The philosophy of Jake Haiden (late Jacob K. Huff) : $b selected from the columns of the Reading Times, Reading, Pennsylvania : with a biographical appreciation by his friend Henry W. ShoemakerHuff, Jacob K.
Philosophy
The philosophy of Jake Haiden (late Jacob K. Huff) : $b selected from the columns of the Reading Times, Reading, Pennsylvania : with a biographical appreciation by his friend Henry W. Shoemaker
Huff, Jacob K.
American essays; Huff, Jacob K., 1851-1910
By dark the snow storm burst on them in all the fury of a Rocky Mountain
blizzard, and the boys began to search for a sheltering rock. Fortunately
they came to the brow of a great range of mountains, and down below the
rim rock they knew there would be shelter from the storm and the winds.
Slowly and tortuously the boys climbed down through a crevice in the
great rim rock, and 200 feet below they came to a level plateau, where
they gathered wood and built a fire close up to the perpendicular wall.
Sitting by the warm fire they ate their lunch, having saved it all
through the weary day, and they could hear the storm king howling through
the spruce trees and shrieking through the canyons on either side.
And where they had camped the snow was drifting over the cliff and
falling upon them very fast. They knew the history of these snow
drifts—knew that the snow sometimes stacked up to the depth of fifty feet
on the lee side of the rim rock, but it was too late to retreat now.
At midnight their fuel became exhausted, and the snow drift was so deep
that they could not get more. Little Jake complained of being sleepy,
and his older brother sang an Indian song to keep him awake. The little
fellow began to repeat the prayer his teacher taught him, and fell asleep
with the words still on his lips. The others soon followed him into
dreamland, and all night long the merciless snow drifted over the tall
rock and buried them under many feet of spotless robes. The winds howled,
the storm shrieked and groaned and higher the snow drift grew upon them.
Late in July a prospecting party found them, the elder brother holding
little Jake in his stiffened arms.
A PLEA FOR CHILDHOOD
In the name of humanity, in the name of civilization, and in the name of
Him who died for men, I would make a plea for the little children who are
born into the world to be landless and homeless through life. Does it
seem possible to the thickest headed thinker that a just God would send
children into a world already privately owned by previous generations?
Are God’s laws similar to the European laws of primogeniture, giving the
best of all to the first born—to the first generations, and to be handed
down from father to son, to hold and own forever?
I can’t believe that there is any priority handed down to a special few
from the God of All. Every sense of common justice rebels at such an
idea. If it is our God, and our heaven, and our eternity, it must then
surely be our earth, our land, and our oceans, and our mountains, and our
air. Will a higher civilization recognize this picture of simple justice?
And will we reach a higher state of civilization without giving all an
equal share in God and the earth?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The philosophy of Jake Haiden (late Jacob K. Huff) : $b selected from the columns of the Reading Times, Reading, Pennsylvania : with a biographical appreciation by his friend Henry W. Shoemaker — John Shaqi
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account