SHIPS THAT PASS 



261 



ing off extinction and decay, ^^^lat matters 

 it that the individual is lost? What matter 

 that the sea adds here or destroys there? The 

 energy and purity and life of it still continue. 



And shall continue. The great waters should 

 be the last to go. That we do not stay to the 

 end, if there be an end, is of no great moment. 

 We have played our part and entered into the 

 fulness of being, struggling with the energy 

 within us, and enjoying the struggle. Nor is 

 our output scattered to the winds. The new 

 generations inherit and in them is the old life 

 continued. It should not be a sad thought that 

 when we, like ships, have passed on, the world 

 will last, that its beauty will always be renewed, 

 and that others will enjoy what we have known. 

 Eather should it be wished that the fabric 

 builded so perfectly, fashioned so wonderfully, 

 might endure forever; and that the newer eyes 

 as they open to the light might see still further 

 and more truly than our own. Each coming 

 man in vision counts himself beyond his father ; 

 but it may be the world that changes rather 

 than our eyes. In the time to come who can 

 say what finer garmenting shall clothe the hills, 

 what greater splendor shall adorn the sea ! 



Yet may the beauty that has been, continue ! 

 May ships sail on and eyes still follow them till 



The sea the 

 last to go. 



New eyr.i 

 openmsi to 

 the light. 



