-

ever anxious and laboring for perfec- ways and shapes, which meet us at tion, shall the soul, convinced of the every turn? It is evident that all livdivinity of its work, halt and turn ing creatures, from the zoophyte upaside to fall into imperfection? Lying wards, plant, reptile, bird, animal, and thus upon the rug under the shadow of in his natural state-in his physical the oak and horsechestnut-tree, full of frame-man also, strive with all their the joy of life-full of the joy which powers to obtain as perfect an existall organisms feel in living alone - ence as possible. It is the one great lifting the eye far, far above the sphere law of their being, followed from birth even of the sun, shall we ever conceive to death. All the efforts of the plant the idea of murder, of violence, of are put forth to obtain more light, more aught that degrades ourselves? It is air, more moisture-in a word, more impossible while in this frame. So food, upon which to grow, expand, and thus reclining, and thus occupied, we become more beautiful and perfect. require no judge, no prison, no law, no The aim may be unconscious, but the punishment — and, farther, no army, result is evident. It is equally so with no monarch. At this moment, did the animal - its lowest appetites subneither of these institutions exist our serve the one grand object of its adconduct would be the same. Our vance. Whether it be eating, drinking, whole existence at this moment is per- sleeping, procreating, all tends to one meated with a reverent love, an inspi-end, a fuller development of the indiration a desire of a more perfect life;vidual, a higher condition of the if the very name of religion was ex- species; still farther, to the production tinct, our hopes, our wish would be the of new races capable of additional same. It is but a simple transition to progress. Part and parcel as we are of conclude that with more extended the great community of living beings, knowledge, with wider sympathies, indissolubly connected with them from with greater powers. powers more the lowest to the highest by a thouequal to the vague longings of their sand ties, it is impossible for us to minds, the human race would be as we escape from the operation of this law; are at this moment in the shadow of or if by the exertion of the will, and the chestnut-tree. No need of priest the resources of the intellect, it is and lawyer; no need of armies or partially suspended, then the individual kings. It is probable that with the may perhaps pass away unharmed, but progress of knowledge it will be pos- the race must suffer. It is rather the sible to satisfy the necessary wants of province of that inestimable gift, the existence much more easily than now, mind, to aid nature, to smooth away and thus to remove one great cause of the difficulties, to assist both the physdiscord. And all these thoughts be-ical and mental man to increase his cause the passing shadow of a rook powers and widen his influence. Such caused the eye to gaze upwards into the deep azure of the sky. There is no limit, no number to the thoughts which the study of nature may call forth, any more than there is a limit to the number of the rays of the sun.

efforts have been made from time to time, but unfortunately upon purely empirical principles, by arbitrary interference, without a long previous study of the delicate organization it was proposed to amend. If there is one thing This blade of grass grows as high as our latter-day students have demonit can, the nightingale there sings as strated beyond all reach of cavil, it is sweetly as it can, the goldfinches feed that both the physical and the mental to their full desire and lay down no man are, as it were, a mass of inherited arbitrary rules of life; the great sun structures-are built up of partially above pours out its heat and light in a absorbed rudimentary organs and primflood unrestrained. What is the mean-itive conceptions, much as the trunks ing of this hieroglyph, which is re- of certain trees are formed by the abpeated in a thousand thousand other sorption of the leaves. He is made up

of the past. This is a happy and an the past-of the soil, the earth that inspiriting discovery, insomuch as it has accumulated in centuries-it is to holds out a resplendent promise that advance its present growth. Root out there may yet come a man of the future at once and forever these primeval, made out of our present which will narrow, and contracted ideas; fix the then be the past. It is a discovery mind upon the sun of the present, and which calls upon us for new and larger prepare for the sun that must rise tomoral and physical exertion, which morrow. It is our duty to develop throws upon us wider and nobler duties, for upon us depends the future. At one blow this new light casts aside those melancholy convictions which, judging from the evil blood which seemed to stain each new generation alike, had elevated into a faith the depressing idea that man could not advance. It explains the causes of that stain, the reason of those imperfections, not necessary parts of the ideal man, but inherited from a lower order of life, and to be gradually expunged.

But this marvellous mystery of inheritance has brought with it a series of mental instincts, so to say; a whole circle of ideas of moral conceptions, in a sense belonging to the past ideas which were high and noble in the rudimentary being, which were beyond the capacity of the pure animal, but which are now in great part merely obstructions to advancement. Let these perish. We must seek for enlightenment and for progress, not in the dim failing traditions of a period but just removed from the time of the rudimentary or primeval man we must no longer allow the hoary age of such traditions to blind the eye and cause the knee to bend we must no longer stultify the mind by compelling it to receive as infallible what in the very nature of things must have been fallible to the highest degree. The very plants are wiser far. They seek the light of today, the heat of the sun which shines at this hour; they make no attempt to guide their life by the feeble reflection of rays which were extinguished ages ago. This slender blade of grass, beside the edge of our rug under the chestnut-tree, shoots upwards in the fresh air of to-day; its roots draw nourishment from the moisture of the dew which heaven deposited this morning. If it does make use of

both mind and body and soul to the
utmost; as it is the duty of this blade
of grass and this oak-tree to grow and
expand as far as their powers will ad-
mit. But the blade of grass and the
oak have this great disadvantage to
work against- they can only labor in
the lines laid down for them, and un-
consciously; while man can think,
foresee, and plan. The greatest ob-
stacle to progress is the lack now be-
ginning to be felt all over the world,
but more especially in the countries
most highly civilized, of a true ideal to
work up to. It is necessary that some
far-seeing master-mind, some giant
intellect, should arise, and sketch out
in bold, unmistakable outlines the
grand and noble future which the
human race should labor for. There
have been weak attempts - there are
contemptible makeshifts now on their
trial, especially in the new world - but
the whole of these, without exception,
are simply diluted reproductions of
systems long since worn out.
can only last a little while; if anything,
they are worse than the prejudices and
traditions which form the body of
wider-spread creeds. The world cries
out for an intellect which shall draw its
inspiration from the unvarying and
infallible laws regulating the universe;
which shall found its faith upon the
teaching of grass, of leaf, of bird, of
beast, of hoary rock, great ocean, star,
and sun; which shall afford full room
for the development of muscle, sense,
and above all of the wondrous brain;
and which without fettering the indi-
vidual shall secure the ultimate apothe-
osis of the race. No such system can
spring at once, complete, perfect in
detail, from any one mind. But assur-
edly when once a firm basis has been
laid down, when an outline has been
drawn, the converging efforts of a thou-

These

sand thousand thinkers will be brought | antiquity. Within that little body to bear upon it, and it will be elab- there are organs and structures which, orated into something approaching a rightly studied, will throw a light upon reliable guide. The faiths of the past, the mysteries hidden in our own of the ancient world, now extinct, or frames. It is a peculiarity of this feebly lingering on, were each inspired search that nothing is despicable; by one mind only. The faith of the nothing can be passed over-not so future, in strong contrast, will spring much as a fallen leaf, or a grain of from the researches of a thousand thou-sand. Literally everything bears sand thinkers, whose minds, once stamped upon it characters in the brought into a focus, will speedily burn hieratic, the sacred handwriting, not up all that is useless and worn out one word of which shall fall to the with a fierce heat, and evoke a new ground.

and brilliant light.

This converging Sitting indoors, with every modern thought is one of the greatest blessings luxury around, rich carpets, artistic of our day, made possible by the vastly furniture, pictures, statuary, food and extended means of communication, | drink brought from the uttermost ends and almost seems specially destined for of the earth, with the telegraph, the this very purpose. Thought increases printing-press, the railway at immewith the ages. At this moment there diate command, it is easy to say, are probably as many busy brains "What have I to do with all this? I studying, reflecting, collecting scattered am neither an animal nor a plant, aud truths, as there were thinkers-effec- the sun is nothing to me. This is my tual thinkers in all the recorded life which I have created; I am apart eighty centuries gone by. Daily and from the other inhabitants of the hourly the noble army swells its num- earth." But go to the window. See bers, and the sound of its mighty march grows louder; the inscribed roll of its victories fills the heart with exultation. There is a slight rustle among the bushes and the fern upon the mound. It is a rabbit who has peeped forth into the sunshine. His eye opens wide with wouder at the sight of us; his nostrils work nervously as he watches us narrowly. But in a little while the silence and stillness reassure him; he nibbles in a desultory way at the stray grasses on the mound, and finally ventures out into the meadow almost within reach of the hand. It is so easy to make the acquaintance to make The shadows of the oak and chestfriends with the children of Nature. nut-tree no longer shelter our rug; From the tiniest insect upwards they the beams of the noonday sun fall verare so ready to dwell in sympathy with tically on us; we will leave the spot us-only be tender, quiet, considerate, for a while. The nightingale and the in a word, gentlemanly, towards them goldfinches, the thrushes and blackand they will freely wander around. birds, are silent for a time in the sultry And they have all such marvellous heat. But they only wait for the eventales to tell intricate problems to ing to burst forth in one exquisite solve for us. This common wild rabbit chorus, praising this wondrous life and has an ancestry of almost unsearchable the beauties of the earth.

- there is but a thin, transparent sheet of brittle glass between the artificial man and the air, the light, the trees and grass. So between him and the other innumerable organisms which live and breathe there is but a thin, feeble crust of prejudice and social custom. Between him and those irresistible laws which keep the sun upon its course there is absolutely no bar whatever. Without air he cannot live. Nature cannot be escaped. Then face the facts, and having done so, there will speedily arise a calm pleasure beckoning onwards.

For EIGHT DOLLARS remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage.

Remittances should be made by bank draft or cheek, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks, and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & CO.

Single copies of the LIVING AGE, 18 cents.

Since in good sooth his negligence is And duns may clamor as they please.

And faithful shepherds still shall babble | And sea-birds wheel adown the breeze,