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Speaker 1: The seekers the secret of life, the riddle of existence.

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Sought now as ever, the wieness of things attempts to

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answer the riddle. The seekers fantastic creeds and queer philosophies,

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revamping old ideas, the story of the man and the stars,

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the answer to be found within the soul. I laugh

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at the lore and the pride of man, at the

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softest schools and the learned clan, For what are they

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all in their high conceit? When man in the bush

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with God may meet Emerson. Man is trying to reason out,

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now as in the past, the secret of life, the

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riddle of existence. He seeks to know from whence he comes,

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whither he goes, and what is the object of his existence.

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He wants to know the whyness of things, what it

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all means. He is like the squirrel in the cage,

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which exhausts itself in traveling the long road of the wheel,

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only to find itself at the end of its journey

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just where it started, or worse still, like the newly

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caged wild bird. He dashes against the bars of his

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prison again and again in his efforts to regain his freedom,

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until at last he lies weak and bleeding A captive.

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Still it has ever been so. From the childhood of

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the race until the present time. Sages, seers, prophets, and

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philosophers have endeavored to reason out the problem, but their

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labors have availed nothing, and the riddle remains unanswered. Man

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has traveled over and over the circular road of thought,

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only to discover that it has no beginning, no ending.

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He thinks that he has explained things, but he has

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merely given them names. All the scientific research, all the

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theological and metaphysical speculation, has failed even to explain the

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sprouting of the mustard seed. Life and death is a

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mystery to the most brilliant man of this civilization, as

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it was to the ignorant creature of the Stone Age races. Nations,

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civilizations rise and fall, creeds are born, grow strong, weaken

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and die, but the secret remains a secret. Still. The

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present day seems to have reawakened the latent desire of

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man to see behind the veil. The pendulum which carried

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so many thinkers to the materialistic extreme, is beginning to

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swing in the opposite direction, and is causing a strange

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and wonderful revival of ancient creeds and philosophies. Those who

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have long since turned their backs upon the accepted creeds

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now find themselves in the company of those who still

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claim allegiance to the church, but who feel themselves cramped

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by the creeds fashioned for them by their fathers. The

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leader of the new thought, reaching the top of the

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mountain often finds himself face to face with a scientific

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savant who has reached the same place by climbing up

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the other side of the hill. And the scientist and

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the new thought man need not be surprised to find

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a leader of advanced religious thought claiming a foothold on

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the top of the same hill. But the trio, after

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they have congratulated themselves upon reaching the summit and ending

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their journey, look around them, and lo, their mountain is

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but a foothill, and far above them, towering higher and

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higher rise range after range of the real mountains, the

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highest peaks being hidden among the clouds. One has but

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to look around him to see how strenuous has grown

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the search for the answer to the riddle. New creeds, philosophies, cults,

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and schools confront us at every turn. The past has

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been ransacked for its discarded philosophies which have been renovated

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and trimmed anew for modern use. The dust has been

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brushed off many and old and almost forgotten creed, which

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is pushed to the front under a new name and

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with new trimmings. Plato is worked over time to furnish

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the twentieth century creed. Promoters with material to be done over.

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The wildest dreams of the ancients are toned down a

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little and boldly offered to the eager multitude as the

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long sought for solution of it. All priests and teachers

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of all the religions of all lands are among us,

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vying with the priests and priestesses of the new philosophies

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and creeds of our own land, and bidding for public favor.

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And these new home made philosophies, how frightfully and one

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are they made. The old philosophies of Greece and Rome

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are skillfully dovetailed with the creeds of the Orient, and

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the result is a thing differing from anything ever seen

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before by gods or men. Brahmins, Buddhists, Confucians, Mohammedans, and

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Sun worshipers claim thousands of followers in our land, and

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isis and Osiris will before long again be given a

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place and duly installed in the new pantheon. Thor and

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Odin will doubtless be revamped, and the rites of the

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Druids revived. We are looking every day for the arrival

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on our shores of the advance agent of the joss

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propaganda from the celestial Kingdom, and the home product is,

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if possible, more fantastic and bizarre than the imported article.

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The wildest claims and statements are made with an air

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of authority, and are accepted as gospel by the adherents

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of the several second One does not know whether to

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sigh or weep as he watches some of the modern

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prophets and prophetesses strutting their little stage and cutting fantastic

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capers before high Heaven, thus adding to the gaiety of

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the nations. The demand for these things has been created,

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and nothing seems too highly spiced for the devotees of

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the latter day creeds and the followers of those strange prophets.

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What of them? Many of them are mere excitement hunters,

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Others that class of people possessed of a consuming thirst

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for something new. Some are honest seekers for the truth,

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and others are those who have cut away from their

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old moorings and are drifting about rudderless and without an anchor,

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at the mercy of any stray current which may sweep

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them along. There are thousands of people who never heard

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of the philosophies and creeds of the ancients, who are

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now dazzled by the revamp doctrines expounded by the modern prophets,

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and who, being impressed with the strangeness and novelty of

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the to them new truths, accept them as inspired and

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emanating from the absolute. New gods have arisen, and also

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new devils. The malicious mental magnetism of the Christian scientists

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is as much a devil to them as was the

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Orthodox devil of one hundred years ago to our forefathers.

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The new cults usually begin by performing cures by means

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of the power of the mind and other natural laws,

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which they attribute to the principles and teachings of their

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particular sex. Many of them, now, however, frankly admit that

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they are past the healing stage, and look down upon

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the mere healing of disease as a thing too nearly

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allied to the detested material plane to be seriously considered.

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The time of the leaders is now principally occupied in

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announcing and elucidating wonderful, high spiritual truths for the seekers

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soaring away up in the clouds of transcendentalism, leaving their

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followers behind, gaping upwards like a crowd at a country

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balloon ascension. Once upon a time there was a reformer

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who attended a public meeting and took part in an

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exciting debate on an important question of the day. At last, heated,

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wearied and disgusted by the fruitless struggle, he left the

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hall and started for home. It was a beautiful, cold

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winter's night, and the heavens were studded with stars shining

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bright through the clear, frosty atmosphere. Pausing for a moment

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in his rapid walk, he glanced upward. The stars were

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twinkling away merrily. They did not seem to be at

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all disturbed by what had been going on in the meeting.

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They appeared just the same as when in years past,

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as a boy he had looked at them with wondering eyes.

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As he gazed, a peaceful calm came over him, and

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his worry, doubts, and fears seemed very petty. At last,

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one little star appeared to notice him, and he thought

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he could see it, cast a good natured glance downward,

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saying in a cheerful voice, why so hot, little man?

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When we feel cast down with doubt, torn with anxiety,

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weak from loss of faith, faint with fear, let us

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look aloft at the stars when we see those distant

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points of light, knowing them to be centers of solar systems,

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knowing that beyond, beyond and beyond are countless other suns

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and world. Let us pluck up a little courage and

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realize that we a are a part of a mighty law,

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a stupendous plan. Let us know that the power which

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called these things into life, and which is able to

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manage them and even greater things, has us in charge

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and will not allow us to be destroyed. Let us

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know that we are but in the kindergarten stage of existence,

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and that we shall go on and on and on

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from plain to plaine, ever onward and upward in the scale,

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until at last we shall be able to spell out

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the lines of the primmer of life and learn the

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multiplication table of the universe. Let Us, in the meanwhile,

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live on in trust and hope. One day at a time,

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living our own lives, doing our best work, getting the

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joy which comes from the simple human life, lending a

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helping hand. Let us abolish fear and hate and replace

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them with courage, confidence, and love. Let us look for

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good rather than evil. Let us know failure as merely

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a lesson in success. Let us look upon death as birth.

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Let us do the best we can with this world,

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knowing that the next world will find us prepared for

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its task. Let us know that we are in eternity

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right now. Let us know that God is not so

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far away as we have been taught. For is it

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not true that in Him we live and move and

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have our being. Let us preserve our sense of humor,

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for it will guard us against many a fear, many

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a folly, many a delusion. And finally, let us keep

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out of the throng which is rushing wildly hither and

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thither after leaders, prophets, sages, seers. Let us look within

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our self bells, and see the little flame which burns

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steadily there. Let us know that we have within us

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the light of the spirit, which naught can extinguish. And

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let us say, with good old Newman. Lead kindly light

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amid the encircling gloom. Lead thou me on. The night

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is dark and I am far from home. Lead thou

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me on, keep thou my feet. I do not ask

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to see the distant scene. One step enough for me.

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Lead thou me on.