﻿214 
  ANNUAL 
  EEPORT 
  SMTTHSOjSTIAN" 
  INSTITUTION", 
  19 
  2 
  9 
  

  

  thing 
  of 
  a 
  higher 
  order, 
  transcending 
  itself, 
  as 
  it 
  once 
  transcended 
  

   nonhving 
  matter. 
  And 
  that 
  this 
  new 
  thing 
  has 
  elected 
  to 
  make 
  its 
  

   appearance 
  in 
  and 
  through 
  us, 
  the 
  highest 
  of 
  Nature's 
  children, 
  what 
  

   is 
  more 
  reasonable? 
  Do 
  men 
  gather 
  figs 
  of 
  thistles? 
  

  

  But 
  here 
  the 
  vitalist 
  takes 
  his 
  last 
  stand. 
  "I 
  know," 
  says 
  he, 
  

   "that 
  past 
  history 
  points 
  your 
  way; 
  that 
  one 
  step 
  after 
  another, 
  I 
  

   have 
  been 
  forced 
  to 
  give 
  ground. 
  I, 
  who 
  once 
  held 
  that 
  no 
  one 
  but 
  

   God 
  could 
  make 
  an 
  organic 
  compound, 
  have 
  lived 
  to 
  see 
  it 
  done 
  by 
  

   high-school 
  students. 
  You 
  mechanists, 
  on 
  the 
  other 
  hand, 
  have 
  

   pressed 
  steadily 
  forward. 
  But 
  beware 
  lest, 
  flushed 
  with 
  success 
  and 
  

   intoxicated 
  with 
  power, 
  you 
  attempt 
  too 
  much 
  and 
  achieve 
  your 
  own 
  

   downfall. 
  What 
  you 
  tell 
  me 
  now 
  goes 
  beyond 
  all 
  bounds 
  of 
  credence. 
  

   Am 
  I 
  to 
  understand 
  that 
  all 
  that 
  makes 
  a 
  man, 
  his 
  ethics, 
  his 
  poetry, 
  

   his 
  music, 
  his 
  aspirations, 
  his 
  ideals, 
  are 
  from 
  within? 
  Are 
  these, 
  too, 
  

   of 
  the 
  earth, 
  earthy? 
  Never! 
  These, 
  at 
  last, 
  must 
  come 
  from 
  with- 
  

   out. 
  Can 
  ideals 
  rise 
  higher 
  than 
  their 
  source?" 
  

  

  Of 
  the 
  earth, 
  earthy 
  ! 
  But 
  why 
  should 
  there 
  be 
  anything 
  mean 
  or 
  

   unworthy 
  about 
  that 
  which 
  comes 
  from 
  within 
  rather 
  than 
  from 
  

   without? 
  Is 
  the 
  macrocosm 
  essentially 
  nobler 
  than 
  the 
  microcosm? 
  

  

  True, 
  tradition 
  rims 
  that 
  way. 
  Man 
  at 
  different 
  times 
  has 
  set 
  his 
  

   gods 
  in 
  the 
  most 
  inaccessible 
  places, 
  on 
  the 
  summit 
  of 
  Mount 
  Olympus, 
  

   or 
  across 
  the 
  rainbow 
  bridge 
  in 
  Asgard; 
  but 
  the 
  greatest 
  idealist 
  that 
  

   our 
  race 
  has 
  produced 
  broke 
  with 
  this 
  tradition 
  when 
  he 
  said: 
  "The 
  

   kingdom 
  of 
  God 
  is 
  within 
  you." 
  

  

  And 
  perhaps 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  true 
  that 
  ideals 
  can 
  rise 
  higher 
  than 
  their 
  

   apparent 
  source. 
  Just 
  as 
  every 
  great 
  genius 
  had 
  parents 
  of 
  less 
  than 
  

   his 
  own 
  ability, 
  who 
  yet 
  in 
  some 
  mysterious 
  way 
  endowed 
  him 
  with 
  

   more 
  than 
  they 
  themselves 
  possessed, 
  so 
  Nature 
  has 
  produced 
  within 
  

   us 
  something 
  without 
  precedent 
  in 
  the 
  hfe 
  history 
  of 
  the 
  earth. 
  And 
  

   as 
  a 
  parent 
  watches 
  with 
  pride 
  a 
  child 
  who 
  gives 
  early 
  promise 
  of 
  

   outdistancing 
  his 
  elders, 
  so 
  Mother 
  Nature 
  may 
  be 
  watching 
  us. 
  

  

  What 
  is 
  this 
  new 
  thing 
  which 
  Nature 
  has 
  brought 
  forth, 
  and 
  with 
  

   the 
  development 
  of 
  which 
  we 
  have 
  been 
  intrusted? 
  No 
  man 
  can 
  say, 
  

   but 
  it 
  is 
  a 
  fau- 
  inference 
  that 
  it 
  will 
  go 
  far. 
  Life 
  has 
  gone 
  far 
  from 
  a 
  

   tiny 
  speck 
  of 
  protoplasm; 
  who 
  knows 
  to 
  what 
  lengths 
  this 
  new 
  thing, 
  

   this 
  mind, 
  this 
  soul, 
  if 
  you 
  will, 
  may 
  carry 
  us? 
  For 
  it 
  doth 
  not 
  yet 
  

   appear 
  what 
  we 
  shall 
  be. 
  

  

  