Natural science has shown that the transmission of light to our
globe is dependent on the luminous atmosphere surrounding the
sun; and that light existed originally independent of the sun,
and consisted of the undulations of a luminiferous ether. The
latest theory maintains that the body of the sun is simply an
irritant, having the property of setting the undulations of this
ether into motion, but wholly devoid of light in itself.
Such a luminous atmosphere is the environment of one’s life, and
capable of being made the means of constituting each man a luminary to
the world.
(1837)
* * * * *
Annie Winsor Allen is the author of this cheering verse:
Bringers of hope to men,
Bearers of light.
Eager and radiant,
Glad in the right,
’Tis from these souls aglow
Man learns his path to know.
They as they onward go
Bear on the light.
What tho they fight to lose,
Facing the night!
Morning will find them still
Seeking the height.
What tho this stress and strain
Makes all their hopes seem vain!
They through the bitter pain
Bear on the light.
Brothers of all that live,
They aid us all.
May our hearts, touched with fire,
Leap to their call!
Their voices, clear and strong,
Ring like a rallying song,
“Upward against the wrong!
Bear on the light!”
(1838)