DEATH 139

What is the difference between sleep and
death? The one is temporary, the cord is not
severed from the physical body in sleep; in
death, that cord is severed, but the place that
we go to in sleep and for a certain time, at any
rate, in death is the same. There is no new
feeling of separation at a natural death, for has
not death ever been called " the long sleep " ?
The sooner we rid ourselves of the awfulness of
death, the fear of death, the better shall we be
prepared when the change comes. It always
seems to be a pity to fear to talk of it in a
healthy, natural way, as we would talk of a
journey that we are certain to make, say, to the
other side of the globe. Children should be
brought up in the idea that birth and death are
natural processes as indeed we are shown daily
in nature by winter and summer, by spring and
autumn, and by sowing and harvesting, by light
and darkness and day and night, these are all
symbolical of life and death, birth and rebirth,
death and resurrection. We talk so much of
death and forget that resurrection, rebirth is
just as inevitable. I am reminded of the beauti-
ful service that took place in St. Paul's, London,
in memory of the members of the Royal Artillery
that passed over in the war. The bugle, " the
Last Post," was sounded in the west the place of