Editorials from the Hearst NewspapersBrisbane, Arthur
Philosophy
Editorials from the Hearst Newspapers
Brisbane, Arthur
Editorials; Essays
The human mind will have wandered on many leagues in its search
for a satisfying religion, getting always nearer to a clear
conception of the grandeur of the universe, and further away from
the superstition necessary to the moral control of a brutal
semi-civilization.
Human beings will have learned that the noblest thing one man can
do is to work for others.
Each will gladly contribute all his talent and strength to the
welfare of all.
All will gladly recognize, applaud and richly reward the special
ability of the individual.
There will be no poverty. Willingness to work will insure a
comfortable livelihood. Education will have developed the
average human intellect far beyond our conception. Nine-tenths
of the human race have been able to read only within the past few
years. What will a thousand years of universal education do?
----
The end of the leases of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company will
find many of our problems solved.
It will find, however, the real work of man just beginning. The
abstract work of the intellect, the proper organization of
society as expressed in human passions, the study of the
wonderful and beautiful universe outside of our own little
planet, will then begin with the conquest of our material
conditions.
THE AZORES--A SMALL LOST WORLD IN A UNIVERSE OF WATER
As you cross the Atlantic by the Southern route the "sighting of
the Azores" is one incident of your voyage. Just before daybreak
the ship is shaking and the passengers roused by the deep tones
of the big steam whistle.
One by one shivering forms straggle up from below, like reluctant
spirits answering a premature last call. Bare feet in slippers,
and shivering forms with overcoats over nightgowns, gradually
line the rails.
On the left there appears, apparently, a heavy, dark bank of
clouds:
"The Azores!" shouts down from the bridge your yellow-whiskered
captain, looking as cheerful and warm as though it were noon.
You watch, shiver and blink as the light grows stronger behind
the pinkish clouds in the east. The dark cloud settles into
solid land. You see it clearly. Sharply outlined against the
sky stands, forty miles long, a mammoth saw with huge teeth,
irregular, sharp. The power of old-time volcanoes made all of
that land, and those sharp saw-teeth, pointing toward the sky,
are the destroyers of long ago, cold and dead now, but telling
ominously of the power that lies hidden below.
Between you and the brightening sunrise, suspended in the "crow's
nest," half way up the mast, stands the sailor who watches the
sea for you through the night. He calls out, and ahead to the
left you see a small boat filled with human beings that seem
scarcely as big as your finger. Your ship could plough through
miles of such small boats-- but out there in the ocean, just as
well as inside the biggest court-house, LAW rules, and the big
ship must turn out for the small fishing boat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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