THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



death, throw dark shadows over all but our youthful 

 years. Of these sorrows many arise from the antici- 

 pation of trouble in advance, but which trouble may 

 never come. Yet this anxiety or fear for the future 

 is the needed guide through life the replacement of 

 instinct by reason. Our advance in intelligence often 

 brings to us griefs that in their ignorance our remote 

 ancestors never felt ; our reason, like Cassandra, proph- 

 esying evils, it is impotent to prevent. 



So far as the dread of death affects us, excepting 

 in those on the threshold only of adult life, it is the 

 fear of losing those we love, rather than fear for 

 ourselves. To the young man or maiden only now 

 grown up, rejoicing in health and strength, it is often 

 a horror to think even of their own death. They 

 cannot realize its possibility. To those later in life 

 its constant recurrence familiarizes the thought, and 

 it is calmly considered as the indefinite yet the inevit- 

 able, but even in sickness with little fear, and often 

 looked forward to as a release from sorrow and a 

 welcomed rest. The sudden approach, or the threat 

 of a violent death, calls forth, of course, instinctive 

 efforts to avoid it, but in other cases its coming is 

 usually borne with resignation and with fortitude. 

 But the overpowering sorrow that Death ever brings 

 is that of losing forever from our lives those we love; 

 it thrills us with dread. No grief can equal this ; all 



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