Show J t At Deat Deaths Death's s 's Threshold i z t IT IT T VAS WAS a grisly sort Of feast that was held the oth other r night in the death house of the Ohio tub penitentiary t The host was John Sabo celebrating his its hist birthday by spending spen ing his last lat 30 30 for a aIt It Dinner inner to the five other occupants of the cells Ifor or the condemned The host recently was enie a retrial and will witt know very soon lien llen len he is to be electrocuted It is the only that hat this world now holds for him him thc Ir-thc the oo-the date ft One of the guests was scheduled to die just five days later Another was to follow to the electric chair two days after that he other three were negroes all aU of pf whom knew that they had no hope of escaping the theme same me fate a little later on t Sabo made his 30 go as far as possible There was chicken sweet potatoes bi biscuits salad pic pie a la ta mode a huge birthday cake Coffee oree ofee and cigars It It was a genuine banquet But But imagine the circumstances The meal was vas served in the open corridor into which he cells of the condemned open At the end 1 f the room was a door leadin leading into the execution exe cution ution chamber chamber chamber-a a door each of the six ban- ban would pass through within a few v eks Picture if you can can- the cheerfulness and nd ease that must have surrounded that festl fes- fes 1 ial tl 1 board t It was gruesome of course But after I 4 all U the situation of those six condemned men Enjoying ing a feast in the short time that that- re- re to them was wa not greatly different from our own Like them we are all condemned condemned condemned con con- to die only they know exactly when they are to go and we do not J l Knowing and counting the hours they grow row desperate Death t that at is certain and imminent becomes terrifying We Ve do not hink about the matter and we go along ibm day to day really disbelieving that we ever die I And really we do pretty well The race has as a number of very fine achievements to toUs Its Us credit bits of poetry and music deeds of elf sacrifice and heroism patent struggles for fruth Cruth uncomplaining acceptances of heavy loads In our va vague ue denial that we shall ever lite he we now and then accomplish things that ip in sober truth will live Jive forever v It is not true that the presence of death rings Brings wisdom It destroys it A man who knows he is soon to die can think of nothing Vise lse lse But most of us U to whom that knowledge knowl- knowl f dge edge is present not can see more clearly By f assuming that death is remote we stumble on ona ona ona a great truth truth that that it is unimportant It cannot cannot cannot can can- not stop our slow progress upward from the dark abyss that lies back of recorded history Ve We triumph over it triumph it-triumph triumph over it by forgetting for for- getting gettin it It j is only under l circumstances circumstances- sin s in a penitentiary death house for instance instance- that death appears real and terrifying Most of the time w we know that it is only a shadow 4 a way half-way point between two eternities |