were
here ahead of mail.
Man has the dog s friendship, but
with It *he ferocity of the tiger that
shows in dreadful lynching* and mur
ders
He has "a hog asleep with him, as
Zfllo says. He has ambition like the
horse, fickleness and ambition likb
the monkey, the conceit of the pea
cock and the laziness of the sloth.
The spirit has risen up from the
earth In innumerable forms of life
Bach of the lower forms clings anl
clogs in the upward march.
No man can escape entirely from
the power that hold;- hitn. Those big
esith hands, the power of gravitation
power of habit, power o' animal inher
itanee hold u* to the earth. And here
we must stay down until we go back
into the earth again.
But every man can find comfort
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“Watch and Pray, That Ye Enter Not Into Temptation: the Spirit Indeed
is Willing, But the Flesh is Weak."
The Spirit of Man Reaches to the Stars and Longs For the Highest and
Best. The Body of Man is Held to the Earth by Forces and Passions As
Ancient As this Globe. And Life is a Struggle Between the Spirit that Reaches
Upward and the Power that Holds Us Down.
tn his own struggle and battle. And
every man who knows the value of
solitude and of effort can find com
fort lu this picture, even in Us dra
matic exaggeration.
Man at least DOKS reach up to
ward the stars ills feet are held
fast tn the mud, hut his spirit looks
away from this earth to the wonders
of Infinite beauty and power, and he
is not a slave WMUC UK iAN
THINK KKKBLY
To know what life Is, to realize ttie
power of the si lrlt, and the little
ness and meanness of the body, look
out In the darkness of night as the
man looks lu this picture. Your arms
stretch upward, and the thing nearest
to you Is a planet scores of millions
of miles away, beyond that a star, a
shining sun distant beyond our fee
ble comprehension.
Yet. the tiny spark of spirit in the
brain of man Is the ONLY connect
ing link between this planet and that
wonderful outside world.
SOUL AND BODY
And the spirit of man. whatever
else it may be, is the brother of the
spirits that live on those planets and
and on those distant suns
Animal our bodies MAY be We
may get our five fingers from the
salamander, our skeleton from the
ape. our skull from the development
of the topmost vertebra.
But our spirit Is a thing perfect
in Itself, struggling for expression
through an imperfect brain and body,
fighting forever, even in the meanest
of human beings, against the base
ness and the meanness of the flesh,
against those earth hands and their
powerful grip.
Men feel that life in our day Is
dull, without romance. But no man
need look back to the days of chiv
alry or the days of fighting. He has
within his reach the only fight that
is wvrth while. The battle of the
immortal spirit against the body and
its animal Inheritance is the only
THE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA, GA.
great fight That wonderful and pa
thetic scene at Qethsemane. when the
noblest spirit of all humbly prayed
for relief, is Infinitely more beautiful
and noble than any battle of armored
men or thundering cannon.
The battles of the spirit against
the flesh, and the victories of the
spirit have been the greatest in the
world's history.
Joan of Arc fought such a battle
when she prepared herself for the
flames that devoured her. Giordano
Bruno, looking with kindness and pity
upon the Ignorant Itetle child adding
tagota to the tire that burned nnn,
was another of the earth's great con
querors
In a small way, every one of us.
fighting, conquered, fighting and
struggling again heeding the admoni
tion, "Watch and pray, that we enter
not into temptation." ia a real fighter,
improving the little atom of the race
confided to" him. working iu his Utile
corner, DOING HIS BKST.
Man, weak and feeble, not knowing
whence he came or whither he must
go when life ends, may still look at
the stars with i ride, hope and deter
mination.
The Psalmist, downcast and gazing
into the heavens, cried:
"When I consider thy heavens, the
work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained;
"What is man. that thou art mind
ful of him? and the son of man. tnat
thou visltest him?"
Hut that is not the only attitude,
better one is this:
"1 will praise the Lord, for 1 am
Tearfully and wonderfully made, Man
today may say : "I will praise Him
because He has given me the power
to see and to understand TUK WOKK
OF HIS HANDS."
He has given to me. weak and fee
ble. the power to weigh the stars,
measure their distance, foretell the
eclipse and conquer this globe.
Man is still a savage though he
does not know it, and an intellectual
child compared to what he will be.
But, he CAN look up. He stands
erect, and is a soldier every day in
the battle of the spirit with the flesh
WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO
ANSWER YOU.
Sir: —Vice-President Marshall says
to kiss your wife at least once a day.
But my wife won't let me. What
shall 1 do?
WAITING.
EVERY DAY
Is Barqain Day
In the WANTS
SUNDAY. MARCH 15
A MEETING
Some days ago I heard somebody
speaking about policemen In the most
disparaging manner.
"You are quite right," I agreed,
“they are all rascals and In proof
hereof I should like to tell you a
little Incident. I have on my country
place a gardener, and Alsaclan named
Ullmann, who was formerly a police
man. In spite of his 58 years he still
makes a very young Impression. For
years he was the terror of tramp*
and vagrants, and now he is tsnderly
nursing flowers with his big power
ful hands, which have knocked down
more than one criminal*. The flow
ers have changed his altogether, but
he says this is because he is breath
ing a different air now. One morn
ing I met him in the vegetable gar
den. He has' Jusl been sprlnkllug
the strawberry beds and was In his
shirt sleeves. He wag evidently in
mood for a chat that day for he ad
dressed me:
“I have now been in your service
for nine years, monsieur," he said,
"and I want to tell you how happy 1
have always felt here, much happier
than while I was a 'Policemen. That
is a dreadful calling, I tell you.
Whether you put criminals in prison
or cut their heads off, they are not
punished enough It would be much
better to condemn them to become
policemen, even if only for a few
months, then they would have mors
than enough of it. But probably the
public might object. When you look
at me. as I am now In my working
clothes, you would think that my life
had always been smooth sailing, as
content as I look. And still I tell
you I have met with enough expe
riences to write more than one sen
sational novel.
I was very young when we married
and at first we had a hard time to
make a living and later on worse
anxieties came to us through way*
ward child who wrecked our happi
ness. Of all the sorrows he caused
us, I will tell you the one which
shocked me most.
It was a beautiful summer
the sky was full of stars ana it was
bright moonlight. It was about 12
years ago. I was walking my beat
from the Bois de Voulogne to Passy
together with my mate, a Corsican,
whose sense of hearing was so sharp
that he could hear the ants running.
From time to time a cab rolled by
and through the windows we caught
a sight of kissing couples. The night
was made for loving. Suddenly we
were startled by a piercing cry:
“Help, Murder!” we rushed towards
the sound and found a man who was
trying to strangle a gentleman who
wore a light coat over his evening
dress, evidently on his way home from
a dance.
Before the bandit had time to look
around we had the handcuffs on him,
but unfortunately we had come a lit
tle too late for his victim was bleed
ing profusely from two stab wounds
in neck and face.
"You had better stay here," I said
to my chum, “while I rush this fel
low to the station house and hurry
back with an ambulance.
I started off with him. We had
about half a mile to walk to the sta
tion house. He made no attempt to
resist whloh would have done him no
good as he was handcuffed and I had
a good hold of his coat collar. We
did not exchange a single word but
suddenly he stopped under a street
lamp and said: m
“You don't seem to recognize me.
He threw back his head, his cap
fell off and I recognized—the face
of my own son.
It was a dreadful shock. Even If
you have been fighting burglars and
footpads for twenty years you still
remain human. My heart stopped
beating.
He looked at me with horrified eyes
and open mouth and stammered: "I
have never done you any harm fa
ther. Y'ou won’t have me sent to
prison, will you?”
Why I did not drop dead or go In
sane on the spot, I do not understand
—but a miracle happened. I felt my
brain and heart growing cold, and in
one second I saw a thousand things,
the day when he was born, when he
was christened, his sweet little baby
face, I saw’ him go to school, where
he was the first In everything, our
flat on the top floor of a tenament
and his poor mother stooping pver
his bed, when he was saying his
prayers.
Then I imagined the terrible catas
trophe, 1 saw his mother fainting as
gfte heard of the dreadful calamity
the reports in all the newspapers, out
honest name disgraced. I do no'
know how to explain it to you, bul
my heart swelled with pity and love
oT the unfortunate boy. I took the
handcuffs off his hands and whisper
ed: "Run aw-ay from here.”
I have never seen him again. 11
what I did was wrong, I hope God
will forgive me—That's right, don't
be bashful."
At these last words he knocked •
fat caterpillar off a leaf of cubbagw.