And great explorer—could you but speak—
What would you say to a whole coast with pilgrims from all the world inquiring of thee?
What would you say, standing now at the mingling of two vast seas.
Looking west, west, west until west becomes east,
Looking east, east, east until east becomes west,
You could not declare consistently that this is for England, for Germany or America alone.
But inspired by the thought of the hour, we feel sure you would exclaim:
"I—the first to touch both the hemispheric waters—
Hear me, all nations, O hear me,
Claim the intermingling oceans for 'The Republic of The United Seas.'"
* * * * *
Yes a man can discover a sea and also cross a sea
And also chart a sea and even unite the seas,
And civilize and uplift all the people in the nations bordering and tributary to their shores.
Made in the image of God, a little lower than the angels.
He can gain full dominion over its wide flowing waters,
And on the pillars of courage build essential, earthwide democracy.
* * * * *
Strong men, this, then is the hour's decree!
Look upward in faith, move outward in service
From the harbor of the present to the wide-emancipating future that is to be.
A NEW INSPIRATION FOR LITERATURE
A new inspiration for literature is at hand. The times, with its mighty impetus for world movements, more than ever demands a class of literature that has at its heart the world consciousness. And the man that is to write the literature, it seems to me, must familiarize himself with three master-minds:
Walt Whitman, who chatted in terms of world democracy and whose spirit was as readily attuned to the earth as to the dew drop and flower.
Homer, the blind bard of Greece, the masterful interpreter of the power of the oceans, who talked about the seas as easily as the ordinary man converses about village events.
Christ, the child-like but universal minded Leader of the human race, who has quickened men to move toward the essential unity of the races and nations.