THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE 



But it fares with us as with a swimmer who 

 strives to reach a shore : it hes in the distance all 

 laughing and shining in the sun-light with its 

 white beach and beckoning blue hill slopes — 

 yet £is he comes close to it the breakers encom- 

 pass him from all sides, the waves rush in — he. 

 sees no more. So we sink suddenly into the 

 atmosphere of the earth, layer upon layer into 

 the thick vaporous mantle wliich like a warm 

 fleece blanket shuts out from the surface of the 

 earth the brilliant clearness of the stars and also 

 the terrible degrees of cold that eternally chill 

 the world space. It was this light-reflecting 

 vapor mantle that from a distance gave to our 

 planet the appearance of a splendid star flower. 

 Now we cut into a heavy cloud layer and for a 

 while see nothing at all until the damp veil van- 

 ishes and before our view at last lies what Co- 

 lumbus once day after day saw around him, even 

 to the horizon: the sea. I 



There it stretches itself. Night lies upon it, 

 for we have entered the side turned from the 

 sun. The mist veil is torn apart, — above us like 

 a vault lies the star dome. Yonder extends the 

 milky way — a perspective view into the winding 

 planes of the fixed star spiral. In our swift 

 fall we have lost our cosmic ship, the meteor 

 stone. It grazes the earth's atmosphere, glides 

 only through its upper lay. Yet this tenacious 

 medium, tough as pitch compared with the free 

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