Facing East by William Love

The Rising Sun.

There is a singular fact which may be observed
in connection with sun-worship. It is this, that of
all the families and tribes of men who have in-
dulged in heliolatry no individual or nation has
ever worshiped the setting sun. Swarthy faces
have ever turned toward the east, 'and with long-
ing eyes have gladly greeted the rising sun as he
.appeared above the horizon, or hilltop, in Mexico,
Greece, Egypt, or Persia. Whether called Phoe-
bus, Apollo, Hyperion, Alexieacus, or Hercules,
no one has >ever turned his face westward or wor-
shiped the setting sun, which suggests declension,
deterioration, death. The rising sun is a god, or
the symbol of a god, in the ascent of life and power.
 

And all love to admire, to reverence, to adore the

rising light, the growing power, the increasing life.

While beholding the autumn leaf, the setting
sun, the old (man, there steals over our spirits a
sense of melancholy; the decaying leaf, the de-
scending sun, the dying man are all invested with
a tearful interest because they are being overcome.
Their presence lends a tincture of pathos to our
minds. ....