THE FUTURE LIFE, OR LAND OF THE WEST.
No more touching or inspiring belief was there among the ancient Irish, than in the hope of another life beyond the grave Nature restored the dead forest of winter to the wealth of foliage in spring, why should not the breathless form of man once more find joy in life? But this happy thought, with our Islanders, was associated with two things--the sea-wave and the western sunset
The soul of the Maori, it was said, took its flight to the Reinga, the northernmost promontory of New Zealand, and, from the branch of an overhanging tree, dropped into the ocean in search of its subaqueous home The Irish, in like manner, knew that his next tenement would be beneath the flood
The dying Egyptian beheld with the eye of faith hi spirit following the setting sun The Irish looked forward to the West as the place to which his ethereal nature would take its flight The roar of the Atlantic was music to ears, for it was but the echo of the voices of his forefather and departed loved ones, in the western Land of the Blest.
Pindar sang--
"Where mortals easiest pass the careless hour,
No lingering winter there, nor snow, nor shower,
But ocean ever, to refresh mankind,
Breathes the cool spirit of the western wind."
p. 287
