Show sr al 4 4 1 VO Z WY 25 A 4 3 ak q A R lk nn r 8 e 5 ay A A M IN U A 4 a 1 0 1 X 0 6 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ASTER Is almost herel what la Is the spirit of easter this red letter day on our calendar which we observe this year on oil march 31 11 has n R number of different symbols any ono one of which may remind us of that day for nil all of them are based upon the same fundamental principle to the christian world it lj 13 the anniversary of the resurrection of nf jesus but that does not mean that the essential spirit of easter means something to one part of humanity set oft from the remainder by ti it religious belief anti and that they have hac a monopoly upon the joys of the easter season for raster easter has a universal and the keynote of it lies in the idea of resurrection at the word itself easter it Is derived from the word east and east Is one of the four cardinal points it Is also alpo the cardinal point which lias has always been most important in all religious ceremonies of all races and creeds this Is because it la is the part of the heavens where the sun Is seen to rise the sun eun bringer of light and beat the very giver of life itself 1 the most primitive intelligence of the most primitive man recognized tile the fact that tile the sun find and life were inseparably associated socia ted and it was only natural that when he be came to worship the thing which was greater than he he should turn to the east whence came caine that greater and higher thing which he recognized recognised as aa being tile the life iffe giving power so each day was to him bin a cycle of a whole lifetime in the morning as the sun cun como camo up life came into being As the sun mounted in the heavens life mcw krew in its lusty youth and increased in power at its zenith life too WV waa at its highest point As the sun fuu declined so life declined into old age into weakness until thero there came darkness tile the synonym for death after a period of darkness life come came again there was a re resurrection 0 n and til once onca more the cycle of a lifetime life 1 feime t compressed into 24 hours there here was life I 1 and that stripped of all the tradition myth legend custom and social practice that has attached itself to easter Is the spirit or of easter all con cent rated in the one word resurrection so easter has a significance that no other red letter day on en our calendars has and that signi significance fleance Is the significance once of one of tile the fundamental and inevitable ducts of existence it la Is conceivable that all other red letter days may be abolished from our calendars vint that the calendar itself nay may be done away with but no matter what may happen so long its as human life exists on this earth the tha spirit of easter will ivill survive when it ends then ends all hope for mankind all reason for man kinds gle to exist if resurrection Is the spirit anti anil the message Ines sage of easter tien then the inmost essence of that spirit can be suin summed ined up in tile the one word immortality if man can find an answer to tha theold old old question that has troubled him film through the ages tile the question does doea death ond end all lie he can find it in the message of easter it Is reassurance that the struggle to live Is worth while and that lie he does not face a hopeless task even if lie he did not have tho the comfort of hla his religion to help him arrive nt at that belief lie ho finds it in the mere fact of living each F aeb day each emch year and each cadi lifetime he sees the cycle repeated the sun comes up in the morning and goes down into darkness at night but lie knows that it will come up again tile the next morning each 24 hours bours he sees the miracle of resurrection new life Is manifest tit in the animal and vegetable kingdoms with each recurring spring it ripens opens in the heat of summertime Dier time and mellows into maturity in n the autumn only to die in the CO cold d of winter but he knows that life 11 e will begin again next nest spring each 1 iab 11 12 months lie he sees the miracle of resurrection ur A baby Is born passes through childhood grows into youth reaches roans mails estate and then declines decline into old age what if the darkness of death Is only a matter of a few years away ile he has seen the recurring miracle of resurrection every 24 hours and every 12 months why should not man reasoning logically from this evidence of which he Is aware every day of his fits life believe that the cycle of a lifetime includes a resurrection just as boex the dally cycle and the yearly cycle ile he does docs so believe and from that relief ellef comes his fits belief in the life everlasting in immortality perhaps lt it would be more accurate to say eay he ho chooses to believe for few men if any have ever solved the riddle riddie dle of life to their utter satisfaction they constantly grope for the alie truth seeking always seeking the answer tu to the unsolved problems of life they have tile the never ending longing in their hearts for everlasting life find and they choose to believe and take comfort from the belief that they shall have it so whether he bo be primitive nian man or modern civilized man whether he bo be christian or heathen the essential spirit of easter the message of easter Is tile the same it Is a message ge of hope a message of joy find and a promise and a fulfillment in one thal thai message Is 13 delivered to man min in many forms it comes to him in tile riot hot of 0 bird songs which greet tho the sun or every moraln morningan morn ingin in spring it comps comes t to 0 him in the greenness of the hie 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 sun Is laid upon it it comes to him in the softness of the blue sky in the fleecy clouds floating above him and in tile the gentle caress caresa of the breezes that touch his face as he goes forth to start each day days work it comes to him too as hf he watches young animal life about him lambs calves and colts wobbling wab bling about unsteadily at first and then the n as they pain gain strength running around in those bunny funny awkward stiff legged little jumps which are always so ing to watch it cemes to him every minute of the day as nature in all her forms cries lut cut exultingly spring tins hns cornel comel 1 tins has comer comel even if slie she did not tell him in those words he would know it himself in the surge surge of n new ew strength in his own body in the of his blood after its winter slug sluggishness ashness Ish ness As he hears the call of spring find the message of 0 easter he feels the he desire to pass tho the message along lie ile passes it along in its as many ways as a it comes to him in the happy happi note in ills his yoke voice as hii he greets his fi lends friends in the little snatches of song which he finds ands himself singing and in the effort which he makes constantly to put that message into words so in addition to the visible tangible symbols of enster easter it also has its invisible intangible symbols you carl can not see or touch happiness but you know there Is such a tiling thing and faster Is tie one time in fil the year when that IR s inherent in fill all of us christmas of course Is also n time of happiness but our participation pa in 16 its joys la Is dependent upon others its joyt joye are the joys of giving find the joys ot of receiving the joy of baster Is r more personal intimate tiling thing idless of others we can caa know enow its acts for they lie ile within us they are the joys of livin gand tile the joys of knowing that life Is everlasting for that knowledge too Is the of 11 aster |