The flower does not live for itself. Beautiful, fragrant-making,
the tree an incense-holder, hang the apple-blossoms for a day;
to-morrow they have let go their hold upon the tree and are
scattered over the ground in order that the fruit may grow. The
fruit guards the seed until it is mature, then the fruit goes
to decay that the seed may be released; the seed gives up its
life that a new tree may come. What a glorious parable is this:
life for life, the old dying for the new; every tree in the
orchard, every grain-stalk in the corn-field, every dusty weed
by the roadside living for others and ready to die for others.
The doctrine of unselfish love and of sacrifice comes to us
fragrant with the odor of ten thousand blossoms and rich with
the yellow fruitage of ten thousand harvests. Self-preservation
is no longer the first law of nature. The first law seems to
be preparation for that which is coming next.--JOHN K.
WILLEY.
(74)