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Parables From Nature Part 1 - Margaret Gatty · Children’s Stories Library

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  Speaker 1: Are you looking for a heartwarming and educational audiobook experience
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  Speaker 1: for you or your family, Look no further than Margaret
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  Speaker 1: Gaddy's Parables from Nature. This charming collection of stories and
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  Speaker 1: parables offers valuable lessons about the natural world and the
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  Speaker 1: importance of kindness and respect for all living things. With
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  Speaker 1: its engaging storytelling and beautiful illustrations, Parables from Nature is
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  Speaker 1: a must listen for children and adults alike. Don't miss
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  Speaker 1: out on this chance to learn and be inspired. Start
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  Speaker 1: listening to Parables from Nature today. Go to Solgod dot
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  Speaker 1: org to listen to Parables from Nature, and while you're there,
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  Speaker 1: check out hundreds of other audiobooks in ten hour sounds
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  Speaker 1: that's sol Good dot rg and search Parables from Nature.
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  Speaker 2: Preface. There are two books, say said Thomas Brown, and
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  Speaker 2: his Religio medici from whence Psycho Collects My Divinity, besides
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  Speaker 2: that written one of God's another of his servants, Nature,
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  Speaker 2: that universe and public manuscript that lies expanded unto the
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  Speaker 2: eyes of all those that never saw him in the one,
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  Speaker 2: have discovered him in the other. And afterwards, as if
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  Speaker 2: giving a particular direction to the above general statement, he
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  Speaker 2: adds those strange and mystical transmigrations that I have observed
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  Speaker 2: in silk worms turned my philosophy into divinity. There is
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  Speaker 2: in these works of nature which seem to puzzle reason,
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  Speaker 2: something divine, and hath more in it than the eye
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  Speaker 2: of the common spectator doth discover. Surely, these two passages
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  Speaker 2: from the works of the celebrated physician and philosopher may
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  Speaker 2: justify an effort to gather moral lessons from some of
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  Speaker 2: the wonderful facts in God's creation. The more especially as
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  Speaker 2: Saint Paul himself led the way to such a mode
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  Speaker 2: of instruction in arguing the possibility of the resurrection of
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  Speaker 2: the body from the resurrection of vegetable life out of
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  Speaker 2: a decayed seed. Thoufore, that which thou sowest does not
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  Speaker 2: quickened except it to die. Therefore full not to be
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  Speaker 2: able in thy disputations wisdom to read that book of
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  Speaker 2: God's servant nature, out of which there are indeed far
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  Speaker 2: more actual lessons of analogy to be learned than we
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  Speaker 2: are apt to suppose or can at once detect. Assuredly,
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  Speaker 2: the changes of the silkworm and the renewal of life
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  Speaker 2: from vegetable seeds are not more remarkable than the soaring
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  Speaker 2: butterfly rising from the earthqub, a change which worked the caterpillar,
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  Speaker 2: a reasonable being capable of contemplating its own existence, it
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  Speaker 2: would reject as an impossible fiction. It was not, however,
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  Speaker 2: Sir Thomas Brown's remarks which gave rise to these parables.
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  Speaker 2: For the verst was written in an outburst of excessive
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  Speaker 2: admiration of Hans Andersen's fairy tales, coupled with a regret that,
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  Speaker 2: although he had in several cases shown his power of
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  Speaker 2: drawing admirable morals from his exquisite peeps into nature, he
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  Speaker 2: had so often left his charming stories without an object
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  Speaker 2: or moral at all. Surely was the thought that he
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  Speaker 2: either is or maybe devised a moral in many more
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  Speaker 2: of the incidents of nature than hans Andersen had tried for,
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  Speaker 2: And on this view, the Lesson of Faith was written.
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  Speaker 2: An old story for the ancients with deep meaning, made
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  Speaker 2: the butterfly an emblem of immortality, Yet to familiarize the
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  Speaker 2: young with so beautiful an idea seem no unworthy aim.
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  Speaker 2: The sedge warbler is open to the naturalist's subjection that
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  Speaker 2: female birds do not sing, but it suited the moralists
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  Speaker 2: that they should do so in this particular case, and
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  Speaker 2: who would not her in such company as Spencer, Milton, Thompson,
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  Speaker 2: Beattie and he immortal eyes of Qualton, And in the
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  Speaker 2: violet embroidered veil, where the lovelorn nightingale nightly to thee
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  Speaker 2: her sad song mourneth well, song of commerce, Milton and Philamine,
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  Speaker 2: her song with tears do steep the shepherd's calendar November Spencer.
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  Speaker 2: But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathe such sweet,
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  Speaker 2: loud music out of her instrumental throat that it might
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  Speaker 2: make mankind to think that miracles had not ceased. Walton's Angler,
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  Speaker 2: all abandoned to despair, she sings her sorrows through the night,
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  Speaker 2: and on the bow soul, sitting still at every dying fall,
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  Speaker 2: takes up again her lamentable strain Thompson's seasons Spring and
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  Speaker 2: shrill Lark carroll clear from her aerial tour. B T's Minstrel.
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  Speaker 2: An interesting account of the first discovery of the sedge warbler,
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  Speaker 2: of its habit of singing by night as well as
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  Speaker 2: by day, of its mocking notes, and of its distinctive
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  Speaker 2: differences from the reed warbler, may be found in White's
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  Speaker 2: History of Selborne. Nothing but the present growing taste for
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  Speaker 2: the use of microscope and the study of zoophytes, among
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  Speaker 2: other minute wonders of sea, earth, and sky, could justify
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  Speaker 2: the selection of so little popular a subjects for a
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  Speaker 2: parable as will be found in a knowledge not the
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  Speaker 2: limits of belief. The moon that shone in Paradise was
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  Speaker 2: the exclamation of a very melancholy mind which failed to
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  Speaker 2: recognize in the thought the hope it was calculated to convey,
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  Speaker 2: and which it has now been attempted to teach. Made
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  Speaker 2: the lesson of faith and a lesson of hope, each
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  Speaker 2: work it's appointed end, And may they combine to enforce
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  Speaker 2: on minds of youth the value of that still more
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  Speaker 2: excellent gift of charity, which hopeth all things, believeth, all things,
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  Speaker 2: endureth all things. End of preface Parables from Nature by
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  Speaker 2: Missus Alfred Gatty. A Lesson of faith. If a man die,
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  Speaker 2: shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time?
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  Speaker 2: Will I wait till my change come? Job fourteen Verse fourteen.
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  Speaker 2: Let me hire you as a nurse for my poor children,
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  Speaker 2: said a butterfly to the quiet caterpillar who was strolling
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  Speaker 2: along a cabbage leaf in her odd lumbering way. See
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  Speaker 2: these little eggs, continued the butterfly. I don't know how
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  Speaker 2: long it will be before they come to life, And
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  Speaker 2: I feel very sick and poorly. And if I should die?
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  Speaker 2: Who would take care of my baby butterflies when I
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  Speaker 2: am gone? Will you kind, mild green caterpillar. But you
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  Speaker 2: must mind what you give them to eat, caterpillar, They cannot,
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  Speaker 2: of course live on your rough food. You must give
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  Speaker 2: them early dew and honey from the flowers. And you
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  Speaker 2: must let them fly about only a little way at first,
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  Speaker 2: for of course one cannot expect them to use their
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  Speaker 2: wings properly all at once. Dear me, it is a
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  Speaker 2: sad pity you cannot fly yourself. But I have no
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  Speaker 2: time to look for another nurse now, so you will
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  Speaker 2: do your best, I hope, Dear dear, I cannot think
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  Speaker 2: what made me come and lay my eggs on a
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  Speaker 2: cabbage leaf. What a place for young butterflies to be
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  Speaker 2: borne upon. Still you will be kind, will you not?
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  Speaker 2: To the poor little ones?
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  Speaker 3: Here?
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  Speaker 2: Take this gold from my wings as a reward. Oh,
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  Speaker 2: how dizzy I am. Caterpillar. You will remember about the
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  Speaker 2: food and With those words, the butterfly closed her eyes
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  Speaker 2: and died, and the green caterpillar, who had not had
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity of even saying yes or no to the request,
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  Speaker 2: was left standing alone by the side of the butterfly's eggs.
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  Speaker 2: A pretty nurse she has chosen, indeed, poor lady, exclaimed
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  Speaker 2: she and a pretty business I have in hands. Why
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  Speaker 2: her senses must have left her, or she would never
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  Speaker 2: have asked a poor crawling creature like me to bring
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  Speaker 2: up her dainty little ones much. They'll mind me, truly
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  Speaker 2: when they feel the gay wings on their backs, and
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  Speaker 2: can fly away out of my sight whenever they choose. Ah,
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  Speaker 2: how silly some people are, in spite of their painted
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  Speaker 2: clothes and the gold dust on their wings. However, the
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  Speaker 2: poor butterfly was dead, and there lay the eggs on
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  Speaker 2: the cabbage leaf, and the green caterpillar had a kind heart,
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  Speaker 2: so she resolved to do her best. But she got
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  Speaker 2: no sleep that night. She was so very anxious. She
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  Speaker 2: made her back quite ache with walking all night long
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  Speaker 2: round her little charges for fear any harm should happen
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  Speaker 2: to them. And in the morning, says she to herself,
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  Speaker 2: two heads are better than one. I will consult some
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  Speaker 2: wise animal upon the matter and get advice. How should
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  Speaker 2: a poor crawling creature like me know what to do
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  Speaker 2: without asking my best is? But still there was difficulty.
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  Speaker 2: Whom should the caterpillar consolet There was the shaggy dog
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  Speaker 2: who sometimes came into the garden, but he was so
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  Speaker 2: rough he would most likely whisk all the eggs off
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  Speaker 2: the cabbage leaf with one brush of his tail if
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  Speaker 2: she called him, their were at all, and then she
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  Speaker 2: should never forgive herself. Then there was a tom cat,
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  Speaker 2: to be sure, who would sometimes sit at the foot
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  Speaker 2: of the apple tree, basking himself and warming his fair
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  Speaker 2: in the sunshine. But he was so selfish and indifferent
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  Speaker 2: there was no hope of his giving himself trouble to
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  Speaker 2: think about the butterfly's eggs. I wonder, which is the
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  Speaker 2: wisest of all the animals I know? Sighed the caterpillar
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  Speaker 2: in great distress. And then she thoughts and thoughts, till
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  Speaker 2: at last she thought of the lark. And she fancied
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  Speaker 2: that because he went up so high and nobody knew
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  Speaker 2: where he went to, he must be very clever and
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  Speaker 2: know a great deal for to go up very high,
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  Speaker 2: which she could never do was the caterpillar's idea of
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  Speaker 2: perfect glory. Now in the neighboring cornfield they lived a lark,
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  Speaker 2: and the caterpillar sent a message to him to beg
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  Speaker 2: him to come and talk to her. And when he came,
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  Speaker 2: she told him all her difficulties, and asked him what
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  Speaker 2: was she to do to feed and rear the little
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  Speaker 2: creatures so different from herself. Perhaps you will be able
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  Speaker 2: to inquire and hear something about it next time you
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  Speaker 2: go up, I observed the caspillar. Timidly, the lark said
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  Speaker 2: perhaps he should, and he did not satisfy her curiosity
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  Speaker 2: any further. Soon afterwards, however, he went singing upwards into
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  Speaker 2: the bright blue sky. By degrees. His voice died away
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  Speaker 2: in the distance till a green caterpillar could not hear
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  Speaker 2: a sound. It is nothing to say she could not
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  Speaker 2: see him, for poor things. She never could see far
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  Speaker 2: at any time, and to have difficulty in looking upwards
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  Speaker 2: at all, even when she reared herself up most carefully,
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  Speaker 2: which she did now, But it was of no use.
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  Speaker 2: So she dropped up on her legs again and resumed
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  Speaker 2: her walk around a butt ofly's eggs, nibbling a bit
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  Speaker 2: of the cabbage leaf now and nan as she moved along.
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  Speaker 2: What a time the lark has been gone, she cried
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  Speaker 2: at last, I wonder where he is just now. I
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  Speaker 2: would give all my legs to know. He must have
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  Speaker 2: flown up higher than usual this time. I do think
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  Speaker 2: how I should like to know where it is that
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  Speaker 2: he goes to and what he hears in that curious
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  Speaker 2: blue sky. He always sings in going up and coming down,
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  Speaker 2: but he never let any secret house. He is very
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  Speaker 2: very close. And the green caterpillar took another turn around
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  Speaker 2: a butt ofly's eggs. At last, the lark's voice began
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  Speaker 2: to be hers again. The caterpillar almost jumped for joy,
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  Speaker 2: and it was not long before she saw her friends
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  Speaker 2: descend with hushed notes of the cabbage bed. New news,
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  Speaker 2: glorious news, friend, caterpillar sang the laugh. But the worst
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  Speaker 2: of it is you won't believe me. I believe everything
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  Speaker 2: I am told, observed the caterpillar hastily. Well, then, first
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  Speaker 2: of all, I will tell you what these little creatures
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  Speaker 2: are to eat. And the lark nodded his beak towards
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  Speaker 2: the eggs. What do you think it is to be? Guess,
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  Speaker 2: dew and the honey out of flowers, I'm afraid, sighed
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  Speaker 2: the caterpillar. No such thing, old lady. Something simpler than that,
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  Speaker 2: something that you can get a quite easily. I can
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  Speaker 2: guess at nothing quite easily. But cabbage leaves, murmured the
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  Speaker 2: caterpillar in distress. Excellence, my good friends, cried the lark, exultingly.
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  Speaker 2: You have found this out. You are to feed them
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  Speaker 2: with cabbage leaves, never said the caterpillar. Indignantly. It was
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  Speaker 2: said mother's last request, that I should do no such thing.
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  Speaker 2: They're dying. Mother knew nothing about the matter, persisted the lah.
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  Speaker 2: But why do you ask me and then disbelieve what
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  Speaker 2: I say? You have neither faith nor trust. Oh, I
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  Speaker 2: believe everything I am told, said the caterpillar. Nay, but
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  Speaker 2: you do not ask, replied the lah. You won't believe
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  Speaker 2: me even about the foods. And yet that is but
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  Speaker 2: the beginning of what I have to tell you. Why, caterpillar,
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  Speaker 2: what do you think those eggs will turn out to
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  Speaker 2: be butterflies? To be sure? Said the caterpillar. Caterpillars, sang
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  Speaker 2: the laugh, and you will find it out in time.
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  Speaker 2: And the lark flew away, for he did not want
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  Speaker 2: to stay and contest the point with his friends. I
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  Speaker 2: thought the lark had been wise and kind, observed the
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  Speaker 2: mild green caterpillar once more beginning to walk around the eggs.
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  Speaker 2: But I find that he is foolish and saucy instead.
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  Speaker 2: Perhaps he went up too high this time. Ah, it's
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  Speaker 2: is a pity when people who saw so high are
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  Speaker 2: silly and rude. Nevertheless, dear, I still wonder whom he
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  Speaker 2: sees and what he does up yonder. I will tell
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  Speaker 2: you if you would believe me, sang the lark, descending
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  Speaker 2: once more. I believe everything I am told, reiterated the
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  Speaker 2: caterpillar with a graver's face, as if it was fact.
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  Speaker 2: Then I'll tell you something else, cried the lark. For
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  Speaker 2: the best of my news remains behind you. One day
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  Speaker 2: will be a butterfly yourself. Wretched birds, exclaimed the caspillar.
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  Speaker 2: You jest with my inferiority. Now you are a cruel
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  Speaker 2: as well as foolish. Go away, I will ask your advice.
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  Speaker 2: No more. I told you you would not believe me,
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  Speaker 2: cried the lark, nettled in his turn. I believe everything
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  Speaker 2: I'm told, persisted the caterpillar, that is, and she hesitated
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  Speaker 2: everything that it is reasonable to believe, but to tell
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  Speaker 2: me that butterfli's eggs are caterpillars, and that caterpillars leave
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  Speaker 2: off crawling and get wings and become butterflies, Lak, you
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  Speaker 2: are too wise to believe such a nonsense yourself, for
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  Speaker 2: you know it is impossible. I know no such things,
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  Speaker 2: said the lark warmly. Whether I hover over the cornfields
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  Speaker 2: of earth or go up into the depths of the sky,
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  Speaker 2: I see so many wonderful things. I know no reason
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  Speaker 2: why there should not be more. Oh, caterpillar, it is
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  Speaker 2: because you crawl, because you never get beyond your cabbage leaf,
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  Speaker 2: that you call anything impossible nonsense. Shouted to caterpillar, I
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  Speaker 2: know what's possible and what's not possible, according to my
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  Speaker 2: experience and capacity, as well as you do. Look at
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  Speaker 2: my long green body and these endless legs, and then
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  Speaker 2: talk to me about having wings and a painted fairy coat.
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  Speaker 2: Fool and fool you, you would be wise, caterpillar, cried
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  Speaker 2: the indignant laugh full to attempt to reason about what
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  Speaker 2: you cannot understand. Do not hear how my song swells
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  Speaker 2: with rejoicing as I saw upwards to the mysterious wonder
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  Speaker 2: world above, Oh caterpillar, what comes to you from thence?
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  Speaker 2: Receive as I do upon trust. That is what you
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  Speaker 2: call faith. Interrupted, de lah, how am I to learn faith?
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  Speaker 2: Asked the caterpillar. At that moment, she felt something at
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  Speaker 2: her side. She looked around. Eight or ten little green
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  Speaker 2: caterpillars were moving about and had already made a show
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  Speaker 2: with a hole in the cabbage leaf they had broken
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  Speaker 2: from the Butterfli's eggs. Shame and amazement filled our green
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  Speaker 2: friend's heart, But joy soon follows, for as the first
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  Speaker 2: wonder as possible, the second might be so too. Teach
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  Speaker 2: me your lesson, lark, she would say. And the lark
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  Speaker 2: sang to her of the wonders of the earth below
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  Speaker 2: and of the heaven above. And the caterpillar talked all
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  Speaker 2: the rest of her life to her relations of the
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  Speaker 2: time when she should be a butterfly, but none of
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  Speaker 2: them believed her. She nevertheless had learnt the lark's lesson
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  Speaker 2: of faith, And when she was going into a chrystalist grave,
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  Speaker 2: she said, I shall be a butterfly someday. But her
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  Speaker 2: relations thought her head was wandering, and they said, poor thing.
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  Speaker 2: And when she was a butterfly and was going to
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  Speaker 2: die again. She said, I have known many wonders. I
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  Speaker 2: have faith I can trust even now for what she'll
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  Speaker 2: come next. End of Section one The Law of Authority
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: and Obedience? Who made the ruler and a judge over
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: us Acts? Seven twenty seven. A fine, young working bee
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  Speaker 2: left his hive one lovely summer's morning to gather honey
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  Speaker 2: from the flowers. The sun shone so brightly, and the
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  Speaker 2: air felt so warm, that he flew a long, long
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  Speaker 2: distance till he came to some gardens that were very
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  Speaker 2: beautiful and gay, And there, having roamed about in and
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  Speaker 2: out of the flowers, buzzing in great delight, till he
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  Speaker 2: had so loaded himself with treasures that he could carry
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  Speaker 2: no more, he bethought himself of returning home. But just
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  Speaker 2: as he was beginning his journey, he accidentally flew through
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  Speaker 2: the open window of a country house and found himself
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  Speaker 2: in a large dining room. There was a great deal
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: of noise and confusion, for it was dinner time, and
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: the guests were talking rather loudly, so that the bee
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  Speaker 2: got quite frightened. Still, he tried to taste some rich
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  Speaker 2: sweetmeat that lay temptingly in the dish on the table,
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  Speaker 2: when all at once he heard a child exclaim with
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  Speaker 2: the shouts, Oh, there's a bee, Let me catch him,
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  Speaker 2: on which he rushed hastily back to, as he thought,
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  Speaker 2: the open air. But alas poor fellow, in another second,
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  Speaker 2: he found that he had flung himself against a hard,
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  Speaker 2: transparent wall. In other words, he had flown against the
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  Speaker 2: glass panes of the window, being quite unable in his
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  Speaker 2: alarm and confusion to distinguish the glass from the opening
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  Speaker 2: by which he had entered. This unexpected blow annoyed him much, and,
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: having wearied himself in vain attempts to find the entrance,
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: he began to walk slowly and quietly up and down
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  Speaker 2: the wooden frame at the bottom of the panes, hoping
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  Speaker 2: to recover both his strength and composure. Presently, as he
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: was walking along, his attention was attracted by hearing the soft,
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  Speaker 2: half whispering voices of two children, who were kneeling down
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  Speaker 2: and looking at him. Says one to the other, this
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  Speaker 2: is a working bee's sister. I see the wax bags
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  Speaker 2: under his thighs. Mice fellow, how busy he has been?
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  Speaker 2: Does he make the wax and honey himself, whispered the girl. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: he gets them from the insides of the flowers. Don't
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  Speaker 2: you remember how we watched the bees once, dodging in
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  Speaker 2: and out of the crocuses. How we laughed at them.
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  Speaker 2: They were so busy and fussy, and their dark coats
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  Speaker 2: looked so handsome against the yellow leaves. I wish i'd
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  Speaker 2: seen this fellow loading himself today. But he does more
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  Speaker 2: than that. He builds the honeycomb, which does pretty nearly everything.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: He's a working bee, poor wretch? What is a working bee?
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: And why do you call him poor wretch? Brother? Why
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: don't you know? Uncle Colin says, all people are poor
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: wretches who work for other people, who don't work for themselves,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: And that is just what this bee does. There is
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: a queen bee in the hive who does nothing at
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: all but sit at home, give orders and cousle the
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: little ones, and all the bees wait upon her and
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: a bay her. And then there are the drones, lazy fellows,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: who lounge all their time away. And then there are
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: the working bees like this one here, and they do
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: all the work for everybody. How Uncle Collins would laugh
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: at them if he knew doesn't Uncle Colins know about bees? No,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: I think not. It was a gardener who told me.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: And besides, I think Uncle Collins would never have done
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: talking about them and quizzing them if he once knew
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: they couldn't do without a queen. I heard him say
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: yesterday that kings and queens were against nature, for that
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: nature never makes one man king and another a cobbler,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: but makes them all alike. And so he says, kings
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: and queens are very unjust things. Bees have not the
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: sense to know anything about that, observed the girl softly.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Of course, not only fancy how angry these working fellows
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: will be if they knew what the gardener told me?
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: What was that? Why that the working bees are just
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: the same as the queen when they are first born,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: just exactly the same. And this is only the food
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: that's given to them and the shape of the house
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: they live in that makes the difference. The bee nurses
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: manage that they give someone some sort of foods and
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: some another, and they make the cells different shapes, and
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: so some turn out queens and the rest working bees.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: It's just what Uncle Colin says about kings and cobblers.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Nature makes them all alike. But look, the dinner's over.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: We must go. Wait till I let the bee out, brother,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: said the little girl, taking him gently up in a
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: soft handkerchief, And then she looked at him kindly and said,
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: poor fellow, so you might have been a queen if
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: they had given you the right foods and put you
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: in the right shaped house. What a shame they didn't.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: As it is my good friend. And here her voice
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: took a childish mocking tone, as it is my good friend,
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: you must go and drudge away all your life long,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: making honey and wax, well, get along with you, Good
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: luck to your labors. And with these wears, she fluttered
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: her handkerchief through the open window, and the bee found
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: himself once more floating in the air. Oh what a
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: fine evening it was, But the liberated bee did not
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: think so. The sun still shone beautifully, though lower in
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the sky, and though the light was softer, and the
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: shadows were longer, and as to the flowers, they were
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: more fragrant than ever. Yet the poor bee felt as
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: though there were a dark, heavy cloud over his own heart,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: for he had become discontented and ambitious, and he rebelled
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: against the authority under which he had been born. At
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: last he reached his home, the hive, which he had
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: left with such a happy heart, in the morning, and
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: after dashing in in a hurried and angry manner, he
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: began to unload the bags under his thighs of their
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: precious contents, And as he did so, he exclaimed, I
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: am the most wretched of creatures. What is the matter?
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: What have you done?
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Cried an old relation, who was at work near him.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Have you been eating the poisonous Kilanya flowers? Or have
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: you discovered the mischievous honeymoper's later eggs in our combs?
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: Oh?
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Neither neither, answered the bee impatiently. Only I have traveled
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: a long way and have heard a great deal about
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: myself that I never knew before. And I know now
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: that we are a set of wretched creatures. And pray
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: what wise animal has been persuading you of that against
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: your own experience? Asked the old relation. I have learned
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: a truth, answered the bee in an tome. And it
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: matters not who taught me, certainly not. But it matters
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: very much that you should not fancy yourself wretched merely
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: because some foolish creature has told you you are so.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: You know very well that you never were wretched till
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: you told me you were so. I call that very silly,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: but I shall say no more to you. And the
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: old relation turned himself round to his work, singing very
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: pleasantly all the time. But the traveler b would not
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: be laughed out of his wretchedness. So he collected some
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: of his young companions around him and told them what
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: he had learned in the large dining room of the
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: country house, and all were astonished, and most of them vexed.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: Then he grew so much pleased at finding himself able
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: to create such excitement and interest, that he became sillier
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: every minute, and made a long speech on the injustice
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: of there being such things as queens, and talked of
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: nature making them all equal und alike, with an energy
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: that would have delighted Uncle Collins himself. When the bee
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: had finished his speech, there was first to silence, and
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: then a few buzzies of anger, then a murmured expression
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: of plans and wishes. It must be admitted. Their ideas
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: of how to remedy the evil, now for the first
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: time suggested to them, were very confused. Some wished Uncle
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Collins would come and manage all the beehives in the country,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: for they were sure he would let all of the
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: bees be queens, and then what a jolly time they
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: should have. And when the old relation popped his head
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: around the corner of the cell he was building, just
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: to inquire, what would be the fun of being queens
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: if there were no working bees to wait onone, the
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: little cuture of rebels buzzed very louds and told them
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: he was a fool, For of course Uncle Collins would
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: take care of the tyrants who so long had been
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: queen and the royal children now and then air sels
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: should be made to wait on them while they lasted,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: and when they have finished, persisted the old relation with
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: a laugh. Buzz buzz was the answer, and the old
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: relation held his tongue. Then another bee suggested that it would,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: after all be very awkward for all of them to
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: be queens, for who would make the honey and wax,
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: and build the honeycombs and nurse the children? But it
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: not be best therefore, that there should be no queens whatever,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: but they should all be working bees. But then the
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: tighest old relation popped his head around the corner again,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: and said he did not quite see how that change
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: would benefit them, for were they not all working bees already,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: on which an indignant buzz was paused into his ear,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: and he retreated again to his work. It was well
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: that night at last came on, and the time arrived
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: when the labors of the day were over, and sleep
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: and silence must raise and the hive with the dawn
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: of the morning. However, the troubled thoughts unluckily returned, and
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: the traveler Bee and his companions kept occasionally clustering together
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: in little groups to talk over their wrongs and a remedy. Meantime,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: the rest of the hive were too busy to pay
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: much attention to them, and to their idleness was not detected.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: But at last a few hoss headed youngsters grew so
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: violent in their different opinions that they lost all self control,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: and a noisy quarrel would have broken out, but that
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: the traveler bee flew to them and suggested that as
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: they were grown up now and could not all be
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: turned into queens, they had best sally forth and try
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: the republican experiment of all being worker bees without any
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: queen whatever, With so charming an idea in view, he
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: easily persuaded them to leave the hive. And a very
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: nice swarm, they looked as they emerged into the open
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: air and dispersed about the garden to enjoy the early breeze.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: But a swarm of bees without queen to leave them
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: proved only a helpless crowd. The first thing they attempted
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: when they had recollected to consult, was to fix on
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: the source of place they should settle for a home.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: A garden, of course, there's one, a field, says another.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: There's nothing like a hollow tree, remarked the third. The
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: roof in a good outhouse's best protection from the wet, thought.
• 30:31
  Speaker 6: Fourth.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: The branch of a tree leaves us much at liberty,
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: cried the fifth. I wouldn't give up at anybody, shouted all.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: They were all in a prosperous way to settle, were
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: they not. I am very angry with you, cried the traveler.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Be At last, half the morning is gone already, and
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: here we are as unsettled as when we left the hive.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: One would think you were going to be a queen
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: over us. To hear you talk, exclaimed the de putants.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: If we chose to spend our time quarreling? What is
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: that to you? Go and do as you please? And
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: he did, for he is ashamed and unhappy. And he
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: flew to the further extremity of the garden to hide
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: his vexation. We're seeing a clump of beautiful jonquins. He
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: dived at once into a flower to soothe himself by
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: honey gathering. Oh, how he enjoyed it. He loved the
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: flowers and a honey gathering more than ever, began the
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: accustomed murmur of delight, and said serious thoughts of going
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: back at once for the hive as usual. When as
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: he was coming out one of the golden cups, he
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: met his old relation coming out to another. Who would
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: have thought to find you here alone? Said the old relation.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: Were are your companions? I scarcely know I left them
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: outside the garden. What are they doing quarreling, murmured the
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: travellerby What about what they are to do? What a
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: pleasant occupation for bees on the sunshiny morning, said the
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: old relation with a sly expression. Don't laugh at me,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: but tell me what to do, said the puzzled traveler.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: What Uncle Colins says about nature and our all being
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: alike sounds very true, And yet somehow we do nothing
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: but quarrel up when we try to be all alike
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: and equal? How old are you? Asked the old relation
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: seven days, answered the traveler, in all the sauciness of
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: youth and strength, And how old am I? Many months?
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: I am afraid you are right. I am an oldish bee. Now,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: my dear friend, let us fight not for the world.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: I am the stronger, and should hurt you. I wonder
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: what makes you ask advice of a creature so much
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: weaker than yourself? Oh? What can your weakness have to
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: do with your wisdom? My good old Relation? I consult
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: you because I know you are wise, and I am
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: humbled myself, and feel that I am foolish, old and young,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: strong and weak, wise and foolish? What has become of
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: our being alike and equal? But never mind, we can manage. Now.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: Let us agree to live together with all my heart?
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: But where should we live? Tell me first, which of
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: us is to decide? If we differ in opinion? You shall,
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: for you are wise, good? And who shall collect honey
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: for food? I will, for I am strong very well.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: And now you have made me a queen and yourself
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: a working bee. Are you foolish fellow? Won't the old
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: home and the old queen do. Don't you see that
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: even if two people live together, there must be a
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: head to lead and hands to follow. How much more
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: in the case of a multitude, gay was the song
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: of the traveler bee as he wheeled over the flowers,
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: joyously assenting to the truth of what he hears. Now
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: to my companions, he cried at last, and the two
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: flew away together and sought the knot of discontented youngsters
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: outside the garden wall. They were still quarreling, but no
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: energy was left in them. They were hungry and confused,
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: and many had flown away to work and go home
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: as usual. And very soon afterwards, a cluster of happy,
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: buzzing bees, headed by the old relation and the traveler
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: were seen returning with wax laden thighs to their hive.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: As they were going to end, so they were stopped
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: by one of the little sentinels who was in the doorway.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: Wait cried, he our royal corpse is passing ows, and
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: so it was our dead's queen soon appeared in size,
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: dragged along by working bees on each side, who, having
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: borne at the edge of the hive stands, threw her
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: over for interment. How is this? What has happened? And
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: asked the traveler Bee, in a tone of deep anxiety
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: and emotion. Surely our queen is not dead. Oh no,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: answered the sentinel. But there has been some accidental confusion
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: in the hive this morning. Some of the seal keepers
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: were unluckily absent, and a young queen bee burst through herself,
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: which ought to have been blocked up for a few
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: days longer. Of course, the two queens four to one
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: was dead, and of course the weaker one was killed.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: We shall not be able to send off a swarm
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: quite so soon as usual this year. But these accidents
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: can't be helped. But this one might have been helped,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: thought the traveler be to himself, as with a pang
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: of remorse, he remembered that he had been the cause
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: of the mischievous confusion. You see, buzz, the old relation
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: nudging up against him. You see even queens and of equal,
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: and that there can be only one ruler at once,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: and a traveler be a heart wrung Yes. And thus
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: the instincts of nature confirmed the reasoning conclusions of man
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: and of the law of authority ands obedience.
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: Chapter three, The Unknown Land. But now they desire a
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: better country Hebrews eleven sixteen. It mattered not to the
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: sedge warbler whether it were night or day. She built
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: her nest down among the willows and reeds and long
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: thick herbage that bordered the Great River's side, and in
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: her sheltered covert she sang songs of mirth and rejoicing,
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: both by night and day. Where does the great River
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: go to? Asked the little ones, as they peered out
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: of their nest one lovely summer night, and saw the
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: moonbeams dancing on the waters as they hurried along. Now
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: the sedge warbler could not tell her children where the
• 36:58
  Speaker 3: great River went to, So she laughed and said they
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: must ask the sparrow who chattered so fast, or this
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: swallow who traveled so far. Next time, one of the
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: other came to perch on the willow tree to rest,
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: and then said she you will hear all such stories
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: as these. And thereupon the sedge warbler turned her voice
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: to the sparrow's note, and the little ones almost thought
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: the sparrow was there. The song was so like his,
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: all about towns and houses, and gardens, and fruit trees,
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: and cats and guns. Only the sedge warbler made the
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: account quite confused, for she had never had the patience
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: to sit and listen to the sparrow so as really
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: to understand what he said about these matters. But imperfect
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: as the tale was, it amused the little ones very much,
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: and they tried then to sing like it, and sang
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: till they fell asleep, and when they awoke they burst
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: into singing again, For behold, the eastern sky was red
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: with the dawn, and they knew that the warm sunbeams
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: would soon send beautiful streaks of light in among the
• 38:04
  Speaker 3: wreaths and flags that sheltered their happy home. Now, the
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: mother bird would sometimes leave the little ones below and
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: go up into the willow branches to sing alone, And
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: as the season advanced, she did this oftener and oftener,
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: and her song was plaintive and tender then, for she
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: used to sing to the tide of the river as
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: it swept along. She knew not whither, and think that
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: some day she and her husband and children should all
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: be hurrying so onward as the river hurried, she knew
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: not whither also to the unknown land. Whence she had come. Yes,
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: I may call it the unknown land, for only faint
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: images remained upon her mind of the country whence she
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: had flown. At first, she used to sing these little
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: ditties only when alone. But by degrees she began to
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: let her little ones hear them now and then, for
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: were they not going to accompany her? And was it
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: not as well therefore to accustom them gradually to think
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: about it? Then the little ones asked her where the
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: unknown land was, but she smiled and said she could
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: not tell them, for she did not know. Perhaps the
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: great river is traveling there all along, thought the eldest child.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: But he was wrong. The great river was rolling on
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: hurriedly to a mighty city, where it was to stream
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: through the arches of many bridges and bear on its
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: bosom the traffic of many nations, restless and crowded by day, gloomy, dark,
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: and dangerous by night. Ah, what a contrast were the
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: day and night of the mighty city to the day
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: and night of the sedge Warbler's home, where the twenty
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: four hours of changes God has appointed to nature were
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: but so many changes of beauty. Mother, Why do you
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: sing songs about another land? Asked a young, tender hearted
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: fledgling one day, Why should we leave the reed beds
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: and the willow trees. Cannot we build nests here and
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: live here always, Mother, Do not let us go away
• 40:07
  Speaker 3: anywhere else. I want no other land and no other
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: home but this. There are all the apes and the
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: great river to choose from where we shall each settle.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: There can be nothing in the unknown land more pleasant
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: than the reed beds and the willow trees. Here I
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: am so happy. Leave off those dreadful songs. Then the
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: mother's breast heaved with many a varied thought, and she
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: made no reply. So the little one went on. Think
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: of the red glow in the morning sky, mother, and
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: the soft haze, and then the beautiful rays of warm
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: light across the waters. Think of the grand noonday glare,
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: when the broad flags and reeds are all burnished over
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: with heat. Think of these evenings, mother, when we can
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: sit about in the branches here, there, anywhere, and watch
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: the great sun go down behind the sky. Or fly
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: to the eighths of the great River and sing in
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: the long green herbage there, and then come home by
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: moonlight and sing till we fall asleep, and wake singing again.
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: If any noise disturb us, if a boat chanced to
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: paddle by, or some of those strange bright lights shoot
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: up with a noise into the sky from distant gardens,
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: Think even when the rain comes down, how we enjoy ourselves?
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: For then, how sweet it is to huddle into the soft,
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: warm nest together and listen to the drops pattering upon
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: the flags and leaves overhead. Oh, I love this dear
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: dear home so much. Sing those dreadful songs about another
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: land no more? Then the mother said, listen to me,
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: my child, and I will sing you another song. And
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: the sedge warbler changed her note and sang to her
• 41:53
  Speaker 3: tender little one of her own young days, when she
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: was as happy and as gay as now, though not
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: hear am among the reed beds. And how after she
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: had lived and rejoiced in her happiness many pleasant months,
• 42:07
  Speaker 3: a voice seemed to rise within her that said, this
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: is not your rest. And how she wondered and tried
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: not to listen, and tried to stop where she was
• 42:18
  Speaker 3: and be happy there still. But the voice came oftener
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: and oftener, and louder and louder. And how the dear
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: partner she had chosen heard and felt the same. And
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: how at last they left their home together and came
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: and settled among the reed beds of the great river.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: And oh how happy she had been. And where is
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: this place you came from? Mother asked the little one.
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: Is it anywhere near that we may go and see it?
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: My child, answered the sedge warbler. It is the unknown land,
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: far far away I know, but where I do not know.
• 42:56
  Speaker 3: Only the voice that called me. Thence is beginning to
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: call again. And as I was obedient and hopeful, once
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: shall I be less obedient and hopeful now, now that
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: I have been so happy. No, my little one, let
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: us go forth to the unknown land wherever it may be,
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: in joyful. Trust you will be with me, so I will,
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: murmured the little sedge warbler in reply, And before she
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: went to sleep she joined her young voice with her
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: mother's in the song of the unknown Land. One day afterwards,
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: when the parent birds had gone off to the sedgy
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: banks of a neighboring stream, another of the young ones
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: flew to the topmost branches of some willow trees, and,
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: delighted with his position, began to sing merrily as he
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: swung backwards and forwards on the bough. Many were the
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: songs he tried, and well enough he succeeded for his age.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: And at last he tried the song of the Unknown Land.
• 43:57
  Speaker 3: A pretty tune and a pretty voice, any pretty singer,
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: remarked a magpie, who unluckily was crossing the country at
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: the time, and whose mischievous spirit made him stop to
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: amuse himself by showing off to the young one his
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: superior wisdom. As he thought it, I've been to many places,
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: and even once was domesticated about the house of a
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: human creature. So I am a pretty good judge of singing,
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: continued mister magg with a cock of his tail, as
• 44:27
  Speaker 3: he balanced himself on a branch near the sedge warbler.
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: But upon my word, I have seldom heard a prettier
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: song than yours. Only I wish you would tell me
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: what it is about. It is about the Unknown Land,
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: answered the young warbler with modest pleasure, and very innocently.
• 44:45
  Speaker 3: Do I hear you right, my little friend, inquired the
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: magpie with mock solemnity the unknown Land? Did you say,
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: dear dear, to think of finding such obstruse philosophy among
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: the marshes and ditches? It is quite a treat. And pray, now,
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: what is there that you can tell an odd old
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: fellow like me, who am always anxious to improve myself
• 45:10
  Speaker 3: about this unknown land? I don't know except that we
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: are going there some day, answered the sedge warbler, rather
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: confused by the magpie's manner. Now that is excellent, returned
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: the magpie, chuckling with laughter. How I love simplicity, and
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: really you are a choice specimen of it, mister sedge warbler.
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: So you are thinking of a journey to this unknown land,
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: always supposing, of course, my sweet little friend, that you
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: can find the way to it, which, between you and
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: me I think there must naturally be some doubt about,
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: under the circumstances of the place itself being unknown. Good
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: evening to you, pretty mister sedge warbler. I wish you
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: a pleasant journey. Oh stop, stop, cried the young bird,
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: now quite distressed by the magpie's ridicule. Don't go just yet.
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: Pray tell me what you think yourself about the unknown land?
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: Oh you little wiseacre? Are you laughing at me? Why
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: can anybody even so clever a creature as yourself think
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: about an unknown thing? You can guess, I admit, anything
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: you please about it, or so could I if I
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: thought it worth while to waste my time so foolishly.
• 46:29
  Speaker 3: But you will never get beyond guessing in such a case.
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: At all events, I confess my poor abilities can't pretend
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: to do anything more. Then you are not going there yourself,
• 46:41
  Speaker 3: murmured the overpowered youngster. Certainly not in the first place.
• 46:46
  Speaker 3: I am quite contented where I am, And in the
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: second place, I am not quite so easy of belief
• 46:52
  Speaker 3: as you seem to be. How do I know there
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: is such a place as this unknown land?
• 46:59
  Speaker 7: At all?
• 47:00
  Speaker 3: My father and mother told me, answered the sedge warbler
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: with more confidence. Oh, your father and mother told you, did,
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: they sneered the magpie scornfully. And you're a good little bird,
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: and believe everything your father and mother tell you. And
• 47:16
  Speaker 3: if they were to tell you were going to live
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: up in the moon, you would believed them. I suppose
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: they never deceived me yet, cried the young sedge warbler firmly,
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: his feathers ruffling with indignation as he spoke, hoity toity,
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: what's the matter now, my dainty little cock, who said
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: your father and mother had ever deceived you? But without
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: being a bit deceitful. I take the liberty to inform
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: you that they may be extremely ignorant, And I shall
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: leave you to decide which of the two yourself, For
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: I declare one gets nothing but annoyance by trying to
• 47:54
  Speaker 3: be good natured to you, countrified young fellows, you are
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: not fit to convert with a bird of any experience
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: and wisdom. So once for all, good bye to you.
• 48:06
  Speaker 3: And the magpie flapped his wings and was gone. Before
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: the sedge warbler had half recovered from his fit of vexation,
• 48:13
  Speaker 3: there was a decided change in the weather that evening,
• 48:16
  Speaker 3: for the summer was now far advanced, and a sudden
• 48:19
  Speaker 3: storm had brought cooler breezes and more rain than usual.
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: And the young birds wondered and were sad when they
• 48:26
  Speaker 3: saw the dark sky and the swollen river, and felt
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: that there was no warm sunshine to dry the wet
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: as was usual after a midday's shower. Why is the
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: sky so cloudy and lowering, and why is the river
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: so thick and gloomy? And why is there no sunshine?
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: I wonder, said one. The sun will shine again tomorrow,
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: I dare say, was the mother's answer. But the days
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: are shortening fast, and the storm has made this one
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: very short, and the sun will not get through the
• 48:57
  Speaker 3: clouds this evening. Never mind, the wet has not hurt
• 49:01
  Speaker 3: the inside of our nest. Get into it, my dear ones,
• 49:04
  Speaker 3: and keep warm while I sing to you about our journey.
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: Silly children, did you expect the sunshine to last here forever?
• 49:12
  Speaker 3: I'd hoped it might, and thought it would once. But
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: lately I have seen a change, answered the young one,
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: who had talked to her mother so much before. And
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: I do not mind now, mother, When the sunshine goes
• 49:24
  Speaker 3: and the wet comes, and the river looks dark and
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: the sky black, I think about the unknown land. Then
• 49:31
  Speaker 3: the mother was pleased, and perched upon a tall flag
• 49:33
  Speaker 3: outside the nest. She sang a hopeful song of the
• 49:36
  Speaker 3: unknown land, and the father and children joined, all but one.
• 49:41
  Speaker 3: He poor fellow, would not could not sing. But when
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: the voices ceased, he murmured to his brothers and sisters
• 49:48
  Speaker 3: in the nest, this would be all very pleasant and
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: nice if we could know anything about the land we
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: talk about. If we were to know too much, perhaps
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: we should never be satisfied. Here, laughed the tender little one,
• 50:02
  Speaker 3: who had formerly been so much distressed about going, But
• 50:06
  Speaker 3: we know nothing, rejoined the other bird. Indeed, how do
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: we know there is such a place as the unknown
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: land at all? We feel that there is at any rate,
• 50:16
  Speaker 3: answered the sister bird. I have heard the call our
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: mother tells about, and so must you have done. You
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: fancy you've heard it, that is to say, cried the brother,
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: because she told you. It is all fancy, all guess work,
• 50:31
  Speaker 3: no knowledge. I could fancy I heard it too. Only
• 50:34
  Speaker 3: I will not be so weak and silly. I will
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: neither think about going, nor will I go. This is
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: not your rest, sang the mother in a loud, clear
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: voice outside. And this is not your rest, answered the
• 50:50
  Speaker 3: others in sweet unison. And this is not your rest,
• 50:55
  Speaker 3: sounded in the depths of the poor little sedge warbler's
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: own heart. This is not our rest, repeated the mother.
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: The river is rushing forward, the clouds are hurrying onward,
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: the winds are sweeping past. Because here is not their rest.
• 51:12
  Speaker 3: Ask the river, Ask the clouds, Ask the winds where
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: they go to another land. Ask the great son, as
• 51:21
  Speaker 3: he descends away out of sight, where he goes to
• 51:24
  Speaker 3: another land? And when the appointed time shall come, let
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: us also arise and go Hence, oh mother, mother, would
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: that I could believe you? Where is that other land?
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: Thus cried the distressed doubter in the nest. And then
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: he opened his troubled heart and told what the magpie
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: had said. And the parent birds listened in silence. And
• 51:49
  Speaker 3: when he ceased, listen to me, my son, exclaimed the mother,
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: and I will sing you another song. Whereupon she spoke
• 51:58
  Speaker 3: once more of the land she had left before. And
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: now the burden of her story was that she had
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: left it without knowing why. She went out, not knowing whither,
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: in blind obedience, faith and hope, as she traversed the
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: wide waste of waters. There was no one to give
• 52:17
  Speaker 3: her reasons for her flight, or tell her this and
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: this will be your lot. Could the magpie have told
• 52:25
  Speaker 3: her had he met her there? But had she been deceived? No,
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: the secret voice which had called and led her forth
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: had been one of kindness. When she came to the
• 52:37
  Speaker 3: reed beds, she knew all about it, for then arose
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: the strong desire to settle. Then she and her dear
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: partner lived together, and then came the thought that she
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: must build a nest. Ah had the magpie seen her
• 52:51
  Speaker 3: then building a home for children yet unborn. How he
• 52:55
  Speaker 3: would have mocked at her.
• 52:57
  Speaker 8: What could she know?
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: He would have asked about the future. Was it not
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: all guess work, fancy folly? But had she been deceived? No,
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: it was that voice of kindness that had told her
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: what to do. For did she not become the happy
• 53:13
  Speaker 3: mother of children? And was she not now able to
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: comfort and advise her little ones and their troubles? For
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: let the magpie.
• 53:23
  Speaker 9: Say what he would.
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: Was it likely that the voice of kindness would deceive
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: them at last? No, she cried, in joyful trust. Let
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: us obey the call, though now we know not why.
• 53:35
  Speaker 3: When obedience and faith are made perfect, it may be
• 53:39
  Speaker 3: that knowledge and explanation shall be given. So ended the
• 53:44
  Speaker 3: mother's strain, and no sad misgivings ever clouded the sedge
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: Warbler's home again. Several weeks of changing autumn weather followed
• 53:53
  Speaker 3: after this, and the chilly mornings and evenings caused the
• 53:56
  Speaker 3: songs of departure to sound louder and more cheerily than ever.
• 54:00
  Speaker 3: In the reed beds. They knew, they felt, they had confidence,
• 54:06
  Speaker 3: that there was joy for them in the unknown land.
• 54:10
  Speaker 3: But one dark morning, when all were busy in various directions.
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: A sudden loud sound startled the young ones from their sports,
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: and in terror and confusion they hurried home. The old
• 54:24
  Speaker 3: nests looked looser and more untidy than ever that day,
• 54:29
  Speaker 3: for some water had oozed in through the half worn bottom,
• 54:32
  Speaker 3: but they huddled together into it as of old for safety. Soon, however,
• 54:38
  Speaker 3: it was discovered that neither father nor mother were there,
• 54:42
  Speaker 3: and after waiting in vain some time for their return,
• 54:45
  Speaker 3: the frightened young ones flew off again to seek them. Oh, weary,
• 54:51
  Speaker 3: weary search for the missing ones we love. It may
• 54:54
  Speaker 3: be doubted whether the sad reality, when they came upon
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: it exceeded the agony of that our suspense. It ended, however,
• 55:02
  Speaker 3: at last, on a patch of long rank herbage, which
• 55:07
  Speaker 3: covered a mud bank so wet that the cruel sportsman
• 55:11
  Speaker 3: could not follow to secure his prey lay the stricken
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: parent birds one was already dead, but the mother still lived,
• 55:20
  Speaker 3: and as her children's wail of sorrows sounded in her ear,
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: she murmured out a last gentle strain of hope and comfort.
• 55:29
  Speaker 3: Oh way oway, my darlings, to the unknown land. The
• 55:34
  Speaker 3: voice that has called to all our race before and never,
• 55:38
  Speaker 3: but for kindness is calling to you. Now, obey go
• 55:43
  Speaker 3: forth in joyful trust, quick quick, there is no time
• 55:48
  Speaker 3: to be lost. But my father, you, oh, my mother,
• 55:53
  Speaker 3: cried the young ones. Hush, sweet ones, hush, We cannot
• 55:58
  Speaker 3: be with you there, But there may be some other
• 56:02
  Speaker 3: unknown land which this may lead to. And the mother
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: laid her head against her wounded side and died long
• 56:12
  Speaker 3: before the sunbeams could pierce the heavy haze of the
• 56:15
  Speaker 3: autumn morning. The young sedge warblers rose for the last
• 56:19
  Speaker 3: time or their much loved reed beds and took flight.
• 56:23
  Speaker 3: They knew not whither dim and undefined hope perhaps they
• 56:29
  Speaker 3: had that they might find their parents again in the
• 56:32
  Speaker 3: unknown land. And if one pang of grief struck them
• 56:36
  Speaker 3: when these hopes ended, it was but for a moment,
• 56:40
  Speaker 3: For said the brother bird. There may be some other
• 56:44
  Speaker 3: unknown land, better even than this, to which they may
• 56:49
  Speaker 3: be gone. End of Chapter three.
• 56:53
  Speaker 10: Chapter four. Knowledge not the limit of belief? Canst thou
• 57:01
  Speaker 10: by searching find out God? Job eleven seven. It was
• 57:07
  Speaker 10: by the banging of the door, blown to by a
• 57:10
  Speaker 10: current of wind from the open window, that made that
• 57:12
  Speaker 10: great noise and shook the room so much. The room
• 57:16
  Speaker 10: was a naturalist's library, and it was a pity that
• 57:19
  Speaker 10: some folio books of specimens had been left so near
• 57:21
  Speaker 10: the edge of the great table, for when the door
• 57:24
  Speaker 10: clapt too, they fell down, and many plants, seaweeds, et cetera,
• 57:29
  Speaker 10: were scattered on the floor. And do we meet once again?
• 57:34
  Speaker 10: Said a zoophyte to a seaweed, a corlina in whose
• 57:38
  Speaker 10: company he had been thrown ashore. Do we meet once again?
• 57:41
  Speaker 10: This is a real pleasure. What a strange adventures we
• 57:44
  Speaker 10: have gone through since the waves flung us on the
• 57:46
  Speaker 10: sands together, ay, indeed, replied the seaweed. And what a
• 57:50
  Speaker 10: queer place we have come to at last. Well, well,
• 57:53
  Speaker 10: but let me first ask you how you are this morning?
• 57:56
  Speaker 10: After all the washing and drying and squeezing and gum
• 58:00
  Speaker 10: we have undergone, zoophyte, Oh, pretty well and helped seaweed.
• 58:05
  Speaker 10: But very very sad. You know, there is a great
• 58:10
  Speaker 10: difference between you and me. You have little or no
• 58:13
  Speaker 10: cause to be sad. You are just the same now
• 58:15
  Speaker 10: that you ever were, excepting that you can never grow anymore.
• 58:18
  Speaker 10: But I I'm the only skeleton of what I once was,
• 58:23
  Speaker 10: all the merry little creatures that inhabited me are dead
• 58:26
  Speaker 10: and dried up. They died by hundreds at a time
• 58:29
  Speaker 10: soon after I left the sea. Even if they had
• 58:31
  Speaker 10: survived longer, the nasty fresh water we were soaked in
• 58:34
  Speaker 10: by that horrid being who picked us up would have
• 58:37
  Speaker 10: killed them at once. What are you smiling at, seaweed?
• 58:42
  Speaker 10: I am smiling at your calling our new master a
• 58:44
  Speaker 10: horrid being, and also at your speaking so positively about
• 58:47
  Speaker 10: the little creatures that inhabited you. And why may I
• 58:51
  Speaker 10: not speak positively of what I know so well? Asked
• 58:54
  Speaker 10: the other Seaweed. Oh, of what you know by all means.
• 58:58
  Speaker 10: But I wonder what do we know? People get very
• 59:01
  Speaker 10: obstinate over what they think they know, and then lo
• 59:04
  Speaker 10: and behold, it turns out to be a mistake. Zoophyte,
• 59:08
  Speaker 10: What makes you say this, Seaweed, I've learned it from
• 59:12
  Speaker 10: a very curious creature I've made acquaintance with here, a bookworm.
• 59:17
  Speaker 10: He walks through all the books in his library just
• 59:19
  Speaker 10: as he pleases, and picks up a quantity of information.
• 59:23
  Speaker 10: And no, it's a great deal, and he's a mere nothing,
• 59:26
  Speaker 10: he says, compared to the creature who picked us up,
• 59:29
  Speaker 10: the horrid being, As you call him. Why, my dear friend,
• 59:32
  Speaker 10: the Bookcorden tells me that he who found us as
• 59:35
  Speaker 10: a man, and that a man is the most wonderful
• 59:37
  Speaker 10: creature in all the world, that there's nothing in the
• 59:40
  Speaker 10: least like him. And this particular one here is a naturalist,
• 59:44
  Speaker 10: that is, he knows about all living creatures and plants
• 59:48
  Speaker 10: and stones. And I don't know what. Besides, now, what
• 59:52
  Speaker 10: did you say it was a great honor to belong
• 59:54
  Speaker 10: to him and to have made acquaintance with his friend,
• 59:56
  Speaker 10: the bookworm? Zoophyte, of course I should, and do seaweed
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 10: very well. I know you would. And yet I can
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 10: tell you that this naturalist and his bookworm are just
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 10: instances of what I have been saying. They fancy that
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 10: betwixt them they know nearly everything, and get as obstinate
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 10: as possible over the most ridiculous mistakes. Zoophyte, my good friend,
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 10: are you a competent judge in such matters as these?
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 9: Oh?
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 10: Am I not? The seaweed rejoined. Why now, for instance,
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 10: what do you think the bookworm and I have been
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 10: quarreling about half the morning? Actually, as to whether I
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 10: am an animal or a vegetable. He declares that I
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 10: am an animal full of living creatures like yours. That
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 10: there's a long account of all this written on the
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 10: page opposite the one on which I am gummed of
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 10: all the nonsense I ever listened to, began the zoo
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 10: fyte angrily yet amused, but he was interrupted by the seaweed.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 10: And as for you, I am almost ashamed to tell
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 10: you that you and all your family and connections were generations,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 10: and generations considered as vegetables. It is only lately that
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 10: these naturalists found out that you were an animal. May
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 10: I not well say that people get very obstinate about
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 10: what they think they know, and after all it turns
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 10: out to be a mistake. As for me, I am
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 10: quite confused with these blunders. Oh dear, how disappointed I am,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 10: murmured the zoophyte. I thought we had really fallen to
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 10: the hands of some very interesting creatures. I'm very very sorry.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 10: It seems so nice that there should be wonderful wise
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 10: beings who spend their time in finding out all about
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 10: animals and plants and such things, and keep us all
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 10: in these beautiful books so carefully. I liked it so much,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 10: and now I find the wonderfully wise creatures are wonderfully
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 10: stupid ones instead, very much so left seaweed. Though our
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 10: learned friend the bookworm, would tell you quite otherwise, but
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 10: he gets quite muddled when he talks about them. Poor fellow,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 10: it is very easy to ridicule your betters, said a
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 10: strange one, and the bookworm, who had just then eaten
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 10: his way through the back of a lord Bacon's advancement
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 10: of learning, appeared sitting outside listening to the conversation. I
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 10: shall be very sorry that I have told you anything
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 10: if you make such a bad use of the little
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 10: bit of knowledge you have acquired. Oh, I beg your pardon,
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 10: dear friend, cried the seaweed. I meant no harm. You see,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 10: it's quite new to us to learn anything. And really,
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 10: if I laughed, you must excuse me. I meant no harm.
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 10: Only I do happen to know, really for a fact,
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 10: that I never was alive with little creatures like my
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 10: friend the zoophyte, And he happens to know really for
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 10: a fact that he never was a vegetable. And so,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 10: you see, it made a smile to think of your
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 10: wonderful creature man making such wonderfully odd mistakes. At this
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 10: the bookworm smiled, but he soon shook his head gravely,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 10: and said, all the mistakes man makes, man can discover
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 10: and correct. I mean, of course, all the mistakes he
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 10: makes about creatures inferior to himself, whom he learns to
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 10: know from his own observation. He may not observe quite
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 10: carefully enough one day, but he may put all right
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 10: when he looks next time. I never give up a
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 10: statement when I know it is true. So I tell
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 10: you again, laugh as much as you please, that in
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 10: spite of all his mistakes, man is, without exception, the
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 10: most wonderful and the most clever of all the creatures
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 10: upon earth. You will be a clever creature yourself, if
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 10: you can prove it, cried both the zoophyte and seaweed
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 10: at once. The idea of taking me with my hundreds
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 10: of living inhabitants for a vegetable, sneered the zoophyte, and
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 10: me with my vegetable inside covered with lime for an animal,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 10: smiled the seaweed.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 4: Bookworm.
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 10: Ah, have your laugh out, and then listen. But my
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 10: good friends, if you had worked your way through as
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 10: many wise books as I have done, you would laugh
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 10: last and know more. Nay, don't be angry, bookworm. Bookworm, Oh,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 10: I am not angry a bit. I know too well
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 10: the cause of all the folly you are talking, so
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 10: excuse you. And I am now puzzling my head to
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 10: find out how I am to prove what I have
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 10: said about the superiority of man so as to make
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 10: you understand it. Seaweed, Then you admit there is a
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 10: little difficulty in proving it, even you confess it to
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 10: be rather puzzling, Bookworm, I do, but the difficulty does
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 10: not lie where you think it does. I'm sorry to
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 10: say it, but the only thing that prevents your understanding
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 10: the superiority of man is your own immeasurable inferiority to him.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 10: However many mistakes he may make about you, he can
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 10: correct them all by a little closer or more patient observation.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 10: But no observation can make you understand what man is.
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 10: You are quite within the grasp of his powers, but
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 10: he is quite beyond the reach of yours. Seaweed, you
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 10: are not over civil with all your learning, mister bookworm. Bookworm,
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 10: I do not mean to be rude. I assure you
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 10: you are both of you very beautiful creatures, and I
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 10: dare say very useful too. But you should not fancy
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 10: either that you do know everything or that you are
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 10: able to know everything. And above all, you should not
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 10: dispute the superiority and powers of another creature merely because
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 10: you cannot understand them, Seaweed. And am I then to
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 10: believe all the long stories anybody may choose to come
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 10: and tell me about the wonderful powers of other creatures?
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 10: And when I inquire what those wonderful powers are, am
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 10: I to be told that I can't understand them? But
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 10: I am to believe them all the same as if
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 10: I did Bookworm. Certainly, not unless the wonderful powers are
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 10: proved by wonderful results. But if they are, I advise
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 10: you to believe in them, whether you understand them or not. Seaweed,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 10: I should like to know how I am to believe
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 10: what I don't understand, Bookworm, very well, then don't and
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 10: remain an ignorant fool all your life. Of course, you
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 10: can't really understand anything but what is within the narrow
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 10: limits of your own powers. So if you choose to
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 10: make those powers the limits of your belief, I wish
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 10: you joy, for you certainly won't be overburdened with knowledge, Seaweed,
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 10: I will retort upon you that it is very easy
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 10: to be contemptuous to your inferiors. Mister bookworm, you would
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 10: do much better to try and explain to me those
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 10: wonderful powers themselves, and so remove all the difficulties that
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 10: stand in the way of my belief. Bookworm, if I
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 10: were to try ever so much, I should not succeed.
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 10: You can't understand even my superiority, seaweed, Oh, bookworm, now
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 10: you are growing conceited. Bookworm. Indeed, I am not, but
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 10: you shall judge for yourself. I can do many things
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 10: you can't do, among others, I can see, seaweed, What
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 10: is that, bookworm? There? Now I knew I should puzzle
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 10: you directly. Why seeing is something that I do with
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 10: a very curious machine in my head called an eye.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 10: But as you have not got an eye and therefore
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 10: cannot see, how am I to make you understand what
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 10: seeing is? Seaweed? Why you can tell us? To be sure, bookworm,
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 10: tell you what I can tell you. I see, I
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 10: can say now I see now, I see as I
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 10: walk over you and see the little bits of you
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 10: that fall under my small eye. Indeed, I can also
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 10: tell you what I see, But how will that teach
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 10: you what seeing is? You have got no eye, and
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 10: therefore you can't see, and therefore also you can never
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 10: know what seeing is. Zoophyte, Then why need we believe
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 10: there is such thing as seeing? Bookworm? Oh, pray, don't
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 10: believe it. I don't know why you should. I'm sure
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 10: there's no harm at all in being ignorant and narrow minded.
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 10: I am sure I had much rather you took no
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 10: further trouble in the matter, for you are both of
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 10: you very testy and tiresome. It is from nothing but
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 10: pride and vanity too. After all, you want to be
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 10: in a higher place in creation than you are put in,
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 10: and no good ever comes of that. If you'd be
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 10: content to learn wonderful things and the only way that
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 10: is open to you, I should have a great deal
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 10: of pleasure in telling you more, Zoophyte, And pray, what
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 10: way is that, bookworm? Why? From the effects produced by them?
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 10: As I said before, even where you cannot understand the
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 10: wonderful powers themselves, you may have the grace to believe
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 10: in their existence from their wonderful results, seaweed, and the
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 10: results of what you call seeing are in man, interrupted
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 10: the bookworm. That he gets to know everything about you,
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 10: and all the creatures and plants and stones he looks at,
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 10: so that he knows your shape and growth and color,
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 10: and all about the cells of the little creatures that
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 10: live in you, how many feelers they have, what they
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 10: live upon, how they catch their food, how the eggs
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 10: come out of the egg cells, Where you live, where
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 10: you are to be found, what other zoophytes are related
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 10: to you, which are most like you, in short, the
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 10: most minute particulars, so that he puts you into his collections,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 10: not among strange creatures, but near to those you are
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 10: nearest related to. And he describes you and makes pictures
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 10: of you, and gives you a name, so that you
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 10: are known for the same creature wherever you are found
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 10: all over the world. And now I'm quite out of
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 10: breath with telling you all these wonderful results of seeing.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 10: But he once took me for a vegetable, mused the zoophyte. Yes,
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 10: as I said before, he had not observed quite close enough,
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 10: nor had he invented a curious instrument which enables his
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 10: great big eye to see such little fellows as your
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 10: inhabitants are. But when he made that instrument and looked
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 10: very carefully, he saw all about you. Ay, but he
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 10: still calls me an animal, observed the seaweed. I know
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 10: he does, but I am certain he will not do
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 10: so for long you are a vegetable. I will warrant
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 10: him to find it out when he examines you a
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 10: little more. You expect us to believe strange things, bookworm,
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 10: observed the zoophyte. To be sure, because there's no end
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 10: of the strange things for you to believe. And what
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 10: you can't find out for yourself you must take upon
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 10: trust from your betters, left the bookworm. It's the only plan.
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 10: Observation and revelation are the sole means of acquiring knowledge.
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 10: Just at that moment, the door opened and two gentlemen
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 10: entered the room. Ah, I know specimens on the floor,
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 10: observed the naturalists. But never mind, added he as he
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 10: picked them up. Here is the very one we wanted.
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 10: It will serve admirably for our purpose. I shall only
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 10: sacrifice a small branch of it, though, And the naturalists
• 1:10:58
  Speaker 10: cut off a little piece of the seaweed and lead
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 10: a saucer and poured upon it some liquid from a bottle,
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 10: and an effervescence began to take place forthwith, and the
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 10: seaweed's slimey coat began to give way, and the two
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 10: gentlemen sat watching the result. Now whispered the Bookcorn to
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 10: the Zuovite. Those two men are looking closely at your
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 10: seaweed friend, and trying what they call experiments, that they
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 10: might find out what he is. And if they do
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 10: not succeed, I will give up all my arguments in despair.
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 10: But they did succeed. The gentleman watched until all the
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 10: line was dissolved, and there was nothing left in the
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 10: saucer but a delicate red branch with little round things
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 10: upon it that looked like tiny apples. This is the fruit, decidedly,
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 10: remarked the naturalists, and now we will proceed to examine
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 10: it through the microscope. And they did so, and an
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 10: hour or more past, and a sort of sleepy forgetfulness
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 10: came over the bookworm and his two friends, for they
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 10: had waited till they were tired for further remarks from
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 10: the naturalists. And therefore it was with a start that
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 10: they were aroused at last by hearing him exclaim it
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 10: is impossible to entertain the slightest doubt, if I ever
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 10: had any, I have none now, And the corolinas must
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 10: be removed back once more to their position among vegetables.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 10: The naturalist laughed as he loosened the gum from the specimen,
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 10: which he placed on a fresh paper and classed among
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 10: red seaweeds. And soon after the two gentlemen left the
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 10: room once more. So he has really found our friends out,
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 10: cried the zoophyte. And he was right about the fruit too,
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 10: Oh bookworm, bookworm, would that I could know what seeing is,
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 10: oh zoophyte, zoophyte, I wish you would not waste your
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 10: time in struggling after the unattainable. You know what feeling is? Well,
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 10: I would tell you that seeing is something of the
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 10: same sort as feeling, only that it is quite different.
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 10: Will that do it? Sounds like? No? It is nonsense.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 10: There can be no answer but nonsense. If you want
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 10: to understand, really for a fact, as you call it,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 10: powers that are above you, explain to the rock on
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 10: which you grow what feeling is. How could I said
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 10: the zoophyte. It has no sensation, no more than you
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 10: have sight, rejoined the bookworm. That is true, indeed, cried
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 10: the zoophyte bookworm. I am satisfied. Humbled, I must confess,
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 10: but satisfied. And now I will rejoice in our position here,
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 10: glory to our new master, and admire his wonderful powers,
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 10: even while I cannot understand them. I am proud of
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 10: my disciple, returned the bookworm kindly. I also am one
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 10: of them, murmured the seaweed. But tell me now, are
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 10: there any other strange powers in man? Several? Was the
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 10: bookworm's answer. But to be really known, they must be possessed.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 10: A lower power cannot compass the full understanding of a higher.
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 10: But to limit one's belief to the bounds of one's
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 10: own small powers would be to tie oneself down to
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 10: the foot of a tree and deny the existence of
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 10: its upper branches. There are no powers beyond those that
• 1:14:11
  Speaker 10: man possessed, I suppose, mused the zoopite. I am far
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 10: from saying that, replied the bookworm on the contrary. But
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 10: what he would have said further, no one knows. For
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 10: once more the door opened, and naturalists, who now returned alone,
• 1:14:27
  Speaker 10: spent his evening and putting by the specimens in their
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 10: separate volumes on the shelves, and It was a long
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 10: long time before the bookworm saw them again, for the
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 10: volumes in which they were kept were bound in Russia leather,
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 10: to the smell of which he had a particular dislike,
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 10: so that he never could make his way to them
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 10: for a friendly chat again. End of Chapter four. Knowledge
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 10: not the limit of belief.
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 3: Chapter five, Training and restraining. Train up a child in
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 3: the way he should go. Proverbs twenty two six. What
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 3: a fuss is made about you, my dear little friends,
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 3: murmured the wind one day to the flowers in a
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 3: pretty villa garden. I am really quite surprised at your
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 3: submitting so patiently and meekly to all the troublesome things
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 3: that are done to you. I have been watching your
• 1:15:18
  Speaker 3: friend the gardener for some time to day, and now
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 3: that he has gone at last, I am quite curious
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 3: to hear what you think and feel about your unnatural
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 3: bringing up? Is it unnatural? Inquired a beautiful Convovoulus major,
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 3: from the top of a tapering fur pole, up which
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 3: she had crept, and from which her velvet flowers hung
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 3: suspended like purple gems. I smile at your question. Was
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 3: the answer of the wind. You surely cannot suppose that
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 3: in a natural state you would be forced to climb
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 3: regularly up one tall, bare stick such as the one
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 3: I see you upon now. Oh dear, No, your cousin
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 3: the wild Convovoulis, which I left in the fields this morning,
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 3: does know such thing, I assure you. She runs along
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 3: and climbs about, just as the whim takes her. Sometimes
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 3: she takes a turn upon the ground. Sometimes she enters
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 3: a hedge and plays bo peep with the birds in
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 3: the thorn and nut trees, twisting here, curling there, and
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 3: at last perhaps coming out at the top and overhanging
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 3: the hedge with a canopy of green leaves and pretty
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 3: white flowers. A very different sort of life from yours,
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 3: with a gardener always after you, trimming you in one place,
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 3: fastening up a stray tendril in another, and fidgeting you
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 3: all along, a sort of perpetual mustn't go here, mustn't
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 3: go there, poor thing. I quite feel for you still,
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 3: I must say. You make me smile, for you look
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 3: so proud and self conscious of beauty all the time
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 3: that one would think you did not know in what
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 3: a ridiculous and dependent position you are placed. Now The
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 3: Convavoulas was quite abashed by the words of the wind,
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 3: for she was conscious of feeling very conceited that morning
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 3: in consequence of having heard the gardener say something very
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 3: flattering about her beauty. So she hung down her rich
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 3: bell flowers rather lower than usual, and made no reply.
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 3: But the Carnation put in her word, what you say
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 3: about Convavoulis may be true enough, but it cannot apply
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 3: to me. I am not aware that I have any
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 3: poor relations in this country, and I myself certainly require
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 3: all the care that is bestowed upon me. This climate
• 1:17:29
  Speaker 3: is both too cold and too damp for me. My
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 3: young plants require heat or they would not live. And
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 3: the pots we are kept in protect us from those
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 3: cruel wire worms who delight to destroy our roots. Oh,
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 3: cried the wind, our friend. The Carnation is quite profound
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 3: and learned in her remarks, And I admit the justice
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 3: of all she says about damp and cold and wireworms.
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 3: But and here the wind gave a low toned whistle
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 3: as he took a turn around the flower bed. But
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 3: what I maintain, my dear, is that when you are
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 3: once strong enough and old enough to be placed in
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 3: the soil, those gardeners ought to let you grow and
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 3: flourish as nature prompts, and as you would do were
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 3: you left alone. But no, forsooth, they must always be
• 1:18:17
  Speaker 3: clipping and trimming and twisting up every leaf that strays
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 3: aside out of the trim pattern they have chosen for
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 3: you to grow in. Why not allow your silver tufts
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 3: to luxuriate in a natural manner. Why must every single
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 3: flower be tied up by its delicate neck to a
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 3: stick the moment it begins to open, Really, with your
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 3: natural grace and beauty, I think you might be trusted
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 3: to yourself a little more. And the carnation began to
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 3: think so too, and her color turned deeper, as a
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 3: feeling of indignation arose within her at the childish treatment
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 3: to which she had been subjected. With my natural grace
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 3: and beauty, repeated she to herself. They might certainly try
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 3: me to myself a little more. Still, the rose tree
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 3: stood out, And there must be some great advantages in
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 3: a gardener's care, for she could not pretend to be
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 3: ignorant of her own superiority to all her wild relations
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 3: in the woods. What a difference in size and color,
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 3: and in fragrance. Then the wind assured the rose that
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 3: he never meant to dispute the advantage of her living
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 3: in a rich, soiled garden. Only there was a natural
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 3: way of growing, even in a garden. And he thought
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 3: it a great shame for the gardeners to force the
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 3: rose tree into an unnatural way, curtailing all the energies
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 3: of her nature. What could be more outrageous, for example,
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 3: than to see one rose growing in the shape of
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 3: a bush on the top of the stem of another.
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 3: Think of all the pruning necessary, cried he to keep
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 3: the poor thing in the round shape so much admired.
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 3: And what is the matter with the beautiful struggling branches
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 3: that they are to be cut off as fast as
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 3: they appear? Why not allow the healthy rose tree its
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 3: free and glorious growth. Why thwart its graceful droopings or
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 3: its high aspirings? Could it be too large or too luxuriant?
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 3: Can its flowers be too numerous? Oh, rose tree, you
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 3: know your own surpassing merits too well to make you
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 3: think this possible. And a new light seemed to dawn
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 3: upon her. As she recollected the spring and autumnal prunings.
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 3: She regularly underwent, and the quantities of little branches that
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 3: were yearly cut from her sides and carried away in
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 3: a wheelbarrow. It is a cruel and monstrous system, I fear,
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 3: said she. Then the wind took another frolic around the
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 3: garden and made up to the large white lily, and
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 3: to whose refined ear he whispered a doubt as to
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 3: the necessity or advantage of her thick, powerful stem being
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 3: propped up against a stupid, ugly stick. He really grieved
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 3: to see it. Did that lovely creature suppose that nature,
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 3: who had done so much for her, that the fame
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 3: of her beauty extended throughout the world, had yet left
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 3: her so weak and feeble that she could not support
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 3: herself in the position most calculated to give her ease
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 3: and pleasure. Always. This tying up in restraint pursued the
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 3: wind with an angry puff. Perhaps I am prejudiced, but
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 3: as to be deprived of freedom would be to me
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 3: absolute death. So my soul revolts from every shape and
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 3: phase of slavery, not more than mine does, cried the
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 3: proud white lily, leaning as heavily as she could against
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 3: the strip of matting that tied her to her stick,
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 3: but it was of no use. She could not get free,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 3: and the wind only shook his sides and laughed spitefully
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 3: as he left her, and then rambled away to talk
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 3: the same shallow philosophy to the honeysuckle that was trained
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 3: up against a wall. Indeed, not a flower escaped his
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 3: mischievous suggestions. He murmured. Among them, all laughed. The trim
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 3: cut box edges to scorn maliciously hoped. The sweet peas
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 3: enjoyed growing in a circle and running up a quantity
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 3: of crooked sticks, and told the flowers generally that he
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 3: should report their unheard of submission and meek obedience wherever
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 3: he went. Then the white lily called out to him
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 3: in great wrath and told him he mistook their characters. Altogether,
• 1:22:25
  Speaker 3: they only submitted to these degrading restraints because they could
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 3: not help themselves. But if he would lend them his
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 3: powerful aid, they might free themselves from at least a
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 3: part of the unnatural bonds which enthralled them, to which
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 3: the wicked wind, seeing that his temptations had succeeded, replied
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 3: in great glee that he would do his best, And
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 3: so he went away, chuckling at the discontent he had caused.
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 3: All that night, the pretty silly flowers bewailed their lavish
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 3: condition and longed for release and freedom. And at last
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 3: they began to be afraid that the wind had only
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 3: been jesting with them, and that he would never come
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 3: to help them as he had promised. However, they were mistaken,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 3: for at the edge of the dawn there began to
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 3: be a sighing and a moaning in the distant woods,
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 3: and by the time the sun was up, the clouds
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 3: were driving fast along the sky, and the trees were
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 3: bending about in all directions, for the wind had returned.
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 3: Only now he had come, in his roughest and wildest mood,
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 3: knocking over everything before him. Now is your time, pretty flowers,
• 1:23:33
  Speaker 3: shouted he as he approached the garden, And now is
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 3: our time, echoed the flowers tremulously, as with a sort
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 3: of fearful pleasure, they waited his approach. He managed the
• 1:23:45
  Speaker 3: affair very cleverly, it must be confessed, making a sort
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 3: of eddying circuit around the garden. He knocked over the
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 3: Convavoula's pole, tore the strips of blast from the stick
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 3: that held up the white lily, loosed all the carnation
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 3: flowers from their fastenings, broke the rose tree down, and
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 3: leveled the sweet peace to the ground in short In
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 3: one half hour, he desolated the pretty garden, and when
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 3: his work was accomplished, he flew off to rave about
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 3: his deed of destruction in other countries. Meanwhile, half fared
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 3: it with the flowers. The wind was scarcely gone before
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 3: a sudden and heavy rain followed, so that all was
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 3: confusion for some time. But towards the evening the weather
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 3: cleared up, and our friends began to look around them.
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 3: The white lily still stood somewhat upright, though no friendly
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 3: pole supported her juicy stem. But alas it was only
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 3: by a painful effort she could hold herself in that position.
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 3: The wind and the weight of the rain had bent
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 3: her forward once beyond her strength, and there was a
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 3: slight crack in one part of the stock, which told
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 3: that she must soon double over and trail upon the ground.
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 3: The Convavoulis fared still worse. The garden bed sloped towards
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 3: the south, and when our friend was laid on the earth,
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 3: her pole having fallen, her lovely flowers were choked up
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 3: by the wet soil which drained towards her. She felt
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 3: the muddy weight as it soaked into her beautiful velvet bells,
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 3: and could have cried for grief. She could never free
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 3: herself from this nuisance. Oh that she were once more
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 3: climbing up the friendly fur pole. The honeysuckle escaped no better,
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 3: and the carnation was ready to die of vexation at
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 3: finding that her coveted freedom had leveled her to the dirt.
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 3: Before the day closed, the gardener came whistling from his
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 3: farm work to look over his pretty charges. He expected
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 3: to see a few drooping flowers, and to find that
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 3: one or two fastenings had given way. But for the
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 3: sight that awaited him, he was not prepared at all.
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 3: Struck dumb with astonishment, he never spoke at first, but
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 3: kept lifting up the heads of the trailing, dirty flowers
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 3: in succession. Then at last he broke out into words
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 3: of absolute sorrow, And to think of my mistress and
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 3: the young lady coming home so soon, and that nothing
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 3: could be done to these poor things for a fortnight
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 3: because of the corn harvest. It's all over with them,
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 3: I fear, And the gardener went his way alas what
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 3: he said was true, and before many days had passed,
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 3: the shattered carnations were rotted, with lying in the wet
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 3: and dirt on the ground. The white lily was languishing
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 3: discolored on its broken stalk. The kavavoula's flowers could no
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 3: longer be recognized, they were so coated over with mud stains.
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 3: The honeysuckle was trailing along among battered sweet peas, who
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 3: never could succeed in shaking the soil from their fragrant heads.
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 3: And although the rose tree had sent out a few
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 3: straggling branches, she soon discovered that they were far too
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 3: weak to bear flowers, nay almost to support themselves, so
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 3: that they added neither to her beauty nor her comfort.
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 3: Weeds meanwhile sprang up, and a dreary confusion reigned in
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 3: the once orderly and brilliant little garden. At length, one
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 3: day before the fortnight was over, the house dog was
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 3: heard to bark his noisy welcome, and servants bustled to
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 3: and fro. The mistress had returned, and the young lady
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 3: was with her, and hurried at once to her favorite garden.
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 3: She came bounding towards the well known spot with a
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 3: song of joyous delight. But on reaching it, suddenly stopped short,
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 3: and in a minute burst into a flood of tears. Presently,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 3: with sorrowing steps, she bent her way round the flower beds,
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 3: weeping afresh at every one she looked at, And then
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 3: she sat down upon the lawn and hid her face
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 3: in her hands. In this position she remained until a
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 3: gentle hand was laid upon her shoulder. This is a
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 3: sad spectacle, indeed, my darling, said the mother's voice. Never
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 3: mind about the garden, Mamma, replied the young girl, lifting
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 3: up her tearful face. We can plant new flowers and
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 3: tie up even some of these afresh. But what I
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 3: have been thinking is that now, at last, I quite
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 3: understand what you have so often said about the necessity
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 3: of training and restraint and culture for us as well
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 3: as flowers and a fallen world. The wind has torn
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 3: away these poor things from their fastenings, and they are
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 3: growing wild whichever way they please. I know I should
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 3: once have argued that if it were their natural mode
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 3: of growing, it must therefore be the best. But I
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 3: cannot say so now that I see the result. They
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 3: are doing whatever they like unrestrained, And the end is
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 3: that my beautiful garden is turned into a wilderness. End
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 3: of Chapter.
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 11: Five, Chapter six, The Light of Truth. We know that
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 11: all things work together for good Roman, Chapter eight, Verse
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 11: twenty eight. Detestable Phantom, cried the traveler, as his horse
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 11: sank with him into the morass. To what a miserable
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 11: end have you lured me by your treacherous light? The
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 11: same old story forever, muttered the willow. The Wisp in reply,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 11: always throwing blame on others for troubles you have brought
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 11: upon yourself. What more could have been done for you,
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 11: unhappy creature, than I have done all the weary night through?
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 11: Have I danced on the edge of this morass to
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 11: save you and others from ruin? If you have rushed
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 11: in further and further like a headstrong fool in spite
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 11: of my warning light, who is to blame but yourself?
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 11: I am an unhappy creature. Indeed, rejoined the traveler. I
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 11: took your light for a friendly lamp, but have been
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 11: deceived to my destruction, Yet not by me, cried the
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 11: will of the Wisp anxiously. I work out my appointed
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 11: business carefully and ceaselessly. My light is ever a friendly
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 11: lamp to the wise. It misleads no but the head
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 11: strong and ignorant. Headstrong, ignorant, exclaimed the Statesman. For such
• 1:30:06
  Speaker 11: the traveler was, how little do you know to whom
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 11: you are speaking? Trusted by my king, honored by my country,
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 11: the leader of her council's ah, my country, my poor country?
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 11: Who will take my place and guide you when I
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 11: am gone? A guide who cannot guide himself, misjudging, misled,
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 11: and though wise perhaps in the imperfect laws of society,
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 11: ignorant in the glorious laws of nature and of truth,
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 11: who will miss you? Presumptuous being you have mistaken the
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 11: light that warned you of danger for the star that
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 11: was to guide you to safety. Alas for your country,
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 11: if no better leader than you can be found. The
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 11: statesman never spoke again, and the will of the wisp
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 11: danced back to the edge of the black morass. And
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 11: as he flickered up and down, he mourned his luckless fate.
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 11: Always trying to do good, he so often vilified and misjudged.
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 11: Yet said he to himself, as he sent out his
• 1:31:03
  Speaker 11: beams through the cheerless knight, I will not cease to try.
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 11: Who knows but that I may save somebody yet? But
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 11: what an ignorant world I live in? Cruel monster, shrieked
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 11: the beautiful girl in wild despair, as her feet plunged
• 1:31:18
  Speaker 11: into the swamp and she struggled in vain to find
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 11: firmer ground. You have betrayed me to my death. Aye, aye,
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 11: I said so. It is always some one else who
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 11: is to blame, and never yourself. When pretty fools like
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 11: you deceive themselves, you call me monster. Why did you
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 11: follow a monster into a swamp? Cried the poor willow
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 11: the wisp angrily. I thought my betrothed had come out
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 11: to meet me. I mistook your hateful light for his. Oh,
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 11: cruel fiend, I know you now. Must I die so young?
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 12: So fair?
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 11: Must I be torn from life and happiness and love?
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 9: Aye?
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 5: Dance, dance on in your savage.
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 11: Joy, fool as you are. It is there's no joy
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 11: to me to see you perish, answered the will of
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 11: the wisp. It is my appointed law to warn and
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 11: save those who will be warned. It is my appointed sorrow.
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 11: I suppose that the recklessness and ignorance of such as
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 11: you persist in disregarding that law and turning good into evil.
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 11: I shone bright and brighter before you as you advanced,
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 11: entreating you, as it were, to be warned. But in
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 11: wilfulness you pursued me to your ruin. What cruel mother
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 11: brought you up and did not teach you to distinguish
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 11: the steady beam that guides to happiness from the wandering
• 1:32:34
  Speaker 11: brilliancy that bodes destruction. My poor mother wept the maiden.
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 11: What words are these? You speak of her? But you,
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 11: in your savage life, know nothing of what she has
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 11: done for me, her only child, mistress of every accomplishment
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 11: that can adorn and delight society. My lightest word, my
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 11: very smile, is a law to the world we move in,
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 11: even so accomplished in fleeting and fantastic art that leave
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 11: no memorial behind them, unacquainted with the beauty and purposes
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 11: of the realities around you, which work from age to
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 11: age in silent mercy for gracious ends, and put to
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 11: shame the toil that has no aim or end. Oh,
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 11: that you had but known the law by which I live.
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 11: The Maiden spoke no more, and then she ceased to
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 11: struggle the will of the wisp danced back yet another
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 11: time to the edge of the black morass, for said he,
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 11: I may save somebody yet, but what a foolish world
• 1:33:33
  Speaker 11: I live in. The old Squire should mend these here roads,
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 11: observed hobin All, the farmer to his son Colin, as
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 11: they drove slowly home from market in a crazy old cart,
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 11: which shook about with such jerks that little Colin tried
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 11: in vain to keep curled up in a corner. It
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 11: was hard to say whether the fault was most in
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 11: the roads, though they were rather rutty. It must be
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 11: owned or in the stumbling old pony who went from
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 11: side to side, or in not very sober driver, who
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 11: seemed unable at times to distinguish the reins apart, so
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 11: that he gave sudden pulls, first one way and then
• 1:34:06
  Speaker 11: the other. But through all these troubles it comforted the
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 11: farmer's heart to lay all the blame on the squire
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 11: for the bad roads that led across the boggy moor. Colin, however,
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 11: took but little interest in the matter. But at length,
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 11: when a more violent jerk than usual threw him almost
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 11: sprawling on the bottom of the cart, he jumped up,
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 11: laid hold of the side planks and began to look
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 11: around him with his half sleepy eyes, trying to find
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 11: out where they were. At last, he said, she's coming. Father,
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 11: who's coming? Shouted Habinal to mother, answered Colin, what's she
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 11: coming for? I wonder, said Habinal. We've enough in the
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 11: cart without her. But you're going away from her father,
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 11: expostulated Colin, half crying, I can see her with the
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 11: lantern and she'll light us home. You can't see, father,
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 11: Let me have the reins, but Hobinall refused to give
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 11: up the reins, though he was not very fit to drive.
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 11: In the struggle, however, he caught sight of the light,
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 11: which Colin took for his mother's lanthorn. And is that
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 11: the fool's errand you'd be going after, cried he, pointing
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 11: with his whip to the light. It's lucky for you,
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 11: young one, you have not had the driving of us
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 11: home to night, though you think you can do anything.
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 11: I know a precious home. It would have been at
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 11: the bottom of the sledgy pool yonder, for that's where
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 11: you'd have got us to At last. Yon light is
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 11: the will o the wisp that's always trying to mislead folks,
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 11: bad luck befall him. I got half way to him
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 11: once when I was a young'in, But an old neighbor
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 11: who had once been in himself, was going by just
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 11: then and called me back. He's a villain, is that
• 1:35:38
  Speaker 11: sham faced will o the wisp? With these words, the
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 11: farmer struck the pony so harshly with his heavy whip,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 11: twitching the reins convulsively. At the same time, at the
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 11: mere memory of his adventure in the bog, that little
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 11: colin was thrown up and down like a ball. And
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 11: the cart rolled forward in and out of the ruts
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 11: at such a pace that hobin All got home to
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 11: his wife sooner than she ever dared to hope for
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 11: on market evening they are safe, observed the willow of
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 11: the Wisp as the cart moved on, and that is
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 11: the great point gained. Nevertheless, such wisdom is mere brute experience.
• 1:36:11
  Speaker 11: In their ignorance, they would have struck the hand that
• 1:36:14
  Speaker 11: helped them. Nevertheless, I will try again, for I may
• 1:36:18
  Speaker 11: yet save some one else. But what a rude and
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 11: ungrateful world I live in. I see a light At last,
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 11: Papa shouted A little boy on a Shetland pony as
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 11: he rode by his father's side along the moor. I'm
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 11: so glad there's either a cottage or a friendly man
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 11: with a lantern who will help us find our way.
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 11: Let me go after him. I can soon overtake him.
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 11: And the little boy touched his pony with the whip,
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 11: and in another minute would have been cantering along after
• 1:36:43
  Speaker 11: the light, but that his father laid a sudden and
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 11: heavy hand upon the bridle. Not a step further in
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 11: that direction at any rate, if you please, my darling,
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 11: oh papa, expostulated the child, pointing with his hand to
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 11: the light. And oh, my son, I see, cried the father, smiling,
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 11: And well is it for you that I not only see,
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 11: but know the meaning of what I see. At the
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 11: same time, that light is neither the gleam from a cottage,
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 11: nor yet a friendly man with a lanthorn, as you think,
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 11: though for the matter of that, the light is friendly
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 11: enough to those who understand it. It shines there to
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 11: warn us from the dangerous part of the bog. Kind
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 11: Old will O the Wisp pursued the father, raising his
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 11: voice as if calling through the darkness into the distance.
• 1:37:27
  Speaker 11: Kind Old will O the wisp. We know what you mean.
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 11: We will not come near your deathly swamps. The old
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 11: naturalist knows you well. Good night, and thank you for
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 11: the warning, so saying, the naturalist turned the reins of
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 11: his son's pony the other way, and they both trotted along,
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 11: keeping the beaten road as well as they could by
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 11: the imperfect light. After all, it was more like a
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 11: lanthorn than those pictures of the nasty will O the Wisp.
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 11: Papa murmured the little boy, reluctantly, urging his pony on.
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 11: Our friend is not much indebted to you for the
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 11: pretty name you have called, laughed the father. You are
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 11: of the same mind as the poet who, with the
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 11: license of his craft said yonder phantom only flies to
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 11: lure thee to thy doom, Yes, Papa, and so he does,
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 11: interposed the boy. But indeed he does no such thing,
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 11: my dear. On the contrary, he spends all his life
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 11: in shining brightly to warn travelers of the most dangerous
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 11: parts of the swamp. But the shining seems as if
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 11: he was inviting them to go after him. Papa, only
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 11: because you choose to think so, my dear, and do
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 11: not inquire does the sailor think the shining of the
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 11: lighthouse invites him to approach the dangerous rocks on which
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 11: it is built. Oh, no, Papa, because he knows it
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 11: is put there on purpose to warn him away. He
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 11: only knows by teaching and inquiry, Arthur. And so you, also,
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 11: by teaching and inquiry, will learn to know that this
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 11: will o the Wisp is made to shine for us
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 11: in swamps and marshes as a land beacon of danger.
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 11: The laws of nature, which are the acted will of God,
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 11: worked together in this case, as in all others, for
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 11: a good end, and it is given to of us
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 11: as both a privilege and a pleasure to search them
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 11: out and to avail ourselves of the mercies. Whilst we
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 11: admire the wonders of the great Creator. Can you think
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 11: of a better employment? The fire was very bright, and
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 11: the tea was warm and good that greeted the travelers,
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 11: father and son on their arrival at home that night.
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 11: Many a joke too, passed with Mamma as to the
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 11: sort of tea they should have tasted and the kind
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 11: of bed they should have laid down in, had they
• 1:39:31
  Speaker 11: only gone after the will of the Wisp. As young
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 11: Arthur had so much wished to do, and for just
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 11: a few days after these events not more. For children's
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 11: wisdom seldom does, or ought to last much longer. Arthur
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 11: had every now and then a wise philosophical fit, And
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 11: on the principle that, however much appearances might be to
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 11: the contrary, the laws of nature were always working to
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 11: some good and beneficent end, He slagely and gravely reproved
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 11: his little sister for crying when a shower of hailstones fell.
• 1:40:00
  Speaker 11: For surely, said he, though we cannot go out to day,
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 11: the storm is doing good to something or somebody somewhere.
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 11: It was a blessed creed, though it cost him a
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 11: struggle to adhere to it. When the lightning flashed round him,
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 11: and the thunder roared in the distance, and he saw
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 11: from the windows dark clouds hanging over the landscape. When
• 1:40:19
  Speaker 11: some one said that the storm had been very grand,
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 11: he thought, yes, But it was grander still to think
• 1:40:25
  Speaker 11: that all these laws of nature, as they are called,
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 11: this acted will of God, was forever working night and day,
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 11: in darkness and in light, recognized or unheeded, for some
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 11: wise and beneficent end. Yes, when he was older, he
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 11: would try and trace out these ends, and a better
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 11: employment could not be found. It may be that, in
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 11: long after years, when the storms and the clouds that
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 11: gathered round him were harder yet to look through, because
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 11: they were mental troubles, it may be that, then, from
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 11: amidst the tender recollections of his infancy, the gleaming of
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 11: the Will of the Wisp would suddenly rise and before
• 1:41:00
  Speaker 11: him with comfort. For the student of nature, who had
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 11: traced so many blessed ends out of dark and mysterious beginnings,
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 11: held fast to the humility and faith of childhood, and
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 11: where his mind was unable to penetrate, his heart was
• 1:41:14
  Speaker 11: contented to believe. Meanwhile, the Will of the Wisp had
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 11: heard the kind good night that greeted him as the
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 11: travelers passed by on that dark evening, and his light
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 11: shone brighter than ever, as he said, I am happy
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 11: now I have saved the life of one who is
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 11: not only thankful for it, but knows the hand that
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 11: saved him. With these words, he cheerily danced back again
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 11: to his appointed post.
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 6: End of chapter six, Chapter seven, waiting. It is good
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 6: that a man should both hope and quietly wait. Lamentations
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 6: three twenty six. It was doubtless a very sorry life.
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 6: The house cricket led before houses were built and fires
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 6: were kindled. There was no comfortable kitchen hearth, then in
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 6: the warm nooks and corners, from which he might sit
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 6: and sing his cheerful song, coming out every now and
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 6: then to bask himself in the glow of the blazing light.
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 6: On the contrary, he so fond of heat, had no
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 6: place to shelter in but holes in hollow trees, or
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 6: crevices in rocks and stones, or some equally dull and
• 1:42:37
  Speaker 6: damp abode, besides which he had to bear the incessant
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 6: taunts and ridicule of creatures who were perfectly comfortable themselves,
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 6: and so had no fellow feeling for his want of cheerfulness.
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 6: Why don't you go and spring about and sing in
• 1:42:57
  Speaker 6: the fields with your cousin the grasshopper, was the ill
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 6: natured question of the spider, as she twisted her web
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 6: in one of the refuge holes the cricket had crept into.
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 6: I'm sure your legs are long enough if you would
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 6: only take the trouble to undouble them. It's nothing but
• 1:43:18
  Speaker 6: a sulky, discontented feeling that keeps you and your family
• 1:43:22
  Speaker 6: moping in these out of the way corners when you
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 6: ought to be using your limbs and jumping about and
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 6: enjoying yourself. And I dare say too, that you could
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 6: sing a great deal louder if you chose. The cricket
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 6: thought perhaps he could, But he must feel very differently
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 6: to what he did then before it would be possible
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 6: to try. Something was so very very wrong with him.
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 6: But what that something was he did not know. All
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 6: the other beasts and birds and insects seemed easy and
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 6: happy enough. The spider, for instance, was quiet at home
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 6: and gay, and the whole he found so dismal. And
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 6: it was not the spider only who was contented. The flies,
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 6: the bees, the ants, the very mole, who sometimes came
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 6: up from burrowing and told wonderful stories of his underground delights.
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 6: The birds in their merry songs, the huge beest walked
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 6: about like giants in the fields. All all were satisfied
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 6: with their condition and happy in themselves. Every one had
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 6: the home he liked, and no one envied the other.
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 6: But with him it was quite otherwise. He never felt
• 1:44:44
  Speaker 6: at home. On the contrary, it always seemed to him
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 6: that he was looking out for something that was not there,
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 6: some place that could never be found, some state where
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 6: he could rise out of the depression easiness which here
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 6: seemed to clog him down. Though he could not understand why,
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 6: poor fellow, as things were now, he felt forever driven
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 6: to hide in holes, although he knew that his limbs
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 6: were built for energy, and few ever heard his voice,
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 6: though he possessed one fitted for something much better than
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 6: doleful complaints. Sometimes a set of house crickets would meet
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 6: and talk the matter over. They looked at their long,
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 6: folded up legs and could not but see how exactly
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 6: they were like those of the grasshopper. And yet the
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 6: idea of following the grasshopper into the cool grass and
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 6: jumping about all day was odious to them. Once, indeed,
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 6: a cricket of great self denial offered to go into
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 6: the fields and find one of his green cousins and
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 6: ask his opinion on the subject, and whether he could
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 6: give any reason why the grasshoper life should be so
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 6: distasteful to such near relations. And he actually went, and
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 6: when the grasshopper could be persuaded to stand quiet for
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 6: a few seconds and listen, he was so much concerned
• 1:46:19
  Speaker 6: for the crickets, for he had a tender heart from
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 6: living so much in the grass and being so musical,
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 6: that he said he would himself visit his cousins and
• 1:46:30
  Speaker 6: see what could be done for them. Perhaps it was
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 6: some little accidental ailment, or it might be a chronic
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 6: affection in the family, maybe owing to mismanagement when they
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 6: were young, but which a little judicious treatment would correct.
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 6: With these views, he started for the hollow tree in
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 6: which the crickets had taken shelter, and soon reached it,
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 6: For he traveled the whole way in bounds, and the
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 6: last bound took him fairly into the midst of the
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 6: family's circle, in which indeed he alighted with more vivacity
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 6: than politeness, for his cousins did not like such startling gaiety. However,
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 6: he steadied himself carefully, and then began to examine the
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 6: legs and knees of all the crickets assembled. He drew
• 1:47:25
  Speaker 6: them out and looked them well over. For thought he
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 6: there is perhaps some blunder or flaw in the way
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 6: the joints are put together, but he could find nothing amiss.
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 6: There sat the crickets with legs and bodies as nicely
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 6: made as his own, only with no energy for exertion.
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 6: What he might have thought, or what he might have
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 6: said after this puzzling discovery, no one can tell, for
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 6: at the end of his examination he was seized with
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 6: the fidgets. And excuse me, my dear friends, cried he,
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 6: I have the cramp in my left leg. I must jump,
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 6: and jump He did once, twice thrice, and the last
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 6: jump carried him out of the tree, and either on
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 6: purpose or from forgetfulness, he sprang, singing away and returned
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 6: to his cousins the crickets. No more, Oh this yearning
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 6: after some other better state that lies unrevealed in the
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 6: indefinite future. How restless and disheartening a sensation, Oh, this
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 6: painful contrast of perfection in all created things around to
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 6: the lonely meditator on so much happiness. Who is the
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 6: solitary exception to the rule? How trying the position? How cruel,
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 6: how almost overwhelming the struggle between the iron chain of
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 6: reality and the soaring wing of aspiration. But what is
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 6: the use, my poor good friends, expostulated a plodding old
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 6: mole one day after coming out to see how the
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 6: upper world went on, and hearing the cricket's complaints, what
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 6: is the use of all this groaning and conjecturing? You
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 6: admit that every other creature but yourself is perfect in
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 6: its way and quite happy. Well, then I will tell
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 6: you that you ought to be quite sure you are
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 6: perfect in your way too, though you have not found
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 6: it out yet that you will be happy one day
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 6: or other, although it may not be the case. Just now,
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 6: do you suppose this fine scheme of things we live
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 6: in is to be soiled with one speck of dirt,
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 6: as it were, for the sake of teasing such a little,
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 6: insignificant creature as yourself. Don't think it for a moment,
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 6: for it is not at all likely. But you must
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 6: not suppose that everything goes right at first, even with
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 6: the best of us. I have had some small experience,
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 6: and I know but everything fits in at last of that,
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 6: I am quite sure. For instance, now, I do not
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 6: suppose it ever occurred to you to think what a
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 6: trial it must be to a young mole when he
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 6: first begins to burrow in the earth. Do you imagine
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 6: that he knows what he is doing it for or
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 6: what will be the result? No such thing. It is
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 6: a complete working in the dark, not knowing in the
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 6: least where he is going. Dear me, if one had
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 6: once stopped to conjecture and puzzle, what a hardship it
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 6: would have seemed to drive one's nose by the hour
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 6: together into unknown grounds for some unexplained reason that did
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 6: not come out for some time afterwards, and that one
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 6: had no certainty would ever come out at all. But
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 6: everything fits in it last, and so it did with us.
• 1:51:14
  Speaker 6: I remember it quite well in my own case. We
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 6: drove the earth away and outwards, till the space so
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 6: cleared proved an absolute palace. By the bye, I must
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 6: try and get you down into our splendid abode. It
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 6: will cheer you up and teach you a useful lesson. Well,
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 6: so you see, we found out at last what all
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 6: the grubbing had been for. Ah, but interrupted the cricket.
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 6: You were laboring for some purpose all the time, And
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 6: if I had to labor, I could hope. The difficulty
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 6: is to sit moping with nothing to do. But wait,
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 6: it is nonsense to talk of nothing to do, answered
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 6: the mole. Every creature has something to do. You, for instance,
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 6: have always to watch for the sun. You know, you
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 6: like the beams and warmth he sends out better than
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 6: anything else in the world, So you should get into
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 6: the way of them as much as you can. And
• 1:52:16
  Speaker 6: after the sun is set you must hunt up the
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 6: snuggest holes you can find. So make the best of
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 6: things as they are, And for the rest you must wait,
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 6: and waiting answers sometimes as well as working. I can
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 6: assure you there was the young ox and the planes
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 6: near here. As soon as he could run about it all,
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 6: he began driving his clumsy head against everything he met.
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 6: Footnote the bull calf butts with smooth and unarmed brow
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 6: and no reassurance common to a whole species, does in
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 6: any instance prove delusive. Coleridge's aids to reflection. No one
• 1:53:04
  Speaker 6: could tell why, but he fidgeted and butted about all
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 6: day long, and many of his friends and acquaintances were
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 6: very much offended by his manners. Others laughed. The dogs, indeed,
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 6: were particularly amused, and used to bark at him constantly,
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 6: even close to his nose, some pimes, as he lowered
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 6: his head after them. Well, at last out came the secret.
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 6: Two fine horns grew out from our friend's head, and
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 6: people soon understood the meaning of all the butting, and
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 6: one of the saucy curs, who was playing the old
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 6: barking game with him one day, got finally tossed for
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 6: his pains. Everything fits in it last, my friends, No
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 6: cravings are given in vain. There is always something in
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 6: store to account for them. You may be quite sure,
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 6: you may have to wait a bit. Some of you
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 6: are shorter, some a longer time. But do wait, and
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 6: everything will fit in and be perfect at last. It
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 6: was a most fortunate circumstance for the crickets that the
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 6: mole happened to give them this good advice, for a
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 6: malicious ape had lately been suggesting to them whether, as
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 6: they were totally useless and very unhappy, it would not
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 6: be a good thing for them all to starve themselves
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 6: to death, or in some other way to rid the
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 6: world of their whole race. But the mole's good sense
• 1:54:41
  Speaker 6: gave a different turn to their ideas. And hope is
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 6: so natural and pleasant a feeling that, when once they
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 6: ventured to encourage it, it flourished and grew in their
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 6: hearts till it created a sort of happiness of itself.
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 6: In short, they determined to wait and meantime to watch
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 6: for the sun, as their friend had advised. There are
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 6: not many records of the early history of the house crickets,
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 6: but it is supposed that they traveled about a good deal,
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 6: preferring always the hottest countries, and rumors of a few
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 6: straggling families who had discovered a sort of cricket elysium
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 6: at the mouth of volcanoes were afloat at one time,
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 6: But the truth of the report was never ascertained, and
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 6: as doubtless, if ever they got there, they were sure
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 6: to be swept away to destruction by the first eruption
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 6: that took place. It is no wonder that the fact
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 6: has never been thoroughly established. Meanwhile, several generations died off,
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 6: and things remained much as they were, But the words
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 6: of the mule were carried down from father to son
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 6: and became a by word of comfort among them. Everything
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 6: would fit in at last. No cravings are given in vain.
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 6: There is always something in store to account for them weight,
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 6: and everything will fit in and be perfect at last.
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 6: Gleams of hope, indeed, were not wanting to our poor
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 6: little friends during this time of probation. Wherever fires were
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 6: kindled by human hands, whether by wanderers in the depth
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 6: of forests or sojourners in tents. A stir of excitement
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 6: and rapturous expectation was caused among such crickets as were
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 6: near enough to know and enjoy the circumstance. But alas
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 6: when the travelers journeyed onwards or the tents were removed elsewhere,
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 6: the disappointment that ensued was bitter in proportion. Many an
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 6: evil hint too, had they, on such occasions from the
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 6: mischief making creatures, which are to be found in all
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 6: raids of life, that such and no better would be
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 6: their fate forever rays of joy beaming, only to be
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 6: extinguished in cruel mockery of their feelings. Such was to
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 6: be their perpetual portion. But we will not believe it,
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 6: cried the crickets, heartbroken as they were. Everything will be
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 6: perfect at last, sang they as loudly as they could.
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 6: No cravings are given in vain, And as they always
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 6: sang this same song, the mischief makers got tired of
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 6: listening at last and left them to sing and weep alone.
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 5: Ah.
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 6: It required no small strength of mind to resist as
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 6: they did. Such plausible insinuations supported as they were by
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 6: presence appearance. But truly, though it tarried, the day of
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 6: deliverance and joy did come. The first fire that ever
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 6: warmed the hearthstone that flagged the grand old chimney arch
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 6: of ancient times ended forever the mystery of the house
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 6: crickets wants and cravings. And when it commonly blazed every
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 6: winter night in men's dwellings, all the doubts and woes
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 6: of cricket life were over. These seemed to have passed away,
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 6: like the dreams of a disturbed night, which had been
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 6: succeeded by daylight and reality. And oh what ecstasy of
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 6: joy the crickets felt. How loud they shouted, and how
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 6: high they sprang. We knew it would be so. The
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 6: good old mule was right. The grumbling beasts were wrong.
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 6: Everything is perfect now, and no one is so happy
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 6: as we are. Grandmother creature, is it that I hear
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 6: singing so loudly in the corner by the fire, inquires
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 6: the little one of the good old Dane, who sits
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 6: musing on the oaken settle. I do not hear it,
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 6: my child, and I do not know, answers the deaf
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 6: and blind old Chrone But if it be singing love,
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 6: it is happy and enjoys these blessed fires as much
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 6: as I do. That everything that hath breath praise the Lord.
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 4: Ah.
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 6: It was no wonder that amidst the many merry voices
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 6: that then shouted and still shout round those warm and
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 6: friendly fires, no voice is louder, no joy more grateful
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 6: than that of the patient cricket. He has waited through
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 6: fear and shadows, has hoped through darkness and ignorance, and
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 6: his above road now glows with warmth and light. And
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 6: if he received a lesson of wisdom from a creature
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 6: more humbol and seemingly more blind than himself, it is
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 6: at least not the only instance in which instruction has
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 6: been so obtained. And now we know the reason why
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 6: the crickets come by troops into our houses and live
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 6: and thrive about our cheering fires, and seeing so loud
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 6: and long that the housewives, sometimes I grieve to say,
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 6: get weary of the noise, and try to lessen the
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 6: number of their lively visitors. But yet there is a strange,
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 6: old notion of good fortune attending the presence of these
• 2:00:47
  Speaker 6: little chirping creatures. They're welcomed as bringing good luck to
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 6: the family about whose heart they settle. And so they do.
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 6: They bring with them a tale of promises made good.
• 2:01:02
  Speaker 6: They sing a song of hope fulfilled. And though in
• 2:01:07
  Speaker 6: that glad music there be neither speech nor language which
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 6: we can recognize as such, there is yet a voice
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 6: to be heard among them by all who love to
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 6: listen with reverent delight to the sweet harmonies and deep
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 6: analogies of nature.
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 9: End of Waiting, Chapter eight, A lesson of hope. Oh,
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 9: yet we trust that somehow good will be the final
• 2:01:41
  Speaker 9: goal of ill. From Tennyson's in Memoriam, How the rising
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 9: blast is driving through the ancient forest. What a dismal
• 2:01:51
  Speaker 9: roaring there is among the pine trees, What a sharp
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 9: clattering among the half dried poplar leaves. What a sign
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 9: among the beaches, A wild mistake, various hour, and full
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 9: of strange, fantastic types of mortal life. It was thus
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 9: I spoke, when, having wandered out one gloomy autumn night
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 9: to muse on nature in her laws, I found myself contemplating,
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 9: in the deep recesses of a wood the progress of
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 9: a violent storm. And as I paused, I leant back
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 9: in sad reflections, lost against an oak, and looking upwards
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 9: to the sky, tried to gaze into the depths of
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 9: those black vapory masses that had arisen. One knew not
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 9: how or whence to darken over the expanse of heaven.
• 2:02:35
  Speaker 9: When all at once there shone down upon me from
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 9: an opening in the clouds, the full rays of a
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 9: bright October moon. The light was sudden, and a sudden
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 9: revulsion took place within my heart. I had been thinking that,
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 9: like the cruel storm, and like the heavy clouds, were
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 9: the troubles and the trials of human existence. And now,
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 9: when that sweet radiance broke upon my eyes, I heard
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 9: a voice exclaim, as if it echoed to my thoughts,
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 9: it is the moon that shone in Paradise. It was
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 9: the bird of night, quite near me in the hollow
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 9: of a tree. Looking to see from whence the sound
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 9: had come, I met his large, grave, meditative eyes fixed
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 9: on my moonlit face. And then I heard the voice
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 9: exclaim again, the moon that shone in Paradise. Oh, what
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 9: a thought to come across the tumult of that hour,
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 9: The moon that shone in Paradise, Up to whose radiant
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 9: ore the eyes of countless generations have been turned from
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 9: the first glance of spotless innocence to the last, yearning
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 9: gaze of sorrow stricken manhood. And why but that in
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 9: that calm, unchanging glory there shines forth the promise of eternal,
• 2:03:42
  Speaker 9: everlasting peace. But now another voice was heard, despite the
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 9: howling of the storm. It was a croaking raven swinging
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 9: on a branch beside me. He came between me and
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 9: the light, and ever and anon, his cold black wings
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 9: seemed spreading for a flight. They looted fool, He muttered,
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 9: with your endless miss, This comes of living in the
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 9: dark all day and spending all your time and guess work. See,
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 9: your precious moon is gone, not gone, though hidden, was
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 9: the answer. But I heard no more than this, For
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 9: here the frightful wind grew louder still. He roared in
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 9: fury all around, scattering the leaves from the bending trees,
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 9: as if he hated the very relics of the gentle summer.
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 9: And many bowed their heads, and others moaned in grief.
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 9: Hast thou come with mighty news from distant lands? Shouted
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 9: the pine tree scornfully, as he tossed his branches to
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 9: the storm that thou bringest such confusion in thy path.
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 9: And master of evil, who hast sent thee here, cannot
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 9: yonder moon teach thee milder thoughts, cried the elm tree,
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 9: as he stood majestic in his sorrow and despair. One
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 9: hour is come, exclaimed the softer birch. My leaves scattered
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 9: all around. Our life is closing.
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 6: Fast.
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 9: Naked and forlorn, we stand amid the ruins of the past.
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 9: What mockery of existence? Stormed the black leaf poplar in
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 9: his wrath. To be placed here and clothed in such
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 9: sweet beauty, nurtured by gentle dews and tender sunshine, and
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 9: then be left at last the victims of reckless fury,
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 9: with all our glories torn by force away? Would I
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 9: had never risen from the ground, Oh, my aspiring friend,
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 9: the ill math raven cried the few months splendor does
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 9: not satisfy your heart. You ain't too high, methinks well, well,
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 9: aspiring thoughts are very fine. But were I you, I
• 2:05:33
  Speaker 9: would accommodate myself to facts, a short spring, a shorter summer,
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 9: and then to perish.
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 2: Ha.
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 9: Here you are again, my ancient, worthy friend, and then
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 9: another gust broke in with savage fury on the forest,
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 9: and many a stalwart branch crashed down upon the ground.
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 9: The wellings of afflicted nature rose amidst a storm. Is
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 9: there no refuge from this end? Inquired the oak? Why
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 9: have I lived at all? Because destruction is the law
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 9: of life? The raven uttered with his fiercest croak. Where
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 9: would destruction be were there no life to be destroyed?
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 9: It is a glorious law, no law, but only an exception,
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 9: cried the bird of Night. As he spoke. There streamed
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 9: once more from out the clouds, that type of peace
• 2:06:16
  Speaker 9: that passeth not away, the moon that shone in paradise. Oh,
• 2:06:21
  Speaker 9: what a silver mantle she let fall upon the distroy
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 9: branches of those trees. Wet as they were with rain
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 9: drops and waving in the gale, It seemed as if
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 9: they shone in robes of starlight glory. What gracious promises
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 9: seemed streaming down with that sweet light. Lift up your head, ye,
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 9: forest trees, once more, so, sang the mild eyed bird
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 9: of night. Fury is short lived, love alone enduring. All
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 9: that destroys is transitory, but order is everlasting. The unbridled
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 9: powers of cruelty may rage. It is but for a time,
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 9: and ye may darken over the blue heavens, ye vapory
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 9: masses in the sky. It matters not beyond on the
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 9: howling of that wrath, beyond the blackness of those clouds,
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 9: their shines unaltered and serene. The moon that shone in paradise,
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 9: your myth again, detested bird of night, here to rescue
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 9: ancient friend. And louder then than ever came that cruel,
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 9: cruel wind. It matters not once more, the isle exclaimed.
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 9: The stormy winds must cease, the clouds must pass away,
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 9: and yonder sells the light that tells of harmony restored. Infatuated,
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 9: fool to live on hope with death around you? And
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 9: before you groaned the raven, and then a crash like
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 9: thunder rent the air. The ooak had fallen to the ground.
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 9: I started at the shop. Will the day ever come?
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 9: I crowed aloud, as if addressing some mysterious friend. Will
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 9: the day ever come when storms and woes shall cease?
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 9: Order in peace see meant? But death and ruin come
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 9: to pass, Oh, miserable doubter, do you ask? Must a
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 9: brute beasts and moot, creation, rise, give an answer to
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 9: your fears. Look in the heaven above, and in the
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 9: earth below, and in the water deep beneath the earth.
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 9: One only laws given, the law of order, harmony, and joy,
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 9: alas how often broken, I exclaimed, Aye, But disturbance is
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 9: no law, and therefore cannot last disorder, death and destruction.
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 9: By their own nature, they are transitory, rebellious powers that
• 2:08:25
  Speaker 9: struggle for a time and frustrate here and there the
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 9: gracious purposes ordain. But they exist, not of themselves, have
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 9: neither law, nor being in themselves. Exists but as disturbers
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 9: of a scheme whose deep foundations cannot be overthrown. Life, order, harmony,
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 9: and peace means duly fitting ends the object's universal joy.
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 9: This is a law. Believe in it and live. And
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 9: as the voice grew silent, from the sky beamed over
• 2:08:54
  Speaker 9: all the scene the placid moon once more, the wind
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 9: had lulled or passed away to other regions of the earth,
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 9: and over all the forest streamed the brilliant light. Once more,
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 9: the lit up trees shone, spangled oar with rays, and
• 2:09:07
  Speaker 9: happy murmurs broke upon my ear. Instead of loud complaints,
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 9: we have been wild and foolish, gracious Moon, exclaimed the
• 2:09:15
  Speaker 9: tender beech. We doubted all the promises and hopes that
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 9: you shed so freely down, and pity to the terrors
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 9: of the night. Forgive us once again, you have said right,
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 9: my sister said, though that heavenly power, whom neither winds
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 9: nor storms can reach, will view with tenderness our troubled lot,
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 9: who live amid the tempests of the earth.
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 6: She will forgive.
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 9: She hath forgiven us all has she not clothed us
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 9: now with robes more brilliant than the summer ones. We love,
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 9: the robes of hope and promise. Wept the popular as
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 9: he spoke, for all his branches trembled with delight, and
• 2:09:51
  Speaker 9: stars seemed dropping all around. I mourn my dark despair,
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 9: bewailed the elm. I should have called the past to memory.
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 9: We never are deserted in our need. The winter tempests
• 2:10:02
  Speaker 9: rage and terrible they are, but always the bright Moon,
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 9: from time to time returns to shed down rays of
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 9: hope and promises of glory on our heads. And still
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 9: we doubt in fear, and still the patient moon repeats
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 9: her tale. And then the spring and summer time return,
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 9: and life and joy in all our beauteous robes. Oh,
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 9: what weak tremblers we must be. And so through all
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 9: the rest of that strange night, murmurs of comfort sounded
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 9: through the wood, and I returned at last to the poor,
• 2:10:31
  Speaker 9: lonely cottage that I called my home, and wept mixed
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 9: tears of sorrow and of joy. Father and mother lost,
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 9: swept suddenly away, and I, with straightened means, left alone
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 9: to struggle through the world. Did I not stand before
• 2:10:45
  Speaker 9: my desolate hearth like one awakened from a dream, A vision,
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 9: surely such, it was, exclaiming in despair, as did the
• 2:10:53
  Speaker 9: weeping beach. Naked and for lone, I stand amid the
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 9: ruins of the past. But through the casement glided in
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 9: on me also as I stood the blessed rays of
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 9: that eternal moon, the moon that shone in paradise, the
• 2:11:08
  Speaker 9: moon that promises of paradise restored and ever and anon
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 9: throughout the struggle of my life, I would return for
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 9: wisdom and for hope to the old forest where I
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 9: dreamt the dream. As time passed on and winter snows
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 9: came down, a cold, unmeaning sleep seemed to bind up
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 9: the trees, but still at her appointed time. The moon
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 9: came out and lit up even snow with robes of
• 2:11:32
  Speaker 9: light and hope. And then the springtime burst the cruel
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 9: bonds that held all nature in a stagnant state, verdure
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 9: and beauty came again. And as I listened to the
• 2:11:41
  Speaker 9: gales that breathed soft music through the trees, I thought,
• 2:11:45
  Speaker 9: if I could dream again, I should hear songs of
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 9: exquisite delight. But that was not to be. Still, I
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 9: could revel in the comfort of the sight, and watch
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 9: some moonbeams glittering in triumph joy through the now verdant
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 9: bowers of those woods, playing in happy sport amid the
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 9: shadows of the leaves. And to me also came a spring.
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 9: From me too, passed away the winter and its chill.
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 9: And now I take the children of my love and
• 2:12:09
  Speaker 9: the sweet mother who has borne them to those woods,
• 2:12:13
  Speaker 9: and ever and anon we tell long tales of nature
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 9: and her ways, and how the poor trees moan when
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 9: storms and tempests come, and how the wise owl talks
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 9: to heedless ears his deep philosophy of laws of order
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 9: that must one day certainly prevail, and how the patient
• 2:12:28
  Speaker 9: moon is never weary of her task of shedding rays
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 9: of hope and promise on the world. And even while
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 9: we speak, the children clap their hands for joy and
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 9: say they never will despair for anything that comes for
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 9: lo above their heads there suddenly shines out the moon
• 2:12:45
  Speaker 9: that shone in Paradise. End of chapter eight.
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 8: Chapter nine, A circle of blessing freely have received, freely
• 2:12:57
  Speaker 8: give Matthew ten verse eight. Come back to me, my children,
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 8: Let us not part, murmured the sea to the vapors
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 8: which rose from its surface, drawn upwards by the heat
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 8: of the tropical sun, return to my bosom, and contribute
• 2:13:13
  Speaker 8: your share to the preservation of my greatness and strength.
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 8: There is no lasting greatness but in distributed good, replied
• 2:13:21
  Speaker 8: the vapors. Behold, we carry your cooling influence to the
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 8: heated air around let us alone. Oh see, the work
• 2:13:30
  Speaker 8: is good, but carried on at my expense, murmured. The
• 2:13:34
  Speaker 8: sea is the air your parent, and not I that
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 8: you are so careful of its interests and so neglectful
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 8: of mine. Why are you thus ungrateful to me from
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 8: whom your very existence springs, Oh, foolish children, By diminishing
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 8: my power, you are sapping the foundations of your own life.
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 8: Your very being depends on mine. Small and great, great
• 2:13:58
  Speaker 8: and small, we all depend on each each other, sang
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 8: the vapors as they hovered in the air. Mighty Ocean,
• 2:14:04
  Speaker 8: give us of your abundance for those that need.
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 5: It.
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 8: Is but little that we ask. Divided interests are the
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 8: ruin of fools, muttered the angry sea, but extended once
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 8: the glory of the wise, replied the vapors as they
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 8: still continued to rise. See now have we not done
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 8: ourselves what we would have you also do? Behold, we
• 2:14:27
  Speaker 8: have left our salts in your bosom for those that
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 8: need them, and I have cast them as a useless
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 8: burden to my lowest depths, exclaimed the sea, indignantly, have
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 8: I not enough? Already? Superfluous bounties deserve but little thanks? Methinks,
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 8: Yet in those depths perhaps they may be as welcome
• 2:14:49
  Speaker 8: as we to the air above, persisted the vapors. It
• 2:14:53
  Speaker 8: is ever thus, and all will be made good at last,
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 8: Small and great, great and small, we are to on
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 8: each other evermore. Be Gone, then, moaned the sea, You
• 2:15:05
  Speaker 8: who are willing to sacrifice a certain good for an
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 8: uncertain fancy, begone and be yourselves the first victim of
• 2:15:12
  Speaker 8: your folly. The breezes that are now driving you forward
• 2:15:16
  Speaker 8: across my surface will rise to fury and blow you
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 8: into nothingness as you proceed, lost among the stormy gust.
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 8: Where will be your use to others or my recompense
• 2:15:27
  Speaker 8: for your loss? You will not even exist to repent
• 2:15:31
  Speaker 8: of this mad desertion of your home. Adieu forever and ever.
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 8: Ado I do, but not forever? Answered the vapors as
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 8: they dispersed before the wind. It was not a satisfactory parting, perhaps,
• 2:15:46
  Speaker 8: for often as their race had made the journey round
• 2:15:49
  Speaker 8: the Earth, it had never fallen within the power of
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 8: any portion of them to explain the course of their
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 8: career to the surface sea, which had originally grudged their departcher. However,
• 2:16:01
  Speaker 8: the vapors had now commenced their circuit and were carried
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 8: onward by the steady southeast trade winds to the regions
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 8: of equatorial calms, that wonderful belt of heat and accumulation,
• 2:16:14
  Speaker 8: where they were met by breezes which in like manner
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 8: were traveling from the north. And here this meeting caused
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 8: for a while a lingering in the career of both.
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 8: But these opposing winds, laden with vapors from the two hemispheres,
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 8: had each their mission and worked under an appointed law.
• 2:16:34
  Speaker 8: It was their province to carry the exhalations from north
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 8: and south into the cooler upper sky, where once more
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 8: their course was free to travel round the world lifted up. Thus, however,
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 8: no sooner had the vapors entered a more temperate atmosphere
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 8: than their particles expanded, and a portion of them clung
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 8: together in drops, which, whilst under the influence of excessive heat,
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 8: was never the case. They thus became much heavier than before,
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 8: so heavy indeed, that the winds were not able to
• 2:17:03
  Speaker 8: bear them aloft. You cannot carry us, all, said the
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 8: vapors to their struggling supporters. Some of us will therefore
• 2:17:10
  Speaker 8: return with the message of comfort to the mighty Sea
• 2:17:13
  Speaker 8: to tell him all this well. But even when they
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 8: came down in torrents of rain to his bosom, the
• 2:17:18
  Speaker 8: sea grumbled. Still. It is well that a part at
• 2:17:22
  Speaker 8: least of what was lost returns, said he, But he
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 8: neither knew nor cared what became of the rest. The rest, however,
• 2:17:29
  Speaker 8: fared happily and well for high above Earth and sea,
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 8: so high indeed that they in no way interfered with
• 2:17:36
  Speaker 8: the winds that swept below. They were borne along by
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 8: the upper currents of air, which were traveling to the north,
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 8: and carried them forward on their journey of beneficence and
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 8: never ceasing good. Surely it must have been a sweet
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 8: sensation to be drifted along by an never varying breeze
• 2:17:54
  Speaker 8: through the higher regions of the sky, undisturbed by care,
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 8: in a dream of delicious idleness and ease. But this
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 8: was but a portion of the career of the vapors
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 8: from the sea. At the next meeting at the outskirts
• 2:18:07
  Speaker 8: of the tropics, with travelers like themselves coming in the
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 8: opposite direction, there was a fresh pressure of opposing breezes,
• 2:18:15
  Speaker 8: a temporary lingering, and then a descent by which they
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 8: left those higher regions forever. Henceforth they were to be
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 8: dispersed by surface winds on their course of usefulness to man.
• 2:18:27
  Speaker 8: And if, when cradled in that blissful passage high over
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 8: the tropics, those vapors had for a time forgotten their mission,
• 2:18:35
  Speaker 8: there was no possibility of forgetting it. Henceforward, taken up
• 2:18:40
  Speaker 8: with triumphant delight by all the varying breezes, that sport
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 8: over the northern hemisphere. There was no direction in which
• 2:18:46
  Speaker 8: they were not to be found. A portion was wanted here,
• 2:18:51
  Speaker 8: another portion there. The snows of Iceland and the vineyards
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 8: of Italy, the orange grows of Spain, and the river
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 8: which pours over the mighty rocks at Niagara, must all
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 8: be fed at their appointed seasons, And the food was
• 2:19:04
  Speaker 8: traveling to them now. But the eye would weary, which
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 8: strove to look sympathizingly round the vast expanse of the globe.
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 8: It is enough if we can follow the vapors through
• 2:19:15
  Speaker 8: some stages of their journey of love. On the summit
• 2:19:20
  Speaker 8: of a mountain, over whose sides the gorse and heather
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 8: were wont to flower together in bright profusion and with
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 8: their lovely inner mixture of hues, all the ground was
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 8: parched and dry. A burning sun by day rarely followed
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 8: by dewy nights. A summer drought, in fact, had ruled
• 2:19:36
  Speaker 8: for weeks over the spot, and the shrunken flower buds
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 8: and parched leaves bore painful witness to the fact. The
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 8: little mountain tarn below was almost dry, and the sundew
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 8: plants by its sides, which were wont to revel in
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 8: the damp surrounding moss had lost their nature altogether, and
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 8: never now offered their coronet of sparkling drops to the
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 8: admiration of those that pass. The pretty tumbling waterfall lowered down, too,
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 8: which travelers used to delight to visit, and which was
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 8: fed by streams from the hills, was reduced to a
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 8: miserable trickle. Cottage children were said to fetch water from
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 8: distances so great that they sat down and wept by
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 8: the roadside on their errand, and farmers wore a gloomy,
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 8: anxious look which told of a thousand fears about their
• 2:20:27
  Speaker 8: crops and cattle. But while they were thus troubled and
• 2:20:31
  Speaker 8: careful lo the rescue was coming from afar Yea, traveling
• 2:20:35
  Speaker 8: toward them upon the wings of the wind. Vapors from
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 8: tropical seas. Vapors which had left behind them their no
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 8: longer needed salt, were coming accumulated as clouds, to fall
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 8: as gracious rain and dews upon the thirsty regions of
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 8: the North. They are variable and fantastic winds perhaps that
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 8: course over the northern hemisphere, not steady and uniform in
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 8: their direction, like the trade winds in the tropics, nor
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 8: like those upper currents far above the trade winds which
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 8: carry the vapors to the second belts of calms. No
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 8: variable and fantastic they certainly are, and therefore we cannot
• 2:21:15
  Speaker 8: reckon on their arrival to a day, nay not to
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 8: a month. But on their arrival at last we may
• 2:21:21
  Speaker 8: always surely depend. And perhaps in this trial of patient
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 8: expectation a lesson of quiet faith is intended to be learnt.
• 2:21:32
  Speaker 8: And so, just as farmers and cottage children, and the
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 8: earth and its flowers and leaves and springs of water
• 2:21:39
  Speaker 8: had all sunk into a state of dismal, distrust and discomfort,
• 2:21:43
  Speaker 8: the deliverance came to them as they slept. Slight variations
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 8: in the wind had been observed for more than a day,
• 2:21:51
  Speaker 8: but still no change of weather took place until one
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 8: night a steady breeze from the southwest set in and
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 8: prevailed for hours, and presently there was a gathering up
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 8: of clouds all over the sky, though to the darkness
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 8: of the night their arrival passed unobserved. Gracious clouds, they
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 8: were the vapors of the sea, which, after many wanderings,
• 2:22:15
  Speaker 8: had found their way here at last on their mission
• 2:22:18
  Speaker 8: of love, and lo, the sound of waters was heard
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 8: once more on the dried up hills, and sweet heavy
• 2:22:25
  Speaker 8: showers dropped down to the delighted earth. All night long
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 8: it continued, and all night long the earth was streaming
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 8: tears of joy. And another day and another night succeeded,
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 8: during which more or less of rain or dew continued
• 2:22:40
  Speaker 8: to descend. Welcome, Welcome, o ye showers in dew were
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 8: the Earth's first words. And leave me now no more
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 8: her constant after cry, Poor Earth, Poor Earth, murmured. The vapors,
• 2:22:54
  Speaker 8: which condensed into rain drops were trembling like diamonds on
• 2:22:58
  Speaker 8: the leaves and flower in the sunshine of the second doll.
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 8: Poor Earth, poor Earth, you too refuse to learn the
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 8: law which brought us here what you have received so freely.
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 8: Will you not freely give nay, but linger with me
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 8: yet expostulated the earth, and let me rather store you
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 8: up for my own use Hereafter? What do I know
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 8: of the future and what it may bring forth? How
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 8: can I be sure that the fitful winds will supply
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 8: me again in time of need? I cannot afford to
• 2:23:29
  Speaker 8: think of others. Leave me, leave me not. None must
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 8: store against an uncertain future evil when so many are
• 2:23:40
  Speaker 8: suffering under a present one, replied the vapors. Nevertheless, a
• 2:23:44
  Speaker 8: message of comfort will come to you after we are gone.
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 8: And so, when the sun shone out in his heat
• 2:23:51
  Speaker 8: and glory, the diamond raindrops were drawn upward from the
• 2:23:54
  Speaker 8: flowers and leave into the air once more. Only the
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 8: little sundaws kept their ornets of crystal beads throughout the day,
• 2:24:02
  Speaker 8: as was their custom. Though how they managed it it
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 8: would be hard to say, perhaps, as their own natural
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 8: juices are so thick and clammy. These, mingling with the
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 8: vapors as they exhueded, held them longer. Fast. You are
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 8: our prisoners, was a triumphant cry of the sunder leaves,
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 8: as they glistened in their liquid gems. Nay, but why
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 8: would you detain us selfish flowers, exclaimed the vapors. Oh,
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 8: you shall go. You shall go, but only gradually, as
• 2:24:33
  Speaker 8: the moisture courses through our veins to resupply your place.
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 8: This is our way of life. But we must hear
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 8: all from you first, all, all, all, and most of
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 8: all why you have tarried so long till we had
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 8: almost perished in the dreadful drought. It was a long story.
• 2:24:51
  Speaker 8: The vapors had then to tell of their irregular passage
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 8: to the polar seas, and how after their chilly sojourn
• 2:24:57
  Speaker 8: there as snow, they had passed southward once more on
• 2:25:01
  Speaker 8: the summits of drifting icebergs, and again benexhaled and given
• 2:25:05
  Speaker 8: back to the ministry of the wandering winds, surely said they,
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 8: we have touched no place in all our wild journeyings
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 8: where we have not left some blasting behind here and there. Indeed,
• 2:25:18
  Speaker 8: folks think they have had too much of us, and
• 2:25:21
  Speaker 8: here and there too little. But oh, my delicate friends,
• 2:25:24
  Speaker 8: believe us. We are faithful and true to our mission
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 8: all over the world. Behold, we pour into the earth's rain,
• 2:25:33
  Speaker 8: or slide into it as moisture, and lo the soil
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 8: gives its gases into our care, and the roots of
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 8: the plants drawl us and them up together, and feeding
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 8: on them, expand and flourish and grow. And when the
• 2:25:47
  Speaker 8: useful deed is done, and the sun shines down on
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 8: our labor up we ascend again to its absorbing rays,
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 8: to be carried forward again and again to other gracious deeds.
• 2:25:59
  Speaker 8: Blame us not. Therefore, if in turning aside to some
• 2:26:02
  Speaker 8: other case of need. We have come a little late
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 8: to your hills own that you have not been forgotten.
• 2:26:10
  Speaker 8: It is true, murmured the Sundaws in return. But remember
• 2:26:14
  Speaker 8: we pine and die without your presence. Dear little Sundews,
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 8: there is not a plant in all the boggy heaths
• 2:26:22
  Speaker 8: that is so dear to us as you are see
• 2:26:24
  Speaker 8: now we linger with you. Yet there is moisture in
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 8: your mossy bed around this tarn, to last for many weeks,
• 2:26:32
  Speaker 8: and ever as a portion of us steals away, its
• 2:26:35
  Speaker 8: place shall be supplied from below, so that your leaves
• 2:26:38
  Speaker 8: shall never miss their sparkling diatem of gems. The Sundews
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 8: had no need to tremble after that. But as the
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 8: exhalations went up from the surface ground, and the moisture
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 8: sank lower and lower down into it, a fearce stole
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 8: over the earth that another drought might arise. For she
• 2:26:55
  Speaker 8: knew not that all would return to her again in
• 2:26:58
  Speaker 8: due season. But when in the cool of the evening
• 2:27:01
  Speaker 8: the vapors descended upon her bosom as refreshing mist and dew,
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 8: she received a portion of comfort. Nevertheless, like the sea,
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 8: she grumbled on it is well that a part at
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 8: least of what was lost returns, she remarked in her
• 2:27:16
  Speaker 8: greedy anxiety, as the sea had done before, And like him,
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 8: she neither knew nor cared what became of the rest.
• 2:27:26
  Speaker 8: There was a mission for every portion, however, and through
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 8: the now saturated ground, the rain drops sank together a mist,
• 2:27:32
  Speaker 8: roots and stones and soil, moistening all before them as
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 8: they went, and replenishing the springs that ran among the hills.
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 8: The tumbling waterfall had by this time well nigh given
• 2:27:44
  Speaker 8: up hope. The mournful trickle with which it fell was
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 8: an absolute mockery of its former precipitous haste. When low,
• 2:27:52
  Speaker 8: some sudden influences at work, A rush of vigor flows
• 2:27:55
  Speaker 8: into the exhausted veins, and there is a swelling in
• 2:27:59
  Speaker 8: the distant springs. Nearer and nearer it comes. And now
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 8: over the rocky ledge there is a heavier flow, a
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 8: little more, and yet a little more, and then at
• 2:28:09
  Speaker 8: last a rush of water, full and fresh as heard. Welcome, welcome,
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 8: o ye springs and floods, cried the waterfall as once
• 2:28:18
  Speaker 8: more it rolled in its beauty along its precipitous course,
• 2:28:21
  Speaker 8: scattering foam and spray upon the moss and flowers that
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 8: grazed its edge. Stay in the mountains always that I
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 8: may thirst no more. Leave me, Leave me not again,
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 8: You too, who lived by giving and receiving, cried the
• 2:28:37
  Speaker 8: vapors as they flushed the stream, You too, wishing to
• 2:28:41
  Speaker 8: stop the gracious course of good. Oh, shame, shame, shame.
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 8: And then, as if in mockery of the request, a
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 8: playful gust blew off from the waterfall as it descended,
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 8: some of its glittering spray, and tossed it to the
• 2:28:57
  Speaker 8: sunshiny air, where it dispersed once more in smoky mists,
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 8: but only to return again in time of need. Down
• 2:29:05
  Speaker 8: in the lower country were stately houses, enclosed in noble
• 2:29:09
  Speaker 8: parks adorned the land. A beautiful lake lay stretched out
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 8: under the noonday sun. It was fed by the stream, which,
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 8: at some miles distance, received the tumbling waterfall into its course,
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 8: and then ran through the lake's broad sheet, escaping at
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 8: the further end in a quick flowing rill. On the placid,
• 2:29:29
  Speaker 8: mirror like surface, majestic swans swept proudly by, not unsusceptible
• 2:29:35
  Speaker 8: of the freshening in the water from the filling of
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 8: the springs above, a little pleasure boat was floating lazily about,
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 8: impelled occasionally forward by the stroke of an oar. From
• 2:29:46
  Speaker 8: a youth, who, with one companion of his own age,
• 2:29:49
  Speaker 8: and an elderly man who sat abstractedly reading a book,
• 2:29:53
  Speaker 8: formed the passengers of this tiny bark. The rower's young
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 8: companion was lounging in a half sitting, half reclining posture
• 2:30:03
  Speaker 8: in the bows the boat, and both were gazing at
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 8: the old baronial hall, which, with its quaint turrents, long terraces,
• 2:30:11
  Speaker 8: and picturesque gardens, faced the lake at a slightly distant elevation,
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 8: where it stood embosomed in trees. Well, if the place
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 8: were to be mine, observed the lounger, with his eyes
• 2:30:23
  Speaker 8: fixed upon it. I know exactly what I should do.
• 2:30:26
  Speaker 8: I would throw all your agricultural and educational and endless
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 8: improvement schemes overboard at once, leave them for those whose
• 2:30:33
  Speaker 8: business it is to look after them, and enjoy myself
• 2:30:36
  Speaker 8: and live like a prince while I had the chance,
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 8: and die worse than a beggar. At last, cried the
• 2:30:43
  Speaker 8: other youth, as he rested on his oars and looked
• 2:30:46
  Speaker 8: at his cousin who had spoken, I mean, without a friend,
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 8: you cannot secure even enjoyment in stagnation, added he. The
• 2:30:54
  Speaker 8: very pond here is kept pure by giving out through
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 8: a stream at one end what it receives through a
• 2:30:59
  Speaker 8: stream at the other. And the stream from which it receives,
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 8: said the old man, looking up from his book, is
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 8: a type of God himself, and the stream to which
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 8: it gives is a type of the human race. Those
• 2:31:15
  Speaker 8: who received from the fountain without giving to the stream
• 2:31:18
  Speaker 8: work equally against the laws of nature and of God.
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 8: A few strokes of the oar here carried the boat away.
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 8: But surely that was the voice of him who, in
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 8: the by gone year had startled the ignorant murmur in
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 8: the voyage across the line. Well, it is would those
• 2:31:38
  Speaker 8: who in the secrets of nature read the wisdom of
• 2:31:41
  Speaker 8: God softly did that summer evening sink upon the park
• 2:31:46
  Speaker 8: and the old baronial hall. And heavy were the mists
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 8: and dews that hung over the woods and gardens and flowers,
• 2:31:54
  Speaker 8: And great was the rejoicing in the country round when
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 8: after a time they were followed by fertilizer rains. Fertilizing rains.
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 8: The words are easily spoken but who knows their full meaning,
• 2:32:06
  Speaker 8: save he who has watched over corn fields or vineyards
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 8: threatened with ill timed rought. We take a great deal
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 8: for granted in this world, and expect that everything, as
• 2:32:18
  Speaker 8: a matter of course, ought to fit into our humors
• 2:32:20
  Speaker 8: and wishes and wants. And it is often only when
• 2:32:24
  Speaker 8: danger threatens that we awake to the discovery that the
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 8: guiding reins are held by one whom we had well
• 2:32:30
  Speaker 8: nigh forgotten in our careless ease. If it had not thundered,
• 2:32:36
  Speaker 8: the peasant had not made The sign of the cross
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 8: is the rude proverb of a distant land, and peasant
• 2:32:42
  Speaker 8: and king are alike implicated in its meaning. It's all
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 8: right now, observed the farmers. He returned home in the evening,
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 8: after contemplating the goodly acres drenched and dripping with rain.
• 2:32:57
  Speaker 8: And it was all right. Indeed, For long after the
• 2:33:00
  Speaker 8: farmer had forgotten his previous anxieties in sleep, the circle
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 8: of blessing was at work in the length and breadth
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 8: of his fields. There the condensed vapors sank into the
• 2:33:12
  Speaker 8: willing swell, which gave to them her gases and her salts.
• 2:33:17
  Speaker 8: There the fibers of the roots of corn and grass
• 2:33:19
  Speaker 8: sucked up the welcome food, which brought strength and power
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 8: into the juices of the plant. And then, by slow
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 8: but sure degrees, the stunted ears began to fill, and
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 8: men said the harvest would be good. Stay with us forever,
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 8: asked the corners of the vapors, as they felt themselves
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 8: swell under the delicious influence. The vapors made no answer,
• 2:33:45
  Speaker 8: for they did not like to speak of death. But
• 2:33:48
  Speaker 8: they dealt gently with the corn, and did not leave
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 8: it till it had ripened gradually for the harvest and
• 2:33:53
  Speaker 8: no longer needed their aid. And then they exhaled once
• 2:33:57
  Speaker 8: more into the air to follow out their mission. Elsewhere,
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 8: a curly headed urchin stood by a pump, looking disconsolately
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 8: at the huge, heavy handle, which he could not lift.
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 8: A little watering pot was grasped in his hands, and
• 2:34:14
  Speaker 8: it was easy to see what he wanted. Some one
• 2:34:17
  Speaker 8: passing by observed him, and with a smile, gave him help.
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 8: A very few strokes of the handle brought up the
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 8: water from below. The little watering pot was filled, and
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 8: the child ran away. He had a garden of his own,
• 2:34:32
  Speaker 8: a garden in which a few kidney beans in one
• 2:34:34
  Speaker 8: place and sweet peas in another, with scatterings of mustard
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 8: and crest, formed a not very unusual mixture, but it
• 2:34:42
  Speaker 8: served its purpose of giving employment and pleasure to the child.
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 8: The kidney beans, which he hoped to eat one day
• 2:34:50
  Speaker 8: at dinner, were evidently the objects of his most attentive care,
• 2:34:54
  Speaker 8: for he soaked them again and again with the water
• 2:34:57
  Speaker 8: from his pot, tossing only a few drops of it
• 2:35:00
  Speaker 8: over the flowers. Little gueste of the long, long journey
• 2:35:04
  Speaker 8: the vapors of the sea had made before they helped
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 8: to fill the springs which fed the well over which
• 2:35:09
  Speaker 8: the pump was built. Little guestee either, of what would
• 2:35:13
  Speaker 8: become of them, when, after helping to fill his kidney
• 2:35:17
  Speaker 8: beans with delicate juices, they returned back to the ministry
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 8: of the winds. When he touched his pinafore after he
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 8: had finished his work, he found it soaked with wet,
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 8: And when soon after he saw it hung in front
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 8: of the fire to dry, he sat down and amused
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 8: himself by watching the steam as it rose from the
• 2:35:39
  Speaker 8: linen under the influence of the heat. Trifling, it seems
• 2:35:44
  Speaker 8: to tell an every day occurrence of life, not worth
• 2:35:47
  Speaker 8: a record Yet there was a law even for the
• 2:35:50
  Speaker 8: vapor that rose from the infant's pinafore in front of
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 8: the nursery fire. Nothing shall be lost of that which
• 2:35:58
  Speaker 8: God has ordained to good, And the vapors were soon
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 8: on their mission. Again. Through chimney or window, they escaped
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 8: to the cooler air and returned to their ceaseless work.
• 2:36:11
  Speaker 8: Give us of your salts, was at last their request,
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 8: as they percolated through the lower ground to join the
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 8: mighty rivers which ran into the sea. Give us of
• 2:36:20
  Speaker 8: your salts and lime and mineral virtues, O thou, Earth,
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 8: that we may bear them with us to the sea
• 2:36:25
  Speaker 8: from whence we came. Is not the sea sufficient to itself?
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 8: Inquired the jealous earth, None are sufficient to themselves, O
• 2:36:35
  Speaker 8: careful Mother, answered the vapors, as they streamed in water
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 8: along their way. Small and great, great and small, we
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 8: all depend upon each other. How shall the shells and
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 8: coral reefs and zoophytes of the deep continue to grow
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 8: and live? If you refuse them the virtues of your soil.
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 8: Give us of your salts and lime and the mineral
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 8: deposits of your bosom, O Ma the Earth, that they
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 8: may live and rejoice have you nothing to offer in return,
• 2:37:06
  Speaker 8: asked the still hesitating earth. Do you not know that
• 2:37:10
  Speaker 8: we have left a blessing behind us wherever we have
• 2:37:12
  Speaker 8: been exclaimed the vapors. But no matter for the past. See,
• 2:37:17
  Speaker 8: we will do ourselves as we would have you do.
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 8: We will bind ourselves in beauty in the caves of
• 2:37:24
  Speaker 8: your kingdom and live with you forever. So as they
• 2:37:28
  Speaker 8: passed on their way, loading themselves with the virtues of
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 8: the earth, some turned aside and sinking to the subterranean depths,
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 8: oozed with their limy burden through the roofs of caves
• 2:37:40
  Speaker 8: and sides of rocks, and hung suspended in graceful stalactites,
• 2:37:45
  Speaker 8: or shown out in many sided crystal forms. Now I
• 2:37:50
  Speaker 8: am satisfied, observed the earth. What I see, I know
• 2:37:55
  Speaker 8: they have left me something behind for what they have
• 2:37:58
  Speaker 8: taken away, And now we are satisfied, cried the rest
• 2:38:04
  Speaker 8: of the vapors, as they poured into the rivers and
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 8: were carried out into the sea. Have we not returned
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 8: with the blessing and treasures in our hand? And thus,
• 2:38:14
  Speaker 8: from age to age, ever since the primary mists went
• 2:38:18
  Speaker 8: up from the earth and watered the whole face of
• 2:38:21
  Speaker 8: the ground. The mighty work has gone on and still
• 2:38:25
  Speaker 8: continues its course. For not to inactivity and idleness did
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 8: the vapors now return, but only to recommence afresh their
• 2:38:33
  Speaker 8: labors of love. Yes, ever more rejoicing on their way
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 8: through all varieties of accidents of climate and of place,
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 8: whether as snow or hail, as showers or dews, as
• 2:38:46
  Speaker 8: floods or springs, as rivers, or as seas, the waters
• 2:38:51
  Speaker 8: are still obediently fulfilling his word who called them into being,
• 2:38:56
  Speaker 8: and are carrying the everlasting circle of blessings the world.
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 8: Oh ye showers and dew, oh ye winds of God,
• 2:39:06
  Speaker 8: oh ye ice and snow, Oh ye sees and floods verily,
• 2:39:11
  Speaker 8: Even when man is mute and forgetful, Ye bless the Lord.
• 2:39:15
  Speaker 8: Ye bless him and magnify him forever. End of Chapter nine.
• 2:39:23
  Speaker 4: Chapter ten, The Law of the Wood, Let every one
• 2:39:27
  Speaker 4: of us please his neighbor for his good Romans fifteen
• 2:39:30
  Speaker 4: to two. Never what a word to be heard in
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 4: a wood on an early summer morning, before the sun
• 2:39:37
  Speaker 4: had quite struggled through the mists, and before the dew
• 2:39:39
  Speaker 4: had left the flowers, and while all nature was passing
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 4: through the changes that separate night from day, adapting herself
• 2:39:46
  Speaker 4: gently to the necessities of the hour. Never what a
• 2:39:50
  Speaker 4: word to come from a young creature which knew very
• 2:39:52
  Speaker 4: little more of what had gone before than of what
• 2:39:55
  Speaker 4: was coming after, and who could not therefore be qualified
• 2:39:58
  Speaker 4: to pronounce a very positive judgment upon anything. But somehow
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 4: or other, it is always the young and inexperience who
• 2:40:05
  Speaker 4: are most apt to be positive and self willed in
• 2:40:08
  Speaker 4: their opinions. And so the young spruce fir, thinking neither
• 2:40:11
  Speaker 4: of the lessons which nature was teaching, nor of his
• 2:40:14
  Speaker 4: own limited means of judging, stuck out his branches all
• 2:40:17
  Speaker 4: around him in everybody's face, right and left, and said never.
• 2:40:21
  Speaker 4: It so startled a squirrel who was sitting in a
• 2:40:23
  Speaker 4: neighboring tree pleasantly picking out the seeds of a fir cone,
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 4: that he dropped his treasure dainty to the ground, and,
• 2:40:29
  Speaker 4: springing from branch to branch, got up as high as
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 4: he could, and then, looking down, remarked timidly to himself,
• 2:40:36
  Speaker 4: what could be the matter with the spruce firs. Nothing
• 2:40:39
  Speaker 4: was the matter with the spruce firs exactly, But the
• 2:40:42
  Speaker 4: history of their excitement was as follows. They and a
• 2:40:45
  Speaker 4: number of other trees were growing together in a pretty wood.
• 2:40:48
  Speaker 4: There were oaks and elms, and beaches, and larches and
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 4: furs of many sorts. And here and there there was
• 2:40:54
  Speaker 4: a silver barked birch. And there was one silver barked
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 4: birch in particular, who had been observing the spruce firs
• 2:41:00
  Speaker 4: all that spring, noticing how fast they were growing, and
• 2:41:04
  Speaker 4: what a stupid habit, as he thought they had, of
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 4: always getting into everybody's way and never bending to accommodate
• 2:41:11
  Speaker 4: the convenience of others. He might have seen the same
• 2:41:14
  Speaker 4: thing for some years before, if he had looked. But
• 2:41:17
  Speaker 4: he was not naturally of an inquisitive disposition, and did
• 2:41:20
  Speaker 4: not trouble himself with other people's affairs, so that it
• 2:41:23
  Speaker 4: was only when the spruce fir next him had come
• 2:41:26
  Speaker 4: so close that its branches friged off little pieces of
• 2:41:29
  Speaker 4: his delicate paper like bark when the wind was high,
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 4: that his attention was attracted to the subject. People usually
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 4: become observant when their own comfort is interfered with, and
• 2:41:38
  Speaker 4: this was the case here. However, little the birch might
• 2:41:41
  Speaker 4: have cared for the spruce fir's behavior. Generally, there was
• 2:41:44
  Speaker 4: no doubt that it was very disagreeable to be scratched
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 4: in the face, And this he sensibly felt, and came
• 2:41:50
  Speaker 4: to his own conclusions accordingly. At first, indeed, he tried
• 2:41:53
  Speaker 4: to sidle and get out of the fur's way, being
• 2:41:55
  Speaker 4: himself of a yielding and good natured character, But the
• 2:41:58
  Speaker 4: attempt was a quite hopeless He could not move one
• 2:42:01
  Speaker 4: side a hundredth part as fast as the fur branches grew,
• 2:42:04
  Speaker 4: So that do it he would, they came pushing up
• 2:42:07
  Speaker 4: against him and teased him all day. It was quite natural, therefore,
• 2:42:11
  Speaker 4: that the birch should begin to look round him and
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 4: examine into the justice and propriety of such a proceeding
• 2:42:16
  Speaker 4: on the part of the spruce firs. And the result
• 2:42:19
  Speaker 4: was that he considered their conduct objectionable in every way.
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 4: For he said, noticing that there was a little grove
• 2:42:26
  Speaker 4: of them growing close together just there. If they all
• 2:42:29
  Speaker 4: go on shooting out their branches in that manner, how
• 2:42:32
  Speaker 4: hot and stuffy they will get, not a breath of
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 4: air will be able to blow through them soon, and
• 2:42:37
  Speaker 4: that will be very bad for their health. Besides which
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 4: they are absolute pest to society with their unaccommodating ways.
• 2:42:44
  Speaker 4: I must, really, for their own sakes as well as
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 4: my own, give them some good advice. And accordingly, one morning,
• 2:42:51
  Speaker 4: that very early summer morning before described, the birch, having
• 2:42:55
  Speaker 4: had his silvery bark a little more scratched than usual,
• 2:42:58
  Speaker 4: opened his mind to his friends. If you would but
• 2:43:01
  Speaker 4: give way a little and not stick out your branches
• 2:43:03
  Speaker 4: in such a very stiff manner on all sides, I
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 4: think you would find it a great deal more comfortable
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 4: for yourselves, and it would certainly be more agreeable to
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 4: your neighbors.
• 2:43:11
  Speaker 6: Do try.
• 2:43:12
  Speaker 4: You are wonderfully ready and giving unasked advice, remarked the
• 2:43:16
  Speaker 4: young spruce fir next to the birch, in a very
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 4: saucy manner. We are quite comfortable as we are. I fancy.
• 2:43:22
  Speaker 4: And as to giving way, as you call it, what
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 4: or whom are we called upon to give way too?
• 2:43:28
  Speaker 4: I should like to know to me and all your neighbors,
• 2:43:32
  Speaker 4: cried the birch, a little heated by the dispute, on
• 2:43:35
  Speaker 4: which the spruce fir next to the birch cried never
• 2:43:38
  Speaker 4: in the most decided manner possible, and those beyond him
• 2:43:41
  Speaker 4: cried never too, till at last all the spruce firs
• 2:43:45
  Speaker 4: with one accord cried never, never, never, and half frighten
• 2:43:49
  Speaker 4: a poor squirrel to death. Every hair on his beautiful
• 2:43:52
  Speaker 4: tail trembled with fright as he peeped down from the
• 2:43:54
  Speaker 4: top of the tree, wondering what could be the matter
• 2:43:57
  Speaker 4: with the spruce firs. And certainly there was one thing
• 2:44:00
  Speaker 4: the matter with them, for they were very obstinate, And
• 2:44:03
  Speaker 4: as nobody can be very obstinate without being very selfish,
• 2:44:06
  Speaker 4: there was more the matter with them than they themselves suspected,
• 2:44:09
  Speaker 4: for obstinacy and selfishness are very bad qualities to possess.
• 2:44:13
  Speaker 4: But so ignorant were they of their real character, that
• 2:44:16
  Speaker 4: they thought it quite a fine thing to answer the
• 2:44:18
  Speaker 4: birch trees mild suggestion in such a saucy manner. Indeed,
• 2:44:22
  Speaker 4: they actually gave themselves credit for the display of a firm,
• 2:44:25
  Speaker 4: independent spirit. And so while they shouted never, they held
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 4: out their branches as stiffly as possible toward each other,
• 2:44:32
  Speaker 4: till they crossed and recrossed and played together, on which
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 4: they remarked, what a beautiful pattern this makes, how neatly
• 2:44:39
  Speaker 4: we fit in with one another, How pretty we shall
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 4: look when we come out green all over Surely the
• 2:44:45
  Speaker 4: woodpigeons would have been quite glad to have built their
• 2:44:47
  Speaker 4: nests here if they had known what a pity they
• 2:44:50
  Speaker 4: did not, poor things. I can hear them cooing in
• 2:44:52
  Speaker 4: the elm tree yonder, at a very inconvenient height and
• 2:44:56
  Speaker 4: very much exposed. Don't trouble yourselves about us, to the
• 2:45:00
  Speaker 4: woodpigeons from their nest in the elm, we are much
• 2:45:03
  Speaker 4: happier where we are. We want more breeze and more
• 2:45:06
  Speaker 4: leafy shade than you can give us in your close,
• 2:45:08
  Speaker 4: thick growing branches. Everyone to his taste, exclaimed the young
• 2:45:11
  Speaker 4: spruce fur, a little nettled by the woodpigeon's cool remarks.
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 4: If you prefer wind and rain to shelter, you are
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 4: certainly best where you are. But you must not talk
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 4: about beefy shade, because everyone knows that you can have
• 2:45:23
  Speaker 4: nothing of it where you are. To what you will
• 2:45:25
  Speaker 4: find here when we come out green all over? But
• 2:45:28
  Speaker 4: when will that be? Asked the woodpigeons in a gentle voice,
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 4: Dear friends, do you not know that the spring is
• 2:45:33
  Speaker 4: over and the early summer has begun, and all the
• 2:45:36
  Speaker 4: buds in the forest are turned to leaves, and you
• 2:45:38
  Speaker 4: yourselves are green everywhere outside, not only with your evergreen hue,
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 4: but with the young summer shoots. I sadly fear, however,
• 2:45:45
  Speaker 4: that it is not so in your inner bowers. Perhaps
• 2:45:48
  Speaker 4: because we are ever greens are sprouting, may not go
• 2:45:50
  Speaker 4: on so regularly as with other trees, suggested one, But
• 2:45:54
  Speaker 4: he felt very nervous at his foolish remark. It was welcomed, however,
• 2:45:58
  Speaker 4: as conclusive by his friends, who were tol I did
• 2:46:00
  Speaker 4: to catch at any explanation of a fact which had
• 2:46:02
  Speaker 4: begun to puzzle them. So they cried out, of course,
• 2:46:05
  Speaker 4: with the utmost assurance, and one of them added, our
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 4: outer branches have been green and growing for some time,
• 2:46:12
  Speaker 4: and doubtless we shall bring green all over soon. Doubtless,
• 2:46:16
  Speaker 4: echoed every spruce fir in the neighborhood, where they held
• 2:46:19
  Speaker 4: fast by each other's opinions and prided themselves on their
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 4: family attachment. We cannot argue, cooed the woodpigeons. In return.
• 2:46:25
  Speaker 4: The days are too short even for love, how can
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 4: there ever be time for quarreling. So things went on
• 2:46:30
  Speaker 4: in the old way, and many weeks passed over, But
• 2:46:32
  Speaker 4: still the interlaced branches of the spruce fir were no
• 2:46:35
  Speaker 4: greener than before, but beautiful little cones hung along the
• 2:46:38
  Speaker 4: outermost ones, and judging by its outside appearance, the grove
• 2:46:42
  Speaker 4: of firs looked to be in a most flourishing state. Alas, however,
• 2:46:45
  Speaker 4: all within was brown and dry. And the brownness and
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 4: dryness spread further and further instead of diminishing, and no
• 2:46:51
  Speaker 4: wonder for the summer was a very sultry one, and
• 2:46:54
  Speaker 4: the confined air in the fir grove became close and unhealthy,
• 2:46:58
  Speaker 4: and after heavy rains and ill condition and vapor rose
• 2:47:00
  Speaker 4: up from the earth, and it was never dispersed by
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 4: the fresh breezes of heaven. Nevertheless, the spruce firs remained obstinate,
• 2:47:07
  Speaker 4: as ever, they grew on in their old way and
• 2:47:09
  Speaker 4: tried hard to believe that all was right. What can
• 2:47:12
  Speaker 4: it matter, argued they, whether we are green or not.
• 2:47:15
  Speaker 4: Inside we are blooming and well everywhere else, And these
• 2:47:19
  Speaker 4: dry branches don't signify much that I can see. Still,
• 2:47:23
  Speaker 4: I do wonder what can be the reason of one
• 2:47:25
  Speaker 4: part being more green than another. It is absurd for
• 2:47:28
  Speaker 4: you to wonder about it, exclaimed the birch, who had
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 4: become more irritated every day. There is not a tree
• 2:47:33
  Speaker 4: in the world that could thrive and prosperous that persisted
• 2:47:36
  Speaker 4: in growing as you do. But it is of no
• 2:47:38
  Speaker 4: use talking. You must feel and know that you are
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 4: in each other's way every time you move, and in
• 2:47:43
  Speaker 4: everybody else's way too, in mine most particularly, my dear friend,
• 2:47:48
  Speaker 4: retorted the spruce fir, Your temper makes you most absurdly unjust.
• 2:47:53
  Speaker 4: Why we make it a point of never interfering with
• 2:47:55
  Speaker 4: each other or anybody else. Our rule is to go
• 2:47:58
  Speaker 4: our own way, and everybody else do the same. Thus
• 2:48:01
  Speaker 4: much we claim as right, Thus much we claim as right,
• 2:48:05
  Speaker 4: echoed the spruce fir grove. Oh, nonsense about right, persisted
• 2:48:09
  Speaker 4: the birch. Where's the good of having a right to
• 2:48:12
  Speaker 4: make both yourself and your neighbors miserable? If we each
• 2:48:15
  Speaker 4: of us lived in a field by ourselves, it would
• 2:48:17
  Speaker 4: all be very well. Everyone might go his own way
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 4: then undisturbed. But mutual accommodation is the law of the wood,
• 2:48:24
  Speaker 4: or we should all be wretched together, my friend rejoined
• 2:48:28
  Speaker 4: the spruce fir. You are one of many who mistake
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 4: weakness for amiability and make a merit of failing. We
• 2:48:35
  Speaker 4: are of a different temper, I confess we are, in
• 2:48:37
  Speaker 4: the first place, capable of having ideas and forming opinions
• 2:48:41
  Speaker 4: of our own, which everybody is not, and in the
• 2:48:43
  Speaker 4: second place, the plans and habits we have laid down
• 2:48:46
  Speaker 4: to ourselves, and which are not wrong in themselves, we
• 2:48:49
  Speaker 4: are courageous enough to persist in even to the death.
• 2:48:53
  Speaker 4: The spruce fir bristled all over with stiffness as he
• 2:48:56
  Speaker 4: refreshed himself by this remark, even inquired the birch in
• 2:48:59
  Speaker 4: an ironical tone, even at the sacrifice of your own
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 4: comfort and that of all around you, you are suggesting
• 2:49:06
  Speaker 4: an impossible absurdity, answered the vexed spruce fir evasively. What
• 2:49:10
  Speaker 4: is neither wrong nor unreasonable in itself can do no
• 2:49:13
  Speaker 4: harm to anybody. And I shall never condescend a trunkle
• 2:49:16
  Speaker 4: to other people's shims as to my line of conduct.
• 2:49:19
  Speaker 4: But there are plenty who, to get credit for complaisance
• 2:49:21
  Speaker 4: to their neighbors, would sacrifice the dearest principle without a scruple. Come, come, persisted,
• 2:49:28
  Speaker 4: the birch, Let us descend from these heights. There are
• 2:49:30
  Speaker 4: plenty of other people, my friend, who would feign shelter
• 2:49:33
  Speaker 4: the most stupid obstinacy and the meanest selfishness behind the
• 2:49:37
  Speaker 4: mask of firmness of character or principle or what not? Now,
• 2:49:41
  Speaker 4: what principle I should like to know is involved in
• 2:49:44
  Speaker 4: your persisting in your stiff, unaccommodating way of growing, except
• 2:49:48
  Speaker 4: the principle of doing what you please at the expense
• 2:49:50
  Speaker 4: of the feelings of other people. Insolent, cried the spruce fir.
• 2:49:54
  Speaker 4: We grow in the way which nature dictates, and our
• 2:49:57
  Speaker 4: right to do so must therefore be unquestionable. We possess
• 2:50:01
  Speaker 4: too a character of our own, and are not like
• 2:50:04
  Speaker 4: those who can trim their behavior into unmeaning tameness to
• 2:50:08
  Speaker 4: curry favor with their neighbors. I ought to be silent,
• 2:50:11
  Speaker 4: cried the birch, for I perceive my words are useless,
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 4: and yet I would like you to listen to me
• 2:50:16
  Speaker 4: a little longer. Does the beech tree sacrifice her character?
• 2:50:20
  Speaker 4: Do you think when she bends away her graceful branches
• 2:50:23
  Speaker 4: to allow room for the friend at her side to flourish? Too?
• 2:50:26
  Speaker 4: Look how magnificently she grows, stretching protectingly as it were,
• 2:50:30
  Speaker 4: among other trees. And yet who so accommodating and yielding
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 4: in their habits.
• 2:50:34
  Speaker 7: As she is.
• 2:50:36
  Speaker 4: It is her nature to be subservient. It is ours
• 2:50:38
  Speaker 4: to be firm, cried the spruce fir. It is her
• 2:50:42
  Speaker 4: nature to throw out branches all round her, as it
• 2:50:45
  Speaker 4: is that of every other tree, insisted the friendly birch.
• 2:50:49
  Speaker 4: But she regulates the indulgence of her nature by the
• 2:50:51
  Speaker 4: comfort and convenience of others. I scorn the example you
• 2:50:55
  Speaker 4: had set me, cried the spruce fir. It is that
• 2:50:58
  Speaker 4: of the weakest and most supple foreshorres trees. Nay, I
• 2:51:01
  Speaker 4: absolutely disprove of the tameness you pry so highly. Never,
• 2:51:05
  Speaker 4: I hope, will you see us bending feebly about and
• 2:51:08
  Speaker 4: be lying our character, even for the sake of flourishing
• 2:51:11
  Speaker 4: in a wood. It was all in vain, evidently, so
• 2:51:13
  Speaker 4: the birch resolved to pursue the matter no further. But
• 2:51:15
  Speaker 4: he muttered to himself, well you will see the result,
• 2:51:19
  Speaker 4: on which the spruce fir became curious and listened for more.
• 2:51:22
  Speaker 4: The birch, however, was silent, and at last the spruce
• 2:51:25
  Speaker 4: fir made a sort of answer in a haughty, indifferent tone.
• 2:51:28
  Speaker 4: I do not know what you mean by the result
• 2:51:31
  Speaker 4: you will someday, muttered the birch very testily, for the
• 2:51:35
  Speaker 4: fur branches were fridging off his bark cruelly. The wind's
• 2:51:37
  Speaker 4: having risen, and even I shall be released from your
• 2:51:40
  Speaker 4: annoyance before long. I will thank you to explain yourself
• 2:51:44
  Speaker 4: an intelligible language, cried the spruce fir, getting uneasy. Oh,
• 2:51:47
  Speaker 4: in plain words, then if you prefer it, replied the birch.
• 2:51:51
  Speaker 4: You are all of you dying, never exclaimed the spruce fir.
• 2:51:56
  Speaker 4: But he shook all over with fright as he uttered it.
• 2:51:58
  Speaker 4: And when the other spruce firs, according to custom, echoed
• 2:52:01
  Speaker 4: the word, they were as tremulous as himself. Very well,
• 2:52:04
  Speaker 4: we shall see, continued the birch. Everyone is blind to
• 2:52:08
  Speaker 4: his own defects, of course, and it is not pleasant
• 2:52:10
  Speaker 4: to tell home truths to obstinate people. But there is
• 2:52:13
  Speaker 4: not a bird that hops about the wood who has
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 4: not noticed such. Your branches are all turning into dry sticks,
• 2:52:19
  Speaker 4: and before many years are over, there will be no
• 2:52:21
  Speaker 4: more green outside than in the flies and mijas that
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 4: swarm about in the close air around. You know it
• 2:52:27
  Speaker 4: as well as we do. Ask the squirrel what he
• 2:52:29
  Speaker 4: thinks of your brown crackley branches which would break under
• 2:52:33
  Speaker 4: his leaps. And as to the woodpigeons, they gave you
• 2:52:35
  Speaker 4: a hint of your condition long ago. But you are
• 2:52:38
  Speaker 4: beyond a hint. Indeed, you are, I believe, beyond a cure.
• 2:52:42
  Speaker 4: They were, indeed, but a shudder passed through the fir
• 2:52:44
  Speaker 4: grove at these words, and they tried very hard to
• 2:52:47
  Speaker 4: disbelieve them. Nay, when the winter came they did disbelieve
• 2:52:50
  Speaker 4: them altogether. For when all the trees were covered with snow,
• 2:52:53
  Speaker 4: no one could tell a dead branch from a live one.
• 2:52:55
  Speaker 4: And when the snow fell off, they who had their
• 2:52:58
  Speaker 4: ever green outside had an advantage over many of the
• 2:53:00
  Speaker 4: trees by which they were surrounded. It was a time
• 2:53:03
  Speaker 4: of silence, too, and quiet, for the leafless trees were
• 2:53:06
  Speaker 4: in a half asleep state and had no humor to talk.
• 2:53:09
  Speaker 4: The evergreens were the only ones who now and then
• 2:53:11
  Speaker 4: had spared enough to keep up a little conversation. At last,
• 2:53:14
  Speaker 4: one day, the spruce firs decided to consult with a
• 2:53:17
  Speaker 4: distant relation of their own, the Scotch fur. On the subject.
• 2:53:20
  Speaker 4: He formed one of a large grove of his own
• 2:53:23
  Speaker 4: kind that grew on an eminence in the wood. But
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 4: they could only get at him through a messenger. And
• 2:53:27
  Speaker 4: when the squirrel, who was sent to inquire whether he
• 2:53:30
  Speaker 4: gave way and his growth to accommodate others, came back
• 2:53:32
  Speaker 4: with the answer that needs must. When there was no help,
• 2:53:36
  Speaker 4: the spruce firs voted their cousin a degraded being, even
• 2:53:38
  Speaker 4: in his own eyes, and scorned to follow an example
• 2:53:41
  Speaker 4: so base. Then they talked to each other of the
• 2:53:43
  Speaker 4: ill nature of the world, and tried to persuade themselves
• 2:53:47
  Speaker 4: that the birch had put the worst interpretation on their condition,
• 2:53:50
  Speaker 4: merely to vex them, and told themselves in conclusion that
• 2:53:53
  Speaker 4: they had nothing to fear. But their anxiety was great.
• 2:53:56
  Speaker 4: And when another spring and summer succeeded to winter, and
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 4: all the other trees regained their leaves, and a general
• 2:54:02
  Speaker 4: waking up of life took place, a serious alarm crept
• 2:54:05
  Speaker 4: over the spruce fir grove. For alas the brownness and
• 2:54:08
  Speaker 4: dryness had spread still further and less and less green
• 2:54:12
  Speaker 4: was to be seen on the thickest branches. Had they
• 2:54:15
  Speaker 4: but listened to advice, even then all might have been well.
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 4: Even the little birds told them how troublesome it was
• 2:54:20
  Speaker 4: to hop about among them, Even the squirrels said he
• 2:54:23
  Speaker 4: felt stifled if he ran under them for a cone.
• 2:54:26
  Speaker 4: But they had gone into their heads that it was
• 2:54:27
  Speaker 4: a fine thing to have an independent spirit, and not
• 2:54:30
  Speaker 4: mind what anybody said. They had got a notion that
• 2:54:32
  Speaker 4: it was a right and justifiable thing to go your
• 2:54:35
  Speaker 4: own way resolutely, provided you allowed other people to do
• 2:54:38
  Speaker 4: the same. But with all their philosophy they forgot that
• 2:54:41
  Speaker 4: abstract theories are only fit for solitary life, and it
• 2:54:44
  Speaker 4: can seldom be carried out strictly in a wood. So
• 2:54:46
  Speaker 4: they grew on as before, and the birch trees ceased
• 2:54:49
  Speaker 4: to talk, for either his silvery peel had come off
• 2:54:51
  Speaker 4: and he was hardened, or else he had taught himself
• 2:54:54
  Speaker 4: to submit unmurmuringly to an evil he could not prevent.
• 2:54:57
  Speaker 4: Certain it is that no further argument took place, and
• 2:55:00
  Speaker 4: the condition of the spruce firs attracted no further notice
• 2:55:03
  Speaker 4: till one spring morning several seasons later, the whole wood
• 2:55:06
  Speaker 4: was startled by the arrival of its owner, a new master,
• 2:55:09
  Speaker 4: who had come to pay his first visit among its glades.
• 2:55:12
  Speaker 4: The occasional sound of an axe stroke and a good
• 2:55:15
  Speaker 4: deal of talking were heard from time to time, for
• 2:55:17
  Speaker 4: the owner was attended by his woodman, and at last
• 2:55:20
  Speaker 4: he reached the spruce fir grove alas, and what an
• 2:55:23
  Speaker 4: exclamation he gave at the sight. As well he might,
• 2:55:26
  Speaker 4: for nearly every one of the trees had fallen victim
• 2:55:28
  Speaker 4: to a selfish mistake, and had gradually died away a wreck.
• 2:55:31
  Speaker 4: They stood, it is true, as before, but dried, withered, perished,
• 2:55:35
  Speaker 4: monuments of an obstinate delusion. The owner and the woodmen
• 2:55:38
  Speaker 4: talked together for a time and remark to each other
• 2:55:41
  Speaker 4: that half those trees ought to have been taken away
• 2:55:43
  Speaker 4: years ago, that they were never fit to live in
• 2:55:46
  Speaker 4: a cluster together, for from their awkward way of growing
• 2:55:49
  Speaker 4: they were half of them sure to die. But of
• 2:55:51
  Speaker 4: all the grove there was but one who had life
• 2:55:53
  Speaker 4: enough to hear these words, And to him the experience
• 2:55:56
  Speaker 4: came too late. All his old friends were, in due
• 2:55:59
  Speaker 4: time cut down before his eyes, and he, who by
• 2:56:02
  Speaker 4: an accident stood slightly apart and had not perished with
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 4: the rest, was only reserved in the hope that he
• 2:56:07
  Speaker 4: might partially recover for the convenience of a Christmas tree.
• 2:56:10
  Speaker 4: It was a sad, solitary summer he passed though the
• 2:56:13
  Speaker 4: fresh air blew freely round him now, and he rallied
• 2:56:16
  Speaker 4: and grew, as well as felt invigorated by its sweet,
• 2:56:19
  Speaker 4: refreshing breath. And though little birds sung on his branches
• 2:56:22
  Speaker 4: and chattered of happiness and love, for those who had
• 2:56:25
  Speaker 4: thought with him and lived with him were gone, and
• 2:56:27
  Speaker 4: their places knew them no more. Ah, Certainly there had
• 2:56:31
  Speaker 4: been a mistake somewhere, but it did not perhaps signify
• 2:56:34
  Speaker 4: much now to ascertain where. And no reproaches or ridicule
• 2:56:37
  Speaker 4: were cast upon him by his neighbors, no not even
• 2:56:40
  Speaker 4: by the freed and happy silver marked birch. For a
• 2:56:42
  Speaker 4: gentler spirit than that of rejoicing in other people's misfortune
• 2:56:46
  Speaker 4: prevailed in the pretty wood, So that it was not
• 2:56:49
  Speaker 4: till Christmas came and his doom was forever sealed, that
• 2:56:52
  Speaker 4: the spruce fir thoroughly understood the moral of his fate.
• 2:56:55
  Speaker 4: But then when the crowds of children were collected in
• 2:56:58
  Speaker 4: the brightly lighted hail, where he stood, covered with treasures
• 2:57:01
  Speaker 4: and beauty, and when they all rushed forward, tumbling one
• 2:57:04
  Speaker 4: over another in their struggles to reach his branches, each
• 2:57:07
  Speaker 4: one going his own way, regardless of his neighbor's wishes
• 2:57:10
  Speaker 4: or comfort, And when the parents held back to quarrelsome rogues,
• 2:57:13
  Speaker 4: bidding them one give place to another in honor of
• 2:57:16
  Speaker 4: preferring one another, considering public comfort rather than individual gratification.
• 2:57:20
  Speaker 4: Then indeed a light seemed to be thrown on the
• 2:57:22
  Speaker 4: puzzling subject of the object and rules of social life.
• 2:57:26
  Speaker 4: And he repeated to himself the words of the silver
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 4: barked birch, exclaiming, mutual accommodation is certainly the law of
• 2:57:33
  Speaker 4: the wood, or its inhabitants would all be wretched together.
• 2:57:37
  Speaker 4: It was his last idea end of chapter ten.
• 2:57:42
  Speaker 5: Chapter eleven, octave and passive. They also serve who only
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 5: stunned and wait. Milton, restless life, restless life, mocked the
• 2:57:55
  Speaker 5: weathercock on the church tower by the sea, as he
• 2:57:58
  Speaker 5: felt himself swayed sudden lee round by the wind, and
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 5: creaked with dismay. Restless toiling life, and everybody complaining of
• 2:58:08
  Speaker 5: one all the time. There's a tiresome weathercock pointing east,
• 2:58:13
  Speaker 5: cried the old woman as she hobbled up the churchyard
• 2:58:16
  Speaker 5: path to the porch. Last Sunday. Now I know why
• 2:58:19
  Speaker 5: I have got all my rheumatic pains back again. Then
• 2:58:22
  Speaker 5: in a day or two came the farmer by on
• 2:58:25
  Speaker 5: his pony, and drew up outside the world to have
• 2:58:27
  Speaker 5: a word with a gravedigger. A bad look out, Tomkins
• 2:58:32
  Speaker 5: said he if that ruscally old Weathercock is to be trusted,
• 2:58:36
  Speaker 5: the wind's got into the wrong quarter again, and we
• 2:58:39
  Speaker 5: shall have more rain. Was it my fault if he
• 2:58:42
  Speaker 5: did find out through me that the wind was in
• 2:58:45
  Speaker 5: what he called the wrong quarter? Besides, the wind always
• 2:58:49
  Speaker 5: is in somebody's wrong quarter, I verily believe. But am
• 2:58:54
  Speaker 5: I to blame? Did I choose my lot? No? No,
• 2:58:59
  Speaker 5: nobody'd suppose I should go swinking backwards and forwards, and
• 2:59:03
  Speaker 5: round and round all my life if I had my
• 2:59:07
  Speaker 5: choice about the matter. Ah, how much rather would die?
• 2:59:12
  Speaker 5: Lit the quiet, peaceful existence of my old friend the
• 2:59:15
  Speaker 5: dial down below, yonder on his pedestal, That is a life. Indeed,
• 2:59:22
  Speaker 5: how he is chattering away up above there, remarked the
• 2:59:25
  Speaker 5: tile from below. He almost makes me smile, though not
• 2:59:29
  Speaker 5: a ray of sunshine has fallen on me through the
• 2:59:32
  Speaker 5: live long day. Alas, I often wonder what he finds
• 2:59:36
  Speaker 5: to talk about, But his active life gives him subjects enough,
• 2:59:40
  Speaker 5: no doubt, Ah, what would I not give to be
• 2:59:44
  Speaker 5: like him? But all is so different with me. Alas,
• 2:59:48
  Speaker 5: I thought I heard my own name too. Just now
• 2:59:52
  Speaker 5: I will ask hallo up above there, did you call,
• 2:59:57
  Speaker 5: my sprightly friend? Is there anything fresh?
• 3:00:00
  Speaker 2: Aster?
• 3:00:01
  Speaker 5: Tell me if there is. I get so weary of
• 3:00:04
  Speaker 5: the dark and useless hours so common. Now, Alas, what
• 3:00:08
  Speaker 5: have you been talking about? Nothing profitable this time? A
• 3:00:12
  Speaker 5: good neighbor, replied the weather cock. For in truth you
• 3:00:16
  Speaker 5: have got me grumbling, grumbling, grumbling you yes, grumbling eye,
• 3:00:24
  Speaker 5: why not? But grumbling in the midst of an existence
• 3:00:27
  Speaker 5: so gay, so active, so bright, pursued the tile, it
• 3:00:32
  Speaker 5: seems impossible. Gay active bride A pretty description enough, but
• 3:00:40
  Speaker 5: what a mockery of the truth it covers. Look at
• 3:00:43
  Speaker 5: me swinging loosely to every peevish blust that flits across
• 3:00:47
  Speaker 5: the sky, turned here, turned there, turned everywhere, the sport
• 3:00:52
  Speaker 5: of every passing gust, never a moment's rest, but when
• 3:00:56
  Speaker 5: the uncertain breezes choose to seek it for themselves. Active
• 3:01:01
  Speaker 5: bright existence, indeed restless, soiling life, I call it, and
• 3:01:07
  Speaker 5: all to serve a thankless world by whom my very
• 3:01:10
  Speaker 5: usefulness is abused. But you, my ancient friend, you, in
• 3:01:16
  Speaker 5: the calm enjoyment of undisturbed, repose, steady and unmoved amidst
• 3:01:21
  Speaker 5: the utmost violence of storms. How little can you appreciate
• 3:01:26
  Speaker 5: the sense of weariness I feel a poor judge of
• 3:01:30
  Speaker 5: my troubled lot. Are you in your paradise of rest?
• 3:01:34
  Speaker 5: My paradise of rest? Do you call it? Exclaimed? The
• 3:01:37
  Speaker 5: title an ingenious title, truly to express what those who
• 3:01:41
  Speaker 5: know it practically feel to be little short of a
• 3:01:44
  Speaker 5: stagnation of existence, dull, purposeless, and profitable. At the mercy
• 3:01:50
  Speaker 5: of the clouds and shades of night, I can never
• 3:01:53
  Speaker 5: fulfill my aunt, but by their sufferings, and in the
• 3:01:57
  Speaker 5: scisons rare enough at best, when their meddling interference is withdrawn,
• 3:02:03
  Speaker 5: And even when the sun and how do smile upon
• 3:02:06
  Speaker 5: me and I carry out my vocation? How seldom does
• 3:02:10
  Speaker 5: any one come near me to learn the lessons I
• 3:02:12
  Speaker 5: could teach. I weary of the night, I weary of
• 3:02:17
  Speaker 5: the clouds, I weary of the footsteps that pass me by.
• 3:02:23
  Speaker 5: Would that I could rise, even for a few brief hours,
• 3:02:26
  Speaker 5: to the energy and meaning of a life like yours.
• 3:02:30
  Speaker 5: This is a strange futolity. Indeed, quick the weathercock in
• 3:02:34
  Speaker 5: reply that you, in your untroubled calm should yearn after
• 3:02:39
  Speaker 5: the restlessness. I sicken off that I, in what you
• 3:02:42
  Speaker 5: call my gay inactive existence, should long for the quiet
• 3:02:46
  Speaker 5: you detest. You long for it because you are ignorant
• 3:02:50
  Speaker 5: of its nature and practical reality, groaned the dial. Nay,
• 3:02:56
  Speaker 5: but those are the very words that would apply to you,
• 3:02:59
  Speaker 5: my ancient friend. The blind dist ignorance of its walkings
• 3:03:03
  Speaker 5: can alone account for your coveting depositions such as mine.
• 3:03:07
  Speaker 5: If that be so, then every position is wrong, was
• 3:03:10
  Speaker 5: the murmured remark in answer. But it never reached the sky,
• 3:03:14
  Speaker 5: for at that moment, the mournful tolling of a bell
• 3:03:17
  Speaker 5: in the old church tower announced that the funeral was approaching,
• 3:03:20
  Speaker 5: and in its vibrations the lesser sun was lost. And
• 3:03:24
  Speaker 5: as those vibrations gathered in the air, they grouped themselves
• 3:03:28
  Speaker 5: into a solemn dirge, which seemed as if it rose
• 3:03:32
  Speaker 5: in contradiction to what had just been said, for it
• 3:03:35
  Speaker 5: gave out to the mourners who were following the corpse
• 3:03:38
  Speaker 5: to its last earthly resting place, that every lot was
• 3:03:42
  Speaker 5: good and blessed to some particular end, For the lots
• 3:03:46
  Speaker 5: of all, it said, were appointed, and all that was
• 3:03:49
  Speaker 5: appointed was good. Little little did it mutter. Therefore, it said,
• 3:03:55
  Speaker 5: whether the lot of him who came to his last
• 3:03:58
  Speaker 5: resting place had been a busier, a quiet one, a
• 3:04:01
  Speaker 5: high or a low one, one of labor or of endurance.
• 3:04:06
  Speaker 5: If that which was appointed to be done had been
• 3:04:08
  Speaker 5: well done, all was well. It gave out, too, that
• 3:04:12
  Speaker 5: every time and season was good and blessed to some
• 3:04:15
  Speaker 5: particular purpose. That the time to die was as good
• 3:04:19
  Speaker 5: as the time to be born, whether it came to
• 3:04:21
  Speaker 5: the child who had done but little or to the
• 3:04:23
  Speaker 5: man who had done much. For the times and seasons,
• 3:04:27
  Speaker 5: it said, were appointed, and all that was appointed was good.
• 3:04:33
  Speaker 5: Little little did it mutter. Therefore it said, whether the
• 3:04:37
  Speaker 5: time of life had been a long one or a
• 3:04:39
  Speaker 5: short one, If that which was appointed to be used
• 3:04:42
  Speaker 5: had been rightly used, all was right. Echoing and re
• 3:04:47
  Speaker 5: echoing in the air came these sounds out of the
• 3:04:50
  Speaker 5: bell tower, bidding the mourners not to mourn, for both
• 3:04:54
  Speaker 5: the lots and the times of all things were appointed,
• 3:04:57
  Speaker 5: and all that was appointed was good. The mourners wept on, however,
• 3:05:02
  Speaker 5: in spite of the dirge of the bell, and perhaps
• 3:05:05
  Speaker 5: it was best that they did so, for were are
• 3:05:08
  Speaker 5: the outpourings of penitence so likely to be sincere, or
• 3:05:11
  Speaker 5: the resolutions of amendment so likely to be earnest as
• 3:05:15
  Speaker 5: over the graves of those we love? Till the murners wept,
• 3:05:20
  Speaker 5: the corpse was entered, the clergyman departed, and the crowd dispersed.
• 3:05:25
  Speaker 5: And then there was quiet in the churchyard again for
• 3:05:28
  Speaker 5: a time, uninterrupted quiet, except when the wandering gusts drove
• 3:05:33
  Speaker 5: the weathercock hither and thither, causing him to give out
• 3:05:36
  Speaker 5: a dismal squeak as he turned. But at last there
• 3:05:40
  Speaker 5: was a footstep in the old churchyard again, a step
• 3:05:43
  Speaker 5: that paced up and down along the paved path, now
• 3:05:46
  Speaker 5: westward towards the sea, now westward towards Lych Gate. At
• 3:05:50
  Speaker 5: the entrance. It was a weather beaten old fisherman, once
• 3:05:54
  Speaker 5: a sailor, who occasionally made of that place a forecastle
• 3:05:58
  Speaker 5: walk for exercise and pondering thoughts, since the time when
• 3:06:01
  Speaker 5: age and growing infirmities had disabled him from following regularly
• 3:06:05
  Speaker 5: the more toilsome parts of a fisherman's business, which were
• 3:06:09
  Speaker 5: now carried on by his two grown up sons. He
• 3:06:12
  Speaker 5: could do a stroke of work now and then, it
• 3:06:15
  Speaker 5: is true, But the nows and thence came but seldom,
• 3:06:18
  Speaker 5: and he had many leisure hours on his hands in
• 3:06:20
  Speaker 5: which to think of the past and to look forward
• 3:06:23
  Speaker 5: to the future. And what a place was that churchyard
• 3:06:27
  Speaker 5: for awakening such thoughts. There, as he walked up and down,
• 3:06:31
  Speaker 5: his own wife's grave was not many yards distant from
• 3:06:34
  Speaker 5: his feet. And yet from amidst these relics and bitter
• 3:06:37
  Speaker 5: evidences of finite mortality, he could look out upon that
• 3:06:41
  Speaker 5: everlasting sea which seems always to stretch away into the
• 3:06:45
  Speaker 5: infinity we all believe in. Perhaps in his own way,
• 3:06:49
  Speaker 5: the sailor had often felt this, although he might not
• 3:06:52
  Speaker 5: have been able to give any account of his sensations.
• 3:06:56
  Speaker 5: Up and down the path he paced, lingering, always a little.
• 3:06:59
  Speaker 5: At the western point, ere he turned, and, with his
• 3:07:02
  Speaker 5: telescope tucked under his arm, ready for use, he stood
• 3:07:06
  Speaker 5: for a second or two, looking seaward in case a
• 3:07:09
  Speaker 5: strange sail should have come in sight. The saxton, who
• 3:07:13
  Speaker 5: had come up to the churchyard again to finish the
• 3:07:15
  Speaker 5: shaping of the new grave, noted to him as he passed,
• 3:07:19
  Speaker 5: and the sailor nodded in return. But neither of them spoke.
• 3:07:23
  Speaker 5: For the sailor's habits were too well known to excite attention,
• 3:07:26
  Speaker 5: and the saxton had his work to complete. But presently,
• 3:07:30
  Speaker 5: when half way to the leech gate, the sailor stopped suddenly,
• 3:07:34
  Speaker 5: short turned around hastily, and faced the sea, steadying the
• 3:07:40
  Speaker 5: cup on his head against the gale, which was now
• 3:07:42
  Speaker 5: blowing directly on his face. Looked up into the sky,
• 3:07:47
  Speaker 5: looked all around, looked at the weather cock, and then
• 3:07:50
  Speaker 5: stood as if her resolute, for several seconds. At last,
• 3:07:55
  Speaker 5: stepping over the grave stones, he went up to the
• 3:07:58
  Speaker 5: stone pedestal on the top of which the dial lay,
• 3:08:02
  Speaker 5: waiting for the glimpse of sunshine, which had on that
• 3:08:05
  Speaker 5: day fallen rarely and irregularly upon it. If the clouds
• 3:08:10
  Speaker 5: would but break away for a minute, mused the old
• 3:08:13
  Speaker 5: man to himself, And soon after they did so, for
• 3:08:18
  Speaker 5: they had begun to drive very swiftly over the heavens,
• 3:08:21
  Speaker 5: and the sunlight streaming for a few seconds on the
• 3:08:24
  Speaker 5: dial plate revealed the shadow of phenomen cast upon the
• 3:08:28
  Speaker 5: place of three o'clock. The sailor lingered by the dial
• 3:08:33
  Speaker 5: for several minutes after he had ascertained the hour, examining
• 3:08:37
  Speaker 5: the figures, inscriptions, and dates. A motto on a little
• 3:08:42
  Speaker 5: brass plate was led into the pedestal below A watch
• 3:08:46
  Speaker 5: for ye know not the hour. There was some difficulty
• 3:08:50
  Speaker 5: in reading it, it was so blotched and tarnished with
• 3:08:53
  Speaker 5: age and long neglect. Indeed, few people knew there was
• 3:08:58
  Speaker 5: an inscription there at all. But the old sailor had
• 3:09:01
  Speaker 5: been looking very closely, and so found it out, and
• 3:09:05
  Speaker 5: then he spelled it all through, word for a word.
• 3:09:09
  Speaker 5: It was to be hoped that the engraver, one Thomas Truman,
• 3:09:13
  Speaker 5: who claimed to have had this warning put up for
• 3:09:16
  Speaker 5: the benefit of others, had attended to it himself, for
• 3:09:20
  Speaker 5: he had long ago, ay nearly a hundred years ago,
• 3:09:25
  Speaker 5: gone to his last account, the appointed hour had come
• 3:09:29
  Speaker 5: for him, whether he had watched for it or not.
• 3:09:33
  Speaker 5: Perhaps some such thoughts crossed the sailor's mind full Certainly,
• 3:09:38
  Speaker 5: after reading the sentence he fell into a reverie. Not
• 3:09:43
  Speaker 5: a long one, however, for it was interrupted by the
• 3:09:46
  Speaker 5: voice of the sexton, who, with his matark over his shoulder,
• 3:09:50
  Speaker 5: was passing back on his way home, and called out
• 3:09:54
  Speaker 5: to the sailor to bid him good evening, good night.
• 3:09:57
  Speaker 5: Mister Bowman said he we've rather a sudden change in
• 3:10:01
  Speaker 5: the wind, haven't we aye aye, answered Bawman by no means,
• 3:10:06
  Speaker 5: displeased at this deference to his opinion, and he stepped
• 3:10:10
  Speaker 5: back again to the path and joined his village friend.
• 3:10:13
  Speaker 5: It is a sudden change, as you say, and an
• 3:10:16
  Speaker 5: awkward one too, for the wind came round at three o'clock,
• 3:10:19
  Speaker 5: just at the turn of the tide. And it's a chance.
• 3:10:22
  Speaker 5: But what it will keep this way for hours to come,
• 3:10:25
  Speaker 5: and a gale all nights, an ugly thing, Tomkins, when
• 3:10:29
  Speaker 5: it blows ashore. I hope you may be mistaken, mister Bowman,
• 3:10:33
  Speaker 5: rejoined the sexton. But I suppose that's not likely. However,
• 3:10:38
  Speaker 5: they say it's an ill wind that blows nobody good.
• 3:10:41
  Speaker 5: So I suppose I shall come in for something at last.
• 3:10:44
  Speaker 5: And here the sexton laughed at your age. Strong and hearty,
• 3:10:49
  Speaker 5: observed the sailor. I'm the sexton somewhat contemptuously. You can't
• 3:10:54
  Speaker 5: have much to wish for. I should think strong and
• 3:10:57
  Speaker 5: heart is a very good thing in its way, mister Bowman.
• 3:11:00
  Speaker 5: I'll not deny, but rest's a very good thing too,
• 3:11:04
  Speaker 5: And I wouldn't object to one of your idle afternoons
• 3:11:07
  Speaker 5: now and then walking up and down the pavement, looking
• 3:11:11
  Speaker 5: which way the wind blows. That's a bit of real
• 3:11:14
  Speaker 5: comforts to my thinking. We don't know much of each
• 3:11:17
  Speaker 5: other's real comforts, I suspect, observed the sailor obstructedly, and
• 3:11:22
  Speaker 5: then he added, you'll soon be cured of wishing for
• 3:11:25
  Speaker 5: ill afternoons when they're forced upon you. Tompkins, But you
• 3:11:30
  Speaker 5: don't know what you're talking about. Wait till you're old,
• 3:11:33
  Speaker 5: and then you'll find it's I that might be excused
• 3:11:37
  Speaker 5: for enving you and not you me. That's amazing, mister Bowman,
• 3:11:41
  Speaker 5: and I can't see it, persisted Tompkins, turning round to depart.
• 3:11:47
  Speaker 5: In my opinion, you're the best of it. But anyhow,
• 3:11:50
  Speaker 5: we're both of us oddly fixed for we neither of
• 3:11:54
  Speaker 5: us pleased with a friendly good night. But no further remark,
• 3:11:59
  Speaker 5: the two and parted, and the churchyard was emptied of
• 3:12:02
  Speaker 5: its living guests. When the sailor sat down with his
• 3:12:06
  Speaker 5: sons an hour or two afterwards to their evening meal,
• 3:12:09
  Speaker 5: said he we must keep a sharp look out, lads
• 3:12:13
  Speaker 5: to night. The wind came round at three with the
• 3:12:16
  Speaker 5: turn of the tide, and it blows dead ashore I've
• 3:12:20
  Speaker 5: been up to the captains at the hall and borrowed
• 3:12:22
  Speaker 5: the use of his big boat in case it's wanted.
• 3:12:25
  Speaker 5: For unless the gale goes down with the next tide,
• 3:12:28
  Speaker 5: which it won't, I think we might have some awkward
• 3:12:32
  Speaker 5: work anyhow, boys, we'll watch. Just what I said, muttered
• 3:12:39
  Speaker 5: the dial, as the sound of the last footsteps died
• 3:12:43
  Speaker 5: on the churchyard path. Just what I said. Everything's wrong,
• 3:12:48
  Speaker 5: because everybody's dissatisfied. I knew it was, so we're right
• 3:12:53
  Speaker 5: in grumbling. That's the only thing we write in. At least,
• 3:12:58
  Speaker 5: I'm sure I'm right in grumbling. I'm not so certain
• 3:13:01
  Speaker 5: about my neighbor on the tower above hullo, my sprightly friend,
• 3:13:06
  Speaker 5: did ye hear? Did you notice? Isn't it? Just as
• 3:13:09
  Speaker 5: I said, everything's wrong to everybody? The strong west wind
• 3:13:14
  Speaker 5: continued to sweep through the churchyard and pour these observations away.
• 3:13:19
  Speaker 5: But the weather cock, meanwhile, was making his own remarks
• 3:13:22
  Speaker 5: to himself. There now there's the old story over again,
• 3:13:27
  Speaker 5: only now it's the west wind that's wrong instead of
• 3:13:30
  Speaker 5: the east. I wish anybody would tell me which is
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 5: their right wind. But this, of course is an ill
• 3:13:37
  Speaker 5: wind and an ugly gale, and they're afraid it will
• 3:13:40
  Speaker 5: blow all night. I wonder why it shouldn't. It blows
• 3:13:44
  Speaker 5: very steadily and well, as I think. And then they
• 3:13:47
  Speaker 5: shake their heads at each other and look up at
• 3:13:50
  Speaker 5: me and frown. What's the use of frowning? They never
• 3:13:54
  Speaker 5: saw me go better in their lives. It's a fine
• 3:13:57
  Speaker 5: firm wind as ever blue, though, though it does take
• 3:14:00
  Speaker 5: one's breath rather fast. I own if it did not
• 3:14:04
  Speaker 5: make quite so much howling noise, I should have had
• 3:14:07
  Speaker 5: a word or two about it with my old comrade below,
• 3:14:10
  Speaker 5: who sits as steady as a rock through it all.
• 3:14:14
  Speaker 5: I've no doubt there is one thing I'm not quite
• 3:14:17
  Speaker 5: easy about myself, in case this west wind should blow
• 3:14:20
  Speaker 5: a little nay, in short, a great deal harder even
• 3:14:25
  Speaker 5: than now, I wonder whether there would be any danger
• 3:14:29
  Speaker 5: of my being blown down. I'm not very fond of
• 3:14:32
  Speaker 5: my present quarters, It's true, but a change is sometimes
• 3:14:37
  Speaker 5: a doubtful kind of thing, unless you can choose what
• 3:14:40
  Speaker 5: it shall be. I wonder too whether people would be
• 3:14:44
  Speaker 5: glad if I was gone, or whether after all I
• 3:14:47
  Speaker 5: mightn't be rather missed. And I wonder too, But it
• 3:14:51
  Speaker 5: began to blow too hard for wandering or talking or
• 3:14:54
  Speaker 5: doing anything, but silently holding fast, for the gale was
• 3:14:58
  Speaker 5: rising rapidly, so rap that before midnight a hurricane was
• 3:15:02
  Speaker 5: driving over land and ocean, and in its continued roaring,
• 3:15:06
  Speaker 5: mingled as it was with the raging of a tempest
• 3:15:09
  Speaker 5: toased sea, every other voice and sound was lost. Tracts
• 3:15:14
  Speaker 5: of white foam lying like snow fields on the water
• 3:15:18
  Speaker 5: followed the breakers as they fell down upon the shore
• 3:15:21
  Speaker 5: with a crush of thunder, and were visible even through
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 5: the gloom of night. Hour after hour, the uproar continued,
• 3:15:30
  Speaker 5: and hour after hour the church clock struck, and no
• 3:15:33
  Speaker 5: one heard. Dew West pointed the weather cock, varying scarcely
• 3:15:38
  Speaker 5: a point firm and composed, lay the dial on his pedestal,
• 3:15:42
  Speaker 5: and the old church on her foundations, mocking the tumult
• 3:15:46
  Speaker 5: of the elements by their dead, immovable calm. In the
• 3:15:51
  Speaker 5: village on the top of the cliff, many were awakened
• 3:15:54
  Speaker 5: by the noise, and one or two, as they lay
• 3:15:58
  Speaker 5: listening in their beds, forgot retire their own petty troubles
• 3:16:01
  Speaker 5: and trifling cares, and uttered wishes and prayers that no
• 3:16:05
  Speaker 5: vessels might be driven near that rock bound shore on
• 3:16:08
  Speaker 5: that night of storm, vain wishes, vain prayers as they
• 3:16:14
  Speaker 5: turned again to their pillows to sleep, with their children
• 3:16:17
  Speaker 5: around them, housed in security in peace. The blue lights
• 3:16:21
  Speaker 5: of distress were sent up by trembling hands into the
• 3:16:25
  Speaker 5: vault of heaven and agonized hearts who wondered whether a
• 3:16:29
  Speaker 5: human eye would see them, or human hand could aid.
• 3:16:33
  Speaker 5: And it might easily have happened that in that terrible
• 3:16:36
  Speaker 5: night no eye had caught sight of the signals, or
• 3:16:39
  Speaker 5: caught sight of them too late to be of use,
• 3:16:42
  Speaker 5: or that those who had seen had been indifferent were
• 3:16:45
  Speaker 5: unable to help. But it was not so, or the
• 3:16:48
  Speaker 5: weather cock would have pointed and the dial have shown
• 3:16:52
  Speaker 5: the hour, and the sailor looked at both in vain,
• 3:16:56
  Speaker 5: and this was not the case. People were roused from
• 3:16:59
  Speaker 5: their pillow slumpers next morning to hear that a vessel
• 3:17:03
  Speaker 5: with a passenger crew on board of her was driving
• 3:17:06
  Speaker 5: on the rocks. From cottage casements and from the drawing
• 3:17:09
  Speaker 5: room windows of houses on the top of the cliff.
• 3:17:12
  Speaker 5: The fatal sight was seen for the dismasted sheep rolling
• 3:17:16
  Speaker 5: helplessly on the waters, drifted gradually in front of the village,
• 3:17:20
  Speaker 5: looking black as with a shadow of death. Delicate women
• 3:17:24
  Speaker 5: saw it, who, all unaccustomed to such sights, and shuddering
• 3:17:29
  Speaker 5: at their own helplessness, could only sink on their knees
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 5: and ask if there was no mercy with a Most
• 3:17:35
  Speaker 5: high men saw it, whom age or sickness had made
• 3:17:40
  Speaker 5: weak as children, but who had once been brave and strong,
• 3:17:44
  Speaker 5: And their heart burned within them as they turned away
• 3:17:48
  Speaker 5: and seekinged the spectacle of misery they could not even
• 3:17:52
  Speaker 5: try to avert. Children saw it, who mixing in the
• 3:17:57
  Speaker 5: village crowd that by degrees gathered on the never ceased.
• 3:18:02
  Speaker 5: The vain prattling inquiry of why some good people did
• 3:18:06
  Speaker 5: not go help the poor people who were drowning in
• 3:18:09
  Speaker 5: the ship? Young an, you talk, growled one old fellow,
• 3:18:13
  Speaker 5: who was eyeing the spectacle somewhat coolly through a telescope.
• 3:18:17
  Speaker 5: And it's for such as you to talk. But who's
• 3:18:20
  Speaker 5: to get off her boat over such a surf as
• 3:18:23
  Speaker 5: Yn little Ewes had been flinging away more lives to
• 3:18:27
  Speaker 5: save those. That's as good as gone already. How you
• 3:18:31
  Speaker 5: go on, jonas, cried a woman from the crowd. Here's
• 3:18:34
  Speaker 5: the lady has fainted. Through your saying that, and what
• 3:18:37
  Speaker 5: do you know about it? While there's life, there's hope.
• 3:18:41
  Speaker 5: My husband went down to the shore hours and hours ago,
• 3:18:44
  Speaker 5: before it was light. We've coffins, I suppose, shouted Simon,
• 3:18:49
  Speaker 5: and the chest went round. For the woman who had
• 3:18:52
  Speaker 5: spoken was the sexton's wife. But many a voice cried shame,
• 3:18:56
  Speaker 5: as missus Tompkins turned away to lend her aid, and
• 3:18:59
  Speaker 5: caring the fainting lady to her home. It was strange
• 3:19:03
  Speaker 5: how time wore on and no change for better or
• 3:19:06
  Speaker 5: worse seemed to take place in the condition of the
• 3:19:08
  Speaker 5: unhappy vessel as far as those on lane could charge
• 3:19:12
  Speaker 5: of her, But she was at least a mile from shore,
• 3:19:15
  Speaker 5: and even with a glass it was impossible to detect
• 3:19:18
  Speaker 5: clearly the movement and state of her crew. It was
• 3:19:21
  Speaker 5: evident at one time that she had ceased to drift
• 3:19:24
  Speaker 5: and had become stationary, and all sorts of conjectures were
• 3:19:28
  Speaker 5: aflowed as to the cause, the most popular and dreadful
• 3:19:31
  Speaker 5: of which being that she was gradually filling with water
• 3:19:35
  Speaker 5: and must go down. This was the reason all Johns
• 3:19:39
  Speaker 5: said why part of the crew had got into the
• 3:19:42
  Speaker 5: boat that was being towed along behind by means of
• 3:19:45
  Speaker 5: a rope, so that when every other hope was over,
• 3:19:49
  Speaker 5: the rest of the men might join them and make
• 3:19:51
  Speaker 5: a last desperate effort to escape the fate of the
• 3:19:53
  Speaker 5: sinking vessel. But still the time wore on, and no
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 5: change took place, nor did the vessel appeared to get
• 3:20:00
  Speaker 5: lower in the water, although at times the breakers rolled
• 3:20:04
  Speaker 5: over her broken decks and cries of it's all over.
• 3:20:08
  Speaker 5: There she goes broke from the crowd. The man at
• 3:20:12
  Speaker 5: the wheel seemed still to maintain his post, those on
• 3:20:15
  Speaker 5: the boat behind still kept their places, and the few
• 3:20:19
  Speaker 5: visible about the ship were busied, but no one could
• 3:20:22
  Speaker 5: say how. At last, somebody shouted that they were raising
• 3:20:26
  Speaker 5: a jury mast. The weather was a signal to some
• 3:20:29
  Speaker 5: vessel within sight of them, or for their own use.
• 3:20:32
  Speaker 5: Remained doubtful for a time, but by and by a
• 3:20:36
  Speaker 5: small sail became visible, and soon after it was observed
• 3:20:39
  Speaker 5: that the vessel had resumed her course, and that she
• 3:20:42
  Speaker 5: was no longer drifting but steering. It was clear therefore
• 3:20:46
  Speaker 5: that she had been anchored previously, that the crew had
• 3:20:49
  Speaker 5: not given up hope, and that they were now trying
• 3:20:51
  Speaker 5: to weather the rocky bay and get into the nearest harbor.
• 3:20:55
  Speaker 5: All Jonas turned away and lent his glass to others.
• 3:20:59
  Speaker 5: The vessel was not with water, it was true, But
• 3:21:02
  Speaker 5: could such a buttered hulk, rolling as it did everly
• 3:21:06
  Speaker 5: through the rate of the extremity of the bay. He
• 3:21:08
  Speaker 5: doubted it for his part, but he was disposed to doubt.
• 3:21:13
  Speaker 5: Others were more hopeful, and many a thank God for
• 3:21:16
  Speaker 5: his goodness relieved the anxious breasts of those who had
• 3:21:19
  Speaker 5: hitherto looked on in trembling suspense. The villagers were gradually
• 3:21:24
  Speaker 5: dispersing to their different occupations when a couple of boys
• 3:21:28
  Speaker 5: who had gone down by the cliffs to the shore,
• 3:21:31
  Speaker 5: came running back with the news of the old sailor's.
• 3:21:34
  Speaker 5: Mister Bauman's cottage. The only one near the shore was
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 5: shut up the keycone, and nobody there. This new surprise
• 3:21:42
  Speaker 5: was heartily welcome, coming as it did to enliven the
• 3:21:46
  Speaker 5: natural reaction of dullness that follows the cessation of great excitement,
• 3:21:51
  Speaker 5: and the good wives of the village, with their appence
• 3:21:54
  Speaker 5: over their heads, huddled together, more full of wonder and
• 3:21:58
  Speaker 5: conjecture over the disappearance of the bowman's than over the
• 3:22:01
  Speaker 5: fate of the steel peril surrounded sheep. It was then discovered,
• 3:22:06
  Speaker 5: but quiet by an accident, that some one else had disappeared,
• 3:22:10
  Speaker 5: no other than Tompkins The Sexton. A neighbor on her
• 3:22:14
  Speaker 5: road home, accidentally dropping in at mister Tompkins's door to
• 3:22:17
  Speaker 5: ask after the lady that had fainted, found the good
• 3:22:20
  Speaker 5: woman sitting over the fire, rocking to and fro and
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 5: crying her heart out. Go away, woman, cried she to
• 3:22:28
  Speaker 5: her neighbor as the door opened. Get away with ye.
• 3:22:32
  Speaker 5: I want none of ye, I want none of your talking.
• 3:22:35
  Speaker 5: I'll not listen to any of ye till I know
• 3:22:38
  Speaker 5: whether the ship's gone down or not. The woman's beside herself,
• 3:22:43
  Speaker 5: cried the neighbor. Why ye don't know what you're saying.
• 3:22:47
  Speaker 5: Surely the ship isn't likely to go down now there's
• 3:22:51
  Speaker 5: a must and a sail up. Woman. Aye, aye, But
• 3:22:56
  Speaker 5: the race, cried Missus Tomkins, rocking to and fro in despair.
• 3:23:01
  Speaker 5: The race will not hurt it, as the MANI says.
• 3:23:04
  Speaker 5: It was only old Jonnys that shook his head over that,
• 3:23:08
  Speaker 5: eh woman. But you've lost your head with watching them?
• 3:23:11
  Speaker 5: Where's your good man? Missus Tompkins almost shrieked, there. He's
• 3:23:17
  Speaker 5: there with them. I saw him through Jonas's glass. The
• 3:23:22
  Speaker 5: neighbor was thunderstruck. Here was news, indeed, But she pressed
• 3:23:26
  Speaker 5: the mutter no further, thinking in true that Missus tompkins
• 3:23:29
  Speaker 5: head was unsettled, and so after soothing her abait in
• 3:23:33
  Speaker 5: the best fashion she could, she left her to talk
• 3:23:35
  Speaker 5: the matter over in the village. Missus Tompkins was not
• 3:23:39
  Speaker 5: unsettled in her head at all. She had been one
• 3:23:42
  Speaker 5: of those who had had a peep through Jonas's glass, and,
• 3:23:44
  Speaker 5: to her horror, had detected, by some peculiarity of dress
• 3:23:48
  Speaker 5: the form of her husband sitting in the boat behind
• 3:23:51
  Speaker 5: the vessel. The terror and astonishment that seized her rendered
• 3:23:55
  Speaker 5: her mute, and she had retired to her own cottage
• 3:23:58
  Speaker 5: to think it out by herself, what it could mean
• 3:24:01
  Speaker 5: and how it could have happened. But she had caught
• 3:24:03
  Speaker 5: Jones's remark about the rays, and on reaching her own fireside,
• 3:24:08
  Speaker 5: all thoughts merriaged in the unterrible idea that her husband
• 3:24:11
  Speaker 5: might go down with the devoted sheep. The report of
• 3:24:14
  Speaker 5: Missus Tomkins's hallucinations soon spread, and there is no saying
• 3:24:18
  Speaker 5: to what a pitch of mysterious belief in some supernatural visitation.
• 3:24:22
  Speaker 5: It might not have led had not the arrival of
• 3:24:25
  Speaker 5: Baman's daughter in the village. In the account she gave
• 3:24:28
  Speaker 5: explained the whole affair. Bowman and his sons had not
• 3:24:31
  Speaker 5: gone regularly to bed at all on the night previous,
• 3:24:34
  Speaker 5: but true to their intention, had kept watch, in turn,
• 3:24:38
  Speaker 5: watching up and down along the front of their cottage,
• 3:24:41
  Speaker 5: which stood upon ground slightly raised above the shore. It
• 3:24:45
  Speaker 5: was the old man himself who happened to be watching
• 3:24:47
  Speaker 5: when the first blue light went up, and it was
• 3:24:50
  Speaker 5: then considerably past midnight. What a mercy was his first exclamation,
• 3:24:56
  Speaker 5: after herrying to the cottage and bidding his sons follow
• 3:24:59
  Speaker 5: him to the hall. What a mercy, And he threw
• 3:25:02
  Speaker 5: up his right arm with a clenched fist into the air,
• 3:25:06
  Speaker 5: his whole frame knit up by strong emotion. The boys,
• 3:25:10
  Speaker 5: not knowing what he meant, had only stirred at him
• 3:25:13
  Speaker 5: in surprise for a moment, for there was no time
• 3:25:16
  Speaker 5: for talking. But the mind of the old man had,
• 3:25:19
  Speaker 5: with the first sight of the lights, gone back to
• 3:25:21
  Speaker 5: his churchyard lounge, to his observations on the weather, to
• 3:25:25
  Speaker 5: the startling inscription, and to his determination to watch and
• 3:25:28
  Speaker 5: provide it had gone forward too, as well as backward
• 3:25:33
  Speaker 5: forward with the elastic determination and hope which comes like
• 3:25:37
  Speaker 5: inspiration to a good cause. And for him by anticipation,
• 3:25:40
  Speaker 5: the daring deed had been done, and the perishing crew rescued.
• 3:25:44
  Speaker 5: What a mercy the exclamation comprehended past, present and future.
• 3:25:50
  Speaker 5: As by the position of the signals of distress, Bowman
• 3:25:54
  Speaker 5: judged it would be best to put off the boat
• 3:25:56
  Speaker 5: from the place where it usually lay. He locked up
• 3:25:59
  Speaker 5: his cottage for the girl, refused to be left there alone,
• 3:26:03
  Speaker 5: taking the key with him, and proceeded at once to
• 3:26:05
  Speaker 5: the hall. But recollecting that his friend the Saxon had
• 3:26:08
  Speaker 5: made an urgent request to be called up should any
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 5: disaster care, one of the lads run up the cliff
• 3:26:14
  Speaker 5: to the village to give notice of what they were about.
• 3:26:17
  Speaker 5: But before he was half way there he met poor
• 3:26:20
  Speaker 5: Tonkins himself, who rendered restless and uneasy by Baumon's fears
• 3:26:25
  Speaker 5: and the terrible weather. He'd come out to inquire her
• 3:26:28
  Speaker 5: mouters were going on. Thus therefore he joined their expedition
• 3:26:31
  Speaker 5: at once, while his wife remained as ignorant of his
• 3:26:35
  Speaker 5: movements as the rest of the village the captain, a
• 3:26:38
  Speaker 5: fine old sailor, round the evening of whose days the
• 3:26:42
  Speaker 5: glories of Trafalgar shed an undying hallow had made it
• 3:26:46
  Speaker 5: clearly understood when applied to that in case of the
• 3:26:50
  Speaker 5: boat being wanted, his own assistance also might be depended upon.
• 3:26:55
  Speaker 5: And he was true to his word, so that as
• 3:26:58
  Speaker 5: soon as the dawn had broken, five men were to
• 3:27:01
  Speaker 5: be seen on the beach under the hall, up to
• 3:27:04
  Speaker 5: their wastes, almost in water, struggling with the foaming breakers,
• 3:27:09
  Speaker 5: and pushing off with an energy which nothing but the
• 3:27:12
  Speaker 5: most desperate resolution could have given them a boat from
• 3:27:15
  Speaker 5: the shore. Few words were spoken, the one gave orders,
• 3:27:19
  Speaker 5: and the resturbate promptly, implicitly and willingly, as if they
• 3:27:25
  Speaker 5: had walked for years in company, and thus life and
• 3:27:28
  Speaker 5: death at stake. They rowed over the waste of waters
• 3:27:32
  Speaker 5: with mute courage and a hope which never for an
• 3:27:35
  Speaker 5: instant blinded them to the knowledge of the peril they incurred.
• 3:27:39
  Speaker 5: And thus it was that earther full daylight had revealed
• 3:27:43
  Speaker 5: to the village as a disaster at sea, And even
• 3:27:46
  Speaker 5: while they were shuddering for the fate of the supposed
• 3:27:48
  Speaker 5: doomed vessel, help and comfort had reached the despairing hearts
• 3:27:52
  Speaker 5: of the bewildered men on board. There were plenty of
• 3:27:55
  Speaker 5: people afterwards to say that anybody might have known, if
• 3:27:58
  Speaker 5: they had only thought about it, that that man who
• 3:28:01
  Speaker 5: was lushed to the wheel, and who had never changed
• 3:28:04
  Speaker 5: his position for an instant, could have been nobody but
• 3:28:06
  Speaker 5: the grand old captain, who had been so long in
• 3:28:09
  Speaker 5: the wars. There were plenty also to say that Bowman,
• 3:28:13
  Speaker 5: old as he was, was constantly on the lookout, and
• 3:28:16
  Speaker 5: was sure to be the first to foresee a disaster
• 3:28:19
  Speaker 5: and suggest what ought to be done, even when he
• 3:28:21
  Speaker 5: could not do it himself. And didn't everybody know too,
• 3:28:25
  Speaker 5: that Tomkins was always foremost to have a hand in
• 3:28:28
  Speaker 5: a job, whatever it might be. The vessel cleared the
• 3:28:31
  Speaker 5: race and got safe to the harbor, and half the
• 3:28:34
  Speaker 5: village went with Bowman's daughter and Missus Tompkins, now weeping
• 3:28:38
  Speaker 5: as hard for joy as she had before done for terror,
• 3:28:42
  Speaker 5: to meet them as they landed. What a talking there was,
• 3:28:45
  Speaker 5: and what bowing to the captain, who dripping wet and cold,
• 3:28:49
  Speaker 5: had nevertheless a joke for everybody, and even made Missus
• 3:28:52
  Speaker 5: Tompkins smile by saying her husband had come with them
• 3:28:55
  Speaker 5: on the lookout for a job, but happily his professional
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 5: services had not been required, though he had done his
• 3:29:01
  Speaker 5: duty otherwise like a man. But the wet fellow laborers
• 3:29:05
  Speaker 5: had to be dried and taken care of, and the
• 3:29:07
  Speaker 5: half exhausted crew had to be attempted to and comforted,
• 3:29:11
  Speaker 5: And the time for charting comfortably over the events of
• 3:29:14
  Speaker 5: that night did not come till people's minds and spirits
• 3:29:17
  Speaker 5: had cooled down from the first excitement. The weather cleared
• 3:29:21
  Speaker 5: up wonderfully after that terrible storm had passed over, and
• 3:29:25
  Speaker 5: the following Sunday shone out all the village and sea
• 3:29:28
  Speaker 5: with all the brilliancy of spring. It was just as
• 3:29:31
  Speaker 5: they were issuing from church after morning service that the
• 3:29:34
  Speaker 5: captain observed Bowman standing by the porch as if waiting
• 3:29:38
  Speaker 5: till the crowd had passed. He looked far more upright
• 3:29:41
  Speaker 5: than usual, and had more of a smile upon his
• 3:29:44
  Speaker 5: face than was commonly seen there. The Captain beckoned to
• 3:29:47
  Speaker 5: him to come and speak, and Bowman obeyed. This has
• 3:29:51
  Speaker 5: made a young man of Hugh Bowman was the Captain's observation,
• 3:29:54
  Speaker 5: and he smiled. It has comforted me, Sir I'll not deny,
• 3:29:59
  Speaker 5: was answer. I hope it will teach as well as
• 3:30:03
  Speaker 5: comfort you, continued the captain, with a half good natured,
• 3:30:07
  Speaker 5: half stern manner. You've been very fond of talking of
• 3:30:10
  Speaker 5: age and infirmity, and cumbering the ground and all that
• 3:30:14
  Speaker 5: sort of thing. But what it means is quarreling with
• 3:30:18
  Speaker 5: your lot. We may not always know what we're wanted for,
• 3:30:22
  Speaker 5: nor is it for us to inquire. But nobody is
• 3:30:25
  Speaker 5: useless as long as he is permitted to leave. You
• 3:30:27
  Speaker 5: can have a shipwreck every day to prove it, bowmen.
• 3:30:30
  Speaker 5: But this shipwreck ought to teach you the lesson for
• 3:30:32
  Speaker 5: the rest of your life. I hope it will, sir,
• 3:30:35
  Speaker 5: cried Bauman. Not that you have so much credit in
• 3:30:39
  Speaker 5: that matter. After all, as I thought, observed the captain
• 3:30:42
  Speaker 5: with a sly smile, by your own account, if it
• 3:30:45
  Speaker 5: hadn't been for these comrades of yours in the churchyard
• 3:30:48
  Speaker 5: here and as he spoke, the captain pointed with his
• 3:30:50
  Speaker 5: stick to the dial and the weather cock, you might
• 3:30:54
  Speaker 5: have gone to bed and snort composedly all the night through,
• 3:30:58
  Speaker 5: without thinking of whether the storm would last or what
• 3:31:01
  Speaker 5: it would do. Bauman touched his hat and compliment to
• 3:31:04
  Speaker 5: the joke, recollecting with a sort of confusion that as
• 3:31:07
  Speaker 5: they were bringing the vessel into port, he had told
• 3:31:10
  Speaker 5: the captain the whole story of his noticing the change
• 3:31:12
  Speaker 5: of wind and the particular hour of three, harping nervously
• 3:31:15
  Speaker 5: and minutely on the importance of each link in the
• 3:31:18
  Speaker 5: little chain of events, and dwelling much on the half
• 3:31:21
  Speaker 5: faced inscription, the words of which had never left his
• 3:31:24
  Speaker 5: mind from the moment when he got into the captain's
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 5: boat to that when they reached the shore in safety.
• 3:31:29
  Speaker 5: Scarcely knowing how to reply, Balman began again, Oh well,
• 3:31:33
  Speaker 5: your honor, it's really true, for if it hadn't been that,
• 3:31:37
  Speaker 5: I know, I know, interrupted the captain, laughing, and now
• 3:31:41
  Speaker 5: let us see your friends. I must have a peep.
• 3:31:43
  Speaker 5: But the inscription myself. The old sailor led the way
• 3:31:47
  Speaker 5: over the grassy grave to the dial and pointed out
• 3:31:49
  Speaker 5: to his companion the almost illegible words. There was a
• 3:31:53
  Speaker 5: silence of several minutes after the captain had bent his
• 3:31:56
  Speaker 5: head to read, and when he raised it again, his
• 3:31:59
  Speaker 5: look was very grave, except for the mess that had
• 3:32:03
  Speaker 5: spared their lives in so great a risk. The hour
• 3:32:06
  Speaker 5: might have been over for them. Bawman cried the Captain
• 3:32:10
  Speaker 5: at length, in his old, good natured way. These comrades
• 3:32:14
  Speaker 5: of yours shall not go unrewarded any more than yourself.
• 3:32:18
  Speaker 5: Before another week is over, you must see that this
• 3:32:21
  Speaker 5: plate is cleaned and barnished, so that all the parish
• 3:32:24
  Speaker 5: may read the inscription. And as to the weathercock, I
• 3:32:27
  Speaker 5: must have him as bright as gilding can make him
• 3:32:29
  Speaker 5: before another Sunday. Come here has worked for you for
• 3:32:33
  Speaker 5: the week, and the seeing that this is done will
• 3:32:35
  Speaker 5: leave you no time for grumbling. Eh old fellow Bowman
• 3:32:39
  Speaker 5: bowed his lowest bow. It fell in with all his
• 3:32:42
  Speaker 5: feelings to superintend such an improvement as this. And while
• 3:32:46
  Speaker 5: you are looking after them, don't forget the lesson they teach.
• 3:32:49
  Speaker 5: Continued the Captain Bowman bowed again and was attentive. I
• 3:32:54
  Speaker 5: mean that everything, as well as everybody, is useful in
• 3:32:57
  Speaker 5: its appointed place at the appointed time. But neither we
• 3:33:01
  Speaker 5: nor they can choose or for sea the time. On
• 3:33:04
  Speaker 5: the following Sunday, the sun himself scarcely exceeded in brilliancy
• 3:33:08
  Speaker 5: the flashing weather cock, which hovered gently between point and
• 3:33:12
  Speaker 5: point on the old church tower by the sea, as
• 3:33:15
  Speaker 5: if to exhibit his splendor to the world. Not a
• 3:33:18
  Speaker 5: creak did he make as he moved, for all grumbling
• 3:33:22
  Speaker 5: was over, and he was suspended to a nicety on
• 3:33:25
  Speaker 5: his well oiled paw below, and freshly brightened up and cleaned.
• 3:33:30
  Speaker 5: A dial basked in the sunlight, telling one by one
• 3:33:33
  Speaker 5: the fleeting gowers, while the motor underneath it spoke its
• 3:33:37
  Speaker 5: warning in letters illuminated as if with fire. Many a
• 3:33:41
  Speaker 5: villager hang about the once neglected plate and took to
• 3:33:44
  Speaker 5: heart those words of divine wisdom. Watch, for ye know
• 3:33:48
  Speaker 5: not the hour. And many an eye glanced up to
• 3:33:51
  Speaker 5: the monitor of storms and weather and echoed the what
• 3:33:55
  Speaker 5: a mercy of old baum on the Sailor are you silent,
• 3:33:59
  Speaker 5: my spy comrade, inquired the old dial from below of
• 3:34:03
  Speaker 5: his shining friend above. Only a little confused and overpowered
• 3:34:07
  Speaker 5: at first, was the answer of the weather cock. My
• 3:34:10
  Speaker 5: responsibility is great. You know, I have a great deal
• 3:34:13
  Speaker 5: to do, and all the world is observing me. Just now,
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 5: that's true, certainly, continued the dial, Things are coming round
• 3:34:22
  Speaker 5: in a singular manner. Everything's right after all. But under
• 3:34:26
  Speaker 5: such a cloud as we were a short time ago,
• 3:34:29
  Speaker 5: it was not very easy to find it out, undoubtedly
• 3:34:33
  Speaker 5: not under more excusable mistake than ours could not well
• 3:34:36
  Speaker 5: be imagined. People with fifty times our advantages are constantly
• 3:34:41
  Speaker 5: falling into the same errors, which is such a comfort,
• 3:34:45
  Speaker 5: pursued the Dial, smiling as he glowed in the sunbeams. However,
• 3:34:50
  Speaker 5: added he that's a good idea of the old gentleman
• 3:34:53
  Speaker 5: that was here just now, and I shall try and
• 3:34:56
  Speaker 5: remember it for future occasions, for it really appears to
• 3:34:59
  Speaker 5: be true. Everything is useful in its place at the
• 3:35:03
  Speaker 5: appointed time that was it wasn't it exactly? Unconscious as
• 3:35:08
  Speaker 5: I feel just now of my own responsibility, I could
• 3:35:12
  Speaker 5: almost art in confidence to you, of course, my ancient friend,
• 3:35:16
  Speaker 5: that I have a kind of sensation that everything is
• 3:35:18
  Speaker 5: useful in its place always and at all times, though
• 3:35:22
  Speaker 5: people mayn't always find it out, just my own impression,
• 3:35:27
  Speaker 5: was the Dial's last remark, and of active and.
• 3:35:32
  Speaker 7: Passive Chapter twelve. Gaily bread, your heavenly father knoweth that
• 3:35:41
  Speaker 7: he had need of all these things, Matthew, Chapter six,
• 3:35:47
  Speaker 7: verse thirty two. I wish your cheerfulness were a little
• 3:35:53
  Speaker 7: better timed, my friend, remarked the tortoise, who for many
• 3:35:57
  Speaker 7: years had inhabited the garden of a suburban villa to
• 3:36:01
  Speaker 7: a robin redbreast, who is turning a merry note from
• 3:36:04
  Speaker 7: a thorntry in the shrubbery. What in the world are
• 3:36:08
  Speaker 7: you singing about at this time of year, when I
• 3:36:12
  Speaker 7: and everybody else of any sense are trying to get
• 3:36:15
  Speaker 7: to sleep and to forget ourselves. I beg your pardon,
• 3:36:22
  Speaker 7: I am sure, replied the robin. I did not know
• 3:36:26
  Speaker 7: it would have disturbed you. You must be gifted with
• 3:36:30
  Speaker 7: very small powers of observation than my friend, rejoined the tortoise.
• 3:36:37
  Speaker 7: Here have I been grubbing my head under the leaves
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 7: and sticks half the morning to make myself a comfortable
• 3:36:45
  Speaker 7: hole to take a nap in, And always just as
• 3:36:50
  Speaker 7: I am dropping off, you set up one of your
• 3:36:54
  Speaker 7: senseless pipes. You are not over troubled with poet lightness.
• 3:37:00
  Speaker 7: Good sir, I think, observed the robin. To call my
• 3:37:05
  Speaker 7: performance by such an offensive name, and to find fault
• 3:37:08
  Speaker 7: with me for want of observation, is the most unreasonable
• 3:37:12
  Speaker 7: thing in the world. This is the first season I
• 3:37:15
  Speaker 7: have lived in the garden, and all through the spring
• 3:37:18
  Speaker 7: and summer you have never objected to my singing At all,
• 3:37:21
  Speaker 7: how was I to know you would dislike it? Now
• 3:37:27
  Speaker 7: your own sense might have told you as much, without
• 3:37:30
  Speaker 7: my giving myself. The trouble of explanation persisted the tortoise.
• 3:37:37
  Speaker 7: Of course, it's natural enough and not disagreeable to hear
• 3:37:42
  Speaker 7: you little birds singing around the place when there is
• 3:37:46
  Speaker 7: something to sing about. It rather raises one's spirits than otherwise.
• 3:37:52
  Speaker 7: For instance, when the weather becomes mild in the early year,
• 3:37:57
  Speaker 7: and the plants begin to grow and get you see,
• 3:38:00
  Speaker 7: and it is about time for me to get up
• 3:38:03
  Speaker 7: from my winter's sleep. I have no objection to being
• 3:38:07
  Speaker 7: awakened by your voices. But now, in this miserable season,
• 3:38:13
  Speaker 7: when the fruits and flowers are gone, and when even
• 3:38:17
  Speaker 7: the leaves that are left are tough and dry, and
• 3:38:21
  Speaker 7: there is not a dandelion that I care to eat,
• 3:38:24
  Speaker 7: and when it gets colder and colder, and damper and
• 3:38:30
  Speaker 7: damper every day. This affectation of merriment on your part
• 3:38:36
  Speaker 7: is both ridiculous and hippocritical. It is impossible that you
• 3:38:41
  Speaker 7: can feel happy yourself, and you have no business to
• 3:38:45
  Speaker 7: pretend it. But begging your pardon once more, good sir,
• 3:38:51
  Speaker 7: I do feel happy, Whatever you may think to the contrary,
• 3:38:57
  Speaker 7: answered the robin. What do you mean to say that
• 3:39:02
  Speaker 7: you like cold and damp and bare trees with scarcely
• 3:39:07
  Speaker 7: a berry upon them? I like warm, sunny days the best, perhaps,
• 3:39:16
  Speaker 7: replied the robin, if I am obliged to think about
• 3:39:19
  Speaker 7: it and make comparisons.
• 3:39:22
  Speaker 5: But why should I do so?
• 3:39:24
  Speaker 7: I am quite comfortable as it is. If there is
• 3:39:28
  Speaker 7: not so much variety of food as there has been,
• 3:39:30
  Speaker 7: there is at any rate enough for every day, and
• 3:39:35
  Speaker 7: everybody knows that enough is as good as a feast.
• 3:39:39
  Speaker 7: For my part, I don't see how I can help
• 3:39:42
  Speaker 7: being contented. Contented? What a dull idea to be just contented.
• 3:39:52
  Speaker 7: I am contented myself, after a fashion. But you are
• 3:39:57
  Speaker 7: trying to seem happy, and that is a very different
• 3:40:00
  Speaker 7: sort of thing. Well, but happy, I am happy, too,
• 3:40:08
  Speaker 7: insisted the robin. That must be then, because you know
• 3:40:13
  Speaker 7: nothing of what is coming, suggested the tortoise. As yet,
• 3:40:19
  Speaker 7: while the open weather lasts, you can pick up your
• 3:40:22
  Speaker 7: favorite worms and satisfy your appetite. But when the ground
• 3:40:27
  Speaker 7: has become so hard that the worms cannot come through
• 3:40:30
  Speaker 7: or your be get at them, what will you do?
• 3:40:35
  Speaker 7: Are you sure that will ever happen, inquired the robin. Oh,
• 3:40:42
  Speaker 7: certainly in the course of the winter, at some time
• 3:40:45
  Speaker 7: or another. And indeed it may happen any day now,
• 3:40:49
  Speaker 7: which makes me anxious to be asleepand out of the way.
• 3:40:54
  Speaker 7: Oh well, if it happens now, I shall not mind
• 3:40:57
  Speaker 7: a bit, cried the robin. They're plenty of berries left.
• 3:41:02
  Speaker 7: But supposing it should happen when all the berries are gone,
• 3:41:07
  Speaker 7: said the tortoise, actually teased at not being able to
• 3:41:10
  Speaker 7: frighten the robin out of his singing propensities. Nay, but
• 3:41:15
  Speaker 7: if it comes to supposing, exclaimed the robin, I shall
• 3:41:19
  Speaker 7: suppose it won't, and so I shall be happy.
• 3:41:22
  Speaker 12: Still.
• 3:41:24
  Speaker 7: But I say it may happen, shouted the tortoise, And
• 3:41:29
  Speaker 7: I ask will it rejoined the robin, and quite as
• 3:41:33
  Speaker 7: determined a manner which you know I cannot answer, retorted
• 3:41:39
  Speaker 7: the tortoise. Again, nobody knows exactly about either the weather
• 3:41:43
  Speaker 7: or the berries beforehand. Then let nobody trouble themselves beforehand,
• 3:41:50
  Speaker 7: persisted the robin. If there was anything to be done
• 3:41:54
  Speaker 7: to prevent or provide, it would be different. But as
• 3:41:58
  Speaker 7: it is, we have nothing to do but to be happy,
• 3:42:00
  Speaker 7: and the comfort each day brings. Here, the robin trilled
• 3:42:04
  Speaker 7: out a few of his favorite notes, but the tortise
• 3:42:08
  Speaker 7: soon interrupted him. Allow other people to be happy, then,
• 3:42:13
  Speaker 7: as well as yourself, and cease squalling out of that tree.
• 3:42:19
  Speaker 7: I could have forgiven you had the branch has been
• 3:42:22
  Speaker 7: full of haws, But as they are all withered or eaten,
• 3:42:27
  Speaker 7: you have no particular excuse for singing in that particular
• 3:42:31
  Speaker 7: bush rather than elsewhere. So let me request you at
• 3:42:35
  Speaker 7: once to go. Of course I will do, so, answered
• 3:42:41
  Speaker 7: the robin politely. It is the same thing to me exactly.
• 3:42:46
  Speaker 7: So I wish you a good morning, and if you
• 3:42:49
  Speaker 7: desire it, a refreshing sleep. So saying, the robin flew
• 3:42:55
  Speaker 7: from the thorn tree to another part of the grounds
• 3:42:58
  Speaker 7: where he could amuse himself without interruption, and the tortoise
• 3:43:02
  Speaker 7: began to hustle under the leaves and rubbish again with
• 3:43:05
  Speaker 7: a view to taking his nap. But by and by,
• 3:43:10
  Speaker 7: as the morning wore away, the frosty feeling and autumnal
• 3:43:14
  Speaker 7: mists cleared off, and when the sun came out, which
• 3:43:18
  Speaker 7: it did for three or four hours in the early afternoon,
• 3:43:21
  Speaker 7: the day became really fine. The old tortoise did not
• 3:43:27
  Speaker 7: fail to discover the fact, and not having yet scratched
• 3:43:30
  Speaker 7: himself a whole completely to his mind, he came out
• 3:43:34
  Speaker 7: of the shrubbery and took a turn in the sunshine.
• 3:43:38
  Speaker 7: This is quite a surprise, indeed, said he to himself.
• 3:43:43
  Speaker 7: It is very pleasant, but I am afraid it will
• 3:43:48
  Speaker 7: not last. The more is the pity. But however, I
• 3:43:54
  Speaker 7: shall not go to bed just yet. With these words,
• 3:43:59
  Speaker 7: he waddled slowly along to the kitchen garden, where he
• 3:44:02
  Speaker 7: was in the habit of occasionally basking under the brick wall,
• 3:44:06
  Speaker 7: and now tilting himself up sideways against it, he passed
• 3:44:10
  Speaker 7: an hour, much to his satisfaction, and exposing his hornicoat
• 3:44:15
  Speaker 7: to the rays of the sun, a feat which he
• 3:44:18
  Speaker 7: never dared to perform during the heats of summer. Meanwhile,
• 3:44:23
  Speaker 7: the poor little Robin continued his songs in a retired
• 3:44:26
  Speaker 7: corner of the grounds, where no one objected to his
• 3:44:29
  Speaker 7: cheerful notes. A tiny grill was with a grassy circle
• 3:44:34
  Speaker 7: in the middle of it, where a pretty fountain played
• 3:44:37
  Speaker 7: night and day. During the pauses of his music, and
• 3:44:44
  Speaker 7: especially after the sun came out, he wondered much to
• 3:44:47
  Speaker 7: himself about all the strange, uncomfortable things the tortoise had said, Oh,
• 3:44:53
  Speaker 7: to think of his having wanted to go to sleep
• 3:44:56
  Speaker 7: and be out of the way, And now here was
• 3:44:59
  Speaker 7: the sun making all the growth of his warm as
• 3:45:02
  Speaker 7: spring itself. If he had not been afraid that what
• 3:45:06
  Speaker 7: might consider him intrusive, he would have gone back and
• 3:45:09
  Speaker 7: told him how warm and pleasant it was. But absolutely
• 3:45:14
  Speaker 7: he durst not. Still, he could not, on reflection, shut
• 3:45:20
  Speaker 7: his eyes to the fact that there were no other
• 3:45:23
  Speaker 7: songsters in the grove just now beside himself. And he
• 3:45:26
  Speaker 7: wondered what was the reason time was when the nightingale
• 3:45:33
  Speaker 7: was to be heard every night in this very spot.
• 3:45:37
  Speaker 7: But now he came to think of it, that beautiful
• 3:45:40
  Speaker 7: pipe of his had ceased for months, and where the
• 3:45:44
  Speaker 7: bird himself was, nobody seemed to know. The robin became
• 3:45:49
  Speaker 7: thoughtful and perhaps a little uneasy. There was the blackbird, too,
• 3:45:58
  Speaker 7: What was he about that he was so silent? Was
• 3:46:02
  Speaker 7: it possible that all the world was really as the
• 3:46:05
  Speaker 7: tortoise said, Thinking it wise to go to sleep and
• 3:46:09
  Speaker 7: be out of the way, the robin got almost alarmed,
• 3:46:14
  Speaker 7: so much so that he flew about until he met
• 3:46:18
  Speaker 7: with a blackbird whom he might question on the subject,
• 3:46:22
  Speaker 7: and of him, he made the inquiry why he had
• 3:46:27
  Speaker 7: left off singing. The blackbird glanced at him with astonishment.
• 3:46:33
  Speaker 7: Who does sing in the dismal autumn and winter? Said he, really,
• 3:46:39
  Speaker 7: I know of scarcely any war bold and thoughtless enough
• 3:46:42
  Speaker 7: to do so, except yourself. The larks may, to be sure,
• 3:46:47
  Speaker 7: but they lean such strange lies in the sky or
• 3:46:50
  Speaker 7: in seclusion, that they are no rule for any one else.
• 3:46:55
  Speaker 7: Your own persevering jeerping is in my humble judgment, so
• 3:47:00
  Speaker 7: out of character with the season in which every wise
• 3:47:03
  Speaker 7: creature must be apprehensive for the future, that I can
• 3:47:06
  Speaker 7: only excuse it on the ground of an ignorance and
• 3:47:09
  Speaker 7: levity which you have had no opportunity of correcting. With
• 3:47:15
  Speaker 7: these words, the robin flew away as fast as he could,
• 3:47:18
  Speaker 7: for to say the truth, He felt conscious of having
• 3:47:22
  Speaker 7: been a little impertinent in this last remark. He was
• 3:47:26
  Speaker 7: rather a young bird to be setting other people right.
• 3:47:30
  Speaker 7: But a robin is always a bold fellow, and has
• 3:47:33
  Speaker 7: moreover rather a hot temper of his own, though he
• 3:47:37
  Speaker 7: is a kind creature. At the bottom, he had been
• 3:47:41
  Speaker 7: insulted too, There was no doubt. But when people feel
• 3:47:46
  Speaker 7: themselves in the right, what need is there a ruffling
• 3:47:49
  Speaker 7: feathers and being saucy, And the robin did honestly feel
• 3:47:53
  Speaker 7: himself in the right. But oh how hard it is
• 3:47:57
  Speaker 7: to resist the influence of evil suggestion, even when one
• 3:48:01
  Speaker 7: knows them to be such and turns aside from them.
• 3:48:06
  Speaker 7: They are so apt to steal back into the heart unawares,
• 3:48:09
  Speaker 7: and undermine the principle that seemed so steady before. To
• 3:48:13
  Speaker 7: a certain extent, this was the case with our poor
• 3:48:16
  Speaker 7: little friend, And those who are disposed to judge harshly
• 3:48:20
  Speaker 7: of his weakness must remember that he was very young
• 3:48:24
  Speaker 7: and could not be expected to go on right always
• 3:48:27
  Speaker 7: without a mistake. Certain it is that he dropped awhile
• 3:48:32
  Speaker 7: in spirits as the winter advanced. He sang every day,
• 3:48:36
  Speaker 7: it is true, and would still have maintained his own
• 3:48:39
  Speaker 7: opinions against any one who should have opposed them. But
• 3:48:43
  Speaker 7: he was decidedly disturbed in mind, and thought sadly too
• 3:48:47
  Speaker 7: much for his own peace and comfort of what both
• 3:48:50
  Speaker 7: the tortoise and blackbird had said. The colder the days became,
• 3:48:56
  Speaker 7: the more he became depressed. Not that there was any
• 3:49:00
  Speaker 7: told them that he really cared about, but he was
• 3:49:02
  Speaker 7: fidgeting about the much greater cold, which he had been
• 3:49:04
  Speaker 7: told was coming. And as he hopped about on the
• 3:49:09
  Speaker 7: grass round the fountain, picking up worms and food, he
• 3:49:13
  Speaker 7: was ready to drop a tear out of his bright
• 3:49:15
  Speaker 7: black eye at the thought of the days when the
• 3:49:16
  Speaker 7: ground was to be so hard that the worms could
• 3:49:19
  Speaker 7: not come out or his beak reached them. Had this
• 3:49:24
  Speaker 7: state of things gone on long, the robin would have
• 3:49:26
  Speaker 7: begun to wish to go to sleep like the tortoise,
• 3:49:30
  Speaker 7: and no more singing what had been heard in the
• 3:49:32
  Speaker 7: plantation of the suburban villa that year. But robins are
• 3:49:37
  Speaker 7: brave hearted little fellows, as well as bold and saucy,
• 3:49:41
  Speaker 7: And one bright day our friend bethought himself that he
• 3:49:43
  Speaker 7: would go and talk the matter over with an old woodlark,
• 3:49:47
  Speaker 7: whom he had heard frequented a thicket at a considerable
• 3:49:49
  Speaker 7: distance off. On his way thither he heard several larks
• 3:49:54
  Speaker 7: singing high up in the sky over the fields, and
• 3:49:57
  Speaker 7: by the time he reached the thicket he he was
• 3:50:00
  Speaker 7: in excellent spirits himself, and seemed to have left all
• 3:50:03
  Speaker 7: his meagrims behind. It was fortunate such was the case,
• 3:50:08
  Speaker 7: for when as he approached the thicket, he heard the
• 3:50:12
  Speaker 7: woodlark's note. It was so plaintive and low that it
• 3:50:16
  Speaker 7: would have made anybody cry to listen to it. And
• 3:50:19
  Speaker 7: when the robin congratulated him on his singing, the woodlark
• 3:50:23
  Speaker 7: did not seem to care much for the compliment, but
• 3:50:26
  Speaker 7: confided to his new acquaintance that although he thought it
• 3:50:29
  Speaker 7: right to sing and be thankful as long as there
• 3:50:32
  Speaker 7: was a bit of comfort left, he was not so
• 3:50:34
  Speaker 7: happy as he seemed to be, since in reality he
• 3:50:37
  Speaker 7: was always expecting to die some day of having nothing
• 3:50:40
  Speaker 7: at all to eat. For said he, when the snow
• 3:50:44
  Speaker 7: is on the ground, it is a perfect chance if
• 3:50:47
  Speaker 7: one finds a morsel of food all day long. But
• 3:50:51
  Speaker 7: I thought you had lived here several seasons, suggested the robin, who,
• 3:50:55
  Speaker 7: in his brace condition of mind, was getting quite reasonable again, Oh,
• 3:51:01
  Speaker 7: murmured the woodlark, heaving his breast with a touching sigh.
• 3:51:05
  Speaker 7: Yet you did not die of having nothing to eat
• 3:51:08
  Speaker 7: last winter, observed the robin. It appears not ejaculated the
• 3:51:15
  Speaker 7: woodlock as gravely as possible, and with another sigh, where
• 3:51:19
  Speaker 7: at the robin's eye actually twinkled with mirth, for he
• 3:51:23
  Speaker 7: had a good deal of fun in his composition and
• 3:51:25
  Speaker 7: could not but smile to himself at the woodlark's solemn
• 3:51:28
  Speaker 7: way of admitting that he was alive, nor the winter before.
• 3:51:35
  Speaker 7: Asked he no, murmured the woodlark again, nor the winter
• 3:51:41
  Speaker 7: before that persisted this saucy robin. Well, no, of course, not,
• 3:51:46
  Speaker 7: answered the woodlark, somewhat impatiently, because I am here as
• 3:51:51
  Speaker 7: you see. Then, how did you manage when the snow
• 3:51:55
  Speaker 7: came and there was no food? Inquired the robin never
• 3:52:00
  Speaker 7: told you there was actually no food in those other winters,
• 3:52:03
  Speaker 7: answered the woodlark somewhat peevishly, for he did not want
• 3:52:06
  Speaker 7: to be disturbed in his views. Little bits of things
• 3:52:09
  Speaker 7: did accidentally turn up always, but there is no proof
• 3:52:12
  Speaker 7: that it will ever happen again. It was merely chance. Ah,
• 3:52:18
  Speaker 7: my venerable friend, cried the robin. Have you know I
• 3:52:22
  Speaker 7: can never be sure it will do so again, murmured
• 3:52:26
  Speaker 7: the woodlark, despondingly. But when that kind chance brings you
• 3:52:31
  Speaker 7: one comfortable day after another, why should you sadden them
• 3:52:34
  Speaker 7: all by these fears? For by and by it is
• 3:52:39
  Speaker 7: a weakness, I believe, responded the woodlark. I will see
• 3:52:44
  Speaker 7: what I can do towards enjoying myself more. You are
• 3:52:47
  Speaker 7: very wise, little robin. There is a wisdom that will
• 3:52:51
  Speaker 7: keep you at the all the year round. Here the
• 3:52:55
  Speaker 7: woodlark rose into the air and performed several circling flights,
• 3:53:00
  Speaker 7: singing vigorously all the time. The old melancholy pervaded the tone,
• 3:53:05
  Speaker 7: But that might be mere habit. The song was, at
• 3:53:08
  Speaker 7: any rate, more earnest and strong. That is better already,
• 3:53:13
  Speaker 7: cried the robin gaily. And for my part, if I
• 3:53:17
  Speaker 7: am ever disposed to be dull myself, I shall think
• 3:53:20
  Speaker 7: of what you told me just now, of all the
• 3:53:21
  Speaker 7: past winters, namely that little bits of things did always
• 3:53:27
  Speaker 7: accidentally turn up. What a comforting fact to think of
• 3:53:32
  Speaker 7: my ever having been able to comfort anybody, exclaimed the woodlock.
• 3:53:37
  Speaker 7: I must try and take comfort myself. I indeed, cried
• 3:53:42
  Speaker 7: the robin, earnestly. It is faithless work to give advice
• 3:53:45
  Speaker 7: which you will not follow yourself, So saying, the robin
• 3:53:50
  Speaker 7: trolled out a pleasant farewell, and returned to the shrubbery grounds,
• 3:53:54
  Speaker 7: where in an ivy covered wall he had found for
• 3:53:57
  Speaker 7: himself a snug little winter's home. It was during the
• 3:54:01
  Speaker 7: ensuing week, and while the robin was in his blythest mood,
• 3:54:05
  Speaker 7: and singing away, undisturbed by me grims of any kind,
• 3:54:09
  Speaker 7: but rejoicing in the comforts of each day. Ast came
• 3:54:12
  Speaker 7: that the tortoise once more accosted him. No confidence in
• 3:54:15
  Speaker 7: the kind chance that has befriended you so often before.
• 3:54:19
  Speaker 7: When Robin first heard his voice, he was startled and
• 3:54:22
  Speaker 7: feared another scolding. But he was quite mistaken. The old
• 3:54:27
  Speaker 7: tortoise was sitting by the side of an opening in
• 3:54:29
  Speaker 7: the ground which he had scratched out very cleverly with
• 3:54:32
  Speaker 7: his claws. It was in a corner among some stones
• 3:54:35
  Speaker 7: which had lain there for years, and there was one
• 3:54:38
  Speaker 7: large one in particular, overhung the entrance of the hole.
• 3:54:42
  Speaker 7: The wind had drifted a vast quantity of leaves in
• 3:54:44
  Speaker 7: that direction, and some of them had blown into the hole,
• 3:54:48
  Speaker 7: so that it looked like a warm underground bed. Hop
• 3:54:52
  Speaker 7: down to me, little bird, was the tortoise's address, and
• 3:54:56
  Speaker 7: a quite friendly voice, an order with which the robin
• 3:55:00
  Speaker 7: at once complied. Ah, you need not be afraid, continued he,
• 3:55:06
  Speaker 7: as the robin alighted by his side. I am quite
• 3:55:09
  Speaker 7: happy now. See what a comfortable place I have made
• 3:55:12
  Speaker 7: myself here in the earth. There there. Put your head
• 3:55:16
  Speaker 7: in and peep. Did you ever see anything so snug
• 3:55:20
  Speaker 7: in your life? The robin peered in with his sharp
• 3:55:24
  Speaker 7: little eye and really admired the tortoise's ingenious labor very
• 3:55:28
  Speaker 7: much hop in, cried the tortoise, gaily, there's room enough
• 3:55:34
  Speaker 7: and despair, is there not? Robin hopped in and looked around.
• 3:55:40
  Speaker 7: He was surprised at the size and convenience of the place,
• 3:55:43
  Speaker 7: and admitted that a more roomy and comfortable winter's bed
• 3:55:46
  Speaker 7: could not be wished. For who wouldn't go to sleep?
• 3:55:52
  Speaker 7: Cried the tortoise. What say you, my little friend? But
• 3:55:57
  Speaker 7: you need not say. I see it in your eye.
• 3:56:00
  Speaker 7: You are not for sleep yourself. Well, well, we have
• 3:56:04
  Speaker 7: all our different ways of life, and yours is a
• 3:56:06
  Speaker 7: pleasant folly after all, when it doesn't disturb other people.
• 3:56:11
  Speaker 7: And you won't disturb me any more this year, for
• 3:56:14
  Speaker 7: I have made my arrangements at last, and shall soon
• 3:56:17
  Speaker 7: be so sound asleep that I shall hear no more
• 3:56:20
  Speaker 7: of your singing for the present. It's a nice bed,
• 3:56:24
  Speaker 7: isn't it?
• 3:56:25
  Speaker 9: Not so nice?
• 3:56:26
  Speaker 7: Perhaps as the warm sands of my native land. But
• 3:56:29
  Speaker 7: the ground even here is much warmer inside than people think.
• 3:56:33
  Speaker 7: Who know nothing of it but the cold, damp surface.
• 3:56:37
  Speaker 12: Ah.
• 3:56:38
  Speaker 7: If it wasn't, how would the snowdrop and crocus live
• 3:56:42
  Speaker 7: through the winter. Well I called you here to say
• 3:56:46
  Speaker 7: good bye and show you where I am, and to
• 3:56:48
  Speaker 7: ask you to remember me in the spring. If that is,
• 3:56:52
  Speaker 7: of course, you survive the terrible weather that is coming.
• 3:56:57
  Speaker 7: You don't mind my having been somewhat crossed the other day,
• 3:57:00
  Speaker 7: do you? I am apt to get testing now and then?
• 3:57:04
  Speaker 7: And you disturbed me in my nap, which nobody can bear.
• 3:57:08
  Speaker 7: But you will forgive and forget, won't you? Little bird?
• 3:57:12
  Speaker 7: The kind hearted robin protested his affectionate feeling in a
• 3:57:15
  Speaker 7: thousand pretty ways. Then you won't forget me in the spring,
• 3:57:21
  Speaker 7: added the tortoise. But come here and sit on the
• 3:57:24
  Speaker 7: laurel bush and sing me awake. Not till the days
• 3:57:28
  Speaker 7: are mild and the plans get juicy, of course, but
• 3:57:31
  Speaker 7: as soon as you please, then and now good bye.
• 3:57:37
  Speaker 7: This is strange feeling in the air to day, and
• 3:57:40
  Speaker 7: before many hours are over there will be snow and
• 3:57:42
  Speaker 7: frost Yours is a pleasant folly. I wish it may
• 3:57:49
  Speaker 7: not cost you dear.
• 3:57:51
  Speaker 9: Good bye.
• 3:57:54
  Speaker 7: Hereupon the old tortoise, huddled away into the interior of
• 3:57:57
  Speaker 7: his hole, where he actually disappeared from sight. And as
• 3:58:01
  Speaker 7: soon afterwards the drifting leaves completely choked up the entrance
• 3:58:04
  Speaker 7: of the place. No one could have suspected what was there,
• 3:58:07
  Speaker 7: but those who knew the secret beforehand. He had been
• 3:58:12
  Speaker 7: right in his prognostication of the weather. A thick, gloomy,
• 3:58:16
  Speaker 7: raw evening was succeeded by a bitterly cold night, and
• 3:58:20
  Speaker 7: towards the morning, the overweighted clouds began to discharge themselves
• 3:58:23
  Speaker 7: some of their snow, And as the day wore, the
• 3:58:27
  Speaker 7: flakes got heavier and heavier, and as no sunshine came
• 3:58:31
  Speaker 7: out to melt them, and abiding frost set in, the
• 3:58:36
  Speaker 7: country was soon covered with a winding sheet of white.
• 3:58:40
  Speaker 7: And now indeed began a severe trial of the robin's
• 3:58:43
  Speaker 7: patience and hope. It is easy to boast while the
• 3:58:47
  Speaker 7: sun still shines, if ever so little. But it is
• 3:58:51
  Speaker 7: not till the storm comes that the metal of principle
• 3:58:54
  Speaker 7: is known. There are berries left, yet, said he with
• 3:58:58
  Speaker 7: cheerful composure, as he went out to seek for food,
• 3:59:02
  Speaker 7: and found a holly tree by the little gate of
• 3:59:04
  Speaker 7: the plantation, red with its beautiful fruit, And after he
• 3:59:09
  Speaker 7: had eaten. He poured out a song of joy and
• 3:59:11
  Speaker 7: thankfulness into the cold wintry sky, and finally retreated under
• 3:59:16
  Speaker 7: his ivy bush at night, happy and contented as before.
• 3:59:21
  Speaker 7: But that terrible storm lasted for weeks without intermission, or
• 3:59:26
  Speaker 7: if it did intermit, it was but to partial thaw,
• 3:59:29
  Speaker 7: which the knight of frost soon bound up again, as firmly,
• 3:59:33
  Speaker 7: or more firmly than ever. Many other birds, besides himself,
• 3:59:37
  Speaker 7: came to the holly tree for berries, and it was wonderful.
• 3:59:40
  Speaker 7: Holly disappeared, first from one branch and then from another,
• 3:59:45
  Speaker 7: But still the robin sang on. He poured out his
• 3:59:48
  Speaker 7: little song of thanks after every meal.
• 3:59:51
  Speaker 5: That was his rule.
• 3:59:53
  Speaker 7: Other birds would jeer at him sometimes, but he could
• 3:59:56
  Speaker 7: not be much moved by jeers. He had brought his brain,
• 4:00:01
  Speaker 7: and his patience and his hope into the field against
• 4:00:04
  Speaker 7: whatever troubles might arise, And a few foolish jests would
• 4:00:08
  Speaker 7: not trouble a spirit so strung up to cheerful endurance.
• 4:00:12
  Speaker 7: I will sing the old tortoise awake. Yet, said he,
• 4:00:15
  Speaker 7: many and many a time, when after chanting his little
• 4:00:18
  Speaker 7: thanksgiving in the holly tree, he would hover about the
• 4:00:21
  Speaker 7: spot where his friend lay asleep in the ground, and
• 4:00:24
  Speaker 7: think of the spring that would one day come, bringing
• 4:00:26
  Speaker 7: its mild days, and its juicy plants, and its thousand
• 4:00:29
  Speaker 7: pleasant delights. I do not say, but what it was
• 4:00:32
  Speaker 7: a great trial to our friend, when, after dreaming all
• 4:00:36
  Speaker 7: these things in his day dreams, he was roused up
• 4:00:38
  Speaker 7: at last by feeling himself unusually cold and stiff, and
• 4:00:41
  Speaker 7: he was forced to hurry to his ivy home to
• 4:00:44
  Speaker 7: recover himself. At all. The alterations, too, of winter are
• 4:00:49
  Speaker 7: very trying. The long storm of many weeks ceased at last,
• 4:00:53
  Speaker 7: and a fortnight of open weather ensued, which, although wet
• 4:00:57
  Speaker 7: and cold, gave much more liberty to the birdords, and
• 4:01:00
  Speaker 7: aloud of greater plenty of food. The robin could now
• 4:01:04
  Speaker 7: hop once more on the grass round the fountain and
• 4:01:07
  Speaker 7: get a few worms, and pick up a few seeds.
• 4:01:10
  Speaker 7: And he was so delighted with the change that he
• 4:01:12
  Speaker 7: half hoped the winter was over, and he sat in
• 4:01:15
  Speaker 7: the laurel tree by the tortoise's cave and poured out
• 4:01:18
  Speaker 7: long ditties of anticipated delight. But the bitterest storm of
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 7: all was yet in store, the storm of disappointed hope, Oh,
• 4:01:30
  Speaker 7: heavy clouds, Why did you hang so darkly over the
• 4:01:33
  Speaker 7: earth just before the Christmas season? Oh, why did the
• 4:01:36
  Speaker 7: fields become so white again, and the tree so laden
• 4:01:40
  Speaker 7: with snow wreaths, and the water so frozen and immovable?
• 4:01:44
  Speaker 7: Just when all human beings wanted to rejoice and be glad?
• 4:01:48
  Speaker 7: Did you come? Perhaps you did to rouse the tender
• 4:01:52
  Speaker 7: pity and compassionate love the hearts of all who wished
• 4:01:55
  Speaker 7: to welcome their Savior with hosannas of joy, but who
• 4:02:00
  Speaker 7: cannot forget if they read the Gospel of Love, that
• 4:02:03
  Speaker 7: whosoever does a kindness to one of the least of
• 4:02:06
  Speaker 7: his disciples, does it unto him. Surely, Thus may the
• 4:02:11
  Speaker 7: bitter cold and the trying weather of abiding snowy Christmas
• 4:02:15
  Speaker 7: be read. Surely it calls aloud to every one that
• 4:02:19
  Speaker 7: now is the moment for clothing the naked, for feeding
• 4:02:22
  Speaker 7: the hungry, and for comforting the afflicted. Heavily, heavily, heavily
• 4:02:29
  Speaker 7: it came down. There were two days in which the
• 4:02:32
  Speaker 7: robin never left his ivy covered hole, But hunger took
• 4:02:35
  Speaker 7: him at last to the hollow tree by the little gate.
• 4:02:38
  Speaker 7: Its prickly leaves were loaded with snow, and on one
• 4:02:42
  Speaker 7: side the stem could not be seen at all. Was
• 4:02:45
  Speaker 7: it his fancy or was the tree really much less
• 4:02:48
  Speaker 7: than before? He hopped from one white branch to another,
• 4:02:52
  Speaker 7: and fancied that large pieces were gone. He peered under
• 4:02:56
  Speaker 7: and over, picked at the leaves, and shook down little
• 4:03:00
  Speaker 7: morsels of snow. But nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, could a single
• 4:03:04
  Speaker 7: berry be found. The robin flew about in distress, and
• 4:03:10
  Speaker 7: in so doing caught sight of a heap of holly,
• 4:03:12
  Speaker 7: laurel and bay branches that were laid beside together to
• 4:03:15
  Speaker 7: be carried up to the house to decorate its walls.
• 4:03:19
  Speaker 7: He picked up two or three of the berries from
• 4:03:21
  Speaker 7: them as they lay there, ripe red berries such as
• 4:03:25
  Speaker 7: he had gathered but lately from the tree. And then
• 4:03:28
  Speaker 7: came the gardener by, who carried the hole away. He
• 4:03:32
  Speaker 7: flew after the man as he walked, and never left
• 4:03:35
  Speaker 7: him until he disappeared with his load into the house.
• 4:03:39
  Speaker 7: Its unfriendly doors closed against the little wanderer, and no
• 4:03:42
  Speaker 7: one within knew of the wistful eyes which had watched
• 4:03:45
  Speaker 7: the coveted food out of sight. I have eaten, Let
• 4:03:50
  Speaker 7: me be thankful, was the robin's resolute remark as he
• 4:03:53
  Speaker 7: flew away. From the house and returned to the holly
• 4:03:55
  Speaker 7: tree which had so lately been his storehouse of hope,
• 4:03:59
  Speaker 7: and from its now strip and barren branches poured out,
• 4:04:02
  Speaker 7: as before his lay of glad, thanksgiving for what he
• 4:04:05
  Speaker 7: had had. Not a breath of wind was blowing, not
• 4:04:11
  Speaker 7: a leaf stirred, not a movement of any kind took place,
• 4:04:15
  Speaker 7: save when some overloaded branch dropped part of its weight
• 4:04:18
  Speaker 7: of snow on the ground below. As the sweet carol
• 4:04:21
  Speaker 7: of the still Hungry Little Bird rose through the air
• 4:04:23
  Speaker 7: on that dark, still winter's afternoon, what did it tell of? Oh,
• 4:04:31
  Speaker 7: Surely that clear bell like melody, that musical tone, that exquisite,
• 4:04:36
  Speaker 7: harmonious trill told of something of something, I mean, besides
• 4:04:43
  Speaker 7: the tale of a poor, little, desolate bird whose food
• 4:04:46
  Speaker 7: had been snatched away before his eyes, and who might
• 4:04:49
  Speaker 7: be thought to have eaten his last meal. Surely, those
• 4:04:54
  Speaker 7: solitary notes of joy poured into the midst of a gloom,
• 4:04:57
  Speaker 7: so profound were as an angel's message coming with the
• 4:05:01
  Speaker 7: promise of peace and hope at a moment when both
• 4:05:04
  Speaker 7: seemed dead, and departed homeward from his day's work of business,
• 4:05:11
  Speaker 7: There passed by at that moment the owner and inhabitant
• 4:05:15
  Speaker 7: of the little suburban villa. It had been a melancholy
• 4:05:18
  Speaker 7: day to him, for it was saddened by painful recollections.
• 4:05:22
  Speaker 7: It was the anniversary on the day on which his
• 4:05:24
  Speaker 7: wife had been laid in her churchyard grave. And since
• 4:05:28
  Speaker 7: that event, two suns had sailed with a far off
• 4:05:30
  Speaker 7: land of promise, which puts a hemisphere between the loved
• 4:05:33
  Speaker 7: and loving on earth, So that far distant land held them,
• 4:05:38
  Speaker 7: whilst one not so distant, perhaps, but more unattainable for
• 4:05:42
  Speaker 7: the present, held the other. No wonder therefore, that on
• 4:05:47
  Speaker 7: the owner's face, as he approached his home there hung
• 4:05:51
  Speaker 7: a cloud of suffering and care, which not even the
• 4:05:54
  Speaker 7: thought of Christmas Day at hand, and the children yet
• 4:05:57
  Speaker 7: spared to his heart, could prevent or dispel. Verily, the
• 4:06:03
  Speaker 7: autumn of man's life comes down upon him as the
• 4:06:05
  Speaker 7: autumn season descends upon the earth, clouds and tears mixed
• 4:06:10
  Speaker 7: with whatever brightness may remain. All at once, however, the
• 4:06:15
  Speaker 7: abstracted look of sorrow was startled. What is that he hears?
• 4:06:20
  Speaker 7: He is passing outside the little plantation which skirts the grounds.
• 4:06:24
  Speaker 7: He is close to the little gate near which the
• 4:06:26
  Speaker 7: holly tree grows, he pauses, he stops, He lifts up
• 4:06:32
  Speaker 7: those troubled eyes. Surely a wholesome tear is stealing over
• 4:06:37
  Speaker 7: the cheek, beautiful tender affecting as the voice of the
• 4:06:42
  Speaker 7: cuckoo in spring, There swept over the listener's heart the
• 4:06:46
  Speaker 7: autumnal song of the robin, sing on, sing on, from
• 4:06:52
  Speaker 7: the top of your desolate tree, A little bird of
• 4:06:55
  Speaker 7: cheerfulness and hope, pour out again that heaven taught music
• 4:06:59
  Speaker 7: of contentment. With the hour that now is, Shalt thou
• 4:07:04
  Speaker 7: be confident of protection, and man destitute of hope, Shalt
• 4:07:08
  Speaker 7: thou and the depth of thy winter's trial have joy
• 4:07:12
  Speaker 7: and peace, And man never looked beyond the cloud, poor
• 4:07:18
  Speaker 7: little innocent bird. He sang his pretty song to an end,
• 4:07:22
  Speaker 7: and then he flew away, quarrel not with him. If
• 4:07:28
  Speaker 7: in painful recollection of the holly berries that had been
• 4:07:31
  Speaker 7: carried into the house, he hovered round its windows and
• 4:07:34
  Speaker 7: doors with anxious and curious stealth. Whether across the middle
• 4:07:38
  Speaker 7: of one window he observed at tempting red cluster hanging
• 4:07:42
  Speaker 7: down inside. No one can say, but the tantalizing pain.
• 4:07:46
  Speaker 3: Of such a sight.
• 4:07:47
  Speaker 7: If he felt it was soon over for Just then
• 4:07:51
  Speaker 7: the window was opened, and along its outside ledge something
• 4:07:54
  Speaker 7: was strewn by a careful hand. The window was closed
• 4:07:58
  Speaker 7: again immediately, and whoever it was within retreated backwards into
• 4:08:03
  Speaker 7: the room from a standard rose bush, whither he had
• 4:08:07
  Speaker 7: flown when the window was opened. Our little friend watched
• 4:08:11
  Speaker 7: the affair. Presently. A fragrant odor seemed to steal towards him,
• 4:08:16
  Speaker 7: something unknown, yet pleasant, something tempting and very nice. Was
• 4:08:21
  Speaker 7: there any risk to be feared? All seemed quiet? And
• 4:08:25
  Speaker 7: still should he venture ah that odor again? It was irresistible.
• 4:08:33
  Speaker 7: In another minute he was on the ledge, and boldly,
• 4:08:36
  Speaker 7: as if a dozen invitations had bidden him welcome to
• 4:08:39
  Speaker 7: the feast. He was devouring crumb after crumb of the
• 4:08:42
  Speaker 7: scattered bread. A burst of lighted laughter from within broke
• 4:08:47
  Speaker 7: upon his elysium of joy for a moment and sent
• 4:08:50
  Speaker 7: him back with a sudden flight to the rose bush.
• 4:08:53
  Speaker 7: But no disaster ensued, and he was tempted again and again.
• 4:09:00
  Speaker 7: The children within might well laugh at the saucy bird
• 4:09:03
  Speaker 7: whom their father had, by his gift of bread crumbs,
• 4:09:06
  Speaker 7: tempted to the place. They laughed at the bold hop,
• 4:09:10
  Speaker 7: the eager pecking, the brilliant beadlike eye of their new guests,
• 4:09:14
  Speaker 7: and at the bright red of his breast. But it
• 4:09:17
  Speaker 7: was a laugh that told of nothing but kind delight.
• 4:09:22
  Speaker 7: Little bits of things do accidentally turn up always, indeed,
• 4:09:26
  Speaker 7: said the Robin to himself, as he crept into his
• 4:09:29
  Speaker 7: ivy hole that evening to sleep, And he dreamt half
• 4:09:32
  Speaker 7: the night of the wonderful place and the princely fair,
• 4:09:36
  Speaker 7: And the next morning, long before anybody was awakened up,
• 4:09:40
  Speaker 7: he was off to the magical window ledge again. But
• 4:09:43
  Speaker 7: neither children nor bread crumbs were there. How was he
• 4:09:47
  Speaker 7: to know about breakfast hours and the customs of social life.
• 4:09:51
  Speaker 7: So it almost seemed to him as if his evening
• 4:09:54
  Speaker 7: meal had been a dream, too good a thing to
• 4:09:56
  Speaker 7: be true, or if it had ever been true, too
• 4:10:00
  Speaker 7: good to return. Yet a sweeter song was never heard
• 4:10:04
  Speaker 7: on a summer eve than that with which the Robin
• 4:10:07
  Speaker 7: greeted that early day, the Christmas morning of the year.
• 4:10:11
  Speaker 7: Perched in the laurel bush near the tortoise's retreat, he
• 4:10:14
  Speaker 7: told his sleeping friend a long, marvelous tale of his
• 4:10:17
  Speaker 7: yesterday's adventures, and promised him more news against the time
• 4:10:20
  Speaker 7: when he should return to wake him up. In the spring,
• 4:10:25
  Speaker 7: Nor did he promise in vain for whether the tortoise
• 4:10:28
  Speaker 7: would be patient enough to listen or not. There was
• 4:10:30
  Speaker 7: no doubt that Robin had plenty to tell. He had
• 4:10:33
  Speaker 7: to tell of the daily meal that was spread for
• 4:10:36
  Speaker 7: him by those suddenly raised up friends, that daily meal
• 4:10:40
  Speaker 7: that had never failed, Of the curious tiny house that
• 4:10:43
  Speaker 7: was erected for him at the end of the ledge,
• 4:10:46
  Speaker 7: which carpeted as it was with cotton, wool and hay,
• 4:10:50
  Speaker 7: formed almost too warm a roosting place for his hearty
• 4:10:53
  Speaker 7: little frame. But even to the tortoise, he could never
• 4:10:57
  Speaker 7: tell all he had felt during that wonderful winter, for
• 4:11:01
  Speaker 7: he could never explain to any one the mysterious friendship
• 4:11:04
  Speaker 7: which grew up between himself and his protectors. He could
• 4:11:08
  Speaker 7: never describe properly the friendly faces that sat around the
• 4:11:11
  Speaker 7: breakfast table on which at last he was allowed to
• 4:11:14
  Speaker 7: hop about at will. He told, however, how he used
• 4:11:19
  Speaker 7: to sing on the rose tree outside every morning of
• 4:11:23
  Speaker 7: every day to welcome the waking of his friends, and
• 4:11:26
  Speaker 7: how in the late afternoons the father would sometimes open
• 4:11:29
  Speaker 7: the window and sit there alone by himself, listening to
• 4:11:33
  Speaker 7: his song. Come, my little friend, remarked the tortoise when
• 4:11:40
  Speaker 7: he did awake at last and had come out of
• 4:11:43
  Speaker 7: his cavern bed and heard the account. I have been
• 4:11:46
  Speaker 7: asleep for a long time, and I dare say have
• 4:11:49
  Speaker 7: been dreaming all manner of fine things myself, if I
• 4:11:53
  Speaker 7: could but think of them now. I suspect you have
• 4:11:57
  Speaker 7: had a nap as well. However, I am very glad
• 4:12:00
  Speaker 7: to see you alive and not so half start looking
• 4:12:03
  Speaker 7: as I had expected. But as to your having sung
• 4:12:07
  Speaker 7: every day and had plenty to eat every day, and
• 4:12:10
  Speaker 7: been so happy all the time, take my advice. Don't
• 4:12:15
  Speaker 7: try to cram older heads than your own with travelers tales.
• 4:12:23
  Speaker 7: End of chapter twelve.
• 4:12:25
  Speaker 5: Not lost but gone before? Will none of you, in
• 4:12:30
  Speaker 5: pity to those who left behind, disclose the secret Blair's grave.
• 4:12:38
  Speaker 5: I wonder what becomes of the frog when he climbs
• 4:12:40
  Speaker 5: up out of this world and disappears so that we
• 4:12:43
  Speaker 5: do not see even his shadow till PLoP he is
• 4:12:46
  Speaker 5: among us again when we least expect him. Does anybody
• 4:12:50
  Speaker 5: know what he goes to tell me? Somebody pray? Thus
• 4:12:55
  Speaker 5: shattered the grub of a dragonfly as he darted about
• 4:12:59
  Speaker 5: with his numerous pinions in and out among the plants
• 4:13:03
  Speaker 5: at the bottom of the water in search of prey.
• 4:13:06
  Speaker 5: The water formed a beautiful pond in the center of
• 4:13:09
  Speaker 5: a wood. Stately trees grew around it and reflected themselves
• 4:13:14
  Speaker 5: on its surface as an abolished mirror, and the bulrushes
• 4:13:18
  Speaker 5: and forget me nots which fringed its sides seemed to
• 4:13:21
  Speaker 5: have a twofold life. So perfect was their image below.
• 4:13:26
  Speaker 5: Who cures what the frog does, answered one of those
• 4:13:29
  Speaker 5: who overhead the grub's inquiry? What is it to us?
• 4:13:34
  Speaker 5: Look out for foot for yourself, cried another? And let
• 4:13:37
  Speaker 5: other people's business alone. But I have a curiosity on
• 4:13:41
  Speaker 5: the subject, expostulated the first speaker. I can see all
• 4:13:45
  Speaker 5: of you when you pass by me among the plants
• 4:13:48
  Speaker 5: in the water here, And when I don't see you
• 4:13:50
  Speaker 5: any longer, I know you have gone further on. But
• 4:13:54
  Speaker 5: I followed a frog just now as he went upwards,
• 4:13:57
  Speaker 5: and all at once he went to the side of
• 4:13:59
  Speaker 5: the water, and then began to disappear, And presently he
• 4:14:03
  Speaker 5: was gone. Did he leave this world? Do you think?
• 4:14:06
  Speaker 5: And what can there be beyond.
• 4:14:09
  Speaker 7: You?
• 4:14:10
  Speaker 5: Idle talkative fellow, cried another, shooting by as he spoke,
• 4:14:14
  Speaker 5: attend to the world, you were in, and leave the beyond,
• 4:14:19
  Speaker 5: if there is a beyond, to those that are there,
• 4:14:23
  Speaker 5: see what a morsel you have missed with your wanderings
• 4:14:26
  Speaker 5: about nothing, So saying the saucer speaker seized an insect
• 4:14:32
  Speaker 5: which was flitting right in front of his friend. The
• 4:14:36
  Speaker 5: curiosity of the grub was a little checked by these
• 4:14:39
  Speaker 5: in similar remarks, and he resumed his employment of chasing
• 4:14:44
  Speaker 5: prey for a time. But do what he would, He
• 4:14:47
  Speaker 5: could not help thinking of the cures disappearance of the frog,
• 4:14:51
  Speaker 5: and presently began to tease his neighbors about it again,
• 4:14:55
  Speaker 5: what becomes of the frog when he leaves the world?
• 4:14:58
  Speaker 5: Being the burden of his inquiry, the minnows eared him askance,
• 4:15:02
  Speaker 5: and passed on without speaking, for they knew no more
• 4:15:05
  Speaker 5: than he did of the matter, and yet were loath
• 4:15:08
  Speaker 5: to proclaim their ignorance. And the eels wrinkled away in
• 4:15:12
  Speaker 5: the mad out of hearing, for they could not bear
• 4:15:15
  Speaker 5: to be disturbed. The grub got impatient, but he succeeded
• 4:15:20
  Speaker 5: in inspiring as several of his tribe with some of
• 4:15:23
  Speaker 5: his own curiosity, and then went scrambling about in all
• 4:15:27
  Speaker 5: directions with his followers asking the same unreasonable questions of
• 4:15:32
  Speaker 5: all the creatures he met. Suddenly there was a heavi
• 4:15:36
  Speaker 5: splush in the water, and a large yellow frog swamped
• 4:15:40
  Speaker 5: down to the bottom among the grubs. Ask the frog himself,
• 4:15:47
  Speaker 5: suggested the minnow, as he dotted by overhead, with a
• 4:15:50
  Speaker 5: mischievous glance of his eye and very good advice. It
• 4:15:54
  Speaker 5: seemed to be only the thing was much easier said
• 4:15:57
  Speaker 5: than done, for the frog was a dignified sort of passonage,
• 4:16:02
  Speaker 5: of whom the smaller inhabitants of the water stood a
• 4:16:05
  Speaker 5: good deal in awe. It required no common amount of
• 4:16:09
  Speaker 5: assurance to ask a creature of his standing in gravity
• 4:16:13
  Speaker 5: where he had been to and where he had come from.
• 4:16:16
  Speaker 5: He might justly consider such an inquiry as a very
• 4:16:20
  Speaker 5: impertinent piece of curiosity. Still, such a chance of satisfying
• 4:16:25
  Speaker 5: himself was not to be lost, and after taking two
• 4:16:29
  Speaker 5: or three turns around the roots of a water lily,
• 4:16:32
  Speaker 5: the grub screwed up his courage, and, approaching the frog
• 4:16:35
  Speaker 5: in the meekest manner he could assume, he asked, is
• 4:16:39
  Speaker 5: it permitted to a very unhappy creature to speak? The
• 4:16:44
  Speaker 5: frog turned his gold aged eyes upon him in surprise
• 4:16:47
  Speaker 5: and answered very unhappy creatures had better be silent. Another
• 4:16:53
  Speaker 5: talk But when I am happy. But I shall be
• 4:16:56
  Speaker 5: happy if I may talk, interposed the grub as glibly
• 4:17:00
  Speaker 5: as possible. Talk Away, then, cried the frog. What can
• 4:17:05
  Speaker 5: it matter to me, respected frog, replied the grub. But
• 4:17:10
  Speaker 5: it is something I want to ask you. Ask away,
• 4:17:14
  Speaker 5: exclaimed the frog, not in a very encouraging tone. It
• 4:17:17
  Speaker 5: must be confessed, but still the permission was given. What
• 4:17:22
  Speaker 5: is there beyond the world, inquired the grub, in a
• 4:17:25
  Speaker 5: voice scarcely audible from emotion. What world do you mean,
• 4:17:31
  Speaker 5: cried the frog, rolling his goggle eyes round and round.
• 4:17:35
  Speaker 5: This world, of course, our world, answered the grub. This
• 4:17:40
  Speaker 5: bond you mean, remarked the frog, with a contemptuous sneer.
• 4:17:45
  Speaker 5: I mean the place we live in, whatever you may
• 4:17:48
  Speaker 5: choose to call it, cried the grab pertly. I call
• 4:17:51
  Speaker 5: it the world, do you, sharp? Little fellow, rejoined the frog.
• 4:17:56
  Speaker 5: Then what is the place you don't live in the
• 4:17:59
  Speaker 5: beyond the world? And the frog shook his sides with
• 4:18:03
  Speaker 5: merriment as he spoke. That is just what I want
• 4:18:06
  Speaker 5: you to tell me, replied the grub briskly. Oh indeed,
• 4:18:10
  Speaker 5: little one, exclaimed the froggie, rolling his eyes, this time
• 4:18:15
  Speaker 5: with an amused twinkle. Come, I shall tell you. Then
• 4:18:19
  Speaker 5: it is a dry land. There was a pose of
• 4:18:22
  Speaker 5: several seconds, and then can one swim about there? Inquired
• 4:18:27
  Speaker 5: the grub in a subdued tone. I should think not,
• 4:18:32
  Speaker 5: chuckled the frog. Dry land is not water, little fellow,
• 4:18:36
  Speaker 5: that is just what it is not. But I want
• 4:18:40
  Speaker 5: you to tell me what it is, persists the grub.
• 4:18:45
  Speaker 5: Of all the inquisitive creatures I ever met, you certainly
• 4:18:48
  Speaker 5: are the most troublesome, cried the frog. Well, then dry
• 4:18:53
  Speaker 5: land is something like the sludge at the bottom of
• 4:18:55
  Speaker 5: this pond, only it is not wet because there is
• 4:18:58
  Speaker 5: no water, really, interrupted the grub. What is there?
• 4:19:03
  Speaker 12: Then?
• 4:19:04
  Speaker 5: That's the difficulty, exclaimed froggy. There is something, of course,
• 4:19:09
  Speaker 5: and they call it her, But how to explain it?
• 4:19:11
  Speaker 5: I don't know. My own feeling about it is that
• 4:19:15
  Speaker 5: it's the nearest approach to nothing possible. Do you comprehend,
• 4:19:21
  Speaker 5: not quite, replied the grub, hesitating exactly, I was afraid not.
• 4:19:27
  Speaker 5: Now just take my advice and ask no more silly questions.
• 4:19:31
  Speaker 5: No good can possibly come of it, urged the frog.
• 4:19:37
  Speaker 5: Honored frog exclaimed the grub, I must differ from you.
• 4:19:41
  Speaker 5: There great good will, as I think come of it.
• 4:19:44
  Speaker 5: If my restless curiosity can be stilled by obtaining the
• 4:19:47
  Speaker 5: knowledge I seek. If I learn to be contented where
• 4:19:51
  Speaker 5: I am, it will be something. At present I am
• 4:19:55
  Speaker 5: miserable and restless under my ignorance. You are a very
• 4:20:00
  Speaker 5: silly fellow, cried the frog. You will not be satisfied
• 4:20:03
  Speaker 5: with experience of others. I tell you the thing is
• 4:20:07
  Speaker 5: not worth your troubling yourself about. But as I rather
• 4:20:10
  Speaker 5: admire your spirit, which for so insignificant a creature, is astonishing,
• 4:20:16
  Speaker 5: I will make you an offer. If you choose to
• 4:20:18
  Speaker 5: take a seat in my back, I will carry you
• 4:20:21
  Speaker 5: up to tryland myself, and then you can judge for
• 4:20:24
  Speaker 5: yourself what there is there and how you like it.
• 4:20:28
  Speaker 5: I consider it a foolish experiment, mind, but that is
• 4:20:31
  Speaker 5: your own lookout. I make my offer to give you pleasure,
• 4:20:36
  Speaker 5: and I accept it with a gratitude that knows no bounds,
• 4:20:40
  Speaker 5: exclaimed the enthusiastic grub. Drop yourself down on my back, then,
• 4:20:46
  Speaker 5: and cling to me as well as you can. For remember,
• 4:20:49
  Speaker 5: if you go gliding off, you will be out of
• 4:20:52
  Speaker 5: the way when I leave the water, the grub of bait,
• 4:20:55
  Speaker 5: and the frog swimming gently upwards, which the bull rushes
• 4:20:59
  Speaker 5: by the water side hold fast, cried he all at once,
• 4:21:04
  Speaker 5: and then raising his head out of the pond, he
• 4:21:07
  Speaker 5: clumbered up the bank and caught upon the grass. Now
• 4:21:12
  Speaker 5: then here we are, exclaimed he, what do you think
• 4:21:15
  Speaker 5: of dry land? But no one spoke in reply. Hullo gone,
• 4:21:22
  Speaker 5: he continued, That's just what I was afraid of. He
• 4:21:26
  Speaker 5: has floated off my bag, shipped fellow. I declare, dear, dear,
• 4:21:30
  Speaker 5: how unlikey. But it cannot be helped. And perhaps he
• 4:21:34
  Speaker 5: may make his way to the water's edge here after all,
• 4:21:37
  Speaker 5: and then I can help him out. I will wait
• 4:21:39
  Speaker 5: about and see. And away went Froggy, with an occasional
• 4:21:43
  Speaker 5: jaunty leap along the grass by the edge of the pond,
• 4:21:47
  Speaker 5: glancing every now and then among the bulrushes to see
• 4:21:50
  Speaker 5: if he could spy the dark mailed figure of the
• 4:21:53
  Speaker 5: dragonfly grub. But the crab meanwhile, oh so far from
• 4:21:58
  Speaker 5: having floated over the frog's back back through carelessness, he
• 4:22:01
  Speaker 5: had clung to it with all the tenacity of hope.
• 4:22:04
  Speaker 5: And the moment came with the mask of his face
• 4:22:07
  Speaker 5: began to issue from the water, but the same moment
• 4:22:10
  Speaker 5: sent him reeling from his resting place into the pond,
• 4:22:14
  Speaker 5: punting and struggling for life. A shock seemed to have
• 4:22:17
  Speaker 5: struck his frame. A deadly faintness succeeded, and it was
• 4:22:22
  Speaker 5: several seconds before he could recover himself. Horrible, cried he,
• 4:22:28
  Speaker 5: as soon as he had rallied a little beyond this world,
• 4:22:31
  Speaker 5: there is nothing but death. The frog has deceived me.
• 4:22:35
  Speaker 5: He can't go there at any rate. And with these
• 4:22:38
  Speaker 5: words the grub moved away to his old occupations, his
• 4:22:42
  Speaker 5: order for inquiry grievously checked, though his spirit was unsubdued.
• 4:22:48
  Speaker 5: He contented himself for the present therefore, with talking over
• 4:22:52
  Speaker 5: what he had done and where he had been, with
• 4:22:54
  Speaker 5: his friends and who could listen, and moved to such
• 4:22:57
  Speaker 5: a recital. The novelty, the mystery, the danger, the all
• 4:23:02
  Speaker 5: but fatal result, and the still unexplained wonder of what
• 4:23:06
  Speaker 5: became of the frog all invested the affair with the
• 4:23:09
  Speaker 5: romantic interest, and the Grub had soon a host of
• 4:23:12
  Speaker 5: followers of his own, rays, questioning, chattering, and conjecturing at
• 4:23:16
  Speaker 5: his heels. By this time, the day was declining, and
• 4:23:22
  Speaker 5: the active pursuit of prey was gradually becoming suspended for
• 4:23:26
  Speaker 5: a time when, as the inquisitive grub was returning from
• 4:23:30
  Speaker 5: a somewhat protracted rumble among the water plants, he suddenly encountered,
• 4:23:34
  Speaker 5: sitting pensively on a stone at the bottom of the pond,
• 4:23:38
  Speaker 5: his friend, the yellow frog. You here, cried the startled grub.
• 4:23:44
  Speaker 5: You never left this world at all. Then, I suppose
• 4:23:47
  Speaker 5: what a deception you must have practiced upon me. But
• 4:23:50
  Speaker 5: this comes of trusting to strangers, as it was foolish
• 4:23:53
  Speaker 5: enough to do. You perplex me by your offensive remarks,
• 4:23:57
  Speaker 5: replied the frog gravely. Never the less, I forgive you,
• 4:24:01
  Speaker 5: because you are so clumsy and ignorant that civility cannot
• 4:24:04
  Speaker 5: reasonably be expected from you, little fellow, It never struck you.
• 4:24:11
  Speaker 5: I suppose to think what my sensations were when I
• 4:24:15
  Speaker 5: landed this morning on the grass and discovered that you
• 4:24:17
  Speaker 5: were no longer on my back. Why did you not
• 4:24:20
  Speaker 5: see it fast? As I told you? But this is
• 4:24:23
  Speaker 5: always the way with you, foolish fellows, who think you
• 4:24:26
  Speaker 5: can forthom and investigate everything. You are thrown over by
• 4:24:30
  Speaker 5: the first practical difficulty you meet. Your accusations are full
• 4:24:35
  Speaker 5: of injustice, exclaimed the indignant grub. It was clear they
• 4:24:39
  Speaker 5: were on the point of quarreling, and would certainly have
• 4:24:42
  Speaker 5: done so had not. The frog, with unusual magnanimity, desired
• 4:24:47
  Speaker 5: the crab to tell his own story and clear himself
• 4:24:49
  Speaker 5: from the charge of clumsiness if he could, it was
• 4:24:53
  Speaker 5: soon told the frog, staring at him in silence out
• 4:24:57
  Speaker 5: of those great goggle eyes, while he went through the
• 4:25:00
  Speaker 5: details of his terrible adventure. And now said the grub
• 4:25:04
  Speaker 5: in conclusion, as it is clear that there is nothing
• 4:25:07
  Speaker 5: beyond this world but death, all your stories of going
• 4:25:11
  Speaker 5: there yourself must be mere inventions. Of course. Therefore, if
• 4:25:15
  Speaker 5: you do leave this world at all, you go to
• 4:25:17
  Speaker 5: some other place you are unwilling to tell me of
• 4:25:20
  Speaker 5: you have a writer to your secret, I admit, But
• 4:25:22
  Speaker 5: as I have no wish to be fooled by any
• 4:25:24
  Speaker 5: more trouble's tales, I will bid you a very good evening.
• 4:25:29
  Speaker 5: You will do no such thing till you have listened
• 4:25:31
  Speaker 5: as patiently to my story as I have done to yours,
• 4:25:35
  Speaker 5: exclaimed the frog. That is but just I allow, said
• 4:25:39
  Speaker 5: the grub, and stopped to listen. Then the frog told
• 4:25:43
  Speaker 5: how he had lingered by the edge of the pond,
• 4:25:45
  Speaker 5: in the vain hope of his approach, how he had
• 4:25:48
  Speaker 5: hopped about in the grass, how he had peeped among
• 4:25:51
  Speaker 5: the bulrushes, And at last continued he, though I did
• 4:25:55
  Speaker 5: not see you yourself, I saw a side which has
• 4:25:58
  Speaker 5: more interest for you than and for any other creature
• 4:26:01
  Speaker 5: that leaves. And there he paused, and that was asked
• 4:26:06
  Speaker 5: the inquisitive grub, his curiosity reviving in his wrath, becoming
• 4:26:09
  Speaker 5: appeased up the polished green stalk of one of those
• 4:26:14
  Speaker 5: pul rushes, continued the frog. I beheld one of your rais,
• 4:26:18
  Speaker 5: slowly and gradually climbing till he had left the water
• 4:26:22
  Speaker 5: behind him, and was clinging firmly to his chosen support,
• 4:26:26
  Speaker 5: exposed to the full glare of the sun. Rather wandering
• 4:26:30
  Speaker 5: at such a sight, considering the fondness all of you
• 4:26:32
  Speaker 5: show for the shady bottom of the pond, I continued
• 4:26:36
  Speaker 5: to gaze and observed presently. But I cannot tell you
• 4:26:40
  Speaker 5: in what way the thing happened that your rent seemed
• 4:26:43
  Speaker 5: to come in your friend's body, and by decrease gradually,
• 4:26:46
  Speaker 5: and after many struggles, there emerged from it one of
• 4:26:49
  Speaker 5: those radiant creatures who flowed through the air. I spoke
• 4:26:52
  Speaker 5: to you of and dazzled the eyes of all who
• 4:26:55
  Speaker 5: catch glimpses of them as they passed a glorious dragonfly,
• 4:27:00
  Speaker 5: as if scarcely I wakened from some perplexing dream. He
• 4:27:04
  Speaker 5: lifted his wings out of the carcass he was forsaking,
• 4:27:07
  Speaker 5: and though shriveled and dumb at first, they stretched and
• 4:27:10
  Speaker 5: expanded in the sunshine, till they glistened as if with fire.
• 4:27:15
  Speaker 5: How long the strange process continued, I can scarcely tell.
• 4:27:18
  Speaker 5: So fixed was I in astonishment and admiration. But I
• 4:27:21
  Speaker 5: saw the beautiful creature at last poise himself for a
• 4:27:24
  Speaker 5: second or two in the air before he took flight.
• 4:27:28
  Speaker 5: I saw the four gooze opinions flashed back the sunshine
• 4:27:32
  Speaker 5: that was poured on them. I heard the clush with
• 4:27:35
  Speaker 5: which they struck upon the air, and I beheld his
• 4:27:38
  Speaker 5: body give out rays of glittering blue and green as
• 4:27:42
  Speaker 5: he darted along and away away over the water, in
• 4:27:46
  Speaker 5: adding circles that seemed to know no end. Then I
• 4:27:50
  Speaker 5: plunged below to seek you out, rejoicing for your sake
• 4:27:53
  Speaker 5: in the news I brought. The frog stopped short and
• 4:27:56
  Speaker 5: a long pause, followed at last, it is a wonderful story,
• 4:28:02
  Speaker 5: observed the grub, with less emotion than might have been expected.
• 4:28:07
  Speaker 5: A wonderful story, indeed, repeated the frog. May I ask
• 4:28:11
  Speaker 5: your opinion upon it? It is for me to defer
• 4:28:14
  Speaker 5: a mind to yours, was the grub's polite reply. Good,
• 4:28:19
  Speaker 5: you are grown obliging, my little friend, remarked the frog. Well,
• 4:28:23
  Speaker 5: then I incline to the belief that what I have
• 4:28:26
  Speaker 5: seen accounts for your otherwise unreasonable curiosity, Your tiresome craving
• 4:28:31
  Speaker 5: for information about the world beyond your own, that, where possible,
• 4:28:36
  Speaker 5: always provided your account can be depended upon, mused the grub.
• 4:28:40
  Speaker 5: With a doubtful air, little fellow, exclaimed the frog. Remember
• 4:28:45
  Speaker 5: that your distrust not injure me, but may deprive yourself
• 4:28:48
  Speaker 5: of a comfort. And you really think then, that the
• 4:28:51
  Speaker 5: glorious creature you describe was one sir silence, cried the frog.
• 4:28:56
  Speaker 5: I am not prepared with definitions. Adieu, the shades of
• 4:29:01
  Speaker 5: night are falling on your world. I returned to my
• 4:29:04
  Speaker 5: grassy harm on dry land. Go to rest, little fellow,
• 4:29:07
  Speaker 5: and awake in hope. The frog swam close to the
• 4:29:11
  Speaker 5: bank and clumpered up its sides, while the grub returned
• 4:29:14
  Speaker 5: to his stripe, who rested during the hours of darkness
• 4:29:17
  Speaker 5: from their life of activity. In pursuit. Promise uttered an
• 4:29:24
  Speaker 5: entreating voice. I promise was the earnest answer, faithfully urged
• 4:29:30
  Speaker 5: the first speaker solemnly ejaculated the second. But the voice
• 4:29:36
  Speaker 5: was languid and weak. For the dragon fly grab was
• 4:29:39
  Speaker 5: sick and uneasy. His limbs had lost their old activity,
• 4:29:44
  Speaker 5: and a strange oppression was upon him. The creatures whom
• 4:29:48
  Speaker 5: he had been accustomed to chase passed by him unharmed.
• 4:29:52
  Speaker 5: The water plants over which he used to scramble with
• 4:29:54
  Speaker 5: so much agility, were distasteful to his feet. Nay, the
• 4:29:59
  Speaker 5: very water itself into which he had been born and
• 4:30:02
  Speaker 5: through which he was wont to propel himself with so
• 4:30:04
  Speaker 5: much ingenuity, felt suffocating in its weight. Upwards, He must go, now, upwards, upwards.
• 4:30:13
  Speaker 5: This was a strong sensation which mastered to every other,
• 4:30:17
  Speaker 5: and to it he felt he must submit as to
• 4:30:19
  Speaker 5: some inevitable law. And then he thought of the frog's account,
• 4:30:24
  Speaker 5: and felt a trembling conviction that the time had come
• 4:30:27
  Speaker 5: when the riddle of his own fate must be solved.
• 4:30:30
  Speaker 5: His friends and relations were gathered around him, some of
• 4:30:34
  Speaker 5: his own age, some generation younger, who had only that
• 4:30:37
  Speaker 5: year entered upon existence. All of them were followers and
• 4:30:41
  Speaker 5: a hearings, whom he had inspired with his own enthusiastic hopes.
• 4:30:45
  Speaker 5: And they would fain have helped him if they could
• 4:30:48
  Speaker 5: in this hour of weakness. But there was no help
• 4:30:51
  Speaker 5: for him now but hope, and of that he possessed,
• 4:30:54
  Speaker 5: perhaps even more than they did. Then came an earnest request,
• 4:30:59
  Speaker 5: and then a solemn promise that as surely as the
• 4:31:02
  Speaker 5: great hopes proved true, so surely would he return and
• 4:31:06
  Speaker 5: tell them so. But oh, if you should forget, exclaimed
• 4:31:11
  Speaker 5: one of the younger generations, timid and uneasy, forget the
• 4:31:15
  Speaker 5: old home, my friend, ejaculate the sick grub. Forget our
• 4:31:20
  Speaker 5: life of enjoyment, here, the ardor of the chase, the
• 4:31:24
  Speaker 5: ingenious stratagems, the triumph of success. Forget the emotions of
• 4:31:28
  Speaker 5: hope and fear we have shared together, and which I
• 4:31:31
  Speaker 5: am bound if I can to relieve impossible. But if
• 4:31:36
  Speaker 5: you should not be able to come back to us,
• 4:31:39
  Speaker 5: suggested another, more unlikely still murmured the half exhausted grub.
• 4:31:45
  Speaker 5: The conditions so exalted as they want in store for
• 4:31:48
  Speaker 5: us what can be impossible. Adieu, my friends, Adieu, I
• 4:31:52
  Speaker 5: can tire here no longer. Ere long you may expect
• 4:31:55
  Speaker 5: to see me again in a new and more glorious form.
• 4:31:59
  Speaker 5: Till then farewell. Languid indeed was the voice, and languid
• 4:32:04
  Speaker 5: were the movements of the grub as he rose upwards
• 4:32:07
  Speaker 5: through the water to the reeds and bulrushes that fringed
• 4:32:10
  Speaker 5: its bank. Two favorite brothers and a few of his friends,
• 4:32:15
  Speaker 5: more adventurous than the rest, accompanied him in his ascent,
• 4:32:19
  Speaker 5: in the hope of witnessing whatever might take place above.
• 4:32:22
  Speaker 5: But in this they were of course disappointed. From the moment,
• 4:32:27
  Speaker 5: when clinging with his feet to the stem of a bulrush,
• 4:32:29
  Speaker 5: he emerged from his native element into the air, His
• 4:32:32
  Speaker 5: companion saw him no more. Eyes fitted only for the
• 4:32:37
  Speaker 5: watery fluid, were incapable of the upward glance and power
• 4:32:40
  Speaker 5: of vision which would have enabled them to pierce beyond it,
• 4:32:44
  Speaker 5: and the little coterie of discoverers dissented, mortified, and sorrowful,
• 4:32:48
  Speaker 5: to the bed of the pond. The sun was high
• 4:32:51
  Speaker 5: in the heavens when the dragon fly grab parted from
• 4:32:54
  Speaker 5: his friends, and they waited through the long curls of
• 4:32:57
  Speaker 5: the day for his return, at first in joyful hope,
• 4:33:01
  Speaker 5: then in tremulous anxiety, and as the shades of evening
• 4:33:04
  Speaker 5: began to deepen, around in a gloomy fear that bordered
• 4:33:08
  Speaker 5: at last in despair. He has forgotten us, cried Sam
• 4:33:12
  Speaker 5: at death, from which he never can awake, has overtaken him,
• 4:33:16
  Speaker 5: said others. He will return to us, yet, maintained the
• 4:33:19
  Speaker 5: few who clung to hope, But in vain, messenger after
• 4:33:23
  Speaker 5: messenger shot upwards to the bulrushes and to various parts
• 4:33:27
  Speaker 5: of the pond, hoping to discover some trace of the
• 4:33:29
  Speaker 5: lost one. All who went out returned back the spirited
• 4:33:33
  Speaker 5: from the vain and weary search, and even the most
• 4:33:36
  Speaker 5: sanguine began to grow sick at heart. Night closed at
• 4:33:39
  Speaker 5: last upon them, bringing a temporary suspension of grief. But
• 4:33:44
  Speaker 5: the beams of the next rising sun, while it filled
• 4:33:47
  Speaker 5: all nature beside with joy and hopefulness, awakened them alas
• 4:33:51
  Speaker 5: to a sense of the bitterest disappointment and a feeling
• 4:33:54
  Speaker 5: of indignation at the deception which had been practiced upon them.
• 4:33:59
  Speaker 5: We did very well without thinking of such things, said they.
• 4:34:03
  Speaker 5: But to have hopes like those held out, and to
• 4:34:05
  Speaker 5: be deceived. After all, it is more than we can
• 4:34:08
  Speaker 5: be expected to bear in patience. And bear it in
• 4:34:12
  Speaker 5: patience they did not, with a fierceness which nothing could restrain.
• 4:34:17
  Speaker 5: They hurried about in the destructive pursuit of prey, carrying
• 4:34:21
  Speaker 5: a terrible vengeance in all directions, and thus passed on
• 4:34:25
  Speaker 5: the hours of the second day and before night a
• 4:34:28
  Speaker 5: sort of grim and savage silence was agreed upon among them,
• 4:34:32
  Speaker 5: and they ceased to bewail either the loss of him
• 4:34:35
  Speaker 5: they had loved or their own uncertain destiny. But on
• 4:34:40
  Speaker 5: the morning of the third day, one of the Grub's
• 4:34:42
  Speaker 5: favorite brothers came sailing into the midst of a group
• 4:34:46
  Speaker 5: who were just rousing up from rest, ready to commence
• 4:34:49
  Speaker 5: the daily business of their life. There was an unusual
• 4:34:53
  Speaker 5: brilliancy about his eyes, which shown as they had never
• 4:34:56
  Speaker 5: done before, and startled all who looked at them, so
• 4:34:59
  Speaker 5: that even the least observant had their attention arrested. As
• 4:35:02
  Speaker 5: he spoke, my friends said, he I was, as you know,
• 4:35:07
  Speaker 5: one of our lost relations, favorite brothers. I trusted him
• 4:35:11
  Speaker 5: as if he had been a second self, and could
• 4:35:14
  Speaker 5: have pledged myself a thousand times for his word. Judge,
• 4:35:18
  Speaker 5: then what I have suffered from his promise remaining still unfulfilled?
• 4:35:22
  Speaker 5: Alas that he has not yet writtened to us. The
• 4:35:26
  Speaker 5: Favorite Brother paused, and a little set in a corner
• 4:35:29
  Speaker 5: by themselves murmured out, how could he The story about
• 4:35:33
  Speaker 5: that other world is fools? He has not returned to ours,
• 4:35:37
  Speaker 5: recommenced the Favorite Brother. But my friends, I feel that
• 4:35:40
  Speaker 5: I am going to him, wherever that may be, either
• 4:35:43
  Speaker 5: to that new life he spoke about, or to that
• 4:35:46
  Speaker 5: death from which there is no return. Dear ones, I
• 4:35:49
  Speaker 5: go as he did, upwards, upwards, upwards. An irresistible desire
• 4:35:54
  Speaker 5: compels me to it. But before I go, I renew
• 4:35:58
  Speaker 5: to you, for myself and him, the solemn promise he
• 4:36:01
  Speaker 5: once made to you. Should the great hopes be true,
• 4:36:04
  Speaker 5: we will come back and tell you so if I returned,
• 4:36:07
  Speaker 5: not but rely on me. My water is more to
• 4:36:10
  Speaker 5: me than life. Adieu. The Graub rose upwards through the water,
• 4:36:15
  Speaker 5: followed by the last of the three brothers and one
• 4:36:18
  Speaker 5: or two of the younger ones. But on reaching the
• 4:36:21
  Speaker 5: brink of the pond, he seized on a plant of
• 4:36:24
  Speaker 5: the Forget me Not and clinging to its firm flower stalk,
• 4:36:28
  Speaker 5: clumpered out of the water into the open air. Those
• 4:36:31
  Speaker 5: who accompanied him watched him as he left the water,
• 4:36:35
  Speaker 5: but after that they saw no more. The blank of
• 4:36:38
  Speaker 5: his departure alone remained to them, and they sank down,
• 4:36:42
  Speaker 5: sad and uneasy, to their home below. As before, the
• 4:36:47
  Speaker 5: hours of the day passed on, and not a trace
• 4:36:49
  Speaker 5: of the departed one was seen. In vain, they dwelt
• 4:36:52
  Speaker 5: upon the consoling words he had spoken, the hope he
• 4:36:57
  Speaker 5: had for a time reawakened, died out with declining sun,
• 4:37:01
  Speaker 5: and many a voice was raised against his treachery and
• 4:37:04
  Speaker 5: want of love. He is faithless, said Sam. He forgets,
• 4:37:09
  Speaker 5: is like his brother and his new fortune. Cried others.
• 4:37:13
  Speaker 5: The story of that other world is fools, muttered the
• 4:37:16
  Speaker 5: little set in the corner. By themselves, only a very
• 4:37:19
  Speaker 5: few murmur to each other. We will not despair. One
• 4:37:23
  Speaker 5: thing along was certain. He did not return, and the
• 4:37:26
  Speaker 5: disappointed crowds took refuge from thought, as before in the fiercest,
• 4:37:30
  Speaker 5: rapid and excitement, scattering destruction around them wherever they moved.
• 4:37:36
  Speaker 5: Another day now elapsed, and then in the early dawn
• 4:37:39
  Speaker 5: following the third and last brother crept slowly to a
• 4:37:42
  Speaker 5: half sleeping nod of his more particular friends, and roused
• 4:37:45
  Speaker 5: them up. Look at my eyes, said he has not
• 4:37:49
  Speaker 5: a sudden change come over them. They feel to miswilled
• 4:37:52
  Speaker 5: and bursting. And yet I see with a clouded and
• 4:37:56
  Speaker 5: imperfect vision. Doubtless it is with me now as it
• 4:38:00
  Speaker 5: was with out dear ones before they left us. I
• 4:38:03
  Speaker 5: am oppressed like them. Like them, an invisible power is
• 4:38:07
  Speaker 5: driving me upwards as they were driven. Listen, then, for
• 4:38:11
  Speaker 5: on my parting words, you may depend. Let the other
• 4:38:15
  Speaker 5: world be what it will, gorgeous beyond all we can
• 4:38:18
  Speaker 5: fancy of it, blissful, beyond all we can hope of it.
• 4:38:21
  Speaker 5: Do not fear in me an altered or forgetful heart.
• 4:38:26
  Speaker 5: I dare not promise more. Yet, if it be possible,
• 4:38:29
  Speaker 5: I will return. But remember, there may well be that
• 4:38:33
  Speaker 5: other world, and yet we in ours may misjudge its nature. Farewell,
• 4:38:38
  Speaker 5: Never part with hope, with your fears. I know you
• 4:38:41
  Speaker 5: never can part now. Farewell, And he too went upwards
• 4:38:47
  Speaker 5: through the cool water to the plants that bortered its side,
• 4:38:50
  Speaker 5: and from the leaf of a golden kinkcup he rose
• 4:38:53
  Speaker 5: out of his native element into that aerial world into
• 4:38:56
  Speaker 5: which water crobs eye never yet could pierce. His companions
• 4:39:01
  Speaker 5: lingered awhile near the spot where he had disappeared, But
• 4:39:04
  Speaker 5: neither sign nor sound came to them. Only the dreary
• 4:39:08
  Speaker 5: sense of bereavement reminded them that he once had been.
• 4:39:13
  Speaker 5: Then followed the hours of vain expectation, the renewed disappointment,
• 4:39:17
  Speaker 5: the cruel doubts, the hope that struggle with despair. And
• 4:39:21
  Speaker 5: after this others went upwards in succession. For the time
• 4:39:25
  Speaker 5: came to all when the lustrous eyes of the perfect
• 4:39:28
  Speaker 5: creature shone through the musked face of the grub, and
• 4:39:31
  Speaker 5: he must needs pass forward to the fulfillment of his destiny.
• 4:39:36
  Speaker 5: But the result among those who were left was always
• 4:39:38
  Speaker 5: the same. There were, ever, some that doubted and feared, Ever,
• 4:39:43
  Speaker 5: some that disbelieved and ridiculed, Ever some that hoped and
• 4:39:47
  Speaker 5: looked forward. Oh, if they could but have known, poor things,
• 4:39:52
  Speaker 5: If those eyes fitted for the narrow bounds of their
• 4:39:55
  Speaker 5: water world could have been endued with the power of
• 4:39:57
  Speaker 5: vision in the purer element, beyond what a lifetime of anxiety?
• 4:40:02
  Speaker 5: Would they not have been spared? What ease? What rest
• 4:40:05
  Speaker 5: would have been theirs? But belief would in that case
• 4:40:09
  Speaker 5: have been an irresistible necessity, and Hope must have changed
• 4:40:13
  Speaker 5: her name and the dragon fly. Meanwhile, was he really
• 4:40:16
  Speaker 5: faithless as they thought when he burst his prison house
• 4:40:20
  Speaker 5: by the water's side and rose on glittering wings into
• 4:40:22
  Speaker 5: the summer air. Had he indeed no memory for the
• 4:40:25
  Speaker 5: dear ones he had so lately left, nor tender concern
• 4:40:29
  Speaker 5: for the griefs and fears, nor recollection of the promise
• 4:40:32
  Speaker 5: he had made, oh so far from it? He thought
• 4:40:36
  Speaker 5: of them amidst the transports of his wildest flights, and
• 4:40:39
  Speaker 5: returned to ever endeavor to the precincts of that world
• 4:40:43
  Speaker 5: which had once been the only world to him. But
• 4:40:46
  Speaker 5: in that region also a power was over him, superior
• 4:40:49
  Speaker 5: to his own, and to it his will must submit.
• 4:40:52
  Speaker 5: To the world of waters, he could never more return.
• 4:40:56
  Speaker 5: The lists thatched upon its surface, as he skimmed over
• 4:40:59
  Speaker 5: it with a purpose of descent, brought on a deadly
• 4:41:03
  Speaker 5: shock like that which as a water grub he had
• 4:41:06
  Speaker 5: experienced from emerging into air, and his wings involuntarily bore
• 4:41:10
  Speaker 5: him instantly back from the unnatural contact. Alas for the
• 4:41:14
  Speaker 5: promise made in ignorance and presumption, miserable grub that I was,
• 4:41:19
  Speaker 5: was his bitter, constantly repeated cry. And thus divided and
• 4:41:23
  Speaker 5: yet near parted, yet united by love, he hovered about
• 4:41:28
  Speaker 5: the barrier that lay between them, never quite perhaps without
• 4:41:31
  Speaker 5: a hope that some accident might bring his deer once
• 4:41:35
  Speaker 5: in sight. Nor was his constancy unrewarded, for as after
• 4:41:40
  Speaker 5: even his longest roamings he never failed to return to
• 4:41:43
  Speaker 5: the old sport. He was there too welcome the emancipated
• 4:41:47
  Speaker 5: brother who so soon followed him, And often after that,
• 4:41:51
  Speaker 5: the breezy air by the forest pond would resound in
• 4:41:54
  Speaker 5: the bright summer afternoons with the clashing of dragonfly's wings
• 4:41:59
  Speaker 5: as now back wards, now forwards, not to one side,
• 4:42:03
  Speaker 5: now to another, without turn or intermission, they darted over
• 4:42:07
  Speaker 5: the crystal water in the rupture of the new life.
• 4:42:10
  Speaker 5: It might be on those occasions that some fresh arrival
• 4:42:14
  Speaker 5: of kindred from below added a keener joy to their
• 4:42:17
  Speaker 5: already joyous existence. Sweet assuredly, it was to each newcomer,
• 4:42:22
  Speaker 5: when the riddle of his fate was solved, to find
• 4:42:25
  Speaker 5: in the new region not a strange and friendless abode,
• 4:42:28
  Speaker 5: but a home rich with the welcomes of those who
• 4:42:31
  Speaker 5: had gone before. Sweet also, it was and strangers sweet
• 4:42:36
  Speaker 5: to know that, even while they had been trembling and
• 4:42:38
  Speaker 5: fearing their ignorant life below, glimps from the wings of
• 4:42:42
  Speaker 5: those they lamented, were dropping like star rays on their home,
• 4:42:46
  Speaker 5: reflected hither and thither from the sun that shone above. Oh,
• 4:42:50
  Speaker 5: if they could but have known beautiful forest pond, crowded
• 4:42:54
  Speaker 5: with mysterious life, of her secrets, we know so little,
• 4:42:58
  Speaker 5: who would not willingly linger by your banks for study
• 4:43:02
  Speaker 5: and forethought? There where the beech tree throws out her
• 4:43:05
  Speaker 5: graceful arms, gloring in the loveliness that is reflected beneath.
• 4:43:10
  Speaker 5: There were, in the nominal silence the innsogn birds bore
• 4:43:14
  Speaker 5: out their music of joy. There where the blue Forget
• 4:43:17
  Speaker 5: Me Not tells its tale of all romance, and the
• 4:43:21
  Speaker 5: long grasses bend over their pictured shadows. There were the
• 4:43:25
  Speaker 5: dragonflies still hover on the surface of the water, longing
• 4:43:29
  Speaker 5: to reassure the huts of the trembling rays, who are
• 4:43:31
  Speaker 5: still hoping and fearing below, and of not lost but gone.
• 4:43:36
  Speaker 9: Before Chapter fourteen moats in the sunbeam. It was a
• 4:43:43
  Speaker 9: bright sunshiny day at Christmas tide, when once upon a
• 4:43:47
  Speaker 9: time two little girls were sitting on their mama's sick bed.
• 4:43:50
  Speaker 9: One was a very little thing who could only just talk,
• 4:43:53
  Speaker 9: and she was leaning her curly head against the bedpost.
• 4:43:57
  Speaker 9: The other, some two or three years older, was sitting
• 4:44:00
  Speaker 9: on a pillow near her mother. The children were not
• 4:44:02
  Speaker 9: talking much, for there was a new baby in the house,
• 4:44:05
  Speaker 9: and everybody was very quiet, though very happy. And these
• 4:44:09
  Speaker 9: two little sisters of the newcomer had only been admitted
• 4:44:12
  Speaker 9: to see poor mamma on condition that they would be
• 4:44:15
  Speaker 9: very good and make no noise. But the active spirits
• 4:44:18
  Speaker 9: of young animals cannot be long kept under, And so
• 4:44:21
  Speaker 9: it happened that a strong gleam of winter sunshine, entering
• 4:44:24
  Speaker 9: into the room through a half open shutter, shot right
• 4:44:27
  Speaker 9: across the middle of the bed and attracted the eyes
• 4:44:30
  Speaker 9: and attention of both the children, for up and down
• 4:44:33
  Speaker 9: in this narrow strip of light danced innumerable sparking Moatshild
• 4:44:37
  Speaker 9: her child, the kate of our story, had a little
• 4:44:39
  Speaker 9: open box in her hand, and she stretched it out
• 4:44:42
  Speaker 9: up and down into the beam, and whispered, in a
• 4:44:45
  Speaker 9: half giggle of delight, I'll catch the stars. Her mamma
• 4:44:49
  Speaker 9: looked on and smiled. For the Mary Kate made the
• 4:44:51
  Speaker 9: play very amusing to herself. She pretended to catch the
• 4:44:54
  Speaker 9: shining moats in the empty box, and then put on
• 4:44:58
  Speaker 9: a face of mock surprise and disappointm at finding nothing
• 4:45:01
  Speaker 9: inside when she peeped to sea. Moreover, she kept up
• 4:45:05
  Speaker 9: a little talk all the time, there's one. Oh, he's
• 4:45:08
  Speaker 9: such a beauty, I must have him. And then she
• 4:45:12
  Speaker 9: dashed the box once more into the streak of light.
• 4:45:15
  Speaker 9: But this sport and the smiles of Mamma's face soon
• 4:45:17
  Speaker 9: became irresistible to the little undine child by the bedpost,
• 4:45:21
  Speaker 9: and she said, very gently, give me some two somewhat.
• 4:45:25
  Speaker 9: My little Undine asked mamma, what are they? Undine glanced
• 4:45:29
  Speaker 9: at her mother, and then at the moats, and then
• 4:45:32
  Speaker 9: she said stars. But there was a misgiving look on
• 4:45:35
  Speaker 9: her face as she spoke. No, they're not stars, are they, Mamma,
• 4:45:40
  Speaker 9: observed the wiser Kate. They're nothing but dust, And the
• 4:45:43
  Speaker 9: box danced about quicker than ever. They're not dust, pouted
• 4:45:47
  Speaker 9: the offended little one. There's stars, Well, then here you
• 4:45:51
  Speaker 9: shall have a box full, cried Kate, thrusting the box
• 4:45:54
  Speaker 9: onto Undine's lap and covering it over with her pinafore,
• 4:45:58
  Speaker 9: take care of them, Take care of them, or they'll
• 4:46:00
  Speaker 9: go out. Very carefully and slowly did Undine uncover the box,
• 4:46:04
  Speaker 9: and with a very grave and inquiring face did she
• 4:46:07
  Speaker 9: examine it both inside and out in search of the stars.
• 4:46:10
  Speaker 9: And then, in one of those freaks of chain so
• 4:46:12
  Speaker 9: common to children, she burst into a gay laugh, tossed
• 4:46:15
  Speaker 9: the box up like a ball, and cried out, they're
• 4:46:18
  Speaker 9: nothing but dust, nothing but nasty, dirty dust. There they go,
• 4:46:22
  Speaker 9: and there they go, echoed Kate, and forthwith the children
• 4:46:25
  Speaker 9: commenced to jumping in noise, which quickly brought the nurse
• 4:46:28
  Speaker 9: to the room and in order for the removal of
• 4:46:31
  Speaker 9: the righteous little damsels. But Mama inquired Kate in a
• 4:46:35
  Speaker 9: grave whisper before she went away, why does the dust
• 4:46:38
  Speaker 9: look so like stars because the sun sent his light
• 4:46:42
  Speaker 9: upon it? Answered Mama. Sunshine is like love, Kate, It
• 4:46:46
  Speaker 9: makes everything shine with its own beauty. You, and Undine added,
• 4:46:50
  Speaker 9: she kissing her little girl's fat cheek, are stars in
• 4:46:53
  Speaker 9: my eyes because I see you and the sunshine of love.
• 4:46:57
  Speaker 9: But we're not nothing but nasty, dirty dust and red reality,
• 4:47:00
  Speaker 9: observed Kate, shaking her head very knowingly as she let
• 4:47:04
  Speaker 9: her little sister from the room. Those of my young
• 4:47:08
  Speaker 9: readers who have lived in the north of England will
• 4:47:10
  Speaker 9: remember the fine old Christmas hymn that is sung in
• 4:47:13
  Speaker 9: that part of the country. They will remember the many happy,
• 4:47:16
  Speaker 9: snowy Christmas Eves on which they went to bed, delighted
• 4:47:19
  Speaker 9: at the thought of hearing it in the night, and
• 4:47:21
  Speaker 9: how a curious thrill of pleasure came over them when
• 4:47:24
  Speaker 9: they really were roused from sleep by the solemn and
• 4:47:27
  Speaker 9: beautiful sounds of Christians. Awake Salute the happy morn where
• 4:47:32
  Speaker 9: on the Savior of mankind was born, sung by the
• 4:47:35
  Speaker 9: village waits, usually the church singers of the place. As
• 4:47:39
  Speaker 9: I think of these things myself, I almost hear the
• 4:47:41
  Speaker 9: grand old melody, and can just fancy some little urch
• 4:47:44
  Speaker 9: and more hearty than the rest of his companions, creeping
• 4:47:47
  Speaker 9: out of his snug bed to peep behind the blind
• 4:47:50
  Speaker 9: at the well known old men and girls, all wrapped
• 4:47:53
  Speaker 9: up in greatcoats and cloaks to protect them from the
• 4:47:56
  Speaker 9: stormy December night. I can fancy too, how after feeling
• 4:48:00
  Speaker 9: very chilly as he stood at the window, he would
• 4:48:02
  Speaker 9: go back to the warm bed and say, how cold
• 4:48:05
  Speaker 9: the poor weights must be. And how between whispering about
• 4:48:08
  Speaker 9: the waits and listening to the music, those children would
• 4:48:11
  Speaker 9: while away one of the happiest hours of merry Christmas,
• 4:48:14
  Speaker 9: And then, after hearing the sounds revive and die away
• 4:48:17
  Speaker 9: in other more distant parts of the village, would drop
• 4:48:20
  Speaker 9: asleep as easily as tired laborers at night. Well, you
• 4:48:24
  Speaker 9: wonder what this Christmas him has to do with my
• 4:48:26
  Speaker 9: story of Kate and Undine. Merely this that one of
• 4:48:29
  Speaker 9: the verses begins. Thus, oh, may we keep and ponder
• 4:48:33
  Speaker 9: in our mind, God's wondrous love in saving lost mankind.
• 4:48:38
  Speaker 9: And this is taken from a passage in scripture to
• 4:48:41
  Speaker 9: which I want to call your attention, namely that wherein
• 4:48:44
  Speaker 9: it is said of the Virgin Mary that she kept
• 4:48:47
  Speaker 9: and pondered in her heart the wonderful things the shepherds
• 4:48:51
  Speaker 9: had told her of our Savior. Other people talked about
• 4:48:54
  Speaker 9: them and made a fuss about them, and then very
• 4:48:57
  Speaker 9: likely forgot them. But Mary pondered them in her heart,
• 4:49:01
  Speaker 9: a practice which has a las gone sadly too much
• 4:49:05
  Speaker 9: out of fashion, for everybody nowadays is so busy either
• 4:49:09
  Speaker 9: learning or talking, that for pondering things in the heart,
• 4:49:12
  Speaker 9: there seems to be neither time nor inclination. Nevertheless, mothers
• 4:49:17
  Speaker 9: are still more apt to do it than anybody else. Indeed,
• 4:49:21
  Speaker 9: they are constantly pondering in their minds the things that
• 4:49:24
  Speaker 9: their children say, or the things that people say of them.
• 4:49:28
  Speaker 9: Sometimes they may ponder foolishly, but I hope not often,
• 4:49:32
  Speaker 9: especially if they ponder in their hearts and not in
• 4:49:34
  Speaker 9: their heads. Only now, the mother of Kate and Undine
• 4:49:38
  Speaker 9: was a great ponderer, and as she had, especially just
• 4:49:41
  Speaker 9: then nothing else to do. You may be sure how
• 4:49:44
  Speaker 9: she pondered over the pretty scene of her two little ones,
• 4:49:47
  Speaker 9: and the moats in the sunbeam. And the dust did
• 4:49:50
  Speaker 9: look very like stars, she confessed to herself as she
• 4:49:53
  Speaker 9: lay looking up at the light. But how wise thought she.
• 4:49:58
  Speaker 9: The sober Kate felt at her own superior knowledge, how
• 4:50:01
  Speaker 9: proud to recognize dust for dust, even under its most
• 4:50:05
  Speaker 9: sunny aspect. And yet how often, before life is ended,
• 4:50:09
  Speaker 9: may she not make Undine's mistake herself and take even
• 4:50:12
  Speaker 9: dust for stars, merely because the sun shines upon it.
• 4:50:17
  Speaker 9: And here the poor mama uttered a short prayer that
• 4:50:19
  Speaker 9: she might be enabled to instill good principles into her
• 4:50:23
  Speaker 9: children's minds. That's o Kate and Undean too might know
• 4:50:26
  Speaker 9: dust for dust whenever they saw it. Let the outward
• 4:50:29
  Speaker 9: world shine upon it, never so brightly. And then she
• 4:50:32
  Speaker 9: looked up at the sunbeam as it streamed across her
• 4:50:35
  Speaker 9: sick bed, till she thought it was like so many things.
• 4:50:38
  Speaker 9: She felt her head becoming quite confused. It was like love,
• 4:50:43
  Speaker 9: as she had said. Yes, But it was like cheerfulness,
• 4:50:46
  Speaker 9: like good temper, like the gospel charity. For do not
• 4:50:50
  Speaker 9: the commonest things of life and the dullest duties of
• 4:50:53
  Speaker 9: life shine starl like under their rays. Yes, But it
• 4:50:57
  Speaker 9: was most of all like the peace of God, which
• 4:51:00
  Speaker 9: passeth all understanding. For that lightens up the dark career
• 4:51:03
  Speaker 9: of earthly existence and leads the soul upward along the
• 4:51:07
  Speaker 9: bright path of its rays till it reaches the everlasting
• 4:51:10
  Speaker 9: home of light itself, I thought the mother, as she
• 4:51:14
  Speaker 9: looked once more, motes in the sunbeam. As we are
• 4:51:18
  Speaker 9: miserable dust and ashes in ourselves, the light streams down
• 4:51:22
  Speaker 9: upon us and transfigures us. We follow the light upwards
• 4:51:26
  Speaker 9: and become the children of light ourselves. Her head had
• 4:51:30
  Speaker 9: indeed become confused amidst similes and fancies, and half waking dreams.
• 4:51:35
  Speaker 9: But before she could think the matter over clearly and distinctly,
• 4:51:40
  Speaker 9: she had fallen fast asleep. End of Chapter fourteen.
• 4:51:46
  Speaker 12: Chapter fifteen Red snow Rotu kisekivoi sadere astrana pertudicarre, dalungi
• 4:51:59
  Speaker 12: mile elia, gonlever dutta gorta duna spana dante, And who
• 4:52:08
  Speaker 12: art thou that on the stool would sit to judge
• 4:52:10
  Speaker 12: at distance of a thousand miles with the short sighted
• 4:52:14
  Speaker 12: vision of a span Carrie's translation. Little Siegfried, the widow's son,
• 4:52:21
  Speaker 12: climbed day by day up the hill which overlooked his
• 4:52:23
  Speaker 12: mother's cottage, and rambled about on the top, running after
• 4:52:27
  Speaker 12: birds and insects and gathering the beautiful wild flowers that
• 4:52:31
  Speaker 12: grow on the Swiss Alps. There were the dark blue
• 4:52:34
  Speaker 12: gentians and the alpine rose, as it is called, and
• 4:52:38
  Speaker 12: campanulas and salvias are almost as common as the cowslips
• 4:52:42
  Speaker 12: and daisies of English fields, and from the brightness of
• 4:52:45
  Speaker 12: their colors make the hillsides look like gardens instead of
• 4:52:49
  Speaker 12: uncultivated ground. Little Siegfried's father had been killed in battles
• 4:52:54
  Speaker 12: some months before his child's birth, and so when he
• 4:52:57
  Speaker 12: came into the world, he was cradled in tea instead
• 4:53:00
  Speaker 12: of smiles, And what wonder if he grew up less,
• 4:53:03
  Speaker 12: thoughtless and gay than other boys of his age. It
• 4:53:08
  Speaker 12: was his mother who had first shown Siegfried where to
• 4:53:10
  Speaker 12: climb the hill and where to find the finest flowers,
• 4:53:13
  Speaker 12: and had made him look at the hills still higher
• 4:53:16
  Speaker 12: than their own, by which their valley was enclosed, and
• 4:53:19
  Speaker 12: had pointed out to him Mount Blank in the distance,
• 4:53:23
  Speaker 12: looming like a shadowy giant in the sky. For thus
• 4:53:28
  Speaker 12: and thus had her husband shown her all these things
• 4:53:32
  Speaker 12: during the few happy months of their marriage, before he
• 4:53:35
  Speaker 12: was called away to the wars. And on the same
• 4:53:38
  Speaker 12: heights where the child now roamed after flowers, his parents
• 4:53:42
  Speaker 12: had sat together among them in quiet summer evenings, sometimes talking,
• 4:53:47
  Speaker 12: sometimes reading, always praising God for the happiness he was
• 4:53:51
  Speaker 12: permitting them to enjoy. But having thus led her child
• 4:53:55
  Speaker 12: to the spot so fondly and dear to herself, and
• 4:53:58
  Speaker 12: bidden him rejoice in the sights and scenes of nature,
• 4:54:01
  Speaker 12: and told him of the protecting God of goodness, who
• 4:54:04
  Speaker 12: ruled over all, the widowed mother went back alone to
• 4:54:08
  Speaker 12: her cottage to weep out in secret her reawakened grief.
• 4:54:12
  Speaker 12: Siegfried meanwhile amused himself on the flowery heights, his new playground,
• 4:54:17
  Speaker 12: And after he had gathered for his mother the nosegay
• 4:54:20
  Speaker 12: she had asked him to bring, he lay down on
• 4:54:23
  Speaker 12: the soft turf and looked round at the hills and
• 4:54:26
  Speaker 12: up to the snowy sides of the huge Maunt Blanc,
• 4:54:29
  Speaker 12: of which he could see so much more here than
• 4:54:33
  Speaker 12: down in the valley below, till it took possession of
• 4:54:36
  Speaker 12: his fancy as something wonderful and grand, something far beyond
• 4:54:40
  Speaker 12: the flowers, bright and lovely as they were. And ever afterward,
• 4:54:45
  Speaker 12: day by day, when he had had enough of chasing
• 4:54:48
  Speaker 12: and rambling, he used to lie down in the same
• 4:54:50
  Speaker 12: place and look at the hills in the same way,
• 4:54:53
  Speaker 12: that he might feel again what he had felt at first.
• 4:54:58
  Speaker 12: Yet he found no sameness in the sight. The clouds
• 4:55:02
  Speaker 12: that sometimes lifted themselves up from and at other times
• 4:55:05
  Speaker 12: came down over the mountain were never quite alike. The
• 4:55:09
  Speaker 12: shadows that flitted across it varied from day to day
• 4:55:12
  Speaker 12: in their shape and size and course, and the sunshine
• 4:55:15
  Speaker 12: that broke over it was of many different tints and
• 4:55:18
  Speaker 12: lit it up in a thousand different ways. At one
• 4:55:21
  Speaker 12: time it was wrapped in a silvery haze. At another
• 4:55:25
  Speaker 12: the air became so clear that the child could see
• 4:55:27
  Speaker 12: the glittering of the snow atoms as they seemed to
• 4:55:30
  Speaker 12: dance in and out like the stars in the sky.
• 4:55:34
  Speaker 12: So Sea Creed never wearied of watching a huge mountain,
• 4:55:38
  Speaker 12: but got to love it more and more, with a
• 4:55:40
  Speaker 12: love mixed with respectful awe, and a feeling as if
• 4:55:44
  Speaker 12: it had some sort of life and consciousness. At last,
• 4:55:48
  Speaker 12: one day, when his mother was putting his little basket
• 4:55:51
  Speaker 12: in his hand that he might go on the hill
• 4:55:54
  Speaker 12: as usual to play, he asked her if he might
• 4:55:57
  Speaker 12: go to the top of Mont blank instead, and if
• 4:56:00
  Speaker 12: she would show him the way. It was no wonder
• 4:56:03
  Speaker 12: that the good widow smiled as she told him that
• 4:56:05
  Speaker 12: neither he nor she was able to climb up such
• 4:56:09
  Speaker 12: a terrible mountain. But she did smile, and although she
• 4:56:12
  Speaker 12: noticed how the little face flushed over as she spoke,
• 4:56:16
  Speaker 12: she thought naturally enough that this was because of his disappointment. So,
• 4:56:21
  Speaker 12: kissing him lovingly, she said, you must be a great
• 4:56:24
  Speaker 12: strong man, Seegfried, before you can scramble up the heights
• 4:56:28
  Speaker 12: of Mont Blanc, And even for great strong men. The
• 4:56:32
  Speaker 12: way is very dangerous, and even if you were there,
• 4:56:36
  Speaker 12: you would find nothing but cold and snow and misery.
• 4:56:40
  Speaker 12: Neither life nor flowers. Our own hills are as pleasant again.
• 4:56:46
  Speaker 12: So Segfried went away with his basket, but instead of
• 4:56:50
  Speaker 12: running about and picking flowers, he threw himself at once
• 4:56:52
  Speaker 12: upon the ground and looked at the mountain and cried,
• 4:56:56
  Speaker 12: for he felt very sorry at what his mother had said. Presently, however,
• 4:57:01
  Speaker 12: he wiped his eyes and looked again, then sprang up
• 4:57:04
  Speaker 12: and stared before him, as if surprised. All the distance
• 4:57:09
  Speaker 12: was bathed in bright sunshine, and the air was more
• 4:57:12
  Speaker 12: transparent than usual and low. A round, rosy colored patch
• 4:57:16
  Speaker 12: was visible on the far off snows. He had never
• 4:57:20
  Speaker 12: seen it before. What could it be, he thought, he knew,
• 4:57:24
  Speaker 12: and running hastily down to the cottage, threw open the
• 4:57:28
  Speaker 12: door and shouted, in delight, mother, there is a rose
• 4:57:31
  Speaker 12: on mont blank. Siegfried's mother did not laugh now, for
• 4:57:36
  Speaker 12: she saw the child was excited, and she was grieved
• 4:57:39
  Speaker 12: for him. Ah, he had only half the love that
• 4:57:43
  Speaker 12: should have been his. She must console him as best
• 4:57:46
  Speaker 12: she could. He was not like other boys, she knew,
• 4:57:49
  Speaker 12: and thinking this, she took him on her knee and
• 4:57:52
  Speaker 12: tried to explain to him that it must be only
• 4:57:56
  Speaker 12: some accidental light from the sky that caused the rosy patch,
• 4:58:00
  Speaker 12: for that no vegetation of any kind grew on the
• 4:58:02
  Speaker 12: sides of the snowy mountain, there could be no roses there,
• 4:58:06
  Speaker 12: and she knew that it often looked pink in the
• 4:58:09
  Speaker 12: evening sun, only now it was not evening. Siegfried was
• 4:58:14
  Speaker 12: silent for a few seconds and hung down his head,
• 4:58:17
  Speaker 12: but presently he murmured out why ah, Siegfried cried his mother.
• 4:58:23
  Speaker 12: Is it not enough that God chooses it to be so?
• 4:58:26
  Speaker 12: It is he who sends the everlasting snows there and
• 4:58:29
  Speaker 12: the flowery herbage here. I am very sorry for the mountain,
• 4:58:33
  Speaker 12: persisted little Siegfried, sadly, so sadly that his mother grieved
• 4:58:37
  Speaker 12: for the fanciful child, and asked should she go up
• 4:58:40
  Speaker 12: with them again to the hill and see the rosy
• 4:58:43
  Speaker 12: patch on the snow herself, on which the smiles came
• 4:58:47
  Speaker 12: back to Segfried's face. And they went away together very happily,
• 4:58:51
  Speaker 12: and with the basket as usual, for said the mother.
• 4:58:54
  Speaker 12: You came back empty handed to day Siegfried and brought
• 4:58:57
  Speaker 12: me no flowers. But by the time they reached the spot,
• 4:59:01
  Speaker 12: heavy mists that come down over the landscape, and neither
• 4:59:04
  Speaker 12: Mont Blanc nor its rosy patch could be seen. Even
• 4:59:08
  Speaker 12: Siegfried laughed at the journey they had had for nothing,
• 4:59:11
  Speaker 12: and after filling his basket, was contented to return home.
• 4:59:15
  Speaker 12: But in doing so he began to talk again. If
• 4:59:18
  Speaker 12: we had fewer flowers, mother, we should be quite as happy,
• 4:59:21
  Speaker 12: and then the great mountain could have some too. I
• 4:59:24
  Speaker 12: wish God would make things equal. Hush, little Siegfried. Hush,
• 4:59:29
  Speaker 12: cried his mother in a half whisper. God has a
• 4:59:32
  Speaker 12: right to do what he pleases, and we must not
• 4:59:34
  Speaker 12: dispute about it, nor wish it otherwise. He chooses that
• 4:59:38
  Speaker 12: there shall be desolate places as well as pretty ones
• 4:59:41
  Speaker 12: in the world, outcast ends of the earth, as it were,
• 4:59:44
  Speaker 12: which nobody seems to care for, as well as happy valleys.
• 4:59:48
  Speaker 12: I am afraid it is the same with human beings,
• 4:59:51
  Speaker 12: men and women, I mean, which is much worse. I
• 4:59:55
  Speaker 12: am afraid there are many outcasts God deserted men, as
• 4:59:59
  Speaker 12: well as desolate mountains. But you are too young to
• 5:00:02
  Speaker 12: understand such things. The mother sighed as she spoke verily
• 5:00:07
  Speaker 12: she did not understand such things herself, and so they
• 5:00:11
  Speaker 12: walked on a few steps farther, and then the boy
• 5:00:13
  Speaker 12: began again. At any rate, the top of the mountain
• 5:00:17
  Speaker 12: is nearer heaven than our hill, mother, It goes right
• 5:00:20
  Speaker 12: into the blue. No, no, cried the widow passionately. It
• 5:00:24
  Speaker 12: only looks to be so. It is no nearer the
• 5:00:27
  Speaker 12: real heaven than we are. If it were, oh, would
• 5:00:31
  Speaker 12: I not have gone there long ago at the risk
• 5:00:34
  Speaker 12: of life itself. The child looked very surprised at his mother,
• 5:00:39
  Speaker 12: for she spoke in tones very unusual to her, and
• 5:00:42
  Speaker 12: seeing how sad her face, he wondered to himself if
• 5:00:45
  Speaker 12: she also were fretting that mont Blanc was so miserable
• 5:00:50
  Speaker 12: and forlorn, and snatching the nosegay from the basket, he
• 5:00:54
  Speaker 12: flung the flowers as far into the air as he could, exclaiming, there,
• 5:00:58
  Speaker 12: I wish you had wings and would fly away to
• 5:01:01
  Speaker 12: the mountain and make it look beautiful too. Nothing more
• 5:01:06
  Speaker 12: was spoken between them, but after little Siegfried had said
• 5:01:08
  Speaker 12: his evening prayers and gone to bed, and while the
• 5:01:11
  Speaker 12: mother was sitting alone in the chamber below, she heard
• 5:01:14
  Speaker 12: a sound of crying, and going upstairs found the boy
• 5:01:17
  Speaker 12: in tears, the only account he could give, of which
• 5:01:20
  Speaker 12: was that he could not help thinking about the poor,
• 5:01:24
  Speaker 12: outcast god deserted mountain. Now she had not called the
• 5:01:29
  Speaker 12: mountain god deserted. That was his own disturbed idea, a
• 5:01:33
  Speaker 12: confusion he had got into from what his mother had said.
• 5:01:37
  Speaker 12: But how hard this was to explain, How painful to
• 5:01:41
  Speaker 12: touch the chords of a subject which jarred so cruelly
• 5:01:44
  Speaker 12: against the natural hopes and faith of a gentle heart.
• 5:01:48
  Speaker 12: How difficult also for one who had known the stern
• 5:01:51
  Speaker 12: realities of sorrow to feel along the more delicate line
• 5:01:56
  Speaker 12: of an infant's dreamy griefs. He was soothed by the grease, however,
• 5:02:00
  Speaker 12: and after she left him, her thoughts soon wandered away
• 5:02:03
  Speaker 12: from what she felt to be his fanciful troubles about
• 5:02:06
  Speaker 12: the desolate mountain, to her own struggles with her desolate heart.
• 5:02:12
  Speaker 12: The next day was Sunday, and Siegfried was able to
• 5:02:14
  Speaker 12: walk to the somewhat distant church, and even to repeat
• 5:02:18
  Speaker 12: a few of the prayers, and listened now and then
• 5:02:21
  Speaker 12: to bits of the sermon. When his mother thought there
• 5:02:23
  Speaker 12: was something he could understand, and drew his attention to it,
• 5:02:28
  Speaker 12: But on this particular day there was no need for
• 5:02:30
  Speaker 12: her to call his attention to the preacher. Nay, had
• 5:02:34
  Speaker 12: she been able, she would have been very glad to
• 5:02:36
  Speaker 12: have prevented his hearing him at all. But how could
• 5:02:40
  Speaker 12: he help hearing? When the pastor, addressing his flock, asked
• 5:02:44
  Speaker 12: if there was a single one, young or old among
• 5:02:47
  Speaker 12: them who had not gazed hundreds and hundreds of times
• 5:02:50
  Speaker 12: at the giant mountain of their land, the snow covered
• 5:02:53
  Speaker 12: inaccessible heights of Mont Blanc. Siegfried and his mother looked
• 5:02:59
  Speaker 12: at each other, and his heart leaped within him to
• 5:03:01
  Speaker 12: think that now, at last he should hear something about
• 5:03:05
  Speaker 12: his mysterious friend, And, clasping his mother's hand tightly in
• 5:03:08
  Speaker 12: his own, he listened for every word, but alas for
• 5:03:13
  Speaker 12: what he heard, the pastor, after describing the mountain in
• 5:03:16
  Speaker 12: all the magnificence of its size and form, painted it
• 5:03:20
  Speaker 12: as being nevertheless the region of hopeless desolation, the abode
• 5:03:24
  Speaker 12: of everlasting lifelessness and despair, cold, hard, insensible. What could
• 5:03:29
  Speaker 12: rouse it from its death like torpor? The life giving
• 5:03:33
  Speaker 12: sun shone upon it from day to day, from age
• 5:03:36
  Speaker 12: to age, but no influence from its rays ever penetrated
• 5:03:40
  Speaker 12: that frozen bosom. The dews fell upon it, the storms
• 5:03:44
  Speaker 12: burst over it equally in vain. Unmoved, it lifted up
• 5:03:49
  Speaker 12: its gloomy crest to heaven, as if defying its very maker,
• 5:03:53
  Speaker 12: to touch the stony depths and bid the waters flow
• 5:03:57
  Speaker 12: or warm and soften them into life and gladness. Siegfried
• 5:04:01
  Speaker 12: was already in tears, but what followed was still worse.
• 5:04:05
  Speaker 12: For the pastor now called upon his congregation to consider
• 5:04:09
  Speaker 12: whether there was not something in the moral world of
• 5:04:12
  Speaker 12: which the insensible mountain was but the too faithful type.
• 5:04:17
  Speaker 12: And then he answered himself, yes, the hardened human heart,
• 5:04:21
  Speaker 12: the wicked natural heart, the fairer heart of the multitude,
• 5:04:25
  Speaker 12: on which the sunshine of divine grace and the storms
• 5:04:29
  Speaker 12: of divine wrath were equally poured out in vain. Yet
• 5:04:34
  Speaker 12: that offenses must needs come. He was well aware that
• 5:04:38
  Speaker 12: such god deserted beings as he had spoken of, must
• 5:04:41
  Speaker 12: come up and be cut down. He knew vessels of
• 5:04:45
  Speaker 12: wrath appointed to destruction. But oh, might none of the
• 5:04:49
  Speaker 12: congregation now before him be of the number of those
• 5:04:52
  Speaker 12: lost ones. Might all there present take warning? Henceforth, as
• 5:04:56
  Speaker 12: they turned their eyes to the stiff necked hill of
• 5:04:59
  Speaker 12: their native country and flee from the wrath of the lamb.
• 5:05:04
  Speaker 12: Seagreed's sobs had by this time become so uncontrollable that
• 5:05:08
  Speaker 12: the neighbors were disturbed, and the widow thought the best
• 5:05:11
  Speaker 12: thing she could do was to rise up and leave
• 5:05:13
  Speaker 12: the church with her child. There was no arguing with him.
• 5:05:17
  Speaker 12: He was both too young and too much distressed, Added
• 5:05:20
  Speaker 12: to which his mother was scarcely less pained by the
• 5:05:23
  Speaker 12: stern words than he was. She too, could have wept
• 5:05:27
  Speaker 12: to think of vessels of wrath appointed to destruction, and
• 5:05:31
  Speaker 12: longed to hope against hope for the world of her
• 5:05:34
  Speaker 12: fellow creatures. In the material world she had but little interest,
• 5:05:38
  Speaker 12: for she knew but little about it, and had not
• 5:05:41
  Speaker 12: sufficiently considered the text which says that God's mercy is
• 5:05:46
  Speaker 12: over all his words, not limited to one class of creatures,
• 5:05:50
  Speaker 12: or even to one sort of life. Feeling as she did. Therefore,
• 5:05:54
  Speaker 12: she entered into no discussion with her boy, but through
• 5:05:58
  Speaker 12: the whome evening contrived to divert his mind by reading
• 5:06:01
  Speaker 12: him pleasant stories of good people who had lived in
• 5:06:03
  Speaker 12: favor with God and had died full of hope and peace. Nevertheless,
• 5:06:09
  Speaker 12: Aegfried's last thought as he went to sleep was not
• 5:06:12
  Speaker 12: of comfort and joy in the righteous, but of pity
• 5:06:15
  Speaker 12: and almost love for all the wretched things for whom
• 5:06:18
  Speaker 12: there seemed no hope. The next day, his mother would
• 5:06:22
  Speaker 12: fain have persuaded him to remain below in the valley
• 5:06:24
  Speaker 12: and seek some new amusement, but finding she could not
• 5:06:27
  Speaker 12: reconcile him to the idea of forsaking his favorite haunt,
• 5:06:31
  Speaker 12: she gave way, though with a sigh, and so after
• 5:06:34
  Speaker 12: his little daily tasks and helps to her were ended,
• 5:06:37
  Speaker 12: he climbed up the heights as usual. It was well
• 5:06:41
  Speaker 12: that he had promised his mother to tease her no
• 5:06:43
  Speaker 12: more about the matter, otherwise on that day he would
• 5:06:47
  Speaker 12: have made more fuss than ever. Four, when the sun
• 5:06:50
  Speaker 12: was at the highest, the rosy flush reappeared on the
• 5:06:53
  Speaker 12: distant snow, only not now confined to one small patch,
• 5:06:57
  Speaker 12: but spread in broad tracts of delicate color, which threatened
• 5:07:01
  Speaker 12: to cover the whole mountain with its aurora like tint.
• 5:07:06
  Speaker 12: Once or twice, Segfried's resolution to keep his promise nearly
• 5:07:10
  Speaker 12: gave way, but he held out manfully even to the last,
• 5:07:13
  Speaker 12: contenting himself on his return into the valley with inquiring
• 5:07:17
  Speaker 12: of a neighbor's son, whom he met driving home his
• 5:07:21
  Speaker 12: father's cattle. While some of the snow on the hills
• 5:07:23
  Speaker 12: looked pink. At first, the boy said he didn't know,
• 5:07:27
  Speaker 12: but presently he recollected that he had heard it said
• 5:07:30
  Speaker 12: that red snow fell sometimes out of the sky. Very
• 5:07:34
  Speaker 12: likely that was it. But what it was, or what
• 5:07:37
  Speaker 12: became of it, he had no notion. Only it went
• 5:07:40
  Speaker 12: away as it came. Nothing ever stopped on the hill,
• 5:07:44
  Speaker 12: but the snow that was always there. Hearing this, Siegfried
• 5:07:49
  Speaker 12: had no longer even a wish to speak to his
• 5:07:51
  Speaker 12: mother about it. She would say it was because the
• 5:07:54
  Speaker 12: mountain was so cold and hard, no good thing, even
• 5:07:57
  Speaker 12: from heaven could stay upon it. And thus a day
• 5:08:01
  Speaker 12: or two passed, and the tracks of rosy color grew
• 5:08:03
  Speaker 12: fainter and finely disappeared, as the farmer's son had said,
• 5:08:07
  Speaker 12: was always the case. And Segfried never spoke about it again,
• 5:08:11
  Speaker 12: but sat on the hill side daily wondering and dreaming
• 5:08:14
  Speaker 12: to himself. But he was interrupted at last one morning,
• 5:08:19
  Speaker 12: when the snow looked colder and whiter than ever against
• 5:08:22
  Speaker 12: the blue sky. And he had been sitting for a
• 5:08:24
  Speaker 12: while with his face hidden by his hands, A voice
• 5:08:28
  Speaker 12: he did not know a call to him, asking what
• 5:08:30
  Speaker 12: he was doing, And when he lifted up his eyes,
• 5:08:33
  Speaker 12: a stranger stood between him and mont Blanc. A child
• 5:08:37
  Speaker 12: always answers nothing to such a question, for children never
• 5:08:40
  Speaker 12: feel thinking to be doing anything. But the stranger would
• 5:08:44
  Speaker 12: not be so easily satisfied, and smiling, persisted in his inquiries,
• 5:08:50
  Speaker 12: What are you thinking of, then, little boy? One must
• 5:08:53
  Speaker 12: be either doing or thinking while one is awake. And
• 5:08:56
  Speaker 12: I want you to talk to me. I have come
• 5:08:58
  Speaker 12: from such a long way off and am so weary
• 5:09:02
  Speaker 12: here The stranger, seated himself by Sefried's side on the grass,
• 5:09:07
  Speaker 12: first continued he I want you to tell me, if
• 5:09:10
  Speaker 12: you can, whether I can get to the town of
• 5:09:15
  Speaker 12: through the pretty valley here at the bottom of this hill.
• 5:09:18
  Speaker 12: Then I want you to tell me for whom you
• 5:09:20
  Speaker 12: have picked this basket of flowers. Then why are you
• 5:09:23
  Speaker 12: on this wild hillside alone? Then what you think about
• 5:09:28
  Speaker 12: when you cover up your face with your hands? Now,
• 5:09:32
  Speaker 12: then can I get to the town through the valley?
• 5:09:36
  Speaker 12: The voice that asked was so good natured, and the
• 5:09:39
  Speaker 12: smile on the stranger's face so kind that Sefrid was
• 5:09:42
  Speaker 12: one at once, and, looking full at his new friend
• 5:09:45
  Speaker 12: and smiling himself, nodded assent to this first question. Does
• 5:09:50
  Speaker 12: your nod always mean yes, little boy asked the stranger, amused,
• 5:09:55
  Speaker 12: Sefrid nodded again. Very good. Now we understand each other.
• 5:09:59
  Speaker 12: Will you answer my other questions? Siegfried gave another nod,
• 5:10:04
  Speaker 12: and then they both laughed, and the stranger went on,
• 5:10:07
  Speaker 12: for whom have you gathered the flowers for my mother?
• 5:10:11
  Speaker 12: And why are you here alone to play? What alone?
• 5:10:16
  Speaker 12: Why I have nobody else to play with? And what
• 5:10:20
  Speaker 12: is it you think of when you sit with your
• 5:10:22
  Speaker 12: face covered up? Siegfried's heart melted within him, and pointing
• 5:10:28
  Speaker 12: by a sorrowful nod to the giant mountain, he answered,
• 5:10:31
  Speaker 12: I think of it, of it? What can you find
• 5:10:35
  Speaker 12: in it to think about? I am so sorry for it,
• 5:10:38
  Speaker 12: cried little Segfried, passionately, So sorry. It is so miserable,
• 5:10:43
  Speaker 12: an outcast, and that God will let nothing grow there
• 5:10:46
  Speaker 12: while we have all these flowers. And once more he
• 5:10:50
  Speaker 12: tossed the flowers contemptuously out of the basket. Ah, little boy,
• 5:10:55
  Speaker 12: said the stranger, putting his arm kindly round the child
• 5:10:58
  Speaker 12: and drawing himself nearer to him. You must answer another question, now,
• 5:11:03
  Speaker 12: who put such strange fancies into your head? Who told
• 5:11:07
  Speaker 12: you this about the poor mountain? They all say so,
• 5:11:11
  Speaker 12: murmured Siegfried. The pastor preached about it on Sunday, and
• 5:11:14
  Speaker 12: mother says so too, and the farmer's son and everybody.
• 5:11:18
  Speaker 12: And I am so sorry, so very sorry. The young
• 5:11:22
  Speaker 12: voice died away as it were, in regret. And why
• 5:11:26
  Speaker 12: do you care so much about the mountain, little boy?
• 5:11:30
  Speaker 12: Siegfried looked up, puzzled for a moment, but very soon
• 5:11:33
  Speaker 12: out came the simple, childlike answer, I look at it
• 5:11:36
  Speaker 12: so much when I come up here to play. It
• 5:11:40
  Speaker 12: was the stranger's turn now to feel his eyes moisten
• 5:11:43
  Speaker 12: as he thought of the solitary child sending out his
• 5:11:46
  Speaker 12: heart into the inanimate creation around him. Extremely interested, therefore,
• 5:11:53
  Speaker 12: he made a few more inquiries, and by degrees brought
• 5:11:56
  Speaker 12: out a part at any rate, of what Siegfried's mother
• 5:11:59
  Speaker 12: and the pastor between them had told and taught of
• 5:12:03
  Speaker 12: outcast countries and god deserted men. All was confusion in
• 5:12:08
  Speaker 12: the child's account, but the drift of it could easily
• 5:12:11
  Speaker 12: be discovered without making a single remark. However, The stranger
• 5:12:15
  Speaker 12: smiled again and said, quite cheerfully, I will tell you
• 5:12:19
  Speaker 12: a secret, little boy. Neither the pastor, nor your mother
• 5:12:22
  Speaker 12: nor the farmer's son were ever up the mountain, I suspect,
• 5:12:26
  Speaker 12: so they cannot know very much about it. I wanted
• 5:12:30
  Speaker 12: to go, but they would not let me interpose, Siegfried.
• 5:12:33
  Speaker 12: They said, I was not able to get up, they said, right,
• 5:12:36
  Speaker 12: replied the stranger. But I, you see, am older and
• 5:12:40
  Speaker 12: stronger and could go. And I have been quietly as
• 5:12:45
  Speaker 12: he purposely spoke, the effect of what he said was,
• 5:12:48
  Speaker 12: as he expected, very great. Siegfried jumped up and sat down,
• 5:12:53
  Speaker 12: then once more started from his seat, and was far
• 5:12:56
  Speaker 12: more anxious to run down the hill and tell his
• 5:12:58
  Speaker 12: mother the news, then to remain quietly where he was
• 5:13:03
  Speaker 12: and hear what more the stranger had to say. He
• 5:13:06
  Speaker 12: allowed himself to be controlled, however, and his friend went
• 5:13:09
  Speaker 12: on talking as if he had not been interrupted. And
• 5:13:12
  Speaker 12: the place is neither lifeless nor deserted. God sends it
• 5:13:17
  Speaker 12: the beautiful red snow plaid instead of flowers. I have
• 5:13:21
  Speaker 12: been gathering it for days. As he spoke, he unfastened
• 5:13:25
  Speaker 12: from the leathern strap that went across his shoulders a
• 5:13:28
  Speaker 12: small tin box, and opening it for a moment, let
• 5:13:32
  Speaker 12: seacreed peep at a bright, carmine colored mass of something within.
• 5:13:37
  Speaker 12: The child was speechless at first, overpowered by admiration and delight,
• 5:13:42
  Speaker 12: but presently exclaimed, then that was what I saw, adding gently,
• 5:13:47
  Speaker 12: and it really came down from heaven. Then he was
• 5:13:50
  Speaker 12: thinking of what the farmer's son had said. All good
• 5:13:55
  Speaker 12: things come from heaven, that is, from the God of Heaven,
• 5:13:58
  Speaker 12: answered the stranger. But this is as much a plant
• 5:14:02
  Speaker 12: as the alpine rose by your side. It did not
• 5:14:06
  Speaker 12: drop down from the sky, but grows in the very
• 5:14:09
  Speaker 12: snow itself and covers over miles and miles of the hill.
• 5:14:13
  Speaker 12: You thought so desolate. God sends good things everywhere, though
• 5:14:18
  Speaker 12: not everywhere alike. Oh the joy of such a doctrine.
• 5:14:24
  Speaker 12: The simplest child could understand it and be glad. All
• 5:14:28
  Speaker 12: was explained. Now, the rosy patch and the broad tracts
• 5:14:31
  Speaker 12: of color were both accounted for, and Siegfried was as
• 5:14:35
  Speaker 12: happy as he now believed the mountain to be. And
• 5:14:38
  Speaker 12: embracing his new friend, he forthwith began such a blundering
• 5:14:43
  Speaker 12: account of what he and his mother and the farmer's
• 5:14:46
  Speaker 12: boy had thought about the rosy patch that the stranger
• 5:14:50
  Speaker 12: could do nothing but laugh, and at last stopped him
• 5:14:53
  Speaker 12: by exclaiming, then you see you were all wrong. But
• 5:14:56
  Speaker 12: never mind. Take me to your mother's cottage and we
• 5:14:59
  Speaker 12: will te tell her all about it too, and I
• 5:15:02
  Speaker 12: will show it to you both, for even you have
• 5:15:05
  Speaker 12: not really seen it yet. Siegfried's mother welcomed the friendly
• 5:15:10
  Speaker 12: stranger whom her son brought to her door with all
• 5:15:13
  Speaker 12: the heartiness of a Swiss welcome, and not the less
• 5:15:16
  Speaker 12: when she found he was an English traveler on his
• 5:15:19
  Speaker 12: way to a neighboring town to visit a well known
• 5:15:22
  Speaker 12: officer there who had been deprived of a limb in
• 5:15:25
  Speaker 12: the same action in which Siegfried's father had lost his life.
• 5:15:30
  Speaker 12: And as the town was but a few miles off,
• 5:15:33
  Speaker 12: and the summer evening so long, the stranger was easily
• 5:15:36
  Speaker 12: persuaded to rest for a few hours in the Swiss
• 5:15:39
  Speaker 12: cottage and tell the widow and her son the history
• 5:15:42
  Speaker 12: of his adventures on Mont Blanc and of the red
• 5:15:45
  Speaker 12: snow plant he had brought from it. Not that telling
• 5:15:49
  Speaker 12: its history only would have been enough, nor was there
• 5:15:53
  Speaker 12: anything either beautiful or wonderful looking in the red jelly
• 5:15:56
  Speaker 12: like mass in the tin box when looked at with
• 5:15:59
  Speaker 12: the naked I the Stranger had far more in store
• 5:16:03
  Speaker 12: for them than that I am going to show you,
• 5:16:06
  Speaker 12: he began at last, and after busying himself in unpacking
• 5:16:10
  Speaker 12: that revealer of secrets a microscope, that God has sent
• 5:16:15
  Speaker 12: many more gracious things into the world than our natural
• 5:16:18
  Speaker 12: eyes are able to see. Do you like to know this,
• 5:16:23
  Speaker 12: little Siegfried, he added, turning purposely to the child. Siegfried
• 5:16:30
  Speaker 12: nodded his heartiest nought of assent, and the widow said,
• 5:16:32
  Speaker 12: with a smile, you should have asked that question, sir,
• 5:16:35
  Speaker 12: of me. It is I who have not believed, because
• 5:16:38
  Speaker 12: I did not see. He has had the instinct of
• 5:16:42
  Speaker 12: the truth all along. Well, then, good mother, replied the stranger,
• 5:16:46
  Speaker 12: you shall see and believe. What will I think comfort
• 5:16:51
  Speaker 12: you for life, namely that God makes the very wilderness
• 5:16:54
  Speaker 12: to burst forth and blossom like a rose, that there
• 5:16:57
  Speaker 12: are no outcast ends of the earth uncared for by Him,
• 5:17:02
  Speaker 12: no desolate corners where His goodness is not shown. Forth.
• 5:17:05
  Speaker 12: As he spoke, he finished the last adjustment of the microscope,
• 5:17:09
  Speaker 12: and touching the red jelly in the tin box with
• 5:17:12
  Speaker 12: a fine point of a porcupine's quill. He placed the
• 5:17:15
  Speaker 12: tiny morsel so obtained in a glass to be looked at,
• 5:17:19
  Speaker 12: and called to sea Free to have the first peep.
• 5:17:22
  Speaker 12: The widow, struck as she had been with the stranger's words,
• 5:17:25
  Speaker 12: had her own doubts as to what there could be
• 5:17:28
  Speaker 12: to be seen, for she had not been able to
• 5:17:30
  Speaker 12: detect anything on the porcupine's quill. But she said nothing,
• 5:17:34
  Speaker 12: and very soon Seafreed's shouts of delight announced that something,
• 5:17:39
  Speaker 12: at any rate, was there. And truly what there was
• 5:17:43
  Speaker 12: was a very pretty sight. Four or five bright little
• 5:17:46
  Speaker 12: red balls, and two or three colorless ones among them,
• 5:17:50
  Speaker 12: were lying like gems in the few drops of water
• 5:17:53
  Speaker 12: which had been put in to keep them separate. The
• 5:17:57
  Speaker 12: child believed at once, but at the first moment the
• 5:18:01
  Speaker 12: mother could scarcely credit what she saw. That this should
• 5:18:05
  Speaker 12: be a bit of the shapeless stuff she had looked
• 5:18:07
  Speaker 12: at in the tin box. It was marvelous. Indeed, the
• 5:18:11
  Speaker 12: stranger now proceeded to explain. He told them that each
• 5:18:15
  Speaker 12: of the red balls was a perfect plant in itself,
• 5:18:19
  Speaker 12: that it was a little colorless bag, finer than gold
• 5:18:23
  Speaker 12: beater's skin, filled with the red substance which shone through
• 5:18:28
  Speaker 12: that as soon as it was full grown, the red
• 5:18:31
  Speaker 12: substance within divided into four, eight and sometimes sixteen separate
• 5:18:36
  Speaker 12: red balls, of course, of the tiniest size possible, all
• 5:18:41
  Speaker 12: of which immediately began to grow very fast, and grew
• 5:18:45
  Speaker 12: and grew and grew till the little bag in which
• 5:18:48
  Speaker 12: they lived could hold them no longer, but burst and
• 5:18:50
  Speaker 12: drop them out. These, said he, are the young plants.
• 5:18:55
  Speaker 12: And when each of them is full grown, the same
• 5:18:57
  Speaker 12: thing happens again, the red since in each divides into
• 5:19:01
  Speaker 12: other tiny balls. And as these grow, they burst out
• 5:19:04
  Speaker 12: from the parent bag called a cell properly and begin
• 5:19:08
  Speaker 12: life for themselves. And thus comes another generation of the
• 5:19:12
  Speaker 12: ball like plants, and so another and another, and all
• 5:19:16
  Speaker 12: this so quickly that in a few hours millions of
• 5:19:19
  Speaker 12: them have sprung from a few single cells. So now,
• 5:19:23
  Speaker 12: little Siegfried, you know why, when you look the second
• 5:19:27
  Speaker 12: time at the rosy patch, it has spread into those
• 5:19:30
  Speaker 12: great broad tracts of color, which in fact covered over
• 5:19:34
  Speaker 12: miles of the poor snow with its beauty. It was
• 5:19:38
  Speaker 12: no wonder, was it. No, that was no wonder. But
• 5:19:45
  Speaker 12: that such things were, of which so many people did
• 5:19:48
  Speaker 12: not know. Was the wonder from which the good widow
• 5:19:52
  Speaker 12: could not easily recover. Besides, she was thinking of the
• 5:19:56
  Speaker 12: pastor having made such a mistake. As for sea, He
• 5:20:00
  Speaker 12: had not lived long enough to know why he should
• 5:20:02
  Speaker 12: be so much surprised about the red snow plant. Was
• 5:20:07
  Speaker 12: it a bit more really strange than the growth of
• 5:20:10
  Speaker 12: the alpine rose, which astonished nobody? So his chief feeling
• 5:20:14
  Speaker 12: was extreme delight at there being something on the mountain
• 5:20:18
  Speaker 12: to make amends for its want of flowers. And now,
• 5:20:23
  Speaker 12: said the stranger, is there anything more you would like
• 5:20:25
  Speaker 12: to ask? The mother was about to speak at once,
• 5:20:28
  Speaker 12: but hesitated and drew back. She knew so little she
• 5:20:32
  Speaker 12: feared to seem so ignorant and foolish. Reassured, however, she
• 5:20:36
  Speaker 12: begged to be told how the marvelous plant could live
• 5:20:40
  Speaker 12: amidst nothing but snow, could come up and bring forth
• 5:20:43
  Speaker 12: a thousandfold with nothing to nourish and support it. The
• 5:20:48
  Speaker 12: stranger repeated the word nothing with a smile. Nothing because
• 5:20:53
  Speaker 12: we see nothing. Ah see, what a bad habit is,
• 5:20:58
  Speaker 12: cried the mother. I have forgotten already. Then you think
• 5:21:03
  Speaker 12: there may be things I do not know of in
• 5:21:06
  Speaker 12: what we call the cold barren snow aye, aye, was
• 5:21:10
  Speaker 12: the answer. Germs of life, hidden and buried perhaps for years,
• 5:21:14
  Speaker 12: seeds scattered no one can tell how or when, and
• 5:21:18
  Speaker 12: salts and chemical properties, needing only some accident of a
• 5:21:22
  Speaker 12: sunbeam or dew or state of the very air to
• 5:21:26
  Speaker 12: make all work together, and the frozen surface to become moist,
• 5:21:30
  Speaker 12: and the red snow plant to spring up by millions.
• 5:21:35
  Speaker 12: Here he paused, and, seeing little Seafreed looking wistfully at
• 5:21:38
  Speaker 12: him as if trying to understand, he took him on
• 5:21:41
  Speaker 12: his knee caressingly and said that microscope is a very
• 5:21:45
  Speaker 12: curious thing, is it not. The child nodded his yes
• 5:21:49
  Speaker 12: as heartily as ever, and then laid his head contentedly
• 5:21:53
  Speaker 12: on his friend's shoulder while he went on talking. Yes,
• 5:21:57
  Speaker 12: it is very curious, for it shows us quantities of
• 5:21:59
  Speaker 12: things we could not see without it. But the best
• 5:22:03
  Speaker 12: lesson it teaches is how much more there may be
• 5:22:06
  Speaker 12: of which, even with its help, we can see and
• 5:22:09
  Speaker 12: know nothing. For although there is a limit to our
• 5:22:12
  Speaker 12: power of seeing God's works, no naturalists dares to think
• 5:22:18
  Speaker 12: he has reached the limits of the works themselves. In
• 5:22:21
  Speaker 12: this life, we cannot hope to know a hundredth part
• 5:22:24
  Speaker 12: of the creations which surround us. You can believe this now,
• 5:22:28
  Speaker 12: good mother, with all my heart, was her answer. And
• 5:22:34
  Speaker 12: further he added, you can judge now for yourself that
• 5:22:37
  Speaker 12: even of the things we do, what we call sea
• 5:22:40
  Speaker 12: with the naked eye, there are a great many of
• 5:22:44
  Speaker 12: which we can never know anything like the real truth
• 5:22:48
  Speaker 12: without such aid as this, pointing to the microscope. What
• 5:22:54
  Speaker 12: was the red snow plant to you at first a
• 5:22:56
  Speaker 12: piece of shapeless jelly? What did it become to your
• 5:22:59
  Speaker 12: more lighten and I a living organism, unmistakably from almighty hands,
• 5:23:04
  Speaker 12: endowed with a system of life, if not of life
• 5:23:08
  Speaker 12: enjoyment peculiarly its own. This is something to have discovered, certainly,
• 5:23:14
  Speaker 12: But is it all? Ah? As I tell you, I
• 5:23:17
  Speaker 12: feel how imperfect the account is. How much remains behind
• 5:23:22
  Speaker 12: all we have done? Is but to have made a
• 5:23:25
  Speaker 12: step or two out of complete ignorance. The rest remaineth unrevealed.
• 5:23:32
  Speaker 12: Yet a glory comes into our hearts from the thought
• 5:23:35
  Speaker 12: of the worlds beyond reach of our present senses, like
• 5:23:38
  Speaker 12: the reflection from lightning below our own horizon, And both
• 5:23:42
  Speaker 12: faith and hope ought to be strengthened. The widow did
• 5:23:46
  Speaker 12: not speak I have one more word to say, continued
• 5:23:49
  Speaker 12: the stranger guested, if you will allow me to say it,
• 5:23:53
  Speaker 12: and can forgive the old traveler for preaching as well
• 5:23:56
  Speaker 12: as teaching. I have taught you something of God's doings
• 5:23:59
  Speaker 12: in the naxtatural world, which has given you comfort and hope.
• 5:24:04
  Speaker 12: What then, you believe of his works? Believe also of
• 5:24:08
  Speaker 12: his mercies. If you cannot find a limit to the
• 5:24:12
  Speaker 12: one suspect and hope that the other two may be infinite,
• 5:24:16
  Speaker 12: far beyond our comprehension, will you try and take this
• 5:24:21
  Speaker 12: last lesson to heart. The poor mother's eyes filled with tears.
• 5:24:25
  Speaker 12: She had passed tremblingly through life and sadly needed the
• 5:24:30
  Speaker 12: good counsel. After a short pause, her counselor went on, firmly,
• 5:24:35
  Speaker 12: but very kindly. You have seen how weak and short
• 5:24:38
  Speaker 12: sighted the natural eye is. Can you, for a moment
• 5:24:41
  Speaker 12: suppose that the spiritual eye is more far seeing and
• 5:24:44
  Speaker 12: better able to acquaint you with God's purposes and doings.
• 5:24:48
  Speaker 12: Are his works to be infinite and his mercy's bounded,
• 5:24:52
  Speaker 12: so that a man can point to the limit and say,
• 5:24:55
  Speaker 12: here God's mercy ceases. Here, there is no hope, but
• 5:25:00
  Speaker 12: only everlasting lifelessness and despair, Oh good mother to whom
• 5:25:06
  Speaker 12: he entrusted, the rearing of a very tender plant. Take
• 5:25:10
  Speaker 12: heed what you teach, and foster in it above all
• 5:25:13
  Speaker 12: other virtues, the charity which hopeth all things, and then
• 5:25:18
  Speaker 12: can both believe and endure. The lesson was not spoken
• 5:25:22
  Speaker 12: in vain even then, and it was never forgotten. And
• 5:25:26
  Speaker 12: Siegfried grew on, and the stranger revisited the cottage many times,
• 5:25:31
  Speaker 12: and by and by aided in the education of the
• 5:25:33
  Speaker 12: child whose acquaintance he had made in so singular a manner.
• 5:25:37
  Speaker 12: And after many years the young man Siegfried became a
• 5:25:40
  Speaker 12: teacher himself, a pastor, though not in his own country.
• 5:25:45
  Speaker 12: But never through a long life did he forget his
• 5:25:48
  Speaker 12: early hopes and fears and fancies about the desolate mountain,
• 5:25:53
  Speaker 12: nor the lesson he learnt from the stranger traveler. And
• 5:25:57
  Speaker 12: into whatever scenes of darkness and ignorance he forced his way,
• 5:26:01
  Speaker 12: whatever he met of sin and sorrow, however often baffled,
• 5:26:06
  Speaker 12: thrown back, and disappointed, he never despaired, for he used
• 5:26:10
  Speaker 12: to recall the past and take comfort to himself by
• 5:26:13
  Speaker 12: thinking it may be God's will. Yet that the red
• 5:26:17
  Speaker 12: snow plant may one day burst into life on the
• 5:26:21
  Speaker 12: cold hillside. End of chapter fifteen. Recording by Lorraine Paquette
• 5:26:29
  Speaker 12: from British Columbia, Canada.
• 5:26:32
  Speaker 8: Chapter sixteen, whereunto I see in part that all, as
• 5:26:39
  Speaker 8: in some piece of art, is toil cooperant to an end. Tennyson,
• 5:26:45
  Speaker 8: this is dreadful. What can I do? Why follow me?
• 5:26:49
  Speaker 8: To be sure?
• 5:26:50
  Speaker 6: Here?
• 5:26:50
  Speaker 8: Quick sideways to the left into this crevice of the rock. There,
• 5:26:55
  Speaker 8: all's right. Oh, it's easy to talk when people can
• 5:26:59
  Speaker 8: trip away as lightly as you do. But look at me,
• 5:27:02
  Speaker 8: with the ground slipping away wherever I tried to lay hold.
• 5:27:07
  Speaker 8: Come along, oz right, repeated the crab. For such was
• 5:27:11
  Speaker 8: the speaker from his crevice in the rock. And all
• 5:27:14
  Speaker 8: was right, certainly, as far as he was concerned. But
• 5:27:18
  Speaker 8: as for the poor starfish who was left on the sand,
• 5:27:21
  Speaker 8: all was as wrong as possible, for he was much
• 5:27:25
  Speaker 8: too hot. And no wonder, it was low tide, a
• 5:27:30
  Speaker 8: spring tide, a particularly low one, for there was very
• 5:27:34
  Speaker 8: little wind to stir, and what there was blew off
• 5:27:38
  Speaker 8: the shore. So the rocks were uncovered now which seldom
• 5:27:42
  Speaker 8: tasted the air, and the stems of the gray oarweed
• 5:27:45
  Speaker 8: or tangle which grew from them, were bent into a
• 5:27:48
  Speaker 8: half circle by the weight of their broad, leathery fronds.
• 5:27:51
  Speaker 8: As no longer buoyed up by the sea, they lay
• 5:27:55
  Speaker 8: trailing on the sands. What a day it was, to
• 5:27:58
  Speaker 8: be sure, one of those rare, serene ones, when there
• 5:28:02
  Speaker 8: is not a cloud in the delicate blue sky, and
• 5:28:05
  Speaker 8: when the sea lies so calm and peaceful under it
• 5:28:08
  Speaker 8: that one might almost be persuaded to believe nothing would
• 5:28:11
  Speaker 8: ever again ruffle its surface. The white sailed vessels in
• 5:28:15
  Speaker 8: the distance, too, looked as if they had nothing in
• 5:28:17
  Speaker 8: the world to do forever but to float from one
• 5:28:20
  Speaker 8: beautiful end of the world to the other in security
• 5:28:23
  Speaker 8: and joy. Yet delicious, unspeakably delicious as the day was,
• 5:28:29
  Speaker 8: it brought discomfort to some who lived under it. The
• 5:28:33
  Speaker 8: numberless starfishes, for instance, who had been unexpectedly left stranded
• 5:28:37
  Speaker 8: on the shore by the all too gently retreating waves.
• 5:28:41
  Speaker 8: How could they rejoice in the beautiful sunshine when it
• 5:28:44
  Speaker 8: was streaming so piteously on their helpless limbs and scorching
• 5:28:49
  Speaker 8: them by its dry, cruel heat. And as for the
• 5:28:52
  Speaker 8: jelly fishes, who had shared a similar fate, they had
• 5:28:56
  Speaker 8: died almost at once from the shock as the wave
• 5:28:59
  Speaker 8: cast them. As so of the merits of the delicious day,
• 5:29:03
  Speaker 8: they knew nothing at all. All creatures did not suffer.
• 5:29:07
  Speaker 8: Of course, the crab, for instance, who had given such
• 5:29:11
  Speaker 8: good advice to his friend, if he could but have
• 5:29:14
  Speaker 8: followed it, did very well. In the first place. He
• 5:29:18
  Speaker 8: liked the air nearly as well as the water, so
• 5:29:20
  Speaker 8: that being left high and dry on the shore now
• 5:29:22
  Speaker 8: and then was quite to his taste. Moreover, he could
• 5:29:26
  Speaker 8: scuttle off and hide in a crevice of the rocks
• 5:29:28
  Speaker 8: whenever he chose, or he could shelter under the large seaweeds,
• 5:29:32
  Speaker 8: and because of his hard coat, was even able to
• 5:29:35
  Speaker 8: take a short walk from time to time to see
• 5:29:38
  Speaker 8: how matters went on, and observe how far the tide
• 5:29:41
  Speaker 8: had gone down, and if the sun did happen to
• 5:29:44
  Speaker 8: bake