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Of the Passing of the First-Born

© Nichel Anderson

O sister, sister, thy first-begotten, The hands that cling and the feet that follow, The voice of the child's blood crying yet, Who hath remembered me? who hath forgotten? Thou hast forgotten, O summer swallow, But the world shall end when I forget. ~ Swinburne


"Unto you a child is born," is the the phrase that Du Bois starts off a passionate essay of the first born. In the essays that I have up to this point reviewed, Of the Passing of the First-Born, is unique and a short essay in showing humanity towards the birth of a child. The birth of new hope and promise for tommrow. Du Bois begins his essay with a delicate attempt to expose the blessings of the first born in a society that will test the child for strength.

"Wife and child? Wife and child? fled fast and fater than boat and steam-car, and yet must ever impatiently await them; away from the hard-voiced city, away from the flickering sea into my own Berkshire Hills that sit all sadly guarding the gates of Massachsetts...

Du Bois as usual doesnt stray from his intent in exposing the life choices that will be presented to the child. Du Bois examines the world in a county with set lines of definition and color. He shares his most intimate thoughts along with the comparison to the eys of a child -- in order to entertain the reader just how profound life is and life choices.

"All that day adn all that night there sat an awful gladness in my heart, nay, blame me not if I see the world thus darly thought the Viel, and my soul whispers ever to me saying; Not dead, not dead, but escaped, not bond, but free." No bitter meanness now shall sicken his baby heart till it die a living death, notaunt shall madden his happy boyhood. Fool that I was to think or wish that his little soul should grow chocked and deformed within the Veil!"

I concluded that the Veil relates to the temperment of the socialization of the county. Du Bois uses his determination to show the trials and tribulation that ones goes thru in day to day living. I did enjoy the way he opened up the subject to compare from a child new beginnings to what the child will endure once grown. The enduring experience, as Du Bois points out in The Passing of the First-Born, is to see birth and death as a coming of passing. A new way to view how life can at times be difficult but at the same token, a challenge that is rewarding.

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