THE WATCHMAN ON THE TOWER
(JANUARY, 1907)
Watchman
! What seest thou in the New Dawn?
Far off, across the seas, I behold men pursuing men
and helpless women with dreadful massacre; borne on
the eastern wind I hear the horrible cries of the murdered
and bereft.
And what seest thou nearer, O Watchman of the Tower?
Nearer I see dark and cowering forms of crime and
frightened innocence, alike given pitilessly to the green
tree and the red flame.
And what else nearer dost thou see, O Seer of Evil Things?
I see smoldering fires and drift of black smoke where
all manner of shames have been burned in the marketplaces,
befouling the pure air of heaven.
And now, again, thou seest—?
I see scared creatures, in shape of men, fleeing from
the light, and hiding in clefts of rocks, and in far places
of the earth.
Look well, O Watchman, look near and wide, and tell us,
who wait, what other things thou dost behold!
I see the shining faces of little children from whose
backs heavy burdens have been lifted; I see rich men
eagerly scattering their wealth among those who need—
lifting up the stricken and restoring the power of self-help
to the sturdy, and striving to make less hard the lot
of them who work; I see those who labor winning an
ampler share in the profits of their toil—in wage, and
comfort, and safety, and time for rest; I behold Science
conquering the secrets and guiding the forces of nature,
and creating new and wondrous devices for human happiness
—working miracles in culture of the soil, and in
the cure of sickness; I behold Art going up and down
the land, making homes and cities more beautiful; I
behold Service honored above possessions; I see men as
brothers,—in times of calm and in days of monstrous
calamity,—stretching hands to one another over lands
and seas, and across the ancient barriers of race, and
religion, and condition; I see the hearts of men go out,
in new love and care and understanding, to the beasts of
the field and to the birds of the air; I hear the voices of
poets and prophets troubling the hearts and lifting up
the souls of all mankind; and in all these I see the mind
of the Son of Man, and the power of the Will Eternal.
O Seer of Good and Evil, what else, what else?
Near by I behold the Angel of a People, and in his
hand he bears a standard whereon is writ, in letters of
light, the one word Truth; higher he bears the standard
than ever before, and the people, in gathering numbers,
follow the Word.
And what of the evil things that late thou sawest?
Still I see them, and many more, but fainter are they
growing, as by some element of light consumed. Yet
doth one strange and greatly evil thing loom with menace
against the dawn—the shadow of false and self-seeking
men who seize the banner of righteousness and with
unclean hands uplift it, to the deceiving of many; and
yet even here, I know, it is the love of Right and not of
Wrong which doth mislead; and as the light increases,
surely the pure in heart shall know their own and shun
the deceiver of souls.
And what of the good that late thou sawest?
O still I see the good, and with clearer eyes; and, lo, it
doth appear that, in the light of the New Dawn, greater
and always greater grows the good, and nearer and always
nearer. For now, with the rising sun, a company of
angels in new flight lift their wings and come upon the
day, and one is the bright Angel of Freedom, and one the
strong Angel of Justice, and one is the undaunted Angel
of Peace, and one the Angel of Hope Everlasting. With
a great and wonderful burst of light they come, and with
loud music of instruments and many voices.
O Watcher of the Dawn! thou seest what is, but canst thou
see what yet shall be?
O ye who doubt! In the visible present lives the invisible
future, and the hour that is brings the hour that shall
be. If the Light grows, it shall not cease to grow; and the
good that is brings the good that is to come. As with
separate souls, so with peoples—the New Year, tho' it
holds inheritance of shame and loss, holds, also, inheritance
of striving, and accomplishment, and divine aspiration.
Lo, the Light is climbing, not only of a New Year,
but of a New Era for the awakening world.
