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Show ft 0" u o - "... v ,f (, ': I f ... , " i I j y! L " " " "''''jP'! "'fjj M. V- f',.MUlf - .es, rm lit li1 "" ?!nara " ' R '- - , . &ffi(rij Yaw; jsajtzhiwT a ' : y ELMO SCOTT WATSON f ASTER SUNDAY this year falls on April 17. Last year It was April 4 and the year before, It was April J2. Next year It will fall on April 8. Aa everybody knowa It la a variable date, sometlmea falling In March and sometimes In April, but under the present method of reckoning the Easter Sunday date, It cannot come earlier than March 23 nor later than April 26. For the reason that Easter Sunday la a variable date. It therefore doea not bave the significance as a red-letter date on American Amer-ican calendars that other dates, such aa New Tear'a ay, Christmas day, Independence day, Washing-ton's Washing-ton's birthday and Lincoln's birthday, have. In thla relation It Is mora like Thanksgiving day or Labor day In being always a certain day of tbe week, but varying as to the day of the month. Mora Important, of course, than Ita significance aa a red-letter day on our calendars Is the Inherent significance of the day Itself To the Chris tlsn World It Is the anniversary of the resur-m2 resur-m2 I011 f"Jue Christ But that doea not mean ' that 'tbe essential aplrlt of Eaater means aome-i aome-i thing to one part of 'uuroaalty, aet off from the rest by religious classification, and meana nothing noth-ing to the rest of the human race. For Easter has significance to all humankind and tbe keynote of that algnlflcance la tbe one word "resurrection." Look at the word Itself Easter. It la derived from the word East, and Eaat la one of the four . v cardinal po'nta. It ta alio the cardinal point which baa alwaya been moat Important In all religious At ,Eaitr Time Ea(r lllUa, daffodils. All th world their pirfum fills, Whll adown the dim aisles rlnafns Hallelujahs. Hark the alsclng, Eohoed In the far-off hills. - ' Walttna time Is o'er at last; Finished all the prayer and fasti Woodland aonaa are echolne. Woodland bowers beckoning; All the waiting time Is past Hall the clad, sweet Eaater Oar I ' Lifted la the veil of arar- ' fhFlat im rtaM In Ml klnrtfr ceremonies or ail races and creeds. This la Dees De-es use It la the part of the heavens where the sun la seen to rise the aun, brlnger of light and heat the vary giver of life Itself The most primitive Intelligence of the most primitive man recognised the fact that the aun and Ufa were Inseparably aaaoclated and it waa only natural that when be eame to worship tbo thing which waa greater than be, bo ahould turn to tbe East whence came that greater and higher thing which be recognised as being tbo life-giving power. So each day waa to him a cycle of a whole Ufa- " time. In the morning aa the aun came up, Ufa camo Into being. Aa tbo aun mounted in the heavena Ufa grew In Ita lusty youth and Increased , In power. At Ita aenlth, life, too, waa at Ita highest point As tbo sun declined, so Ufa declined into old age. Into weakness, until there came darkness, , the synonym for death. After a period of dark-' dark-' neaa, Ufa came again. There waa a resurrection . ' "and once more, the cycle of a life time compressed i r into 24 hour, there was life! ; And that, stripped of all the tradition, myth, legend, custom and social practice that ahas . attached Itself to Easter, la the aplrlt and the message of Easter, all concentrated In the one word "resurrection." So Easter baa a significance . that no other red-letter day on our calendars l as . and that algnlflcance la the algnlflcance of one of the fundamental and Inevitable facta of exlst-. exlst-. enco. It la conceivable that all other red-letter daya may be abolished from our calendara, that V the calendar Itself may be done away with. But, no matter what may happen, so long aa human life exists on this earth, the spirit of Easter will survive. When It ends, then ends all hope for mankind, all reason for mankind's struggle to exist . . If "resurrection"' la the the spirit and the mee-. mee-. aago of Easter, then the Inmost essence of that spirit can be summed up in the one word "lm-. "lm-. mortality." If man can find an answer to the old, old question that haa troubled him through the ' ages, the question "Does death end alir he can find It in the message of Easter. It Is reas-anranco reas-anranco that the struggle to live la worth while and that be foes not face a hopeless task. Even -, If be did not have tbe comfort of hla religion to help him arrive at that belief, he finds It In the -. mere fact of living. Each day, each year and each lifetime ho aeea the cycle repeated. ' The aun comes up In the morning and goes down Into dark-', dark-', neas at night But he knowa that It will come up again the next morning. Each 24 hours he oeo tbo miracle of resurrection. New life la manifest In the animal and vegetable klngdoma with each recurring aprlng. It rlpene In the heat of summertime and mellows Into maturity In the autumn, only to die in the cold of winter. But no knowa that life will begin against next spring. Each 12 months bt aeea the miracle of resume-. resume-. Boa. A baby la born, passea through childhood. grow Into youth, reaches man's estate snd then 'X declines Into old age. What If the darkness of .. doatb W only matter of a few years away Jle a seen the recurring miracle of resurrection . y 24 hours and every 12 montha. Why ahould i Afn, reasoning logically from this evidence of la aware ovary dny of hla Ufa, believe that the cycle of a lifetime includes a resurrection Just aa doea the dally cycle and the yearly cycle? He doea so believe and from that belief cornea hla belief in tile life everlasting. In Immortality. Perhaps it would ba more accurate to aay ha chooses to believe. For few men, if any, have over solved the riddle of life to their utter satisfaction. satis-faction. They constantly grope for tbo truth, seeking, seek-ing, alwaya aeeklng, the anawer to the unsolved problems of life. They have the never-ending longing in their hearts for everlasting life and they choose to believe, and take comfort from the belief, that they ahall have It Bo Whether bo bo primitive man or modern, .-civilized .-civilized man, Whether he be Christian or heathen, . the essential aplrlt of Easter, the message of . Eaater la the same It la a message of hope, a message of Joy and a promise and a fulfillment ' In one. That message Is delivered to man In many forma. It comes to him In the riot of bird songa which greet the sun on every morning In spring. It comes to him In the greenness of the grass, In ' the swelling buds on the trees, In the flowers -which push their way up through the earth when the warming touch of the aun la laid upon it. It cornea to him In the softness of the blue sky, In . tbe f!eccy clonds Homing above him and In the gentle curcaa of die bteezea that touch his face aa he goes forth to start each day's work. It comes to him, too, aa he watches young animal life about him lambs, calves and colts wabbling about unsteadily at first and then, as they gain strength, running around In those funny, awkward, awk-ward, stiff-legged little Jumps which are always so fascinating to watch. It cornea to him every minute of the day as Nature. In all her forms, criea out exultlngly "Spring has cornel Spring has cornel" Even If she did not tell him In those words, he would know it himself In the surge of new strength In his own body, In the quickening of his blood after Its winter sluggishness. As he hears the call of spring and the message of Easter be feels the do-sire do-sire to pass the message along. He passes It along In aa many waya aa It comes to htm In the buppy note In bis voice as he greets his friends. In the ' little snatches of song which he finds himself singing sing-ing and In the effort which he makes constantly to put that message Into words. One of those efforts takes the form of writing poetry. Even though the spring poet Is a subject for many of our stock Jokes, tbe fact remains that the urge to write poetry Is a part of man's effort to pass along tbe message of spring. For all aprlng poetry la fundamentally an effort to express the feeling of resurrected life. And Easter, which represents the crystallized aplrlt of spring, probably brings forth more attempts at poetic expression ex-pression and perhaps more real poetry than any other day on our calendar. Thought the theme of all the Easter poems may vary, through them all runs tbe thread of rejoicing, rejoic-ing, rejoicing In the return of new life to the fields and woods, rejoicing in tbo new hope that springs up in human hearts at the coming of the springtime and more especially at the thought that Easter meana the promise of life everlasting. These poeme Illustrate those Joyous thoughts: It la finished now, the. story; Clouds of gloom have roiled sway. Hallel'-jaht Joyous sound; " ' What was sought at last ta fonnd, - -Through the dim aisles hear It rlnglag. All through woodlands hear the slaglat, Echoing the world around. AAon. ' W . 1 ' Easter Day : Words cannot utter Christ Hla returning:' Mankind, keep JUlllee, Strip off your mourning, Crown you with garlance. Bet your lamps burning. - ' Speech Is left speechless: . Set )bu to singing. Fling your hearts open' wide, , ' Bet your hells ringing: " " Christ the Chief Reaper ' - Cornea, Hie sheaf brlnnlng. Earth wakei her eong-hlrda. Puts on her flowers, Leads out her lambkins. Builds up her bowers: This Is man's spousal day, Christ's day and ours. Christina RoaeettL r W Corpus Chritti Haate, flaming torches of advancing dawa, Unto the Tomb, confirm Its vacancy, That every eye In certain day can see It Is no dream of worn centurion. Nor any parable of Gentile lore. That Christ hath risen and goeth on before Hla very mourners Into Galilee, Passing mid lilies redolent with prayer-White prayer-White aa the wings wblch seraphim unfold In grace above their coronets of gold, . Or aa the robes triumphant aalats will wear-He wear-He blesseth by his presence In the way Each creature waking to eternal day; Sre this God's purposea were but half tola. His flesh wss rent apart on Calvary, Those veins which opened at the spear's mad three' Gave prlceleea blood unto the very dust: Tet not all hell could change the prophecy That not a bone of him should mortals break Nor worldly klnga from him hla portion take While high above earth's darkness reigned the Just And so, though torn by many a man-made creed The garments of eur faith still aee i to be. The Arm foundation of our hope Is He. Bmlaed,'but surviving every foe. the seed Sown by Hla Word In atanch and fertile ground Will bloom till all Its flowers of Lore abound: For what shall vanquish Immortality? Edna M tNrt |