PAGE EIGHT
'CREATION
By R. V. Vaughan
"1 sat upon the mountainside and
watched
A tiny barque that skimmed across tile
sea,
Drifting, like humanity upon
A world of hidden peril; then she
sailed
From out lily ken, and mingled with
the blue
Of skies unfathomed, while the great
round sun
Weakened towards the waves."
--Ch'ang Ch'ien.
.More than a thousand years have
passed into the dust of eternity since
this wise old man of China penned
these lines. Then, as now, we were
"Drifting, like humanity upon a world
of hidden peril."
In the days of peril, misery and un-
certainty, men turn from the material
things of life endeavoring to find sur-
cease from sorrow in spiritual attain-
ment. Then and only then is real
i)rogrcss ma(le in human advancement.
When we are divested of material
wealth and stand naked amid the ruins
of those material things that gave us
body comfort, we can inventory our
real progress from the primitive pas-
sions of brute creation.
A thousand mile journey begins with
a footstep. Let us r.etrace backwards
down the corridor of time to a far-off
land under tropic skies. A land where
the wide and silent river :met the ebb
and flow of tide and built a delta
green witih tropical verdure. Fish and
fowl, fruit and nuts and all that prim-.
Down the corridor of time we jour-
ney many a weary year. Men had
migrated to far and distant lands. The
awakened soul was ever urging them
to peer over distant hills, into forested
valleys where cataracts roared, across
the grass-carpeted plains where wild
game abounded. These men, who were
bolder than those that chose to remain
where the needs of life were few and
easily obtained, met with new and try-
ing conditions. To meet and master
these obstacles required of man a
more highly developed sotfl, for the
soul is in truth, the strength of char-
acter.
The battle "of life was being waged
in many lands by these widely separ-
ated tribes. Some battled the ele-
ments of nature-in northern climes and
devised shelters and clothing suitable
to their needs, -'while others in the
tropicsfottght disease and jungle
beasts.
Along the rim of the Grand Canyon
today you can see the laborious effort
put forth by some long gone primitive
tribe, which had migrated into this
very inhospitable land. They had
been cave dwellers in some distant
mountain. Here upon the plains, they
sought to protect themselves in a like
manner as in their mountain abode,
and so they toiled to carry and stand
,m end great slabs of stonewhich
served them well a~ a shelter.
Shelters having been provided in this
and other lands, the tribes now found
themselves faced with the problem ,)f
adequate food supplies for the months
when game and provisions were scarce.
man strange and beautiful reveries, a
hope of life beyond our worldly ken.
Around a fire at night one seems to
hear the forest vibrate with song, the
waterfalls from down the canyon seem
to express to us a something that stirs
rhe soul.
Time and lnan marched on. Travel
required of man that he exercise ever
more than before, his ability to over-
come obstacles, and man gave to us
the wheel. Nothing in nature was
copied. Man had reached out beyond,
into his power of imagination and had
created, not copied, the wheel. Think
of what a tremendous achievement
this was for you and me. Without it,
no power eouht be transmitted. No
travel be made in comfort. Try and
imagine yourself in a world without
the knowledge of the wheel and :ts
limitless uses. It cannot be done.
Instinct had given man food, shelter
and children. The awakened soul had
given man, through the medium of
imagination better slaelters, the con-
quest of fire, the wheel, defensive
weapons, food storage facilities and a
knowledge of medicinal herbs. In his
search for food n]an had discovered
quinine, rubber, cocaine and other
valuable plants.. Try again and im-
agine yourself in a world without rub-
ber; in a hospital without cocaine,
opium and quinine. Think of the dire
distress that would follow if all corn
and potatoes were suddenly to be
blighted off the world's table.
The soul of man was awakened.
Physical comfort and material weahh
were not the answer to that urge. Xfan
wanted to create. Only through cre-
ation could he truly express the beau-
ty of life as it budded within his soul.
Shelter and food having been ar-
r,mged for, man now sought more
physical comfort, and then he mas-
tered fire. The fire afforded comfort
and l)rotection and ar(mnd it gathered
men for e(?mpanionship. There is a
strange something.i awakened in the
breast of man as ~'he resets besid9 a
glowing fire oat under the starry skies.
There is a sense of sechrit~, a restful
solace that brings up ()lit 9.f the inner
i~flaid Chinese. vase of the Minv.s ?
These vases that required the untiring
labor c,f entire families~ for the period
of their lives. Who among us can
view the Satsumas and Kiotos from
Japan without a feeling of deep re-
spect.
In Arizona I have viewed the frag-
menls of pottery taken from the mid-
dens, the cliff dwellings, the mouults
arid the caves of tile ancient pe, q~lcs
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The awakened soul of man was I]1o- that housed the ashes of a loved one
tivated to the successful fulfilhnent of' in s,me land and time other than our
this need. own? Who can stand mute before an
age, potent, potable, pot-pourri, pot
herbs, pot-luck, pottering, pottle, po-
tential, poultice, pottingar, and many
other Irian and Anglo-Saxon words
used by us every day. It will inter-
est you, I am sure.
Along the corridor of time are
strewn the pots that mark the rise and
fall of nations. The thrones are dust
and the masters, ashes; the nations
forgotten. The silken robes, the paint-
ings that hung upon the marble wails,
the jeweled scepters, the bronze tab-
lets whereon were graved the valiant
deeds of knights--they are all gone.
Alone remaining amid the crumbling
walls are the fragments of pottery,
attesting the degree of spiritual and
intellectual attainment of these de-
parted people.
The history of a people can be de-
ciphered from its pottery. Their am-
bitions, intellectual achievements, their
spiritual development, their infinite
patience or lack of care, t'heir love of
beauty, their hope of immortality~all
are expressed in pottery. Here at last
man was a creator• Under his hand
the inert and plastic clay became a
thing of utility, of beauty, and a treas-
ured possession. Who among us can
stand unstirred before a funeral urn
there the oldest art of man was born.
A medium for the expression of beau-
ty wherein could be combined utility:
Pottery.
If you desire to fully realize the im-
port of this art upon our language,
turn to your dictionary and read
therein of pots, potters, pottery, pot-
of that land. Arranged in sequence it
portrayed better than words the hab-
its, religious beliefs and intelligence
of those people who gave us quinine,
chocolate, cotton, cocaine, potatoes,
rubber and tomatoes, just to mention
a few of their gifts to mankind
Who knows but that in some distant
century when we are no more and our
nation as we know it now, has been
long forgotten, t'hat some far-off ruler
who is yet unborn, may walk along
the hails of his burnished palace and
stop before some piece of pottery that
we are today fabricating here upon
this island. It is writte~ "The meek
shall inherit the earth". It is the Law.
My brother, let us create something of
beauty, so that future generations may
treasure it, respect our efforts and
stand before our 'labors in reverence.
-- : 0 : ~'-"
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AVALON, CALIFORNIA
Mail arrives from the mainland
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Outgoing mail closes at 3:00 P. M.
daily except Sunday.
The Postoffice is open daily except
Saturday afternoon and Sunday, from
8:00 A. M. to 5 P. M.
OSCAR F_2 BAILEY, Postmaster.
--- : 0 : -~----
For "Health" and Happiness all the
while--
Take a trip to Catalina Isle.
--Ilene D. Semper.
--~-- :0:--
Advertise for what you need in the
Catalina Islander. '
THE CATALINA NESD'
:1 MEASI
Catalina Island will give
"rest of your life"--in whicheV¢!'i 1~,, x
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'Phone 423
itive man needed for his existence \Vords he ha(t, but thev were as the
were here around him. The three ' ; •
wind across the deserts face, gone
basic instincts of man were easily ful- amt forgotten. Signs made upon rocks
filled; food, shelter and procreation were little better, for other tribes
of his kind. couhl not appreciate them or under-
There came a night. From out the staud. Pictures of a crude kind paint-
sea there came a storm. The flashing ed upon cavern walls were a source
of lightning and the roaring of thun- of delight to the owner, but could not
der disturbed the cahn. Man drew be takeu to other places when the
closer to brother man, as they always tribe migrated. Then one momentous
do in the hour of danger and man be- dav, in Some land, a soul seeking for
gan to think. Then the soul of man greater expression, modeled in plastic
was born. clay some simple trinket. Then and
