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tion of a hundred deaths to maintain one hfe. How many hves of birds and beasts and fishes are taken to sustain the hfe of one human beino- from the cradle to the grave ? How many fishes does a whale consume during its lifetime; how many small fishes will one large fish eat; how many smaller fishes will a small fish eat; how many lives does it take to sustain the life of the tiniest insect the eye can distinguish ? Is then death so terrible, being so beneficial, so universal? For all that lives is dying; all that to-day is living, to-morrow is dead; all that is living is dying, ergo, living is not living but dying, and there is no such thing as life, all nature being either dead or dying.
The dead willow is the symbol of decay and death in Japan; in California if such a symbol was required we would tctke a dram-shop. In ancient times it was the arrow of Apollo that brought sudden death; in California when a man drops dead upon the street, or otherwise' is taken off suddenly, we call it heart disease, apoplexy, the result of high living, usually, though not always, meaning—rum. And men are called fools for drinking themselves to death, when we have just seen death is essential to life, is inevitable to all, does not make a pin's difference whether it comes to-day or to-morrow—particularly to-morrow.
Whether we like the idea of death or dislike it, it is not wise greatly to trouble ourselves about it, as we cannot long delay it by any such means. As in the question of life or no life beyond the grave, as it never has been determined, as no one that we know of has ever come back from beyond the grave to tell us, we might as well cease thinking about it, and wait for more light—this beino; what we must do whether we will or not. Those who through some seventh sense, that not every one possesses, have been told to their satisfaction, and can themselves tell to the satisfaction of a hundred houses full, what life and death are, and what the state of affairs beyond, should rest contented; even if, after expecting a future existence,
