Editorials from the Hearst NewspapersBrisbane, Arthur
Philosophy
Editorials from the Hearst Newspapers
Brisbane, Arthur
Editorials; Essays
Another kitten, with one eye now partly open, got thoughtful and
said: "There is no such thing as Man. Or, if there is such a
thing, he is a monster to let little Willie get torn up. Don't
talk to me about Kitten Wiliie being a sufferer through his own
fault. I say there is no such thing as a Man. We kittens are
bosses of the universe and must do our own fighting."
That speaker was the Ingersoll kitten.
A kitten of higher mental class opened both eyes just a little
and actually made observations.
Said he: "I am a scientist. I discover that we owe nothing to
Man's kindness. We are governed by laws. This box is on wheels.
It rolls around in the sunlight of its own volition. True, I do
not know who shoves it, but no Man could do it. Further, I
discover that there is such a thing as the law of 'milk-passing.'
Milk comes this way just so often. Its coming is nature's law.
It has always come. It always will come. Good-night, I am going
to sleep. But don't talk to me any more about a kind Man. It's
all law, and I am certainly great, for I saw the laws first."
That was the Newton kitten, but he lacked the Newton faith.
We have no time to tell what the Darwin kitten said. He was very
long-winded.
But this happened. The kittens grew up--such as did not perish
through their own fault. They got their eyes fully opened. They
saw the Man, recognized him and asked only to be allowed to stay
in his house. "Excuse us," they said, "for being such foolish
kittens. But you know our eyes were not quite open."
"Don't mention it," said the kind Man. "Go down cellar and help
yourselves to mice."
That's the end of the parable. We are all blind kittens, and our
few attempts at explaining nature's wonders and kindness only get
us into deeper and deeper mysteries.
We discover that the earth goes round the sun. But the greatest
scientist must admit his inability to tell or guess why it goes.
"Give me the initial impulse," he says, "and all the rest is
easy."
The blind kittens in their wagon say: "Give our wagon just one
shove and we'll explain the rest."
The kitten gets hold of a law of "milk-passing" and substitutes
that for man's individual kindness.
The feeble-minded agnostic seizes the law of gravitation and
thinks he can discard God with gravity's help.
But the great mind that defined gravity's law was a religious
mind--too profound to see anything final in its own feeble power.
Newton was no atheist. None better than he knew the mysterious
character of his law. That it has worked from all eternity
"directly as the mass and inversely as the square of the
distance" he knew and told his fellow-creatures. That is all he
knew and all that any man knows about it.
To-day Lord Kelvin, a worthy follower in Newton's steps, is asked
to explain WHY gravity acts. He can only say:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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