,,the ,,ethics ,,of ,,the ,,dust ,,ten ,,lectures ,,to ,,little ,,housewives ,,on ,,the ,,elements ,,of ,,crystallization ,,by ,,john ,,ruskin1 ,,ll4,d41 ,,honorary ,,student ,,of ,,christ ,,church1 ,,and ,,slade ,,professor ,,of ,,fine ,,art ,,dedication4 ,,to ,,the ,,real ,,little ,,housewives1 ,,whose ,,gentle ,,listening ,,and ,,thoughtful ,,questioning ,,enabled ,,the ,,writer ,,to ,,write ,,this ,,book1 ,,it ,,is ,,dedicated ,,with ,,his ,,love4 ,,christmas1 #ahge4 ,,contents4 ,,lecture ,i4 ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,diamonds ,,ii4 ,,the ,,pyramid ,,builders ,,iii4 ,,the ,,crystal ,,life ,,iv4 ,,the ,,crystal ,,orders ,v4 ,,crystal ,,virtues ,,vi4 ,,crystal ,,quarrels ,,vii4 ,,home ,,virtues ,,viii4 ,,crystal ,,caprice ,,ix4 ,,crystal ,,sorrows ,x4 ,,the ,,crystal ,,rest ,,notes ,,personae ,,old ,,lecturer 7of incalculable age74 ,,florrie1 on astronomical evidence presumed to be aged #i4 ,,isabel 4444444444444444444444444444444444444 #aa4 ,,may 4444444444444444444444444444444444444444 #aa4 ,,lily 444444444444444444444444444444444444444 #ab4 ,,kathleen444444444444444444444444444444 444444 #ad4 ,,lucilla4444444444444444444444444444444 444444 #ae4 ,,violet 4444444444444444444444444444444444444 #af4 ,,dora 7who has the keys and is housekeeper7444 #ag4 ,,egypt 7so called from her dark eyes7 4444444 #ag4 ,,jessie 7who somehow always makes the room look brighter when she is in it7 44444444444 #ah4 ,,mary 7of whom everybody1 including the ,old ,lecturer1 is in great awe7 44444444444444444 #bj4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,edition4 ,i have seldom been more disappointed by the result of my best pains given to any of my books1 than by the earnest request of my publisher1 after the opinion of the public had been taken on the ,ethics of the ,dust1 that ,i would write no more in dialogue6 ,however1 ,i bowed to public judgment in this matter at once 7knowing also my inventive powers to be of the feeblest72 but in reprinting the book 7at the prevailing request of my kind friend1 ,mr4 ,henry ,willett71 ,i would pray the readers whom it may at first offend by its disconnected method1 to examine1 nevertheless1 with care1 the passages in which the principal speaker sums the conclusions of any dialogue3 for these summaries were written as introductions1 for young people1 to all that ,i have said on the same matters in my larger books2 and1 on re-reading them1 they satisfy me better1 and seem to me calculated to be more generally useful1 than anything else ,i have done of the kind4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,second ,,edition4 ,the summary of the contents of the whole book1 beginning1 ,you may at least earnestly believe1 at p4 #bae1 is thus the clearest exposition ,i have ever yet given of the general conditions under which the ,personal ,creative ,power manifests itself in the forms of matter2 and the analysis of heathen conceptions of ,deity1 beginning at p4 #bag1 and closing at p4 #bbi1 not only prefaces1 but very nearly supersedes1 all that in more lengthy terms ,i have since asserted1 or pleaded for1 in ,aratra ,pentelici1 and the ,queen of the ,air4 ,and thus1 however the book may fail in its intention of suggesting new occupations or interests to its younger readers1 ,i think it worth reprinting1 in the way ,i have also reprinted ,unto this ,last1--page for page2 that the students of my more advanced works may be able to refer to these as the original documents of them2 of which the most essential in this book are these following4 ,i4 ,the explanation of the baseness of the avaricious functions of the ,lower ,pthah1 p4 #ed1 with his beetle-gospel1 p4 #ei1 that a nation can stand on its vices better than on its virtues1 explains the main motive of all my books on ,political ,economy4 ,,ii4 ,the examination of the connection between stupidity and crime1 pp4 #hg-if1 anticipated all that ,i have had to urge in ,fors ,clavigera against the commonly alleged excuse for public wickedness1--,they don't mean it--they don't know any better4 ,,iii4 ,the examination of the roots of ,moral ,power1 pp4 #ade-adi1 is a summary of what is afterwards developed with utmost care in my inaugural lecture at ,oxford on the relation of ,art to ,morals2 compare in that lecture1 sections #hc-he1 with the sentence in p4 #adg of this book1 ,nothing is ever done so as really to please our ,father1 unless we would also have done it1 though we had had no ,father to know of it4 ,this sentence1 however1 it must be observed1 regards only the general conditions of action in the children of ,god1 in consequence of which it is foretold of them by ,christ that they will say at the ,judgment1 ,when saw we thee8 ,it does not refer to the distinct cases in which virtue consists in faith given to command1 appearing to foolish human judgment inconsistent with the ,moral ,law1 as in the sacrifice of ,isaac2 nor to those in which any directly-given command requires nothing more of virtue than obedience4 ,,iv4 ,the subsequent pages1 #adi-aeh1 were written especially to check the dangerous impulses natural to the minds of many amiable young women1 in the direction of narrow and selfish religious sentiment3 and they contain1 therefore1 nearly everything which ,i believe it necessary that young people should be made to observe1 respecting the errors of monastic life4 ,but they in nowise enter on the reverse1 or favorable side3 of which indeed ,i did not1 and as yet do not1 feel myself able to speak with any decisiveness2 the evidence on that side1 as stated in the text1 having never yet been dispassionately examined4 ,v4 ,the dialogue with ,lucilla1 beginning at p4 #if1 is1 to my own fancy1 the best bit of conversation in the book2 and the issue of it1 at p4 #ajc1 the most practically and immediately useful4 ,for on the idea of the inevitable weakness and corruption of human nature1 has logically followed1 in our daily life1 the horrible creed of modern ,social science1 that all social action must be scientifically founded on vicious impulses4 ,but on the habit of measuring and reverencing our powers and talents that we may kindly use them1 will be founded a true ,social science1 developing1 by the employment of them1 all the real powers and honorable feelings of the race4 ,,vi4 ,finally1 the account given in the second and third lectures1 of the real nature and marvelousness of the laws of crystallization1 is necessary to the understanding of what farther teaching of the beauty of inorganic form ,i may be able to give1 either in ,deucalion1 or in my ,elements of ,drawing4 ,i wish however that the second lecture had been made the beginning of the book2 and would fain now cancel the first altogether1 which ,i perceive to be both obscure and dull4 ,it was meant for a metaphorical description of the pleasures and dangers in the kingdom of ,mammon1 or of worldly wealth2 its waters mixed with blood1 its fruits entangled in thickets of trouble1 and poisonous when gathered2 and the final captivity of its inhabitants within frozen walls of cruelty and disdain4 ,but the imagery is stupid and ineffective throughout2 and ,i retain this chapter only because ,i am resolved to leave no room for any one to say that ,i have withdrawn1 as erroneous in principle1 so much as a single sentence of any of my books written since #ahfj4 ,one license taken in this book1 however1 though often permitted to essay-writers for the relief of their dullness1 ,i never mean to take more1--the relation of composed metaphor as of actual dream1 pp4 #bg and #aga4 ,i assumed1 it is true1 that in these places the supposed dream would be easily seen to be an invention2 but must not any more1 even under so transparent disguise1 pretend to any share in the real powers of ,vision possessed by great poets and true painters4 ,,brantwood3 #ajth ,october1 #ahgg4 ,,preface4 ,the following lectures were really given1 in substance1 at a girls' school 7far in the country72 which1 in the course of various experiments on the possibility of introducing some better practice of drawing into the modern scheme of female education1 ,i visited frequently enough to enable the children to regard me as a friend4 ,the ,lectures always fell more or less into the form of fragmentary answers to questions2 and they are allowed to retain that form1 as1 on the whole1 likely to be more interesting than the symmetries of a continuous treatise4 ,many children 7for the school was large7 took part1 at different times1 in the conversations2 but ,i have endeavored1 without confusedly multiplying the number of imaginary speakers1 to represent1 as far as ,i could1 the general tone of comment and inquiry among young people4 ,footnote3 ,i do not mean1 in saying imaginary1 that ,i have not permitted to myself1 in several instances1 the affectionate discourtesy of some reminiscence of personal character2 for which ,i must hope to be forgiven by my old pupils and their friends1 as ,i could not otherwise have written the book at all4 ,but only two sentences in all the dialogues1 and the anecdote of ,dotty1 are literally historical4 ,it will be at once seen that these ,lectures were not intended for an introduction to mineralogy4 ,their purpose was merely to awaken in the minds of young girls1 who were ready to work earnestly and systematically1 a vital interest in the subject of their study4 ,no science can be learned in play2 but it is often possible1 in play1 to bring good fruit out of past labor1 or show sufficient reasons for the labor of the future4 ,the narrowness of this aim does not1 indeed1 justify the absence of all reference to many important principles of structure1 and many of the most interesting orders of minerals2 but ,i felt it impossible to go far into detail without illustrations2 and if readers find this book useful1 ,i may1 perhaps1 endeavor to supplement it by illustrated notes of the more interesting phenomena in separate groups of familiar minerals2--flints of the chalk2--agates of the basalts2--and the fantastic and exquisitely beautiful varieties of the vein-ores of the two commonest metals1 lead and iron4 ,but ,i have always found that the less we speak of our intentions1 the more chance there is of our realizing them2 and this poor little book will sufficiently have done its work1 for the present1 if it engages any of its young readers in study which may enable them to despise it for its shortcomings4 ,,denmark ,,hill3 ,christmas1 #ahfe4 ,,lecture #a4 ,,the ,,valley ,,of ,,diamonds ,a very idle talk1 by the dining-room fire1 after raisin-and-almond time4 ,,old ,,lecturer2 ,,florrie1 ,,isabel1 ,,may1 ,,lily1 and ,,sibyl4 ,,old ,,lecturer 7,l474 ,come here1 ,isabel1 and tell me what the make- believe was1 this afternoon4 ,,isabel 7arranging herself very primly on the foot-stool74 ,such a dreadful one6 ,florrie and ,i were lost in the ,valley of ,diamonds4 ,l4 ,what6 ,sindbad's1 which nobody could get out of8 ,,isabel4 ,yes2 but ,florrie and ,i got out of it4 ,l4 ,so ,i see4 ,at least1 ,i see you did2 but are you sure ,florrie did8 ,,isabel4 ,quite sure4 ,,florrie 7putting her head round from behind ,l4's sofa-cushion74 ,quite sure4 7,disappears again47 ,l4 ,i think ,i could be made to feel surer about it4 7,,florrie reappears1 gives ,l4 a kiss1 and again exit47 ,l4 ,i suppose it's all right2 but how did you manage it8 ,,isabel4 ,well1 you know1 the eagle that took up ,sindbad was very large--very1 very large--the largest of all the eagles4 ,l4 ,how large were the others8 ,,isabel4 ,i don't quite know--they were so far off4 ,but this one was1 oh1 so big6 and it had great wings1 as wide as--twice over the ceiling4 ,so1 when it was picking up ,sindbad1 ,florrie and ,i thought it wouldn't know if we got on its back too3 so ,i got up first1 and then ,i pulled up ,florrie1 and we put our arms round its neck1 and away it flew4 ,l4 ,but why did you want to get out of the valley8 and why haven't you brought me some diamonds8 ,,isabel4 ,it was because of the serpents4 ,i couldn't pick up even the least little bit of a diamond1 ,i was so frightened4 ,l4 ,you should not have minded the serpents4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 but suppose that they had minded me8 ,l4 ,we all of us mind you a little too much1 ,isabel1 ,i'm afraid4 ,,isabel4 ,no--no--no1 indeed4 ,l4 ,i tell you what1 ,isabel--,i don't believe either ,sindbad1 or ,florrie1 or you1 ever were in the ,valley of ,diamonds4 ,,isabel4 ,you naughty6 when ,i tell you we were6 ,l4 ,because you say you were frightened at the serpents4 ,,isabel4 ,and wouldn't you have been8 ,l4 ,not at those serpents4 ,nobody who really goes into the valley is ever frightened at them--they are so beautiful4 ,,isabel 7suddenly serious74 ,but there's no real ,valley of ,diamonds1 is there8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,isabel2 very real indeed4 ,,florrie 7reappearing74 ,oh1 where8 ,tell me about it4 ,l4 ,i cannot tell you a great deal about it2 only ,i know it is very different from ,sindbad's4 ,in his valley1 there was only a diamond lying here and there2 but1 in the real valley1 there are diamonds covering the grass in showers every morning1 instead of dew3 and there are clusters of trees1 which look like lilac trees2 but1 in spring1 all their blossoms are of amethyst4 ,,florrie4 ,but there can't be any serpents there1 then8 ,l4 ,why not8 ,,florrie4 ,because they don't come into such beautiful places4 ,l4 ,i never said it was a beautiful place4 ,,florrie4 ,what6 not with diamonds strewed about it like dew8 ,l4 ,that's according to your fancy1 ,florrie4 ,for myself1 ,i like dew better4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 but the dew won't stay2 it all dries6 ,l4 ,yes2 and it would be much nicer if the diamonds dried too1 for the people in the valley have to sweep them off the grass1 in heaps1 whenever they want to walk on it2 and then the heaps glitter so1 they hurt one's eyes4 ,,florrie4 ,now you're just playing1 you know4 ,l4 ,so are you1 you know4 ,,florrie4 ,yes1 but you mustn't play4 ,l4 ,that's very hard1 ,florrie2 why mustn't ,i1 if you may8 ,,florrie4 ,oh1 ,i may1 because ,i'm little1 but you mustn't1 because you're--7hesitates for a delicate expression of magnitude74 ,l4 7rudely taking the first that comes74 ,because ,i'm big8 ,no2 that's not the way of it at all1 ,florrie4 ,because you're little1 you should have very little play2 and because ,i'm big ,i should have a great deal4 ,,isabel and ,,florrie 7both74 ,no--no--no--no4 ,that isn't it at all4 7,,isabel sola1 quoting ,miss ,ingelow47 ,the lambs play always--they know no better4 7,putting her head very much on one side47 ,ah1 now --please--please--tell us true2 we want to know4 ,l4 ,but why do you want me to tell you true1 any more than the man who wrote the ,arabian ,nights8 ,,isabel4 ,because--because we like to know about real things2 and you can tell us1 and we can't ask the man who wrote the stories4 ,l4 ,what do you call real things8 ,,isabel4 ,now1 you know6 ,things that really are4 ,l4 ,whether you can see them or not8 ,,isabel4 ,yes1 if somebody else saw them4 ,l4 ,but if nobody has ever seen them8 ,,isabel4 7evading the point74 ,well1 but1 you know1 if there were a real ,valley of ,diamonds1 somebody ,,must have seen it4 ,l4 ,you cannot be so sure of that1 ,isabel4 ,many people go to real places1 and never see them2 and many people pass through this valley1 and never see it4 ,,florrie4 ,what stupid people they must be6 ,l4 ,no1 ,florrie4 ,they are much wiser than the people who do see it4 ,,may4 ,i think ,i know where it is4 ,,isabel4 ,tell us more about it1 and then we'll guess4 ,l4 ,well4 ,there's a great broad road1 by a river-side1 leading up into it4 ,,may 7gravely cunning1 with emphasis on the last word74 ,does the road really go ,,up8 ,l4 ,you think it should go down into a valley8 ,no1 it goes up2 this is a valley among the hills1 and it is as high as the clouds1 and is often full of them2 so that even the people who most want to see it1 cannot1 always4 ,,isabel4 ,and what is the river beside the road like8 ,l4 ,it ought to be very beautiful1 because it flows over diamond sand--only the water is thick and red4 ,,isabel4 ,red water8 ,l4 ,it isn't all water4 ,,may4 ,oh1 please never mind that1 ,isabel1 just now2 ,i want to hear about the valley4 ,l4 ,so the entrance to it is very wide1 under a steep rock2 only such numbers of people are always trying to get in1 that they keep jostling each other1 and manage it but slowly4 ,some weak ones are pushed back1 and never get in at all2 and make great moaning as they go away3 but perhaps they are none the worse in the end4 ,,may4 ,and when one gets in1 what is it like8 ,l4 ,it is up and down1 broken kind of ground3 the road stops directly2 and there are great dark rocks1 covered all over with wild gourds and wild vines2 the gourds1 if you cut them1 are red1 with black seeds1 like water-melons1 and look ever so nice2 and the people of the place make a red pottage of them3 but you must take care not to eat any if you ever want to leave the valley 7though ,i believe putting plenty of meal in it makes it wholesome74 ,then the wild vines have clusters of the color of amber2 and the people of the country say they are the grape of ,eshcol2 and sweeter than honey3 but1 indeed1 if anybody else tastes them1 they are like gall4 ,then there are thickets of bramble1 so thorny that they would be cut away directly1 anywhere else2 but here they are covered with little cinque-foiled blossoms of pure silver2 and1 for berries1 they have clusters of rubies4 ,dark rubies1 which you only see are red after gathering them4 ,but you may fancy what blackberry parties the children have6 ,only they get their frocks and hands sadly torn4 ,,lily4 ,but rubies can't spot one's frocks1 as blackberries do8 ,l4 ,no2 but ,i'll tell you what spots them--the mulberries4 ,there are great forests of them1 all up the hills1 covered with silk- worms1 some munching the leaves so loud that it is like mills at work2 and some spinning4 ,but the berries are the blackest you ever saw2 and1 wherever they fall1 they stain a deep red2 and nothing ever washes it out again4 ,and it is their juice1 soaking through the grass1 which makes the river so red1 because all its springs are in this wood4 ,and the boughs of the trees are twisted1 as if in pain1 like old olive branches2 and their leaves are dark4 ,and it is in these forests that the serpents are2 but nobody is afraid of them4 ,they have fine crimson crests1 and they are wreathed about the wild branches1 one in every tree1 nearly2 and they are singing serpents1 for the serpents are1 in this forest1 what birds are in ours4 ,,florrie4 ,oh1 ,i don't want to go there at all1 now4 ,l4 ,you would like it very much indeed1 ,florrie1 if you were there4 ,the serpents would not bite you2 the only fear would be of your turning into one6 ,,florrie4 ,oh1 dear1 but that's worse4 ,l4 ,you wouldn't think so if you really were turned into one1 ,florrie2 you would be very proud of your crest4 ,and as long as you were yourself 7not that you could get there if you remained quite the little ,florrie you are now71 you would like to hear the serpents sing4 ,they hiss a little through it1 like the cicadas in ,italy2 but they keep good time1 and sing delightful melodies2 and most of them have seven heads1 with throats which each take a note of the octave2 so that they can sing chords--it is very fine indeed4 ,and the fireflies fly round the edge of the forests all the night long2 you wade in fireflies1 they make the fields look like a lake trembling with reflection of stars2 but you must take care not to touch them1 for they are not like ,italian fireflies1 but burn1 like real sparks4 ,,florrie4 ,i don't like it at all2 ,i'll never go there4 ,l4 ,i hope not1 ,florrie2 or at least that you will get out again if you do4 ,and it is very difficult to get out1 for beyond these serpent forests there are great cliffs of dead gold1 which form a labyrinth1 winding always higher and higher1 till the gold is all split asunder by wedges of ice2 and glaciers1 welded1 half of ice seven times frozen1 and half of gold seven times frozen1 hang down from them1 and fall in thunder1 cleaving into deadly splinters1 like the ,cretan arrowheads2 and into a mixed dust of snow and gold1 ponderous1 yet which the mountain whirlwinds are able to lift and drive in wreaths and pillars1 hiding the paths with a burial cloud1 fatal at once with wintry chill1 and weight of golden ashes4 ,so the wanderers in the labyrinth fall1 one by one1 and are buried there3--yet1 over the drifted graves1 those who are spared climb to the last1 through coil on coil of the path2--for at the end of it they see the king of the valley1 sitting on his throne3 and beside him 7but it is only a false vision71 spectra of creatures like themselves1 sit on thrones1 from which they seem to look down on all the kingdoms of the world1 and the glory of them4 ,and on the canopy of his throne there is an inscription in fiery letters1 which they strive to read1 but cannot2 for it is written in words which are like the words of all languages1 and yet are of none4 ,men say it is more like their own tongue to the ,english than it is to any other nation2 but the only record of it is by an ,italian1 who heard the king himself cry it as a war cry1 ,pape ,satan1 ,pape ,satan ,aleppe4 ,footnote3 ,dante1 ,inf4 #g1 ,i4 ,,sibyl4 ,but do they all perish there8 ,you said there was a way through the valley1 and out of it4 ,l4 ,yes2 but few find it4 ,if any of them keep to the grass paths1 where the diamonds are swept aside2 and hold their hands over their eyes so as not to be dazzled1 the grass paths lead forward gradually to a place where one sees a little opening in the golden rocks4 ,you were at ,chamouni last year1 ,sibyl2 did your guide chance to show you the pierced rock of the ,aiguille du ,midi8 ,,sibyl4 ,no1 indeed1 we only got up from ,geneva on ,monday night2 and it rained all ,tuesday2 and we had to be back at ,geneva again1 early on ,wednesday morning4 ,l4 ,of course4 ,that is the way to see a country in a ,sibylline manner1 by inner consciousness3 but you might have seen the pierced rock in your drive up1 or down1 if the clouds broke3 not that there is much to see in it2 one of the crags of the aiguille- edge1 on the southern slope of it1 is struck sharply through1 as by an awl1 into a little eyelet hole2 which you may see1 seven thousand feet above the valley 7as the clouds flit past behind it1 or leave the sky71 first white1 and then dark blue4 ,well1 there's just such an eyelet hole in one of the upper crags of the ,diamond ,valley2 and1 from a distance1 you think that it is no bigger than the eye of a needle4 ,but if you get up to it1 they say you may drive a loaded camel through it1 and that there are fine things on the other side1 but ,i have never spoken with anybody who had been through4 ,,sibyl4 ,i think we understand it now4 ,we will try to write it down1 and think of it4 ,l4 ,meantime1 ,florrie1 though all that ,i have been telling you is very true1 yet you must not think the sort of diamonds that people wear in rings and necklaces are found lying about on the grass4 ,would you like to see how they really are found8 ,,florrie4 ,oh1 yes--yes4 ,l4 ,isabel--or ,lily--run up to my room and fetch me the little box with a glass lid1 out of the top drawer of the chest of drawers4 7,race between ,,lily and ,,isabel47 7,re-enter ,,isabel with the box1 very much out of breath4 ,,lily behind47 ,l4 ,why1 you never can beat ,lily in a race on the stairs1 can you1 ,isabel8 ,,isabel 7panting74 ,lily--beat me--ever so far--but she gave me--the box--to carry in4 ,l4 ,take off the lid1 then2 gently4 ,,florrie 7after peeping in1 disappointed74 ,there's only a great ugly brown stone6 ,l4 ,not much more than that1 certainly1 ,florrie1 if people were wise4 ,but look1 it is not a single stone2 but a knot of pebbles fastened together by gravel3 and in the gravel1 or compressed sand1 if you look close1 you will see grains of gold glittering everywhere1 all through2 and then1 do you see these two white beads1 which shine1 as if they had been covered with grease8 ,,florrie4 ,may ,i touch them8 ,l4 ,yes2 you will find they are not greasy1 only very smooth4 ,well1 those are the fatal jewels2 native here in their dust with gold1 so that you may see1 cradled here together1 the two great enemies of mankind1--the strongest of all malignant physical powers that have tormented our race4 ,,sibyl4 ,is that really so8 ,i know they do great harm2 but do they not also do great good8 ,l4 ,my dear child1 what good8 ,was any woman1 do you suppose1 ever the better for possessing diamonds8 but how many have been made base1 frivolous1 and miserable by desiring them8 ,was ever man the better for having coffers full of gold8 ,but who shall measure the guilt that is incurred to fill them8 ,look into the history of any civilized nations2 analyze1 with reference to this one cause of crime and misery1 the lives and thoughts of their nobles1 priests1 merchants1 and men of luxurious life4 ,every other temptation is at last concentrated into this3 pride1 and lust1 and envy1 and anger all give up their strength to avarice4 ,the sin of the whole world is essentially the sin of ,judas4 ,men do not disbelieve their ,christ2 but they sell ,him4 ,,sibyl4 ,but surely that is the fault of human nature8 it is not caused by the accident1 as it were1 of there being a pretty metal1 like gold1 to be found by digging4 ,if people could not find that1 would they not find something else1 and quarrel for it instead8 ,l4 ,no4 ,wherever legislators have succeeded in excluding1 for a time1 jewels and precious metals from among national possessions1 the national spirit has remained healthy4 ,covetousness is not natural to man--generosity is2 but covetousness must be excited by a special cause1 as a given disease by a given miasma2 and the essential nature of a material for the excitement of covetousness is1 that it shall be a beautiful thing which can be retained without a use4 ,the moment we can use our possessions to any good purpose ourselves1 the instinct of communicating that use to others rises side by side with our power4 ,if you can read a book rightly1 you will want others to hear it2 if you can enjoy a picture rightly1 you will want others to see it3 learn how to manage a horse1 a plough1 or a ship1 and you will desire to make your subordinates good horsemen1 ploughmen1 or sailors2 you will never be able to see the fine instrument you are master of1 abused2 but1 once fix your desire on anything useless1 and all the purest pride and folly in your heart will mix with the desire1 and make you at last wholly inhuman1 a mere ugly lump of stomach and suckers1 like a cuttle-fish4 ,,sibyl4 ,but surely1 these two beautiful things1 gold and diamonds1 must have been appointed to some good purpose8 ,l4 ,quite conceivably so1 my dear3 as also earthquakes and pestilences2 but of such ultimate purposes we can have no sight4 ,the practical1 immediate office of the earthquake and pestilence is to slay us1 like moths2 and1 as moths1 we shall be wise to live out of their way4 ,so1 the practical1 immediate office of gold and diamonds is the multiplied destruction of souls 7in whatever sense you have been taught to understand that phrase72 and the paralysis of wholesome human effort and thought on the face of ,god's earth3 and a wise nation will live out of the way of them4 ,the money which the ,english habitually spend in cutting diamonds would1 in ten years1 if it were applied to cutting rocks instead1 leave no dangerous reef nor difficult harbor round the whole island coast4 ,great ,britain would be a diamond worth cutting1 indeed1 a true piece of regalia4 7,leaves this to their thoughts for a little while47 ,then1 also1 we poor mineralogists might sometimes have the chance of seeing a fine crystal of diamond unhacked by the jeweler4 ,,sibyl4 ,would it be more beautiful uncut8 ,l4 ,no2 but of infinite interest4 ,we might even come to know something about the making of diamonds4 ,,sibyl4 ,i thought the chemists could make them already8 ,l4 ,in very small black crystals1 yes2 but no one knows how they are formed where they are found2 or if indeed they are formed there at all4 ,these1 in my hand1 look as if they had been swept down with the gravel and gold2 only we can trace the gravel and gold to their native rocks1 but not the diamonds4 ,read the account given of the diamond in any good work on mineralogy2--you will find nothing but lists of localities of gravel1 or conglomerate rock 7which is only an old indurated gravel74 ,some say it was once a vegetable gum2 but it may have been charred wood2 but what one would like to know is1 mainly1 why charcoal should make itself into diamonds in ,india1 and only into black lead in ,borrowdale4 ,,sibyl4 ,are they wholly the same1 then8 ,l4 ,there is a little iron mixed with our black lead2 but nothing to hinder its crystallization4 ,your pencils in fact are all pointed with formless diamond1 though they would be ,h ,h ,h pencils to purpose1 if it crystallized4 ,,sibyl4 ,but what ,,is crystallization8 ,l4 ,a pleasant question1 when one's half asleep1 and it has been tea-time these two hours4 ,what thoughtless things girls are6 ,,sybil4 ,yes1 we are2 but we want to know1 for all that4 ,l4 ,my dear1 it would take a week to tell you4 ,,sibyl4 ,well1 take it1 and tell us4 ,l4 ,but nobody knows anything about it4 ,,sibyl4 ,then tell us something that nobody knows4 ,l4 ,get along with you1 and tell ,dora to make tea4 7,the house rises2 but of course the ,,lecturer wanted to be forced to lecture again1 and was47 ,,lecture #b4 ,,the ,,pyramid ,,builders ,in the large ,schoolroom1 to which everybody has been summoned by ringing of the great bell4 ,l4 ,so you have all actually come to hear about crystallization6 ,i cannot conceive why unless the little ones think that the discussion may involve some reference to sugar-candy4 7,symptoms of high displeasure among the younger members of council4 ,,isabel frowns severely at ,l41 and shakes her head violently47 ,my dear children1 if you knew it1 you are yourselves1 at this moment1 as you sit in your ranks1 nothing1 in the eye of a mineralogist1 but a lovely group of rosy sugar-candy1 arranged by atomic forces4 ,and even admitting you to be something more1 you have certainly been crystallizing without knowing it4 ,did not ,i hear a great hurrying and whispering ten minutes ago1 when you were late in from the playground2 and thought you would not all be quietly seated by the time ,i was ready3--besides some discussion about places--something about it's not being fair that the little ones should always be nearest8 ,well1 you were then all being crystallized4 ,when you ran in from the garden1 and against one another in the passages1 you were in what mineralogists would call a state of solution1 and gradual confluence2 when you got seated in those orderly rows1 each in her proper place1 you became crystalline4 ,that is just what the atoms of a mineral do1 if they can1 whenever they get disordered3 they get into order again as soon as may be4 ,i hope you feel inclined to interrupt me1 and say1 ,but we know our places2 how do the atoms know theirs8 ,and sometimes we dispute about our places2 do the atoms--7and1 besides1 we don't like being compared to atoms at all7--never dispute about theirs8 ,two wise questions these1 if you had a mind to put them6 it was long before ,i asked them myself1 of myself4 ,and ,i will not call you atoms any more4 ,may ,i call you--let me see--primary molecules8 7,general dissent indicated in subdued but decisive murmurs47 ,no6 not even1 in familiar ,saxon1 dust8 7,pause1 with expression on faces of sorrowful doubt2 ,,lily gives voice to the general sentiment in a timid ,please don't47 ,no1 children1 ,i won't call you that2 and mind1 as you grow up1 that you do not get into an idle and wicked habit of calling yourselves that4 ,you are something better than dust1 and have other duties to do than ever dust can do2 and the bonds of affection you will enter into are better than merely getting in to order4 ,but see to it1 on the other hand1 that you always behave at least as well as dust2 remember1 it is only on compulsion1 and while it has no free permission to do as it likes1 that ,,it ever gets out of order2 but sometimes1 with some of us1 the compulsion has to be the other way--hasn't it8 7,remonstratory whispers1 expressive of opinion that the ,,lecturer is becoming too personal47 ,i'm not looking at anybody in particular--indeed ,i am not4 ,nay1 if you blush so1 ,kathleen1 how can one help looking8 ,we'll go back to the atoms4 ,how do they know their places8 you asked1 or should have asked4 ,yes1 and they have to do much more than know them3 they have to find their way to them1 and that quietly and at once1 without running against each other4 ,we may1 indeed1 state it briefly thus3--,suppose you have to build a castle1 with towers and roofs and buttresses1 out of bricks of a given shape1 and that these bricks are all lying in a huge heap at the bottom1 in utter confusion1 upset out of carts at random4 ,you would have to draw a great many plans1 and count all your bricks1 and be sure you had enough for this and that tower1 before you began1 and then you would have to lay your foundation1 and add layer by layer1 in order1 slowly4 ,but how would you be astonished1 in these melancholy days1 when children don't read children's books1 nor believe any more in fairies1 if suddenly a real benevolent fairy1 in a bright brick- red gown1 were to rise in the midst of the red bricks1 and to tap the heap of them with her wand1 and say1 ,bricks1 bricks1 to your places6 and then you saw in an instant the whole heap rise in the air1 like a swarm of red bees1 and--you have been used to see bees make a honeycomb1 and to think that strange enough1 but now you would see the honeycomb make itself6--,you want to ask something1 ,florrie1 by the look of your eyes4 ,,florrie4 ,are they turned into real bees1 with stings8 ,l4 ,no1 ,florrie2 you are only to fancy flying bricks1 as you saw the slates flying from the roof the other day in the storm2 only those slates didn't seem to know where they were going1 and1 besides1 were going where they had no business3 but my spell-bound bricks1 though they have no wings1 and what is worse1 no heads and no eyes1 yet find their way in the air just where they should settle1 into towers and roofs1 each flying to his place and fastening there at the right moment1 so that every other one shall fit to him in his turn4 ,,lily4 ,but who are the fairies1 then1 who build the crystals8 ,l4 ,there is one great fairy1 ,lily1 who builds much more than crystals2 but she builds these also4 ,i dreamed that ,i saw her building a pyramid1 the other day1 as she used to do1 for the ,pharaohs4 ,,isabel4 ,but that was only a dream8 ,l4 ,some dreams are truer than some wakings1 ,isabel2 but ,i won't tell it you unless you like4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 please1 please4 ,l4 ,you are all such wise children1 there's no talking to you2 you won't believe anything4 ,,lily4 ,no1 we are not wise1 and we will believe anything1 when you say we ought4 ,l4 ,well1 it came about this way4 ,sibyl1 do you recollect that evening when we had been looking at your old cave by ,cumae1 and wondering why you didn't live there still3 and then we wondered how old you were2 and ,egypt said you wouldn't tell1 and nobody else could tell but she2 and you laughed--,i thought very gayly for a ,sibyl--and said you would harness a flock of cranes for us1 and we might fly over to ,egypt if we liked1 and see4 ,,sibyl4 ,yes1 and you went1 and couldn't find out after all6 ,l4 ,why1 you know1 ,egypt had been just doubling that third pyramid of hers2 ,footnote3 ,note i4 and making a new entrance into it2 and a fine entrance it was6 ,first1 we had to go through an ante- room1 which had both its doors blocked up with stones2 and then we had three granite portcullises to pull up1 one after another2 and the moment we had got under them1 ,egypt signed to somebody above2 and down they came again behind us1 with a roar like thunder1 only louder2 then we got into a passage fit for nobody but rats1 and ,egypt wouldn't go any further herself1 but said we might go on if we liked2 and so we came to a hole in the pavement1 and then to a granite trap-door--and then we thought we had gone quite far enough1 and came back1 and ,egypt laughed at us4 ,,egypt4 ,you would not have had me take my crown off1 and stoop all the way down a passage fit only for rats8 ,l4 ,it was not the crown1 ,egypt--you know that very well4 ,it was the flounces that would not let you go any further4 ,i suppose1 however1 you wear them as typical of the inundation of the ,nile1 so it is all right4 ,,isabel4 ,why didn't you take me with you8 ,where rats can go1 mice can4 ,i wouldn't have come back4 ,l4 ,no1 mousie2 you would have gone on by yourself1 and you might have waked one of ,pasht's cats1,footnote3 ,note iii and it would have eaten you4 ,i was very glad you were not there4 ,but after all this1 ,i suppose the imagination of the heavy granite blocks and the underground ways had troubled me1 and dreams are often shaped in a strange opposition to the impressions that have caused them2 and from all that we had been reading in ,bunsen about stones that couldn't be lifted with levers1 ,i began to dream about stones that lifted themselves with wings4 ,,sibyl4 ,now you must just tell us all about it4 ,l4 ,i dreamed that ,i was standing beside the lake1 out of whose clay the bricks were made for the great pyramid of ,asychis4 ,footnote3 ,note ii ,they had just been all finished1 and were lying by the lake margin1 in long ridges1 like waves4 ,it was near evening2 and as ,i looked towards the sunset1 ,i saw a thing like a dark pillar standing where the rock of the desert stoops to the ,nile valley4 ,i did not know there was a pillar there1 and wondered at it2 and it grew larger1 and glided nearer1 becoming like the form of a man1 but vast1 and it did not move its feet1 but glided1 like a pillar of sand4 ,and as it drew nearer1 ,i looked by chance past it1 towards the sun2 and saw a silver cloud1 which was of all the clouds closest to the sun 7and in one place crossed it71 draw itself back from the sun1 suddenly4 ,and it turned1 and shot towards the dark pillar2 leaping in an arch1 like an arrow out of a bow4 ,and ,i thought it was lightning2 but when it came near the shadowy pillar1 it sank slowly down beside it1 and changed into the shape of a woman1 very beautiful1 and with a strength of deep calm in her blue eyes4 ,she was robed to the feet with a white robe2 and above that1 to her knees1 by the cloud which ,i had seen across the sun2 but all the golden ripples of it had become plumes1 so that it had changed into two bright wings like those of a vulture1 which wrapped round her to her knees4 ,she had a weaver's shuttle hanging over her shoulder1 by the thread of it1 and in her left hand1 arrows1 tipped with fire4 ,,isabel 7clapping her hands74 ,oh6 it was ,neith1 it was ,neith6 ,i know now4 ,l4 ,yes2 it was ,neith herself2 and as the two great spirits came nearer to me1 ,i saw they were the ,brother and ,sister--the pillared shadow was the ,greater ,pthah4,footnote3 ,note iii ,and ,i heard them speak1 and the sound of their words was like a distant singing4 ,i could not understand the words one by one2 yet their sense came to me2 and so ,i knew that ,neith had come down to see her brother's work1 and the work that he had put into the mind of the king to make his servants do4 ,and she was displeased at it2 because she saw only pieces of dark clay2 and no porphyry1 nor marble1 nor any fair stone that men might engrave the figures of the gods upon4 ,and she blamed her brother1 and said1 ,oh1 ,lord of truth6 is this then thy will1 that men should mold only foursquare pieces of clay3 and the forms of the gods no more8 ,then the ,lord of truth sighed1 and said1 ,oh6 sister1 in truth they do not love us2 why should they set up our images8 ,let them do what they may1 and not lie--let them make their clay foursquare2 and labor2 and perish4 ,then ,neith's dark blue eyes grew darker1 and she said1 ,oh1 ,lord of truth6 why should they love us8 their love is vain2 or fear us8 for their fear is base4 ,yet let them testify of us1 that they knew we lived forever4 ,but the ,lord of truth answered1 ,they know1 and yet they know not4 ,let them keep silence2 for their silence only is truth4 ,but ,neith answered1 ,brother1 wilt thou also make league with ,death1 because ,death is true8 ,oh6 thou potter1 who hast cast these human things from thy wheel1 many to dishonor1 and few to honor2 wilt thou not let them so much as see my face2 but slay them in slavery8 ,but ,pthah only answered1 ,let them build1 sister1 let them build4 ,and ,neith answered1 ,what shall they build1 if ,i build not with them8 ,and ,pthah drew with his measuring rod upon the sand4 ,and ,i saw suddenly1 drawn on the sand1 the outlines of great cities1 and of vaults1 and domes1 and aqueducts1 and bastions1 and towers1 greater than obelisks1 covered with black clouds4 ,and the wind blew ripples of sand amidst the lines that ,pthah drew1 and the moving sand was like the marching of men4 ,but ,i saw that wherever ,neith looked at the lines1 they faded1 and were effaced4 ,oh1 ,brother6 she said at last1 what is this vanity8 ,if ,i1 who am ,lady of wisdom1 do not mock the children of men1 why shouldst thou mock them1 who art ,lord of truth8 ,but ,pthah answered1 ,they thought to bind me2 and they shall be bound4 ,they shall labor in the fire for vanity4 ,and ,neith said1 looking at the sand1 ,brother1 there is no true labor here--there is only weary life and wasteful death4 ,and ,pthah answered1 ,is it not truer labor1 sister1 than thy sculpture of dreams8 ,then ,neith smiled2 and stopped suddenly4 ,she looked to the sun2 its edge touched the horizon-edge of the desert4 ,then she looked to the long heaps of pieces of clay1 that lay1 each with its blue shadow1 by the lake shore4 ,brother1 she said1 how long will this pyramid of thine be in building8 ,thoth will have sealed the scroll of the years ten times1 before the summit is laid4 ,brother1 thou knowest not how to teach thy children to labor1 answered ,neith4 ,look6 ,i must follow ,phre beyond ,atlas2 shall ,i build your pyramid for you before he goes down8 ,and ,pthah answered1 ,yea1 sister1 if thou canst put thy winged shoulders to such work4 ,and ,neith drew herself to her height2 and ,i heard a clashing pass through the plumes of her wings1 and the asp stood up on her helmet1 and fire gathered in her eyes4 ,and she took one of the flaming arrows out of the sheaf in her left hand1 and stretched it out over the heaps of clay4 ,and they rose up like flights of locusts1 and spread themselves in the air1 so that it grew dark in a moment4 ,then ,neith designed them places with her arrow point2 and they drew into ranks1 like dark clouds laid level at morning4 ,then ,neith pointed with her arrow to the north1 and to the south1 and to the east1 and to the west1 and the flying motes of earth drew asunder into four great ranked crowds2 and stood1 one in the north1 and one in the south1 and one in the east1 and one in the west--one against another4 ,then ,neith spread her wings wide for an instant1 and closed them with a sound like the sound of a rushing sea2 and waved her hand towards the foundation of the pyramid1 where it was laid on the brow of the desert4 ,and the four flocks drew together and sank down1 like sea-birds settling to a level rock1 and when they met1 there was a sudden flame1 as broad as the pyramid1 and as high as the clouds2 and it dazzled me2 and ,i closed my eyes for an instant2 and when ,i looked again1 the pyramid stood on its rock1 perfect2 and purple with the light from the edge of the sinking sun4 ,,the ,,younger ,,children 7variously pleased74 ,i'm so glad6 ,how nice6 ,but what did ,pthah say8 ,l4 ,neith did not wait to hear what he would say4 ,when ,i turned back to look at her1 she was gone2 and ,i only saw the level white cloud form itself again1 close to the arch of the sun as it sank4 ,and as the last edge of the sun disappeared1 the form of ,pthah faded into a mighty shadow1 and so passed away4 ,,egypt4 ,and was ,neith's pyramid left8 ,l4 ,yes2 but you could not think1 ,egypt1 what a strange feeling of utter loneliness came over me when the presence of the two gods passed away4 ,it seemed as if ,i had never known what it was to be alone before2 and the unbroken line of the desert was terrible4 ,,egypt4 ,i used to feel that1 when ,i was queen3 sometimes ,i had to carve gods1 for company1 all over my palace4 ,i would fain have seen real ones1 if ,i could4 ,l4 ,but listen a moment yet1 for that was not quite all my dream4 ,the twilight drew swiftly to the dark1 and ,i could hardly see the great pyramid2 when there came a heavy murmuring sound in the air2 and a horned beetle1 with terrible claws1 fell on the sand at my feet1 with a blow like the beat of a hammer4 ,then it stood up on its hind claws1 and waved its pincers at me3 and its fore claws became strong arms1 and hands2 one grasping real iron pincers1 and the other a huge hammer2 and it had a helmet on its head1 without any eyelet holes1 that ,i could see4 ,and its two hind claws became strong crooked legs1 with feet bent inwards4 ,and so there stood by me a dwarf1 in glossy black armor1 ribbed and embossed like a beetle's back1 leaning on his hammer4 ,and ,i could not speak for wonder2 but he spoke with a murmur like the dying away of a beat upon a bell4 ,he said1 ,i will make ,neith's great pyramid small4 ,i am the lower ,pthah2 and have power over fire4 ,i can wither the strong things1 and strengthen the weak2 and everything that is great ,i can make small1 and everything that is little ,i can make great4 ,then he turned to the angle of the pyramid and limped towards it4 ,and the pyramid grew deep purple2 and then red like blood1 and then pale rose-color1 like fire4 ,and ,i saw that it glowed with fire from within4 ,and the lower ,pthah touched it with the hand that held the pincers2 and it sank down like the sand in an hour-glass1--then drew itself together1 and sank1 still1 and became nothing1 it seemed to me2 but the armed dwarf stooped down1 and took it into his hand1 and brought it to me1 saying1 ,everything that is great ,i can make like this pyramid2 and give into men's hands to destroy4 ,and ,i saw that he had a little pyramid in his hand1 with as many courses in it as the large one2 and built like that1--only so small4 ,and because it glowed still1 ,i was afraid to touch it2 but ,pthah said1 ,touch it--for ,i have bound the fire within it1 so that it cannot burn4 ,so ,i touched it1 and took it into my own hand2 and it was cold2 only red1 like a ruby4 ,and ,pthah laughed1 and became like a beetle again1 and buried himself in the sand1 fiercely2 throwing it back over his shoulders4 ,and it seemed to me as if he would draw me down with him into the sand2 and ,i started back1 and woke1 holding the little pyramid so fast in my hand that it hurt me4 ,,egypt4 ,holding ,,what in your hand8 ,l4 ,the little pyramid4 ,,egypt4 ,neith's pyramid8 ,l4 ,neith's1 ,i believe2 though not built for ,asychis4 ,i know only that it is a little rosy transparent pyramid1 built of more courses of bricks than ,i can count1 it being made so small4 ,you don't believe me1 of course1 ,egyptian infidel2 but there it is4 7,giving crystal of rose ,fluor47 7,confused examination by crowded audience1 over each other's shoulders and under each other's arms4 ,disappointment begins to manifest itself47 ,,sibyl4 7not quite knowing why she and others are disappointed74 ,but you showed us this the other day6 ,l4 ,yes2 but you would not look at it the other day4 ,,sibyl4 ,but was all that fine dream only about this8 ,l4 ,what finer thing could a dream be about than this8 ,it is small1 if you will2 but when you begin to think of things rightly1 the ideas of smallness and largeness pass away4 ,the making of this pyramid was in reality just as wonderful as the dream ,i have been telling you1 and just as incomprehensible4 ,it was not1 ,i suppose1 as swift1 but quite as grand things are done as swiftly4 ,when ,neith makes crystals of snow1 it needs a great deal more marshaling of the atoms1 by her flaming arrows1 than it does to make crystals like this one2 and that is done in a moment4 ,,egypt4 ,but how you ,,do puzzle us6 ,why do you say ,neith does it8 ,you don't mean that she is a real spirit1 do you8 ,l4 ,what ,i mean1 is of little consequence4 ,what the ,egyptians meant1 who called her ,neith1--or ,homer1 who called her ,athena1--or ,solomon1 who called her by a word which the ,greeks render as ,sophia1 you must judge for yourselves4 ,but her testimony is always the same1 and all nations have received it3 ,i was by ,him as one brought up with ,him1 and ,i was daily ,his delight2 rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth1 and my delights were with the sons of men4 ,,mary4 ,but is not that only a personification8 ,l4 ,if it be1 what will you gain by unpersonifying it1 or what right have you to do so8 ,cannot you accept the image given you1 in its life2 and listen1 like children1 to the words which chiefly belong to you as children3 ,i love them that love me1 and those that seek me early shall find me8 7,they are all quiet for a minute or two2 questions begin to appear in their eyes47 ,i cannot talk to you any more to-day4 ,take that rose-crystal away with you1 and think4 ,,lecture #c4 ,,the ,,crystal ,,life ,a very dull ,lecture1 willfully brought upon themselves by the elder children4 ,some of the young ones have1 however1 managed to get in by mistake4 ,,scene1 the ,schoolroom4 ,l4 ,so ,i am to stand up here merely to be asked questions1 to-day1 ,miss ,mary1 am ,i8 ,,mary4 ,yes2 and you must answer them plainly2 without telling us any more stories4 ,you are quite spoiling the children3 the poor little things' heads are turning round like kaleidoscopes3 and they don't know in the least what you mean4 ,nor do we old ones1 either1 for that matter3 to-day you must really tell us nothing but facts4 ,l4 ,i am sworn2 but you won't like it1 a bit4 ,,mary4 ,now1 first of all1 what do you mean by bricks8--,are the smallest particles of minerals all of some accurate shape1 like bricks8 ,l4 ,i do not know4 ,miss ,mary2 ,i do not even know if anybody knows4 ,the smallest atoms which are visibly and practically put together to make large crystals1 may better be described as limited in fixed directions than as of fixed forms4 ,but ,i can tell you nothing clear about ultimate atoms3 you will find the idea of little bricks1 or1 perhaps1 of little spheres1 available for all the uses you will have to put it to4 ,,mary4 ,well1 it's very provoking2 one seems always to be stopped just when one is coming to the very thing one wants to know4 ,l4 ,no1 ,mary1 for we should not wish to know anything but what is easily and assuredly knowable4 ,there's no end to it4 ,if ,i could show you1 or myself1 a group of ultimate atoms1 quite clearly1 in this magnifying glass1 we should both be presently vexed1 because we could not break them in two pieces1 and see their insides4 ,,mary4 ,well then1 next1 what do you mean by the flying of the bricks8 ,what is it the atoms do1 that is like flying8 ,l4 ,when they are dissolved1 or uncrystallized1 they are really separated from each other1 like a swarm of gnats in the air1 or like a shoal of fish in the sea2--generally at about equal distances4 ,in currents of solutions1 or at different depths of them1 one part may be more full of the dissolved atoms than another2 but on the whole1 you may think of them as equidistant1 like the spots in the print of your gown4 ,if they are separated by force of heat only1 the substance is said to be melted2 if they are separated by any other substance1 as particles of sugar by water1 they are said to be dissolved4 ,note this distinction carefully1 all of you4 ,,dora4 ,i will be very particular4 ,when next you tell me there isn't sugar enough in your tea1 ,i will say1 ,it is not yet dissolved1 sir4 ,l4 ,i tell you what shall be dissolved1 ,miss ,dora2 and that's the present parliament1 if the members get too saucy4 7,,dora folds her hands and casts down her eyes47 ,l4 7proceeds in state74 ,now1 ,miss ,mary1 you know already1 ,i believe1 that nearly everything will melt1 under a sufficient heat1 like wax4 ,limestone melts 7under pressure72 sand melts2 granite melts2 the lava of a volcano is a mixed mass of many kinds of rocks1 melted3 and any melted substance nearly always1 if not always1 crystallizes as it cools2 the more slowly the more perfectly4 ,water melts at what we call the freezing1 but might just as wisely1 though not as conveniently1 call the melting1 point2 and radiates as it cools into the most beautiful of all known crystals4 ,glass melts at a greater heat1 and will crystallize1 if you let it cool slowly enough1 in stars1 much like snow4 ,gold needs more heat to melt it1 but crystallizes also exquisitely1 as ,i will presently show you4 ,arsenic and sulphur crystallize from their vapors4 ,now in any of these cases1 either of melted1 dissolved1 or vaporous bodies1 the particles are usually separated from each other1 either by heat1 or by an intermediate substance2 and in crystallizing they are both brought nearer to each other1 and packed1 so as to fit as closely as possible3 the essential part of the business being not the bringing together1 but the packing4 ,who packed your trunk for you1 last holidays1 ,isabel8 ,,isabel4 ,lily does1 always4 ,l4 ,and how much can you allow for ,lily's good packing1 in guessing what will go into the trunk8 ,,isabel4 ,oh6 ,i bring twice as much as the trunk holds4 ,lily always gets everything in4 ,,lily4 ,ah6 but1 ,isey1 if you only knew what a time it takes6 and since you've had those great hard buttons on your frocks1 ,i can't do anything with them4 ,buttons won't go anywhere1 you know4 ,l4 ,yes1 ,lily1 it would be well if she only knew what a time it takes2 and ,i wish any of us knew what a time crystallization takes1 for that is consummately fine packing4 ,the particles of the rock are thrown down1 just as ,isabel brings her things--in a heap2 and innumerable ,lilies1 not of the valley1 but of the rock1 come to pack them4 ,but it takes such a time6 ,however1 the best--out and out the best--way of understanding the thing1 is to crystallize yourselves4 ,,the ,,audience4 ,ourselves6 ,l4 ,yes2 not merely as you did the other day1 carelessly on the schoolroom forms2 but carefully and finely1 out in the playground4 ,you can play at crystallization there as much as you please4 ,,kathleen and ,,jessie4 ,oh6 how8--how8 ,l4 ,first1 you must put yourselves together1 as close as you can1 in the middle of the grass1 and form1 for first practice1 any figure you like4 ,,jessie4 ,any dancing figure1 do you mean8 ,l4 ,no2 ,i mean a square1 or a cross1 or a diamond4 ,any figure you like1 standing close together4 ,you had better outline it first on the turf1 with sticks1 or pebbles1 so as to see that it is rightly drawn2 then get into it and enlarge or diminish it at one side1 till you are all quite in it1 and no empty space left4 ,,dora4 ,crinoline and all8 ,l4 ,the crinoline may stand eventually for rough crystalline surface1 unless you pin it in2 and then you may make a polished crystal of yourselves4 ,,lily4 ,oh1 we'll pin it in--we'll pin it in6 ,l4 ,then1 when you are all in the figure1 let every one note her place1 and who is next her on each side2 and let the outsiders count how many places they stand from the corners4 ,,kathleen4 ,yes1 yes1--and then8 ,l4 ,then you must scatter all over the playground--right over it from side to side1 and end to end2 and put yourselves all at equal distances from each other1 everywhere4 ,you needn't mind doing it very accurately1 but so as to be nearly equidistant2 not less than about three yards apart from each other1 on every side4 ,,jessie4 ,we can easily cut pieces of string of equal length1 to hold4 ,and then8 ,l4 ,then1 at a given signal1 let everybody walk1 at the same rate1 towards the outlined figure in the middle4 ,you had better sing as you walk2 that will keep you in good time4 ,and as you close in towards it1 let each take her place1 and the next comers fit themselves in beside the first ones1 till you are all in the figure again4 ,,kathleen4 ,oh6 how we shall run against each other4 ,what fun it will be6 ,l4 ,no1 no1 ,miss ,katie2 ,i can't allow any running against each other4 ,the atoms never do that1 whatever human creatures do4 ,you must all know your places1 and find your way to them without jostling4 ,,lily4 ,but how ever shall we do that8 ,,isabel4 ,mustn't the ones in the middle be the nearest1 and the outside ones farther off--when we go away to scatter1 ,i mean8 ,l4 ,yes2 you must be very careful to keep your order2 you will soon find out how to do it2 it is only like soldiers forming square1 except that each must stand still in her place as she reaches it1 and the others come round her2 and you will have much more complicated figures1 afterwards1 to form1 than squares4 ,,isabel4 ,i'll put a stone at my place3 then ,i shall know it4 ,l4 ,you might each nail a bit of paper to the turf1 at your place1 with your name upon it3 but it would be of no use1 for if you don't know your places1 you will make a fine piece of business of it1 while you are looking for your names4 ,and1 ,isabel1 if with a little head1 and eyes1 and a brain 7all of them very good and serviceable of their kind1 as such things go71 you think you cannot know your place without a stone at it1 after examining it well1--how do you think each atom knows its place1 when it never was there before1 and there's no stone at it8 ,,isabel4 ,but does every atom know its place8 ,l4 ,how else could it get there8 ,,mary4 ,are they not attracted into their places8 ,l4 ,cover a piece of paper with spots1 at equal intervals2 and then imagine any kind of attraction you choose1 or any law of attraction1 to exist between the spots1 and try how1 on that permitted supposition1 you can attract them into the figure of a ,maltese cross1 in the middle of the paper4 ,,mary 7having tried it74 ,yes2 ,i see that ,i cannot3--one would need all kinds of attractions1 in different ways1 at different places4 ,but you do not mean that the atoms are alive8 ,l4 ,what is it to be alive8 ,,dora4 ,there now2 you're going to be provoking1 ,i know4 ,l4 ,i do not see why it should be provoking to be asked what it is to be alive4 ,do you think you don't know whether you are alive or not8 7,,isabel skips to the end of the room and back47 ,l4 ,yes1 ,isabel1 that's all very fine2 and you and ,i may call that being alive3 but a modern philosopher calls it being in a mode of motion4 ,it requires a certain quantity of heat to take you to the sideboard2 and exactly the same quantity to bring you back again4 ,that's all4 ,,isabel4 ,no1 it isn't4 ,and besides1 ,i'm not hot4 ,l4 ,i am1 sometimes1 at the way they talk4 ,however1 you know1 ,isabel1 you might have been a particle of a mineral1 and yet have been carried round the room1 or anywhere else1 by chemical forces1 in the liveliest way4 ,,isabel4 ,yes2 but ,i wasn't carried3 ,i carried myself4 ,l4 ,the fact is1 mousie1 the difficulty is not so much to say what makes a thing alive1 as what makes it a ,self4 ,as soon as you are shut off from the rest of the universe into a ,self1 you begin to be alive4 ,,violet 7indignant74 ,oh1 surely--surely that cannot be so4 ,is not all the life of the soul in communion1 not separation8 ,l4 ,there can be no communion where there is no distinction4 ,but we shall be in an abyss of metaphysics presently1 if we don't look out2 and besides1 we must not be too grand1 to-day1 for the younger children4 ,we'll be grand1 some day1 by ourselves1 if we must4 7,the younger children are not pleased1 and prepare to remonstrate2 but1 knowing by experience1 that all conversations in which the word communion occurs1 are unintelligible1 think better of it47 ,meantime1 for broad answer about the atoms4 ,i do not think we should use the word life1 of any energy which does not belong to a given form4 ,a seed1 or an egg1 or a young animal1 are properly called alive with respect to the force belonging to those forms1 which consistently develops that form1 and no other4 ,but the force which crystallizes a mineral appears to be chiefly external1 and it does not produce an entirely determinate and individual form1 limited in size1 but only an aggregation1 in which some limiting laws must be observed4 ,,mary4 ,but ,i do not see much difference1 that way1 between a crystal and a tree4 ,l4 ,add1 then1 that the mode of the energy in a living thing implies a continual change in its elements2 and a period for its end4 ,so you may define life by its attached negative1 death2 and still more by its attached positive1 birth4 ,but ,i won't be plagued any more about this1 just now2 if you choose to think the crystals alive1 do1 and welcome4 ,rocks have always been called living in their native place4 ,,mary4 ,there's one question more2 then ,i've done4 ,l4 ,only one8 ,,mary4 ,only one4 ,l4 ,but if it is answered1 won't it turn into two8 ,,mary4 ,no2 ,i think it will remain single1 and be comfortable4 ,l4 ,let me hear it4 ,,mary4 ,you know1 we are to crystallize ourselves out of the whole playground4 ,now1 what playground have the minerals6 ,where are they scattered before they are crystallized2 and where are the crystals generally made8 ,l4 ,that sounds to me more like three questions than one1 ,mary4 ,if it is only one1 it is a wide one4 ,,mary4 ,i did not say anything about the width of it4 ,l4 ,well1 ,i must keep it within the best compass ,i can4 ,when rocks either dry from a moist state1 or cool from a heated state1 they necessarily alter in bulk2 and cracks1 or open spaces1 form in them in all directions4 ,these cracks must be filled up with solid matter1 or the rock would eventually become a ruinous heap4 ,so1 sometimes by water1 sometimes by vapor1 sometimes nobody knows how1 crystallizable matter is brought from somewhere1 and fastens itself in these open spaces1 so as to bind the rock together again with crystal cement4 ,a vast quantity of hollows are formed in lavas by bubbles of gas1 just as the holes are left in bread well baked4 ,in process of time these cavities are generally filled with various crystals4 ,,mary4 ,but where does the crystallizing substance come from8 ,l4 ,sometimes out of the rock itself2 sometimes from below or above1 through the veins4 ,the entire substance of the contracting rock may be filled with liquid1 pressed into it so as to fill every pore2--or with mineral vapor2--or it may be so charged at one place1 and empty at another4 ,there's no end to the may be's4 ,but all that you need fancy1 for our present purpose1 is that hollows in the rocks1 like the caves in ,derbyshire1 are traversed by liquids or vapor containing certain elements in a more or less free or separate state1 which crystallize on the cave walls4 ,,sibyl4 ,there now2--,mary has had all her questions answered3 it's my turn to have mine4 ,l4 ,ah1 there's a conspiracy among you1 ,i see4 ,i might have guessed as much4 ,,dora4 ,i'm sure you ask us questions enough6 ,how can you have the heart1 when you dislike so to be asked them yourself8 ,l4 ,my dear child1 if people do not answer questions1 it does not matter how many they are asked1 because they've no trouble with them4 ,now1 when ,i ask you questions1 ,i never expect to be answered2 but when you ask me1 you always do2 and it's not fair4 ,,dora4 ,very well1 we shall understand1 next time4 ,,sibyl4 ,no1 but seriously1 we all want to ask one thing more1 quite dreadfully4 ,l4 ,and ,i don't want to be asked it1 quite dreadfully2 but you'll have your own way1 of course4 ,,sibyl4 ,we none of us understand about the lower ,pthah4 ,it was not merely yesterday2 but in all we have read about him in ,wilkinson1 or in any book1 we cannot understand what the ,egyptians put their god into that ugly little deformed shape for4 ,l4 ,well1 ,i'm glad it's that sort of question2 because ,i can answer anything ,i like to that4 ,,egypt4 ,anything you like will do quite well for us2 we shall be pleased with the answer1 if you are4 ,l4 ,i am not so sure of that1 most gracious queen2 for ,i must begin by the statement that queens seem to have disliked all sorts of work1 in those days1 as much as some queens dislike sewing to-day4 ,,egypt4 ,now1 it's too bad6 and just when ,i was trying to say the civillest thing ,i could6 ,l4 ,but1 ,egypt1 why did you tell me you disliked sewing so8 ,,egypt4 ,did not ,i show you how the thread cuts my fingers8 and ,i always get cramp1 somehow1 in my neck1 if ,i sew long4 ,l4 ,well1 ,i suppose the ,egyptian queens thought everybody got cramp in their neck1 if they sewed long2 and that thread always cut people's fingers4 ,at all events1 every kind of manual labor was despised both by them1 and the ,greeks2 and1 while they owned the real good and fruit of it1 they yet held it a degradation to all who practiced it4 ,also1 knowing the laws of life thoroughly1 they perceived that the special practice necessary to bring any manual art to perfection strengthened the body distortedly2 one energy or member gaining at the expense of the rest4 ,they especially dreaded and despised any kind of work that had to be done near fire3 yet1 feeling what they owed to it in metal-work1 as the basis of all other work1 they expressed this mixed reverence and scorn in the varied types of the lame ,hephaestus1 and the lower ,pthah4 ,,sibyl4 ,but what did you mean by making him say ,everything great ,i can make small1 and everything small great8 ,l4 ,i had my own separate meaning in that4 ,we have seen in modern times the power of the lower ,pthah developed in a separate way1 which no ,greek nor ,egyptian could have conceived4 ,it is the character of pure and eyeless manual labor to conceive everything as subjected to it3 and1 in reality1 to disgrace and diminish all that is so subjected1 aggrandizing itself1 and the thought of itself1 at the expense of all noble things4 ,i heard an orator1 and a good one too1 at the ,working ,men's ,college1 the other day1 make a great point in a description of our railroads2 saying1 with grandly conducted emphasis1 ,they have made man greater1 and the world less4 ,his working audience were mightily pleased2 they thought it so very fine a thing to be made bigger themselves2 and all the rest of the world less4 ,i should have enjoyed asking them 7but it would have been a pity--they were so pleased71 how much less they would like to have the world made2--and whether1 at present1 those of them really felt the biggest men1 who lived in the least houses4 ,,sibyl4 ,but then1 why did you make ,pthah say that he could make weak things strong1 and small things great8 ,l4 ,my dear1 he is a boaster and self-assertor1 by nature2 but it is so far true4 ,for instance1 we used to have a fair in our neighborhood--a very fine fair we thought it4 ,you never saw such an one2 but if you look at the engraving of ,turner's ,st4 ,catherine's ,hill1 you will see what it was like4 ,there were curious booths1 carried on poles2 and peep-shows2 and music1 with plenty of drums and cymbals2 and much barley-sugar and gingerbread1 and the like3 and in the alleys of this fair the ,london populace would enjoy themselves1 after their fashion1 very thoroughly4 ,well1 the little ,pthah set to work upon it one day2 he made the wooden poles into iron ones1 and put them across1 like his own crooked legs1 so that you always fall over them if you don't look where you are going2 and he turned all the canvas into panes of glass1 and put it up on his iron cross-poles2 and made all the little booths into one great booth2--and people said it was very fine1 and a new style of architecture2 and ,mr4 ,dickens said nothing was ever like it in ,fairy-land1 which was very true4 ,and then the little ,pthah set to work to put fine fairings in it2 and he painted the ,nineveh bulls afresh1 with the blackest eyes he could paint 7because he had none himself71 and he got the angels down from ,lincoln choir1 and gilded their wings like his gingerbread of old times2 and he sent for everything else he could think of1 and put it in his booth4 ,there are the casts of ,niobe and her children2 and the ,chimpanzee2 and the wooden ,caffres and ,new-,zealanders2 and the ,shakespeare ,house2 and ,le ,grand ,blondin1 and ,le ,petit ,blondin2 and ,handel2 and ,mozart2 and no end of shops1 and buns1 and beer2 and all the little-,pthah-worshippers say1 never was anything so sublime6 ,,sibyl4 ,now1 do you mean to say you never go to these ,crystal ,palace concerts8 they're as good as good can be4 ,l4 ,i don't go to the thundering things with a million of bad voices in them4 ,when ,i want a song1 ,i get ,julia ,mannering and ,lucy ,bertram and ,counselor ,pleydell to sing ,we be three poor ,mariners to me2 then ,i've no headache next morning4 ,but ,i do go to the smaller concerts1 when ,i can2 for they are very good1 as you say1 ,sibyl3 and ,i always get a reserved seat somewhere near the orchestra1 where ,i am sure ,i can see the kettle-drummer drum4 ,,sibyl4 ,now ,,do be serious1 for one minute4 ,l4 ,i am serious--never was more so4 ,you know one can't see the modulation of violinists' fingers1 but one can see the vibration of the drummer's hand2 and it's lovely4 ,,sibyl4 ,but fancy going to a concert1 not to hear1 but to see6 ,l4 ,yes1 it is very absurd4 ,the quite right thing1 ,i believe1 is to go there to talk4 ,i confess1 however1 that in most music1 when very well done1 the doing of it is to me the chiefly interesting part of the business4 ,i'm always thinking how good it would be for the fat1 supercilious people1 who care so little for their half- crown's worth1 to be set to try and do a half-crown's worth of anything like it4 ,,mary4 ,but surely that ,crystal ,palace is a great good and help to the people of ,london8 ,l4 ,the fresh air of the ,norwood hills is1 or was1 my dear2 but they are spoiling that with smoke as fast as they can4 ,and the palace 7as they call it7 is a better place for them1 by much1 than the old fair2 and it is always there1 instead of for three days only2 and it shuts up at proper hours of night4 ,and good use may be made of the things in it1 if you know how3 but as for its teaching the people1 it will teach them nothing but the lowest of the lower ,pthah's work--nothing but hammer and tongs4 ,i saw a wonderful piece1 of his doing1 in the place1 only the other day4 ,some unhappy metal-worker--,i am not sure if it was not a metal- working firm--had taken three years to make a ,golden eagle4 ,,sibyl4 ,of real gold8 ,l4 ,no2 of bronze1 or copper1 or some of their foul patent metals-- it is no matter what4 ,i meant a model of our chief ,british eagle4 ,every feather was made separately2 and every filament of every feather separately1 and so joined on2 and all the quills modeled of the right length and right section1 and at last the whole cluster of them fastened together4 ,you know1 children1 ,i don't think much of my own drawing2 but take my proud word for once1 that when ,i go to the ,zoological ,gardens1 and happen to have a bit of chalk in my pocket1 and the ,gray ,harpy will sit1 without screwing his head round1 for thirty seconds1--,i can do a better thing of him in that time than the three years' work of this industrious firm4 ,for1 during the thirty seconds1 the eagle is my object1--not myself2 and during the three years1 the firm's object1 in every fiber of bronze it made1 was itself1 and not the eagle4 ,that is the true meaning of the little ,pthah's having no eyes--he can see only himself4 ,the ,egyptian beetle was not quite the full type of him2 our northern ground beetle is a truer one4 ,it is beautiful to see it at work1 gathering its treasures 7such as they are7 into little round balls2 and pushing them home with the strong wrong end of it1--head downmost all the way1--like a modern political economist with his ball of capital1 declaring that a nation can stand on its vices better than on its virtues4 ,but away with you1 children1 now1 for ,i'm getting cross4 ,,dora4 ,i'm going downstairs2 ,i shall take care1 at any rate1 that there are no little ,pthahs in the kitchen cupboards4 ,,lecture #d4 ,,the ,,crystal ,,orders ,a working ,lecture in the large ,schoolroom2 with experimental ,interludes4 ,the great bell has rung unexpectedly4 ,,kathleen 7entering disconsolate1 though first at the summons74 ,oh dear1 oh dear1 what a day6 ,was ever anything so provoking6 just when we wanted to crystallize ourselves2--and ,i'm sure it's going to rain all day long4 ,l4 ,so am ,i1 ,kate4 ,the sky has quite an ,irish way with it4 ,but ,i don't see why ,irish girls should also look so dismal4 ,fancy that you don't want to crystallize yourselves3 you didn't1 the day before yesterday1 and you were not unhappy when it rained then4 ,,florrie4 ,ah6 but we do want to-day2 and the rain's so tiresome4 ,l4 ,that is to say1 children1 that because you are all the richer by the expectation of playing at a new game1 you choose to make yourselves unhappier than when you had nothing to look forward to1 but the old ones4 ,,isabel4 ,but then1 to have to wait--wait--wait2 and before we've tried it2--and perhaps it will rain to-morrow1 too6 ,l4 ,it may also rain the day after to-morrow4 ,we can make ourselves uncomfortable to any extent with perhapses1 ,isabel4 ,you may stick perhapses into your little minds1 like pins1 till you are as uncomfortable as the ,lilliputians made ,gulliver with their arrows1 when he would not lie quiet4 ,,isabel4 ,but what ,,are we to do to-day8 ,l4 ,to be quiet1 for one thing1 like ,gulliver when he saw there was nothing better to be done4 ,and to practice patience4 ,i can tell you1 children1 ,,that requires nearly as much practicing as music2 and we are continually losing our lessons when the master comes4 ,now1 to-day1 here's a nice1 little adagio lesson for us1 if we play it properly4 ,,isabel4 ,but ,i don't like that sort of lesson4 ,i can't play it properly4 ,l4 ,can you play a ,mozart sonata yet1 ,isabel8 ,the more need to practice4 ,all one's life is a music1 if one touches the notes rightly1 and in time4 ,but there must be no hurry4 ,,kathleen4 ,i'm sure there's no music in stopping in on a rainy day4 ,l4 ,there's no music in a rest1 ,katie1 that ,i know of3 but there's the making of music in it4 ,and people are always missing that part of the life-melody2 and scrambling on without counting-- not that it's easy to count2 but nothing on which so much depends ever ,,is easy4 ,people are always talking of perseverance1 and courage1 and fortitude2 but patience is the finest and worthiest part of fortitude1--and the rarest1 too4 ,i know twenty persevering girls for one patient one3 but it is only that twenty-first who can do her work1 out and out1 or enjoy it4 ,for patience lies at the root of all pleasures1 as well as of all powers4 ,hope herself ceases to be happiness1 when ,impatience companions her4 7,,isabel and ,,lily sit down on the floor1 and fold their hands4 ,the others follow their example47 ,good children6 but that's not quite the way of it1 neither4 ,folded hands are not necessarily resigned ones4 ,the ,patience who really smiles at grief usually stands1 or walks1 or even runs3 she seldom sits2 though she may sometimes have to do it1 for many a day1 poor thing1 by monuments2 or like ,chaucer's1 with face pale1 upon a hill of sand4 ,but we are not reduced to that to-day4 ,suppose we use this calamitous fore-noon to choose the shapes we are to crystallize into8 we know nothing about them yet4 7,the pictures of resignation rise from the floor not in the patientest manner4 ,general applause47 ,,mary 7with one or two others74 ,the very thing we wanted to ask you about6 ,,lily4 ,we looked at the books about crystals1 but they are so dreadful4 ,l4 ,well1 ,lily1 we must go through a little dreadfulness1 that's a fact3 no road to any good knowledge is wholly among the lilies and the grass2 there is rough climbing to be done always4 ,but the crystal-books are a little ,,too dreadful1 most of them1 ,i admit2 and we shall have to be content with very little of their help4 ,you know1 as you cannot stand on each other's heads1 you can only make yourselves into the sections of crystals1--the figures they show when they are cut through2 and we will choose some that will be quite easy4 ,you shall make diamonds of yourselves-- ,,isabel4 ,oh1 no1 no6 we won't be diamonds1 please4 ,l1 ,yes1 you shall1 ,isabel2 they are very pretty things1 if the jewelers1 and the kings and queens1 would only let them alone4 ,you shall make diamonds of yourselves1 and rubies of yourselves1 and emeralds2 and ,irish diamonds2 two of those--with ,lily in the middle of one1 which will be very orderly1 of course2 and ,kathleen in the middle of the other1 for which we will hope the best2 and you shall make ,derbyshire spar of yourselves1 and ,iceland spar1 and gold1 and silver1 and--,quicksilver there's enough of in you1 without any making4 ,,mary4 ,now you know1 the children will be getting quite wild we must really get pencils and paper1 and begin properly4 ,l4 ,wait a minute1 ,miss ,mary1 ,i think as we the schoolroom clear to-day1 ,i'll try to give you some notion of the three great orders or ranks of crystals1 into which all the others seem more or less to fall4 ,we shall only want one figure a day1 in the playground1 and that can be drawn in a minute3 but the general ideas had better be fastened first4 ,i must show you a great many minerals2 so let me have three tables wheeled into the three windows1 that we may keep our specimens separate2--we will keep the three orders of crystals on separate tables4 7,first ,interlude of pushing and pulling1 and spreading of baize covers4 ,,violet1 not particularly minding what she is about1 gets herself jammed into a corner1 and bid to stand out of the way2 on which she devotes herself to meditation47 ,,violet 7after interval of meditation74 ,how strange it is that everything seems to divide into threes6 ,l4 ,everything doesn't divide into threes4 ,ivy won't1 though shamrock will1 and daisies won't though lilies will4 ,,violet4 ,but all the nicest things seem to divide into threes4 ,l4 ,violets won't4 ,,violet4 ,no2 ,i should think not1 indeed6 ,but ,i mean the great things4 ,l4 ,i've always heard the globe had four quarters4 ,,isabel4 ,well2 but you know you said it hadn't any quarters at all4 ,so mayn't it really be divided into three8 ,l4 ,if it were divided into no more than three1 on the outside of it1 ,isabel1 it would be a fine world to live in2 and if it were divided into three in the inside of it1 it would soon be no world to live in at all4 ,,dora4 ,we shall never get to the crystals1 at this rate4 7,aside to ,,mary47 ,he will get off into political economy before we know where we are4 7,aloud47 ,but the crystals are divided into three1 then8 ,l4 ,no2 but there are three general notions by which we may best get hold of them4 ,then between these notions there are other notions4 ,,lily 7alarmed74 ,a great many8 ,and shall we have to learn them all8 ,l4 ,more than a great many--a quite infinite many4 ,so you cannot learn them all4 ,,lily 7greatly relieved74 ,then may we only learn the three8 ,l4 ,certainly2 unless1 when you have got those three notions1 you want to have some more notions2--which would not surprise me4 ,but we'll try for the three1 first4 ,katie1 you broke your coral necklace this morning8 ,,kathleen4 ,oh6 who told you8 ,it was in jumping4 ,i'm so sorry6 ,l4 ,i'm very glad4 ,can you fetch me the beads of it8 ,,kathleen4 ,i've lost some2 here are the rest in my pocket1 if ,i can only get them out4 ,l4 ,you mean to get them out some day1 ,i suppose2 so try now4 ,i want them4 7,,kathleen empties her pocket on the floor4 ,the beads disperse4 ,the ,school disperses also4 ,second ,interlude--hunting piece47 ,l4 7after waiting patiently for a quarter of an hour1 to ,,isabel1 who comes up from under the table with her hair all about her ears and the last findable beads in her hand47 ,mice are useful little things sometimes4 ,now1 mousie1 ,i want all those beads crystallized4 ,how many ways are there of putting them in order8 ,,isabel4 ,well1 first one would string them1 ,i suppose8 ,l4 ,yes1 that's the first way4 ,you cannot string ultimate atoms2 but you can put them in a row1 and then they fasten themselves together1 somehow1 into a long rod or needle4 ,we will call these ,,needle-crystals4 ,what would be the next way8 ,,isabel4 ,i suppose1 as we are to get together in the playground1 when it stops raining1 in different shapes8 ,l4 ,yes2 put the beads together1 then1 in the simplest form you can1 to begin with4 ,put them into a square1 and pack them close4 ,,isabel 7after careful endeavor74 ,i can't get them closer4 ,l4 ,that will do4 ,now you may see1 beforehand1 that if you try to throw yourselves into square in this confused way1 you will never know your places2 so you had better consider every square as made of rods1 put side by side4 ,take four beads of equal size1 first1 ,isabel2 put them into a little square4 ,that1 you may consider as made up of two rods of two beads each4 ,then you can make a square a size larger1 out of three rods of three4 ,then the next square may be a size larger4 ,how many rods1 ,lily8 ,,lily4 ,four rods of four beads each1 ,i suppose4 ,l4 ,yes1 and then five rods of five1 and so on4 ,but now1 look here2 make another square of four beads again4 ,you see they leave a little opening in the center4 ,,isabel 7pushing two opposite ones closer together74 ,now they don't4 ,l4 ,no2 but now it isn't a square2 and by pushing the two together you have pushed the two others farther apart4 ,,isabel4 ,and yet1 somehow1 they all seem closer than they were6 ,l4 ,yes2 for before1 each of them only touched two of the others1 but now each of the two in the middle touches the other three4 ,take away one of the outsiders1 ,isabel3 now you have three in a triangle--the smallest triangle you can make out of the beads4 ,now put a rod of three beads on at one side4 ,so1 you have a triangle of six beads2 but just the shape of the first one4 ,next a rod of four on the side of that2 and you have a triangle of ten beads3 then a rod of five on the side of that2 and you have a triangle of fifteen4 ,thus you have a square with five beads on the side1 and a triangle with five beads on the side2 equal-sided1 therefore1 like the square4 ,so1 however few or many you may be1 you may soon learn how to crystallize quickly into these two figures1 which are the foundation of form in the commonest1 and therefore actually the most important1 as well as in the rarest1 and therefore1 by our esteem1 the most important1 minerals of the world4 ,look at this in my hand4 ,,violet4 ,why1 it is leaf gold6 ,l4 ,yes2 but beaten by no man's hammer2 or rather1 not beaten at all1 but woven4 ,besides1 feel the weight of it4 ,there is gold enough there to gild the walls and ceiling1 if it were beaten thin4 ,,violet4 ,how beautiful6 ,and it glitters like a leaf covered with frost4 ,l4 ,you only think it so beautiful because you know it is gold4 ,it is not prettier1 in reality1 than a bit of brass for it is ,transylvanian gold2 and they say there is a foolish gnome in the mines there1 who is always wanting to live in the moon1 and so alloys all the gold with a little silver4 ,i don't know how that may be1 but the silver always ,,is in the gold1 and if he does it1 it's very provoking of him1 for no gold is woven so fine anywhere else4 ,,mary 7who has been looking through her magnifying glass74 ,but this is not woven4 ,this is all made of little triangles4 ,l4 ,say patched1 then1 if you must be so particular4 ,but if you fancy all those triangles1 small as they are 7and many of them are infinitely small71 made up again of rods1 and those of grains1 as we built our great triangle of the beads1 what word will you take for the manufacture8 ,,may4 ,there's no word--it is beyond words4 ,l4 ,yes1 and that would matter little1 were it not beyond thoughts too4 ,but1 at all events1 this yellow leaf of dead gold1 shed1 not from the ruined woodlands1 but the ruined rocks1 will help you to remember the second kind of crystals1 ,,leaf-crystals1 or ,,foliated crystals1 though ,i show you the form in gold first only to make a strong impression on you1 for gold is not generally or characteristically1 crystallized in leaves2 the real type of foliated crystals is this thing1 ,mica2 which if you once feel well and break well1 you will always know again2 and you will often have occasion to know it1 for you will find it everywhere nearly1 in hill countries4 ,,kathleen4 ,if we break it well6 ,may we break it8 ,l4 ,to powder1 if you like4 7,surrenders plate of brown mica to public investigation4 ,third ,interlude4 ,it sustains severely philosophic al treatment at all hands47 ,,florrie 7to whom the last fragments have descended74 ,always leaves1 and leaves1 and nothing but leaves1 or white dust8 ,l4 ,that dust itself is nothing but finer leaves4 7,shows them to ,,florrie through magnifying glass47 ,,isabel 7peeping over ,,florrie',s shoulder74 ,but then this bit under the glass looks like that bit out of the glass6 ,if we could break this bit under the glass1 what would it be like8 ,l4 ,it would be all leaves still4 ,,isabel4 ,and then if we broke those again8 ,l4 ,all less leaves still4 ,,isabel 7impatient74 ,and if we broke them again1 and again1 and again1 and again1 and again8 ,l4 ,well1 ,i suppose you would come to a limit1 if you could only see it4 ,notice that the little flakes already differ somewhat from the large ones3 because ,i can bend them up and down1 and they stay bent2 while the large flake1 though it bent easily a little way1 sprang back when you let it go1 and broke when you tried to bend it far4 ,and a large mass would not bend at all4 ,,mary4 ,would that leaf gold separate into finer leaves1 in the same way8 ,l4 ,no2 and therefore1 as ,i told you1 it is not a characteristic specimen of a foliated crystallization4 ,the little triangles are portions of solid crystals1 and so they are in this1 which looks like a black mica2 but you see it is made up of triangles like the gold1 and stands1 almost accurately1 as an intermediate link1 in crystals1 between mica and gold4 ,yet this is the commonest1 as gold the rarest1 of metals4 ,,mary4 ,is it iron8 ,i never saw iron so bright4 ,l4 ,it is rust of iron1 finely crystallized3 from its resemblance to mica1 it is often called micaceous iron4 ,,kathleen4 ,may we break this1 too8 ,l4 ,no1 for ,i could not easily get such another crystal2 besides1 it would not break like the mica2 it is much harder4 ,but take the glass again1 and look at the fineness of the jagged edges of the triangles where they lap over each other4 ,the gold has the same3 but you see them better here1 terrace above terrace1 countless1 and1 in successive angles1 like superb fortified bastions4 ,,may4 ,but all foliated crystals are not made of triangles8 ,l4 ,far from it2 mica is occasionally so4 but usually of hexagons2 and here is a foliated crystal made of squares1 which will show you that the leaves of the rock-land have their summer green1 as well as their autumnal gold4 ,,florrie4 ,oh6 oh6 oh6 7jumps for joy74 ,l4 ,did you never see a bit of green leaf before1 ,florrie8 ,,florrie4 ,yes1 but never so bright as that1 and not in a stone4 ,l4 ,if you will look at the leaves of the trees in sunshine after a shower1 you will find they are much brighter than that2 and surely they are none the worse for being on stalks instead of in stones8 ,,florrie4 ,yes1 but then there are so many of them1 one never looks1 ,i suppose4 ,l4 ,now you have it1 ,florrie4 ,,violet 7sighing74 ,there are so many beautiful things we never see6 ,l4 ,you need not sigh for that1 ,violet2 but ,i will tell you what we should all sigh for--that there are so many ugly things we never see4 ,,violet4 ,but we don't want to see ugly things6 ,l4 ,you had better say1 ,we don't want to suffer them4 ,you ought to be glad in thinking how much more beauty ,god has made1 than human eyes can ever see2 but not glad in thinking how much more evil man has made1 than his own soul can ever conceive1 much more than his hands can ever heal4 ,,violet4 ,i don't understand2--how is that like the leaves8 ,l4 ,the same law holds in our neglect of multiplied pain1 as in our neglect of multiplied beauty4 ,florrie jumps for joy at sight of half an inch of a green leaf in a brown stone1 and takes more notice of it than of all the green in the wood1 and you1 or ,i1 or any of us1 would be unhappy if any single human creature beside us were in sharp pain2 but we can read1 at breakfast1 day after day1 of men being killed1 and of women and children dying of hunger1 faster than the leaves strew the brooks in ,vallombrosa2--and then go out to play croquet1 as if nothing had happened4 ,,may4 ,but we do not see the people being killed or dying4 ,l4 ,you did not see your brother1 when you got the telegram the other day1 saying he was ill1 ,may2 but you cried for him2 and played no croquet4 ,but we cannot talk of these things now2 and what is more1 you must let me talk straight on1 for a little while2 and ask no questions till ,i've done3 for we branch 7exfoliate1 ,i should say1 mineralogically7 always into something else1--though that's my fault more than yours2 but ,i must go straight on now4 ,you have got a distinct notion1 ,i hope1 of leaf- crystals2 and you see the sort of look they have3 you can easily remember that folium is ,latin for a leaf1 and that the separate flakes of mica1 or any other such stones1 are called folia2 but1 because mica is the most characteristic of these stones1 other things that are like it in structure are called micas2 thus we have ,uran-mica1 which is the green leaf ,i showed you2 and ,copper- mica1 which is another like it1 made chiefly of copper2 and this foliated iron is called micaceous iron4 ,you have then these two great orders1 ,needle-crystals1 made 7probably7 of grains in rows2 and ,leaf-crystals1 made 7probably7 of needles interwoven2 now1 lastly1 there are crystals of a third order1 in heaps1 or knots1 or masses1 which may be made either of leaves laid one upon another1 or of needles bound like ,roman fasces2 and mica itself1 when it is well crystallized1 puts itself into such masses1 as if to show us how others are made4 ,here is a brown six-sided crystal1 quite as beautifully chiseled at the sides as any castle tower2 but you see it is entirely built of folia of mica1 one laid above another1 which break away the moment ,i touch the edge with my knife4 ,now1 here is another hexagonal tower1 of just the same size and color1 which ,i want you to compare with the mica carefully2 but as ,i cannot wait for you to do it just now1 ,i must tell you quickly what main differences to look for4 ,first1 you will feel it far heavier than the mica4 ,then1 though its surface looks quite micaceous in the folia of it when you try them with the knife1 you will find you cannot break them away-- ,,kathleen4 ,may ,i try8 ,l4 ,yes1 you mistrusting ,katie4 ,here's my strong knife for you4 7,experimental pause4 ,,kathleen doing her best47 ,you'll have that knife shutting on your finger presently1 ,kate2 and ,i don't know a girl who would like less to have her hand tied up for a week4 ,,kathleen 7who also does not like to be beaten--giving up the knife despondently474 ,what ,,can the nasty hard thing be8 ,l4 ,it is nothing but indurated clay1 ,kate3 very hard set certainly1 yet not so hard as it might be4 ,if it were thoroughly well crystallized1 you would see none of those micaceous fractures2 and the stone would be quite red and clear1 all through4 ,,kathleen4 ,oh1 cannot you show us one8 ,l4 ,egypt can1 if you ask her2 she has a beautiful one in the clasp of her favorite bracelet4 ,,kathleen4 ,why1 that's a ruby6 ,l4 ,well1 so is that thing you've been scratching at4 ,,kathleen4 ,my goodness6 7,takes up the stone again1 very delicately2 and drops it4 ,general consternation47 ,l4 ,never mind1 ,katie1 you might drop it from the top of the house1 and do it no harm4 ,but though you really are a very good girl1 and as good-natured as anybody can possibly be1 remember1 you have your faults1 like other people1 and1 if ,i were you1 the next time ,i wanted to assert anything energetically1 ,i would assert it by my badness1 not my goodness4 ,,kathleen4 ,ah1 now1 it's too bad of you6 ,l4 ,well1 then1 ,i'll invoke1 on occasion1 my too-badness4 ,but you may as well pick up the ruby1 now you have dropped it2 and look carefully at the beautiful hexagonal lines which gleam on its surface1 and here is a pretty white sapphire 7essentially the same stone as the ruby71 in which you will see the same lovely structure1 like the threads of the finest white cobweb4 ,i do not know what is the exact method of a ruby's construction1 but you see by these lines1 what fine construction there is1 even in this hardest of stones 7after the diamond71 which usually appears as a massive lump or knot4 ,there is therefore no real mineralogical distinction between needle crystals and knotted crystals1 but1 practically1 crystallized masses throw themselves into one of the three groups we have been examining to-day2 and appear either as ,needles1 as ,folia1 or as ,knots2 when they are in needles 7or fibers71 they make the stones or rocks formed out of them ,,fibrous2 when they are in folia1 they make them ,,foliated2 when they are in knots 7or grains71 ,,granular4 ,fibrous rocks are comparatively rare1 in mass2 but fibrous minerals are innumerable2 and it is often a question which really no one but a young lady could possibly settle1 whether one should call the fibers composing them threads or needles4 ,here is amianthus1 for instance1 which is quite as fine and soft as any cotton thread you ever sewed with2 and here is sulphide of bismuth1 with sharper points and brighter luster than your finest needles have2 and fastened in white webs of quartz more delicate than your finest lace2 and here is sulphide of antimony1 which looks like mere purple wool1 but it is all of purple needle crystals2 and here is red oxide of copper 7you must not breathe on it as you look1 or you may blow some of the films of it off the stone71 which is simply a woven tissue of scarlet silk4 ,however1 these finer thread-forms are comparatively rare1 while the bolder and needle- like crystals occur constantly2 so that1 ,i believe1 ,needle- crystal is the best word 7the grand one is1 ,acicular crystal1 but ,sibyl will tell you it is all the same1 only less easily understood2 and therefore more scientific74 ,then the ,leaf- crystals1 as ,i said1 form an immense mass of foliated rocks2 and the ,granular crystals1 which are of many kinds1 form essentially granular1 or granitic and porphyritic rocks2 and it is always a point of more interest to me 7and ,i think will ultimately be to you71 to consider the causes which force a given mineral to take any one of these three general forms1 than what the peculiar geometrical limitations are1 belonging to its own crystals4 ,footnote3 ,note iv4 ,it is more interesting to me1 for instance1 to try and find out why the red oxide of copper1 usually crystallizing in cubes or octahedrons1 makes itself exquisitely1 out of its cubes1 into this red silk in one particular ,cornish mine1 than what are the absolutely necessary angles of the octahedron1 which is its common form4 ,at all events1 that mathematical part of crystallography is quite beyond girls' strength2 but these questions of the various tempers and manners of crystals are not only comprehensible by you1 but full of the most curious teaching for you4 ,for in the fulfillment1 to the best of their power1 of their adopted form under given circumstances1 there are conditions entirely resembling those of human virtue2 and indeed expressible under no term so proper as that of the ,virtue1 or ,courage of crystals2--which1 if you are not afraid of the crystals making you ashamed of yourselves1 we will by to get some notion of1 to-morrow4 ,but it will be a bye-lecture1 and more about yourselves than the minerals4 ,don't come unless you like4 ,,mary4 ,i'm sure the crystals will make us ashamed of ourselves2 but we'll come1 for all that4 ,l4 ,meantime1 look well and quietly over these needle1 or thread crystals1 and those on the other two tables1 with magnifying glasses2 and see what thoughts will come into your little heads about them4 ,for the best thoughts are generally those which come without being forced1 one does not know how4 ,and so ,i hope you will get through your wet day patiently4 ,,lecture #e4 ,,crystal ,,virtues ,a quiet talk1 in the afternoon1 by the sunniest window of the ,drawing-room4 ,present3 ,,florrie1 ,,isabel1 ,,may1 ,,lucilla1 ,,kathleen1 ,,dora1 ,,mary1 and some others1 who have saved time for the bye- ,lecture4 ,l4 ,so you have really come1 like good girls1 to be made ashamed of yourselves8 ,,dora 7very meekly74 ,no1 we needn't be made so2 we always are4 ,l4 ,well1 ,i believe that's truer than most pretty speeches3 but you know1 you saucy girl1 some people have more reason to be so than others4 ,are you sure everybody is1 as well as you8 ,,the ,,general ,,voice4 ,yes1 yes2 everybody4 ,l4 ,what6 ,florrie ashamed of herself8 7,,florrie hides behind the curtain47 ,l4 ,and ,isabel8 7,,isabel hides under the table47 ,l4 ,and ,mary8 7,,mary runs into the corner behind the piano47 ,l4 ,and ,lucilla8 7,,lucilla hides her face in her hands47 ,l4 ,dear1 dear2 but this will never do4 ,i shall have to tell you of the faults of the crystals1 instead of virtues1 to put you in heart again4 ,,may 7coming out of her corner74 ,oh6 have the crystals faults1 like us8 ,l4 ,certainly1 ,may4 ,their best virtues are shown in fighting their faults2 and some have a great many faults2 and some are very naughty crystals indeed4 ,,florrie 7from behind her curtain74 ,as naughty as me8 ,,isabel 7peeping out from under the table-cloth74 ,or me8 ,l4 ,well1 ,i don't know4 ,they never forget their syntax1 children1 when once they've been taught it4 ,but ,i think some of them are1 on the whole1 worse than any of you4 ,not that it's amiable of you to look so radiant1 all in a minute1 on that account4 ,,dora4 ,oh6 but it's so much more comfortable4 7,everybody seems to recover their spirits4 ,eclipse of ,,florrie and ,,isabel terminates47 ,l4 ,what kindly creatures girls are1 after all1 to their neighbors' failings6 ,i think you may be ashamed of yourselves indeed1 now1 children6 ,i can tell you1 you shall hear of the highest crystalline merits that ,i can think of1 to-day3 and ,i wish there were more of them2 but crystals have a limited1 though a stern1 code of morals2 and their essential virtues are but two2--the first is to be pure1 and the second to be well shaped4 ,,mary4 ,pure6 ,does that mean clear--transparent8 ,l4 ,no2 unless in the case of a transparent substance4 ,you cannot have a transparent crystal of gold2 but you may have a perfectly pure one4 ,,isabel4 ,but you said it was the shape that made things be crystals2 therefore1 oughtn't their shape to be their first virtue1 not their second8 ,l4 ,right1 you troublesome mousie4 ,but ,i call their shape only their second virtue1 because it depends on time and accident1 and things which the crystal cannot help4 ,if it is cooled too quickly1 or shaken1 it must take what shape it can2 but it seems as if1 even then1 it had in itself the power of rejecting impurity1 if it has crystalline life enough4 ,here is a crystal of quartz1 well enough shaped in its way2 but it seems to have been languid and sick at heart2 and some white milky substance has got into it1 and mixed itself up with it1 all through4 ,it makes the quartz quite yellow1 if you hold it up to the light1 and milky blue on the surface4 ,here is another1 broken into a thousand separate facets and out of all traceable shape2 but as pure as a mountain spring4 ,i like this one best4 ,,the ,,audience4 ,so do ,i--and ,i--and ,i4 ,,mary4 ,would a crystallographer8 ,l4 ,i think so4 ,he would find many more laws curiously exemplified in the irregularly grouped but pure crystal4 ,but it is a futile question1 this of first or second4 ,purity is in most cases a prior1 if not a nobler1 virtue2 at all events it is most convenient to think about it first4 ,,mary4 ,but what ought we to think about it8 ,is there much to be thought--,i mean1 much to puzzle one8 ,l4 ,i don't know what you call much4 ,it is a long time since ,i met with anything in which there was little4 ,there's not much in this1 perhaps4 ,the crystal must be either dirty or clean1--and there's an end4 ,so it is with one's hands1 and with one's heart-- only you can wash your hands without changing them1 but not hearts1 nor crystals4 ,on the whole1 while you are young1 it will be as well to take care that your hearts don't want much washing2 for they may perhaps need wringing also1 when they do4 7,audience doubtful and uncomfortable4 ,,lucilla at last takes courage47 ,,lucilla4 ,oh6 but surely1 sir1 we cannot make our hearts clean8 ,l4 ,not easily1 ,lucilla2 so you had better keep them so1 when they are4 ,,lucilla4 ,when they are6 ,but1 sir-- ,l4 ,well8 ,,lucilla4 ,sir--surely--are we not told that they are all evil8 ,l4 ,wait a little1 ,lucilla2 that is difficult ground you are getting upon2 and we must keep to our crystals1 till at least we understand what ,,their good and evil consist in2 they may help us afterwards to some useful hints about our own4 ,i said that their goodness consisted chiefly in purity of substance1 and perfectness of form3 but those are rather the ,,effects of their goodness1 than the goodness itself4 ,the inherent virtues of the crystals1 resulting in these outer conditions1 might really seem to be best described in the words we should use respecting living creatures-- force of heart and steadiness of purpose4 ,there seem to be in some crystals1 from the beginning1 an unconquerable purity of vital power1 and strength of crystal spirit4 ,whatever dead substance1 unacceptant of this energy1 comes in their way1 is either rejected1 or forced to take some beautiful subordinate form2 the purity of the crystal remains unsullied1 and every atom of it bright with coherent energy4 ,then the second condition is1 that from the beginning of its whole structure1 a fine crystal seems to have determined that it will be of a certain size and of a certain shape2 it persists in this plan1 and completes it4 ,here is a perfect crystal of quartz for you4 ,it is of an unusual form1 and one which it might seem very difficult to build--a pyramid with convex sides1 composed of other minor pyramids4 ,but there is not a flaw in its contour throughout2 not one of its myriads of component sides but is as bright as a jeweler's faceted work 7and far finer1 if you saw it close74 ,the crystal points are as sharp as javelins2 their edges will cut glass with a touch4 ,anything more resolute1 consummate1 determinate in form1 cannot be conceived4 ,here1 on the other hand1 is a crystal of the same substance1 in a perfectly simple type of form--a plain six-sided prism2 but from its base to its point1--and it is nine inches long1--it has never for one instant made up its mind what thickness it will have4 ,it seems to have begun by making itself as thick as it thought possible with the quantity of material at command4 ,still not being as thick as it would like to be1 it has clumsily glued on more substance at one of its sides4 ,then it has thinned itself1 in a panic of economy2 then puffed itself out again2 then starved one side to enlarge another2 then warped itself quite out of its first line4 ,opaque1 rough-surfaced1 jagged on the edge1 distorted in the spine1 it exhibits a quite human image of decrepitude and dishonor2 but the worst of all the signs of its decay and helplessness is that half-way up a parasite crystal1 smaller1 but just as sickly1 has rooted itself in the side of the larger one1 eating out a cavity round its root1 and then growing backwards1 or downwards contrary to the direction of the main crystal4 ,yet ,i cannot trace the least difference in purity of substance between the first most noble stone1 and this ignoble and dissolute one4 ,the impurity of the last is in its will1 or want of will4 ,,mary4 ,oh1 if we could but understand the meaning of it all6 ,l4 ,we can understand all that is good for us4 ,it is just as true for us as for the crystal1 that the nobleness of life depends on its consistency1--clearness of purpose--quiet and ceaseless energy4 ,all doubt and repenting1 and botching and re-touching and wondering what will it be best to do next1 are vice1 as well as misery4 ,,mary 7much wondering74 ,but must not one repent when one does wrong1 and hesitate when one can't see one's way8 ,l4 ,you have no business at all to do wrong1 nor to get into any way that you cannot see4 ,your intelligence should always be far in advance of your act4 ,whenever you do not know what you are about1 you are sure to be doing wrong4 ,,kathleen4 ,oh1 dear1 but ,i never know what ,i am about6 ,l4 ,very true1 ,katie1 but it is a great deal to know1 if you know that4 ,and you find that you have done wrong afterwards2 and perhaps some day you may begin to know1 or at least1 think1 what you are about4 ,,isabel4 ,but surely people can't do very wrong if they don't know1 can they8 ,i mean1 they can't be very naughty4 ,they can be wrong1 like ,kathleen or me1 when we make mistakes2 but not wrong in the dreadful way4 ,i can't express what ,i mean2 but there are two sorts of wrong1 are there not8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,isabel2 but you will find that the great difference is between kind and unkind wrongs1 not between meant and unmeant wrong4 ,very few people really mean to do wrong1--in a deep sense1 none4 ,they only don't know what they are about4 ,cain did not mean to do wrong when he killed ,abel4 7,,isabel draws a deep breath1 and opens her eyes very wide47 ,l4 ,no1 ,isabel2 and there are countless ,cains among us now1 who kill their brothers by the score a day1 not only for less provocation than ,cain had1 but for ,,no provocation1--and merely for what they can make of their bones1--yet do not think they are doing wrong in the least4 ,then sometimes you have the business reversed1 as over in ,america these last years1 where you have seen ,abel resolutely killing ,cain1 and not thinking he is doing wrong ,the great difficulty is always to open people's eyes3 to touch their feelings and break their hearts1 is easy1 the difficult thing is to break their heads4 ,what does it matter as long as they remain stupid1 whether you change their feelings or not8 ,you cannot be always at their elbow to tell them what is right and they may just do as wrong as before or worse1 and their best intentions merely make the road smooth for them1--you know where1 children4 ,for it is not the place itself that is paved with them as people say so often4 ,you can't pave the bottomless pit1 but you may the road to it ,,may4 ,well1 but if people do as well as they can see how1 surely that is the right for them1 isn't it8 ,l4 ,no1 ,may1 not a bit of it right is right1 and wrong is wrong4 ,it is only the fool who does wrong1 and says he did it for the best4 ,and if there's one sort of person in the world that the ,bible speaks harder of than another1 it is fools4 ,their particular and chief way of saying ,there is no ,god is this of declaring that whatever their public opinion may be is right and that ,god's opinion is of no consequence4 ,,may4 ,but surely nobody can always know what is right8 ,l4 ,yes1 you always can1 for to-day2 and if you do what you see of it to-day1 you will see more of it1 and more clearly1 to-morrow4 ,here for instance1 you children are at school1 and have to learn ,french1 and arithmetic1 and music1 and several other such things4 ,that is your right for the present2 the right for us1 your teachers1 is to see that you learn as much as you can1 without spoiling your dinner1 your sleep1 or your play2 and that what you do learn1 you learn well4 ,you all know when you learn with a will1 and when you dawdle4 ,there's no doubt of conscience about that1 ,i suppose8 ,,violet4 ,no2 but if one wants to read an amusing book1 instead of learning one's lesson8 ,l4 ,you don't call that a question1 seriously1 ,violet8 ,you are then merely deciding whether you will resolutely do wrong or not4 ,,mary4 ,but1 in after life1 how many fearful difficulties may arise1 however one tries to know or to do what is right6 ,l4 ,you are much too sensible a girl1 ,mary1 to have felt that1 whatever you may have seen4 ,a great many of young ladies' difficulties arise from their falling in love with a wrong person2 but they have no business to let themselves fall in love1 till they know he is the right one4 ,,dora4 ,how many thousands ought he to have a year8 ,l4 7disdaining reply74 ,there are1 of course1 certain crises of fortune when one has to take care of oneself1 and mind shrewdly what one is about4 ,there is never any real doubt about the path1 but you may have to walk very slowly4 ,,mary4 ,and if one is forced to do a wrong thing by some one who has authority over you8 ,l4 ,my dear1 no one can be forced to do a wrong thing1 for the guilt is in the will3 but you may any day be forced to do a fatal thing1 as you might be forced to take poison2 the remarkable law of nature in such cases being1 that it is always unfortunate ,,you who are poisoned1 and not the person who gives you the dose4 ,it is a very strange law1 but it ,,is a law4 ,nature merely sees to the carrying out of the normal operation of arsenic4 ,she never troubles herself to ask who gave it you4 ,so also you may be starved to death1 morally as well as physically1 by other people's faults4 ,you are1 on the whole1 very good children sitting here to- day2 do you think that your goodness comes all by your own contriving8 or that you are gentle and kind because your dispositions are naturally more angelic than those of the poor girls who are playing1 with wild eyes1 on the dust-heaps in the alleys of our great towns2 and who will one day fill their prisons1--or1 better1 their graves8 ,heaven only knows where they1 and we who have cast them there shall stand at last ,but the main judgment question will be1 ,i suppose1 for all of us1 ,did you keep a good heart through it8 ,what you were1 others may answer for1-- what you tried to be1 you must answer for yourself4 ,was the heart pure and true--tell us that8 ,and so we come back to your sorrowful question1 ,lucilla1 which ,i put aside a little ago4 ,you would be afraid to answer that your heart ,,was pure and true1 would not you8 ,,lucilla4 ,yes1 indeed1 sir4 ,l4 ,because you have been taught that it is all evil--only evil continually4 ,somehow1 often as people say that1 they never seem1 to me1 to believe it4 ,do you really believe it8 ,,lucilla4 ,yes1 sir1 ,i hope so4 ,l4 ,that you have an entirely bad heart8 ,,lucilla 7a little uncomfortable at the substitution of the monosyllable for the dissyllable1 nevertheless persisting in her orthodoxy74 ,yes1 sir4 ,l4 ,florrie1 ,i am sure you are tired2 ,i never like you to stay when you are tired2 but1 you know1 you must not play with the kitten while we're talking4 ,,florrie4 ,oh6 but ,i'm not tired1 and ,i'm only nursing her4 ,she'll be asleep in my lap1 directly4 ,l4 ,stop6 that puts me in mind of something ,i had to show you1 about minerals that are like hair ,i want a hair out of ,tittie's tail4 ,,florrie4 7quite rude in her surprise1 even to the point of repeating expressions74 ,out of ,tittie's tail6 ,l4 ,yes1 a brown one ,lucilla1 you can get at the tip of it nicely1 under ,florrie's arm1 just pull one out for me4 ,,lucilla4 ,oh6 but1 sir1 it will hurt her so6 ,l4 ,never mind1 she can't scratch you while ,florrie is holding her4 ,now that ,i think of it you had better pull out two4 ,,lucilla4 ,but then she may scratch ,florrie6 and it will hurt her so sir6 if you only want brown hairs1 wouldn't two of mine do8 ,l4 ,would you really rather pull out your own than ,tittie's8 ,,lucilla4 ,oh1 of course1 if mine will do4 ,l4 ,but that's very wicked1 ,lucilla6 ,,lucilla4 ,wicked1 sir8 ,l4 ,yes1 if your heart was not so bad1 you would much rather pull all the cat's hairs out1 than one of your own4 ,,lucilla4 ,oh6 but1 sir1 ,i didn't mean bad like that4 ,l4 ,i believe1 if the truth were told1 ,lucilla1 you would like to tie a kettle to ,tittie's tail1 and hunt her round the playground4 ,,lucilla4 ,indeed1 ,i should not1 sir4 ,l4 ,that's not true1 ,lucilla2 you know it cannot be4 ,,lucilla4 ,sir8 ,l4 ,certainly it is not2--how can you possibly speak any truth out of such a heart as you have8 ,it is wholly deceitful4 ,,lucilla4 ,oh6 no1 no2 ,i don't mean that way2 ,i don't mean that it makes me tell lies1 quite out4 ,l4 ,only that it tells lies within you8 ,,lucilla4 ,yes4 ,l4 ,then1 outside of it1 you know what is true1 and say so2 and ,i may trust the outside of your heart2 but within1 it is all foul and false4 ,is that the way8 ,,lucilla4 ,i suppose so3 ,i don't understand it quite4 ,l4 ,there is no occasion for understanding it2 but do you feel it8 ,are you sure that your heart is deceitful above all things1 and desperately wicked8 ,,lucilla 7much relieved by finding herself among phrases with which she is acquainted74 ,yes1 sir4 ,i'm sure of that4 ,l4 7pensively74 ,i'm sorry for it1 ,lucilla4 ,,lucilla4 ,so am ,i1 indeed4 ,l4 ,what are you sorry with1 ,lucilla8 ,,lucilla4 ,sorry with1 sir8 ,l4 ,yes2 ,i mean1 where do you feel sorry2 in your feet8 ,,lucilla 7laughing a little74 ,no1 sir1 of course4 ,l4 ,in your shoulders1 then8 ,,lucilla4 ,no1 sir4 ,l4 ,you are sure of that8 ,because1 ,i fear1 sorrow in the shoulders would not be worth much4 ,,lucilla4 ,i suppose ,i feel it in my heart1 if ,i really am sorry4 ,l4 ,if you really are6 ,do you mean to say that you are sure you are utterly wicked1 and yet do not care8 ,,lucilla4 ,no1 indeed2 ,i have cried about it often4 ,l4 ,well1 then1 you are sorry in your heart8 ,,lucilla4 ,yes1 when the sorrow is worth anything4 ,l4 ,even if it be not1 it cannot be anywhere else but there4 ,it is not the crystalline lens of your eyes which is sorry1 when you cry8 ,,lucilla4 ,no1 sir1 of course4 ,l4 ,then1 have you two hearts2 one of which is wicked1 and the other grieved8 or is one side of it sorry for the other side8 ,,lucilla4 7weary of cross-examination1 and a little vexed74 ,indeed1 sir1 you know ,i can't understand it2 but you know how it is written--another law in my members1 warring against the law of my mind4 ,l4 ,yes1 ,lucilla1 ,i know how it is written2 but ,i do not see that it will help us to know that1 if we neither understand what is written1 nor feel it4 ,and you will not get nearer to the meaning of one verse1 if1 as soon as you are puzzled by it1 you escape to another1 introducing three new words--law1 members1 and mind2 not one of which you at present know the meaning of2 and respecting which1 you probably never will be much wiser2 since men like ,montesquieu and ,locke have spent great part of their lives in endeavoring to explain two of them4 ,,lucilla4 ,oh6 please1 sir1 ask somebody else4 ,l4 ,if ,i thought any one else could answer better than you1 ,lucilla1 ,i would3 but suppose ,i try1 instead1 myself1 to explain your feelings to you8 ,,lucilla4 ,oh1 yes2 please do4 ,l4 ,mind1 ,i say your feelings1 not your belief4 ,for ,i cannot undertake to explain anybody's beliefs4 ,still ,i must try a little1 first1 to explain the belief also1 because ,i want to draw it to some issue4 ,as far as ,i understand what you say1 or any one else1 taught as you have been taught1 says1 on this matter1--you think that there is an external goodness1 a whited-sepulcher kind of goodness1 which appears beautiful outwardly1 but is within full of uncleanness3 a deep secret guilt1 of which we ourselves are not sensible2 and which can only be seen by the ,maker of us all4 7,approving murmurs from audience47 ,l4 ,is it not so with the body as well as the soul8 7,looked notes of interrogation47 ,l4 ,a skull1 for instance1 is not a beautiful thing8 7,grave faces1 signifying ,certainly not1 and ,what next87 ,l4 ,and if you all could see in each other1 with clear eyes1 whatever ,god sees beneath those fair faces of yours1 you would not like it8 7,murmured ,no's47 ,l4 ,nor would it be good for you8 7,silence47 ,l4 ,the probability being that what ,god does not allow you to see1 ,he does not wish you to see2 nor even to think of8 7,silence prolonged47 ,l4 ,it would not at all be good for you1 for instance1 whenever you were washing your faces1 and braiding your hair1 to be thinking of the shapes of the jawbones1 and of the cartilage of the nose1 and of the jagged sutures of the scalp8 7,resolutely whispered ,no's47 ,l4 ,still less1 to see through a clear glass the daily processes of nourishment and decay8 7,no47 ,l4 ,still less if instead of merely inferior and preparatory conditions of structure1 as in the skeleton1--or inferior offices of structure1 as in operations of life and death1--there were actual disease in the body1 ghastly and dreadful4 ,you would try to cure it2 but having taken such measures as were necessary1 you would not think the cure likely to be promoted by perpetually watching the wounds1 or thinking of them4 ,on the contrary1 you would be thankful for every moment of forgetfulness3 as1 in daily health1 you must be thankful that your ,maker has veiled whatever is fearful in your frame under a sweet and manifest beauty2 and has made it your duty1 and your only safety1 to rejoice in that1 both in yourself and in others2--not indeed concealing1 or refusing to believe in sickness1 if it come2 but never dwelling on it4 ,now1 your wisdom and duty touching soul-sickness are just the same4 ,ascertain clearly what is wrong with you2 and so far as you know any means of mending it1 take those means1 and have done2 when you are examining yourself1 never call yourself merely a sinner1 that is very cheap abuse2 and utterly useless4 ,you may even get to like it1 and be proud of it4 ,but call yourself a liar1 a coward1 a sluggard1 a glutton1 or an evil-eyed1 jealous wretch1 if you indeed find yourself to be in any wise any of these4 ,take steady means to check yourself in whatever fault you have ascertained1 and justly accused yourself of4 ,and as soon as you are in active way of mending1 you will be no more inclined to moan over an undefined corruption4 ,for the rest1 you will find it less easy to uproot faults1 than to choke them by gaining virtues4 ,do not think of your faults2 still less of others' faults3 in every person who comes near you1 look for what is good and strong3 honor that2 rejoice in it2 and1 as you can1 try to imitate it3 and your faults will drop off like dead leaves1 when their time comes4 ,if1 on looking back1 your whole life should seem rugged as a palm-tree stem2 still1 never mind1 so long as it has been growing2 and has its grand green shade of leaves1 and weight of honeyed fruit1 at top4 ,and even if you cannot find much good in yourself at last1 think that it does not much matter to the universe either what you were1 or are2 think how many people are noble1 if you cannot be2 and rejoice in ,,their nobleness4 ,an immense quantity of modern confession of sin1 even when honest1 is merely a sickly egotism2 which will rather gloat over its own evil1 than lose the centralization of its interest in itself4 ,,mary4 ,but then1 if we ought to forget ourselves so much1 how did the old ,greek proverb ,know thyself come to be so highly esteemed8 ,l4 ,my dear1 it is the proverb of proverbs2 ,apollo's proverb1 and the sun's--but do you think you can know yourself by looking ,,into yourself8 ,never4 ,you can know what you are1 only by looking ,,out of yourself4 ,measure your own powers with those of others2 compare your own interests with those of others2 try to understand what you appear to them1 as well as what they appear to you2 and judge of yourselves1 in all things1 relatively and subordinately2 not positively3 starting always with a wholesome conviction of the probability that there is nothing particular about you4 ,for instance1 some of you perhaps think you can write poetry4 ,dwell on your own feelings2 and doings3--and you will soon think yourselves ,tenth ,muses2 but forget your own feeling2 and try1 instead1 to understand a line or two of ,chaucer or ,dante3 and you will soon begin to feel yourselves very foolish girls--which is much like the fact4 ,so1 something which befalls you may seem a great misfortune1--you meditate over its effects on you personally3 and begin to think that it is a chastisement1 or a warning1 or a this or that or the other of profound significance2 and that all the angels in heaven have left their business for a little while1 that they may watch its effects on your mind4 ,but give up this egotistic indulgence of your fancy2 examine a little what misfortunes1 greater a thousand- fold1 are happening1 every second1 to twenty times worthier persons3 and your self-consciousness will change into pity and humility2 and you will know yourself so far as to understand that there hath nothing taken thee but what is common to man4 ,now1 ,lucilla1 these are the practical conclusions which any person of sense would arrive at1 supposing the texts which relate to the inner evil of the heart were as many1 and as prominent1 as they are often supposed to be by careless readers4 ,but the way in which common people read their ,bibles is just like the way that the old monks thought hedgehogs ate grapes4 ,they rolled themselves 7it was said71 over and over1 where the grapes lay on the ground4 ,what fruit stuck to their spines1 they carried off1 and ate4 ,so your hedgehoggy readers roll themselves over and over their ,bibles1 and declare that whatever sticks to their own spines is ,scripture1 and that nothing else is4 ,but you can only get the skins of the texts that way4 ,if you want their juice1 you must press them in cluster4 ,now1 the clustered texts about the human heart1 insist1 as a body1 not on any inherent corruption in all hearts1 but on the terrific distinction between the bad and the good ones4 ,a good man1 out of the good treasure of his heart1 bringeth forth that which is good2 and an evil man1 out of the evil treasure1 bringeth forth that which is evil4 ,they on the rock are they which1 in an honest and good heart1 having heard the word1 keep it4 ,delight thyself in the ,lord1 and ,he shall give thee the desires of thine heart4 ,the wicked have bent their bow1 that they may privily shoot at him that is upright in heart4 ,and so on2 they are countless1 to the same effect4 ,and1 for all of us1 the question is not at all to ascertain how much or how little corruption there is in human nature2 but to ascertain whether1 out of all the mass of that nature1 we are of the sheep or the goat breed2 whether we are people of upright heart1 being shot at1 or people of crooked heart1 shooting4 ,and1 of all the texts bearing on the subject1 this1 which is a quite simple and practical order1 is the one you have chiefly to hold in mind4 ,keep thy heart with all diligence1 for out of it are the issues of life4 ,,lucilla4 ,and yet1 how inconsistent the texts seem6 ,l4 ,nonsense1 ,lucilla6 do you think the universe is bound to look consistent to a girl of fifteen8 ,look up at your own room window2 --you can just see it from where you sit4 ,i'm glad that it is left open1 as it ought to be1 in so fine a day4 ,but do you see what a black spot it looks1 in the sunlighted wall8 ,,lucilla4 ,yes1 it looks as black as ink4 ,l4 ,yet you know it is a very bright room when you are inside of it2 quite as bright as there is any occasion for it to be1 that its little lady may see to keep it tidy4 ,well1 it is very probable1 also1 that if you could look into your heart from the sun's point of view1 it might appear a very black hole indeed3 nay1 the sun may sometimes think good to tell you that it looks so to ,him2 but ,he will come into it1 and make it very cheerful for you1 for all that1 if you don't put the shutters up4 ,and the one question for ,,you1 remember1 is not dark or light8 but tidy or untidy8 ,look well to your sweeping and garnishing2 and be sure it is only the banished spirit1 or some of the seven wickeder ones at his back1 who will still whisper to you that it is all black4 ,,lecture #f4 ,,crystal ,,quarrels ,full conclave1 in ,schoolroom4 ,there has been a game of crystallization in the morning1 of which various account has to be rendered4 ,in particular1 everybody has to explain why they were always where they were not intended to be4 ,l4 7having received and considered the report74 ,you have got on pretty well children3 but you know these were easy figures you have been trying4 ,wait till ,i have drawn you out the plans of some crystals of snow6 ,,mary4 ,i don't think those will be the most difficult3--they are so beautiful that we shall remember our places better2 and then they are all regular1 and in stars3 it is those twisty oblique ones we are afraid of4 ,l4 ,read ,carlyle's account of the battle of ,leuthen1 and learn ,friedrich's oblique order4 ,you will get it done for once1 ,i think1 provided you ,,can march as a pair of compasses would4 ,but remember1 when you can construct the most difficult single figures1 you have only learned half the game--nothing so much as the half1 indeed1 as the crystals themselves play it4 ,,mary4 ,indeed2 what else is there8 ,l4 ,it is seldom that any mineral crystallizes alone4 ,usually two or three1 under quite different crystalline laws1 form together4 ,they do this absolutely without flaw or fault1 when they are in fine temper3 and observe what this signifies4 ,it signifies that the two1 or more1 minerals of different natures agree1 somehow1 between themselves how much space each will want2--agree which of them shall give way to the other at their junction2 or in what measure each will accommodate itself to the other's shape6 ,and then each takes its permitted shape1 and allotted share of space2 yielding1 or being yielded to1 as it builds till each crystal has fitted itself perfectly and gracefully to its differently-natured neighbor4 ,so that1 in order to practice this1 in even the simplest terms1 you must divide into two parties1 wearing different colors2 each must choose a different figure to construct2 and you must form one of these figures through the other1 both going on at the same time4 ,,mary4 ,i think ,,we may1 perhaps1 manage it2 but ,i cannot at all understand how the crystals do4 ,it seems to imply so much preconcerting of plan1 and so much giving way to each other1 as if they really were living4 ,l4 ,yes1 it implies both the concurrence and compromise1 regulating all wilfulness of design3 and1 more curious still1 the crystals do ,,not always give way to each other4 ,they show exactly the same varieties of temper that human creatures might4 ,sometimes they yield the required place with perfect grace and courtesy2 forming fantastic1 but exquisitely finished groups3 and sometimes they will not yield at all2 but fight furiously for their places1 losing all shape and honor1 and even their own likeness1 in the contest4 ,,mary4 ,but is not that wholly wonderful8 ,how is it that one never sees it spoken of in books8 ,l4 ,the scientific men are all busy in determining the constant laws under which the struggle takes place2 these indefinite humors of the elements are of no interest to them4 ,and unscientific people rarely give themselves the trouble of thinking at all1 when they look at stones4 ,not that it is of much use to think2 the more one thinks1 the more one is puzzled4 ,,mary4 ,surely it is more wonderful than anything in botany8 ,l4 ,everything has its own wonders2 but1 given the nature of the plant1 it is easier to understand what a flower will do1 and why it does it1 than1 given anything we as yet know of stone-nature1 to understand what a crystal will do1 and why it does it4 ,you at once admit a kind of volition and choice1 in the flower2 but we are not accustomed to attribute anything of the kind to the crystal4 ,yet there is1 in reality1 more likeness to some conditions of human feeling among stones than among plants4 ,there is a far greater difference between kindly-tempered and ill- tempered crystals of the same mineral1 than between any two specimens of the same flower3 and the friendships and wars of crystals depend more definitely and curiously on their varieties of disposition1 than any associations of flowers4 ,here1 for instance1 is a good garnet1 living with good mica2 one rich red1 and the other silver white2 the mica leaves exactly room enough for the garnet to crystallize comfortably in2 and the garnet lives happily in its little white house2 fitted to it1 like a pholas in its cell4 ,but here are wicked garnets living with wicked mica4 ,see what ruin they make of each other6 ,you cannot tell which is which2 the garnets look like dull red stains on the crumbling stone4 ,by the way1 ,i never could understand1 if ,st4 ,gothard is a real saint1 why he can't keep his garnets in better order4 ,these are all under his care2 but ,i suppose there are too many of them for him to look after4 ,the streets of ,airolo are paved with them4 ,,may4 ,paved with garnets8 ,l4 ,with mica-slate and garnets2 ,i broke this bit out of a paving stone4 ,now garnets and mica are natural friends1 and generally fond of each other2 but you see how they quarrel when they are ill brought up4 ,so it is always4 ,good crystals are friendly with almost all other good crystals1 however little they chance to see of each other1 or however opposite their habits may be2 while wicked crystals quarrel with one another1 though they may be exactly alike in habits1 and see each other continually4 ,and of course the wicked crystals quarrel with the good ones4 ,,isabel4 ,then do the good ones get angry8 ,l4 ,no1 never3 they attend to their own work and life2 and live it as well as they can1 though they are always the sufferers4 ,here1 for instance1 is a rock crystal of the purest race and finest temper1 who was born1 unhappily for him1 in a bad neighborhood1 near ,beaufort in ,savoy2 and he has had to fight with vile calcareous mud all his life4 ,see here1 when he was but a child1 it came down on him1 and nearly buried him2 a weaker crystal would have died in despair2 but he only gathered himself together1 like ,hercules against the serpents1 and threw a layer of crystal over the clay2 conquered it1--imprisoned it1--and lived on4 ,then1 when he was a little older1 came more clay2 and poured itself upon him here1 at the side2 and he has laid crystal over that1 and lived on1 in his purity4 ,then the clay came on at his angles1 and tried to cover them1 and round them away2 but upon that he threw out buttress-crystals at his angles1 all as true to his own central line as chapels round a cathedral apse2 and clustered them round the clay2 and conquered it again4 ,at last the clay came on at his summit1 and tried to blunt his summit2 but he could not endure that for an instant2 and left his flanks all rough1 but pure2 and fought the clay at his crest1 and built crest over crest and peak over peak1 till the clay surrendered at last1 and here is his summit1 smooth and pure1 terminating a pyramid of alternate clay and crystal1 half a foot high6 ,,lily4 ,oh1 how nice of him6 ,what a dear1 brave crystal6 ,but ,i can't bear to see his flanks all broken1 and the clay within them4 ,l4 ,yes2 it was an evil chance for him1 the being born to such contention2 there are some enemies so base that even to hold them captive is a kind of dishonor4 ,but look1 here has been quite a different kind of struggle3 the adverse power has been more orderly1 and has fought the pure crystal in ranks as firm as its own4 ,this is not mere rage and impediment of crowded evil3 here is a disciplined hostility2 army against army4 ,,lily4 ,oh1 but this is much more beautiful6 ,l4 ,yes1 for both the elements have true virtue in them1 it is a pity they are at war1 but they war grandly4 ,,mary4 ,but is this the same clay as in the other crystal8 ,l4 ,i used the word clay for shortness4 ,in both1 the enemy is really limestone2 but in the first1 disordered1 and mixed with true clay2 while1 here1 it is nearly pure1 and crystallizes into its own primitive form1 the oblique six-sided one1 which you know3 and out of these it makes regiments2 and then squares of the regiments1 and so charges the rock crystal1 literally in square against column4 ,,isabel4 ,please1 please1 let me see4 ,and what does the rock crystal do8 ,l4 ,the rock crystal seems able to do nothing4 ,the calcite cuts it through at every charge4 ,look here1--and here6 ,the loveliest crystal in the whole group is hewn fairly into two pieces4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 dear2 but is the calcite harder than the crystal then8 ,l4 ,no1 softer4 ,very much softer4 ,,mary4 ,but then1 how can it possibly cut the crystal8 ,l4 ,it did not really cut it1 though it passes through it4 ,the two were formed together1 as ,i told you but no one knows how4 ,still1 it is strange that this hard quartz has in all cases a good- natured way with it1 of yielding to everything else4 ,all sorts of soft things make nests for themselves in it2 and it never makes a nest for itself in anything4 ,it has all the rough outside work2 and every sort of cowardly and weak mineral can shelter itself within it4 ,look2 these are hexagonal plates of mica2 if they were outside of this crystal they would break1 like burnt paper2 but they are inside of it1--nothing can hurt them1--the crystal has taken them into its very heart1 keeping all their delicate edges as sharp as if they were under water1 instead of bathed in rock4 ,here is a piece of branched silver3 you can bend it with a touch of your finger1 but the stamp of its every fiber is on the rock in which it lay1 as if the quartz had been as soft as wool4 ,,lily4 ,oh1 the good1 good quartz6 ,but does it never get inside of anything8 ,l4 ,as it is a little ,irish girl who asks1 ,i may perhaps answer1 without being laughed at1 that it gets inside of itself sometimes4 ,but ,i don't remember seeing quartz make a nest for itself in anything else4 ,,isabel4 ,please1 there as something ,i heard you talking about1 last time1 with ,miss ,mary4 ,i was at my lessons1 but ,i heard something about nests2 and ,i thought it was birds' nests2 and ,i couldn't help listening2 and then1 ,i remember1 it was about nests of quartz in granite4 ,i remember1 because ,i was so disappointed6 ,l4 ,yes1 mousie1 you remember quite rightly2 but ,i can't tell you about those nests to-day1 nor perhaps to-morrow3 but there's no contradiction between my saying then1 and now2 ,i will show you that there is not1 some day4 ,will you trust me meanwhile8 ,,isabel4 ,won't ,i6 ,l4 ,well1 then1 look1 lastly1 at this piece of courtesy in quartz2 it is on a small scale1 but wonderfully pretty4 ,here is nobly born quartz living with a green mineral1 called epidote2 and they are immense friends4 ,now1 you see1 a comparatively large and strong quartz-crystal1 and a very weak and slender little one of epidote1 have begun to grow1 close by each other1 and sloping unluckily towards each other1 so that at last they meet4 ,they cannot go on growing together2 the quartz crystal is five times as thick1 and more than twenty times as strong,footnote3 ,quartz is not much harder than epidote2 the strength is only supposed to be in some proportion to the squares of the diameters41 as the epidote2 but he stops at once1 just in the very crowning moment of his life1 when he is building his own summit6 ,he lets the pale little film of epidote grow right past him2 stopping his own summit for it2 and he never himself grows any more4 ,,lily 7after some silence of wonder74 ,but is the quartz ,,never wicked then8 ,l4 ,yes1 but the wickedest quartz seems good-natured1 compared to other things4 ,here are two very characteristic examples2 one is good quartz1 living with good pearl-spar1 and the other1 wicked quartz1 living with wicked pearl spar4 ,in both1 the quartz yields to the soft carbonate of iron3 but1 in the first place1 the iron takes only what it needs of room2 and is inserted into the planes of the rock crystal with such precision that you must break it away before you can tell whether it really penetrates the quartz or not2 while the crystals of iron are perfectly formed1 and have a lovely bloom on their surface besides4 ,but here1 when the two minerals quarrel1 the unhappy quartz has all its surfaces jagged and torn to pieces2 and there is not a single iron crystal whose shape you can completely trace4 ,but the quartz has the worst of it1 in both instances4 ,,violet4 ,might we look at that piece of broken quartz again1 with the weak little film across it8 it seems such a strange lovely thing1 like the self-sacrifice of a human being4 ,l4 ,the self-sacrifice of a human being is not a lovely thing1 ,violet4 ,it is often a necessary and noble thing2 but no form nor degree of suicide can be ever lovely4 ,,violet4 ,but self-sacrifice is not suicide6 ,l4 ,what is it then8 ,,violet4 ,giving up one's self for another4 ,l4 ,well2 and what do you mean by giving up one's self8 ,,violet4 ,giving up one's tastes1 one's feelings1 one's time1 one's happiness1 and so on1 to make others happy4 ,l4 ,i hope you will never marry anybody1 ,violet1 who expects you to make him happy in that way4 ,,violet 7hesitating74 ,in what way8 ,l4 ,by giving up your tastes1 and sacrificing your feelings1 and happiness4 ,,violet4 ,no1 no1 ,i don't mean that2 but you know1 for other people1 one must4 ,l4 ,for people who don't love you1 and whom you know nothing about8 ,be it so2 but how does this giving up differ from suicide then8 ,,violet4 ,why1 giving up one's pleasures is not killing one's self8 ,l4 ,giving up wrong pleasure is not2 neither is it self-sacrifice1 but self-culture4 ,but giving up right pleasure is4 ,if you surrender the pleasure of walking1 your foot will wither3 you may as well cut it off3 if you surrender the pleasure of seeing1 your eyes will soon be unable to bear the light2 you may as well pluck them out4 ,and to maim yourself is partly to kill yourself4 ,do but go on maiming1 and you will soon slay4 ,,violet4 ,but why do you make me think of that verse then1 about the foot and the eye8 ,l4 ,you are indeed commanded to cut off and to pluck out1 if foot or eye offend you2 but why ,,should they offend you8 ,,violet4 ,i don't know2 ,i never quite understood that4 ,l4 ,yet it is a sharp order2 one needing to be well understood if it is to be well obeyed6 ,when ,helen sprained her ankle the other day1 you saw how strongly it had to be bandaged2 that is to say1 prevented from all work1 to recover it4 ,but the bandage was not lovely4 ,,violet4 ,no1 indeed4 ,l4 ,and if her foot had been crushed1 or diseased1 or snake-bitten1 instead of sprained1 it might have been needful to cut it off4 ,but the amputation would not have been lovely4 ,,violet4 ,no4 ,l4 ,well1 if eye and foot are dead already1 and betray you1--if the light that is in you be darkness1 and your feet run into mischief1 or are taken in the snare1--it is indeed time to pluck out1 and cut off1 ,i think3 but1 so crippled1 you can never be what you might have been otherwise4 ,you enter into life1 at best1 halt or maimed2 and the sacrifice is not beautiful1 though necessary4 ,,violet 7after a pause74 ,but when one sacrifices one's self for others8 ,l4 ,why not rather others for you8 ,,violet4 ,oh6 but ,i couldn't bear that4 ,l4 ,then why should they bear it8 ,,dora 7bursting in1 indignant74 ,and ,thermopylae1 and ,protesilaus1 and ,marcus ,curtius1 and ,arnold de ,winkelried1 and ,iphigenia1 and ,jephthah's daughter8 ,l4 7sustaining the indignation unmoved74 ,and the ,samaritan woman's son8 ,,dora4 ,which ,samaritan woman's8 ,l4 ,read #b ,kings vi4 #bi4 ,,dora 7obeys74 ,how horrid6 ,as if we meant anything like that6 ,l4 ,you don't seem to me to know in the least what you do mean1 children4 ,what practical difference is there between that1 and what you are talking about8 ,the ,samaritan children had no voice of their own in the business1 it is true2 but neither had ,iphigenia3 the ,greek girl was certainly neither boiled1 nor eaten2 but that only makes a difference in the dramatic effect2 not in the principle4 ,,dora 7biting her lip74 ,well1 then1 tell us what we ought to mean4 ,as if you didn't teach it all to us1 and mean it yourself1 at this moment1 more than we do1 if you wouldn't be tiresome6 ,l4 ,i mean1 and always have meant1 simply this1 ,dora2--that the will of ,god respecting us is that we shall live by each other's happiness1 and life2 not by each other's misery1 or death4 ,i made you read that verse which so shocked you just now1 because the relations of parent and child are typical of all beautiful human help4 ,a child may have to die for its parents2 but the purpose of ,heaven is that it shall rather live for them2--that1 not by its sacrifice1 but by its strength1 its joy1 its force of being1 it shall be to them renewal of strength2 and as the arrow in the hand of the giant4 ,so it is in all other right relations4 ,men help each other by their joy1 not by their sorrow4 ,they are not intended to slay themselves for each other1 but to strengthen themselves for each other4 ,and among the many apparently beautiful things which turn1 through mistaken use1 to utter evil1 ,i am not sure but that the thoughtlessly meek and self-sacrificing spirit of good men must be named as one of the fatalest4 ,they have so often been taught that there is a virtue in mere suffering1 as such2 and foolishly to hope that good may be brought by ,heaven out of all on which ,heaven itself has set the stamp of evil1 that we may avoid it1--that they accept pain and defeat as if these were their appointed portion2 never understanding that their defeat is not the less to be mourned because it is more fatal to their enemies than to them4 ,the one thing that a good man has to do1 and to see done1 is justice2 he is neither to slay himself nor others causelessly3 so far from denying himself1 since he is pleased by good1 he is to do his utmost to get his pleasure accomplished4 ,and ,i only wish there were strength1 fidelity1 and sense enough1 among the good ,englishmen of this day1 to render it possible for them to band together in a vowed brotherhood1 to enforce1 by strength of heart and hand1 the doing of human justice among all who came within their sphere4 ,and finally1 for your own teaching1 observe1 although there may be need for much self-sacrifice and self-denial in the correction of faults of character1 the moment the character is formed1 the self-denial ceases4 ,nothing is really well done1 which it costs you pain to do4 ,,violet4 ,but surely1 sir1 you are always pleased with us when we try to please others1 and not ourselves8 ,l4 ,my dear child1 in the daily course and discipline of right life1 we must continually and reciprocally submit and surrender in all kind and courteous and affectionate ways3 and these submissions and ministries to each other1 of which you all know 7none better7 the practice and the preciousness1 are as good for the yielder as the receiver3 they strengthen and perfect as much as they soften and refine4 ,but the real sacrifice of all our strength1 or life1 or happiness to others 7though it may be needed1 and though all brave creatures hold their lives in their hand1 to be given1 when such need comes1 as frankly as a soldier gives his life in battle71 is yet always a mournful and momentary necessity2 not the fulfillment of the continuous law of being4 ,self-sacrifice which is sought after1 and triumphed in1 is usually foolish2 and calamitous in its issue3 and by the sentimental proclamation and pursuit of it1 good people have not only made most of their own lives useless1 but the whole framework of their religion so hollow1 that at this moment1 while the ,english nation1 with its lips1 pretends to teach every man to love his neighbor as himself1 with its hands and feet it clutches and tramples like a wild beast2 and practically lives1 every soul of it that can1 on other people's labor4 ,briefly1 the constant duty of every man to his fellows is to ascertain his own powers and special gifts2 and to strengthen them for the help of others4 ,do you think ,titian would have helped the world better by denying himself1 and not painting2 or ,casella by denying himself1 and not singing6 ,the real virtue is to be ready to sing the moment people ask us2 as he was1 even in purgatory4 ,the very word virtue means not conduct but strength1 vital energy in the heart4 ,were not you reading about that group of words beginning with ,v1--vital1 virtuous1 vigorous1 and so on1--in ,max ,muller1 the other day1 ,sibyl8 ,can't you tell the others about it8 ,,sibyl4 ,no1 ,i can't2 will you tell us1 please8 ,l4 ,not now1 it is too late4 ,come to me some idle time to-morrow1 and ,i'll tell you about it1 if all's well4 ,but the gist of it is1 children1 that you should at least know two ,latin words2 recollect that mors means death and delaying2 and vita means life and growing3 and try always1 not to mortify yourselves1 but to vivify yourselves4 ,,violet4 ,but1 then1 are we not to mortify our earthly affections8 and surely we are to sacrifice ourselves1 at least in ,god's service1 if not in man's8 ,l4 ,really1 ,violet1 we are getting too serious4 ,i've given you enough ethics for one talk1 ,i think6 ,do let us have a little play4 ,lily1 what were you so busy about1 at the ant-hill in the wood1 this morning8 ,,lily4 ,oh1 it was the ants who were busy1 not ,i2 ,i was only trying to help them a little4 ,l4 ,and they wouldn't be helped1 ,i suppose8 ,,lily4 ,no1 indeed4 ,i can't think why ants are always so tiresome1 when one tries to help them6 ,they were carrying bits of stick1 as fast as they could1 through a piece of grass2 and pulling and pushing1 ,,so hard2 and tumbling over and over1--it made one quite pity them2 so ,i took some of the bits of stick1 and carried them forward a little1 where ,i thought they wanted to put them2 but instead of being pleased1 they left them directly1 and ran about looking quite angry and frightened2 and at last ever so many of them got up my sleeves1 and bit me all over1 and ,i had to come away4 ,l4 ,i couldn't think what you were about4 ,i saw your ,french grammar lying on the grass behind you1 and thought perhaps you had gone to ask the ants to hear you a ,french verb4 ,,isabel4 ,ah6 but you didn't1 though6 ,l4 ,why not1 ,isabel8 ,i knew1 well enough1 ,lily couldn't learn that verb by herself4 ,,isabel4 ,no2 but the ants couldn't help her4 ,l4 ,are you sure the ants could not have helped you1 ,lily8 ,,lily 7thinking74 ,i ought to have learned something from them1 perhaps4 ,l4 ,but none of them left their sticks to help you through the irregular verb8 ,,lily4 ,no1 indeed4 7,laughing1 with some others47 ,l4 ,what are you laughing at1 children8 ,i cannot see why the ants should not have left their tasks to help ,lily in hers1--since here is ,violet thinking she ought to leave ,,her tasks1 to help ,god in his4 ,perhaps1 however1 she takes ,lily's more modest view1 and thinks only that ,he ought to learn something from her4 7,tears in ,,violet',s eyes47 ,,dora 7scarlet74 ,it's too bad--it's a shame3--poor ,violet6 ,l4 ,my dear children1 there's no reason why one should be so red1 and the other so pale1 merely because you are made for a moment to feel the absurdity of a phrase which you have been taught to use1 in common with half the religious world4 ,there is but one way in which man can ever help ,god--that is1 by letting ,god help him3 and there is no way in which ,his name is more guiltily taken in vain1 than by calling the abandonment of our own work1 the performance of ,his4 ,god is a kind ,father4 ,he sets us all in the places where ,he wishes us to be employed2 and that employment is truly our ,father's business4 ,he chooses work for every creature which will be delightful to them1 if they do it simply and humbly4 ,he gives us always strength enough1 and sense enough1 for what ,he wants us to do2 if we either tire ourselves or puzzle ourselves1 it is ourselves1 it is our own fault4 ,and we may always be sure1 whatever we are doing1 that we cannot be pleasing ,him1 if we are not happy ourselves4 ,now1 away with you1 children2 and be as happy as you can4 ,and when you cannot1 at least don't plume yourselves upon pouting4 ,,lecture #g4 ,,home ,,virtues ,by the fireside1 in the ,drawing-room4 ,evening4 ,,dora4 ,now1 the curtains are drawn1 and the fire's bright1 and here's your arm-chair--and you're to tell us all about what you promised4 ,l4 ,all about what8 ,,dora4 ,all about virtue4 ,,kathleen4 ,yes1 and about the words that begin with ,v4 ,l4 ,i heard you singing about a word that begins with ,v1 in the playground1 this morning1 ,miss ,katie4 ,,kathleen4 ,me singing6 ,,may4 ,oh tell us--tell us4 ,l4 ,vilikens and his-- ,,kathleen 7stopping his mouth74 ,oh6 please don't4 ,where were you8 ,,isabel4 ,i'm sure ,i wish ,i had known where he was6 ,we lost him among the rhododendrons1 and ,i don't know where he got to2 oh1 you naughty--naughty--7climbs on his knee74 ,,dora4 ,now1 ,isabel1 we really want to talk4 ,l4 ,i don't4 ,,dora4 ,oh1 but you must4 ,you promised1 you know4 ,l4 ,yes1 if all was well2 but all's ill4 ,i'm tired and cross2 and ,i won't4 ,,dora4 ,you're not a bit tired1 and you're not crosser than two sticks2 and we'll make you talk1 if you were crosser than six4 ,come here1 ,egypt2 and get on the other side of him4 7,,egypt takes up a commanding position near the hearth-brush47 ,,dora 7reviewing her forces74 ,now1 ,lily1 come and sit on the rug in front4 7,,lily does as she is bid47 ,l4 7seeing he has no chance against the odds74 ,well1 well2 but ,i'm really tired4 ,go and dance a little1 first2 and let me think4 ,,dora4 ,no2 you mustn't think4 ,you will be wanting to make us think next2 that will be tiresome4 ,l4 ,well1 go and dance first1 to get quit of thinking3 and then ,i'll talk as long as you like4 ,,dora4 ,oh1 but we can't dance to-night4 ,there isn't time2 and we want to hear about virtue4 ,l4 ,let me see a little of it first4 ,dancing is the first of girls' virtues4 ,,egypt4 ,indeed6 ,and the second8 ,l4 ,dressing4 ,,egypt4 ,now1 you needn't say that6 ,i mended that tear the first thing before breakfast this morning4 ,l4 ,i cannot otherwise express the ethical principle1 ,egypt2 whether you have mended your gown or not4 ,,dora4 ,now don't be tiresome4 ,we really must hear about virtue1 please2 seriously4 ,l4 ,well4 ,i'm telling you about it1 as fast as ,i can4 ,,dora4 ,what6 the first of girls' virtues is dancing8 ,l4 ,more accurately1 it is wishing to dance1 and not wishing to tease1 nor hear about virtue4 ,,dora 7to ,,egypt74 ,isn't he cross8 ,,egypt4 ,how many balls must we go to in the season1 to be perfectly virtuous8 ,l4 ,as many as you can without losing your color4 ,but ,i did not say you should wish to go to balls4 ,i said you should be always wanting to dance4 ,,egypt4 ,so we do2 but everybody says it is very wrong4 ,l4 ,why1 ,egypt1 ,i thought-- ,there was a lady once1 ,that would not be a queen1--that would she not1 ,for all the mud in ,egypt4 ,you were complaining the other day of having to go out a great deal oftener than you liked4 ,,egypt4 ,yes1 so ,i was2 but then1 it isn't to dance4 ,there's no room to dance3 it's--7,pausing to consider what it is for74 ,l4 ,it is only to be seen1 ,i suppose4 ,well1 there's no harm in that4 ,girls ought to like to be seen4 ,,dora 7her eyes flashing74 ,now1 you don't mean that2 and you're too provoking2 and we won't dance again1 for a month4 ,l4 ,it will answer every purpose of revenge1 ,dora1 if you only banish me to the library2 and dance by yourselves2 but ,i don't think ,jessie and ,lily will agree to that4 ,you like me to see you dancing1 don't you1 ,lily8 ,,lily4 ,yes1 certainly1--when we do it rightly4 ,l4 ,and besides1 ,miss ,dora1 if young ladies really do not want to be seen1 they should take care not to let their eyes flash when they dislike what people say3 and1 more than that1 it is all nonsense from beginning to end1 about not wanting to be seen4 ,i don't know any more tiresome flower in the borders than your especially modest snowdrop2 which one always has to stoop down and take all sorts of tiresome trouble with1 and nearly break its poor little head off1 before you can see it2 and then1 half of it is not worth seeing4 ,girls should be like daisies1 nice and white1 with an edge of red1 if you look close1 making the ground bright wherever they are1 knowing simply and quietly that they do it1 and are meant to do it and that it would be very wrong if they didn't do it4 ,not want to be seen1 indeed6 ,how long were you in doing up your back hair1 this afternoon ,jessie8 7,,jessie not immediately answering1 ,,dora comes to her assistance7 ,,dora4 ,not above three-quarters of an hour1 ,i think1 ,jess8 ,,jessie 7putting her finger up74 ,now1 ,dorothy1 you needn't talk1 you know6 ,l4 ,i know she needn't1 ,jessie1 ,i shall ask her about those dark plaits presently4 7,,dora looks round to see if there is any way open for retreat7 ,but never mind1 it was worth the time1 whatever it was1 and nobody will ever mistake that golden wreath for a chignon3 but if you don't want it to be seen you had better wear a cap4 ,,jessie4 ,ah1 now1 are you really going to do nothing but play8 ,and we all have been thinking1 and thinking1 all day1 and hoping you would tell us things1 and now--6 ,l4 ,and now ,i am telling you things1 and true things1 and things good for you1 and you won't believe me4 ,you might as well have let me go to sleep at once1 as ,i wanted to4 7,endeavors again to make himself comfortable47 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 no1 no1 you sha'n't go to sleep1 you naughty6-- ,kathleen1 come here4 ,l4 7knowing what he has to expect if ,,kathleen comes74 ,get away1 ,isabel1 you're too heavy4 7,sitting up47 ,what have ,i been saying8 ,,dora4 ,i do believe he has been asleep all the time6 ,you never heard anything like the things you've been saying4 ,l4 ,perhaps not4 ,if you have heard them1 and anything like them1 it is all ,i want4 ,,egypt4 ,yes1 but we don't understand1 and you know we don't2 and we want to4 ,l4 ,what did ,i say first8 ,,dora4 ,that the first virtue of girls was wanting to go to balls4 ,l4 ,i said nothing of the kind4 ,,jessie4 ,always wanting to dance1 you said4 ,l4 ,yes1 and that's true4 ,their first virtue is to be intensely happy2--so happy that they don't know what to do with themselves for happiness1--and dance1 instead of walking4 ,don't you recollect ,louisa1 ,no fountain from a rocky cave ,e'er tripped with foot so free2 ,she seemed as happy as a wave ,that dances on the sea4 ,a girl is always like that1 when everything's right with her4 ,,violet4 ,but1 surely1 one must be sad sometimes8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,violet and dull sometimes and stupid sometimes1 and cross sometimes4 ,what must be1 must2 but it is always either our own fault1 or somebody else's4 ,the last and worst thing that can be said of a nation is1 that it has made its young girls sad1 and weary4 ,,may4 ,but ,i am sure ,i have heard a great many good people speak against dancing8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,may1 but it does not follow they were wise as well as good4 ,i suppose they think ,jeremiah liked better to have to write ,lamentations for his people1 than to have to write that promise for them1 which everybody seems to hurry past1 that they may get on quickly to the verse about ,rachel weeping for her children1 though the verse they pass is the counter blessing to that one3 ,then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance2 and both young men and old together1 and ,i will turn their mourning into joy4 7,the children get very serious1 but look at each other1 as if pleased47 ,,mary4 ,they understand now3 but1 do you know what you said next8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,i was not more than half asleep4 ,i said their second virtue was dressing4 ,,mary4 ,well6 what did you mean by that8 ,l4 ,what do ,,you mean by dressing8 ,,mary4 ,wearing fine clothes4 ,l4 ,ah6 there's the mistake4 ,i mean wearing plain ones4 ,,mary4 ,yes1 ,i daresay ,i but that's not what girls understand by dressing1 you know4 ,l4 ,i can't help that4 ,if they understand by dressing1 buying dresses1 perhaps they also understand by drawing1 buying pictures4 ,but when ,i hear them say they can draw1 ,i understand that they can make a drawing2 and when ,i hear them say they can dress1 ,i understand that they can make a dress and--which is quite as difficult--wear one4 ,,dora4 ,i'm not sure about the making2 for the wearing1 we can all wear them--out1 before anybody expects it4 ,,egypt 7aside to ,l41 piteously74 ,indeed ,i have mended that torn flounce quite neatly2 look if ,i haven't6 ,l4 7aside1 to ,,egypt74 ,all right2 don't be afraid4 7,aloud to ,,dora47 ,yes1 doubtless2 but you know that is only a slow way of ,u,ndressing4 ,,dora4 ,then1 we are all to learn dress-making1 are we8 ,l4 ,yes2 and always to dress yourselves beautifully--not finely1 unless on occasion2 but then very finely and beautifully1 too4 ,also1 you are to dress as many other people as you can2 and to teach them how to dress1 if they don't know2 and to consider every ill-dressed woman or child whom you see anywhere1 as a personal disgrace2 and to get at them1 somehow1 until everybody is as beautifully dressed as birds4 7,silence2 the children drawing their breaths hard1 as if they had come from under a shower bath47 ,l4 7seeing objections begin to express themselves in the eyes74 ,now you needn't say you can't2 for you can1 and it's what you were meant to do1 always2 and to dress your houses1 and your gardens1 too2 and to do very little else1 ,i believe1 except singing2 and dancing1 as we said1 of course and--one thing more4 ,,dora4 ,our third and last virtue1 ,i suppose8 ,l4 ,yes2 on ,violet's system of triplicities4 ,,dora4 ,well1 we are prepared for anything now4 ,what is it8 ,l4 ,cooking4 ,,dora4 ,cardinal1 indeed6 ,if only ,beatrice were here with her seven handmaids1 that she might see what a fine eighth we had found for her6 ,,mary4 ,and the interpretation8 ,what does cooking mean8 ,l4 ,it means the knowledge of ,medea1 and of ,circe1 and of ,calypso1 and of ,helen1 and of ,rebekah1 and of the ,queen of ,sheba4 ,it means the knowledge of all herbs1 and fruits1 and balms1 and spices2 and of all that is healing and sweet in fields and groves1 and savory in meats1 it means carefulness1 and inventiveness1 and watchfulness1 and willingness1 and readiness of appliance1 it means the economy of your great-grandmothers1 and the science of modern chemists2 it means much tasting1 and no wasting1 it means ,english thoroughness1 and ,french art1 and ,arabian hospitality1 and it means1 in fine1 that you are to be perfectly and always ladies--loaf-givers2 and1 as you are to see1 imperatively1 that everybody has something pretty to put on1--so you are to see1 yet more imperatively1 that everybody has something nice to eat4 7,another pause1 and long drawn breath47 ,,dora 7slowly recovering herself7 to ,,egypt4 ,we had better have let him go to sleep1 ,i think1 after all6 ,l4 ,you had better let the younger ones go to sleep now3 for ,i haven't half done4 ,,isabel 7panic-struck74 ,oh6 please1 please6 just one quarter of an hour4 ,l4 ,no1 ,isabel1 ,i cannot say what ,i've got to say in a quarter of an hour2 and it is too hard for you1 besides3--you would be lying awake1 and trying to make it out1 half the night4 ,that will never do4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 please6 ,l4 ,it would please me exceedingly1 mousie3 but there are times when we must both be displeased2 more's the pity4 ,lily may stay for half an hour1 if she likes4 ,,lily4 ,i can't1 because ,isey never goes to sleep1 if she is waiting for me to come4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 yes1 ,lily1 ,i'll go to sleep to-night4 ,i will1 indeed4 ,,lily4 ,yes1 it's very likely1 ,isey1 with those fine round eyes6 7,to ,l47 ,you'll tell me something of what you we been saying1 to- morrow1 won't you8 ,l4 ,no1 ,i won't1 ,lily4 ,you must choose4 ,it's only in ,miss ,edgeworth's novels that one can do right1 and have one's cake and sugar afterwards as well 7not that ,i consider the dilemma1 to- night1 so grave74 7,,lily1 sighing1 takes ,,isabel',s hand47 ,yes1 ,lily dear1 it will be better1 in the outcome of it1 so1 than if you were to hear all the talks that eer were talked1 and all the stories that ever were told4 ,good-night4 7,the door leading to the condemned cells of the ,dormitory closes on ,,lily1 ,,isabel1 ,,florrie1 and other diminutive and submissive victims47 ,,jessie 7after a pause74 ,why1 ,i thought you were so fond of ,miss ,edgeworth4 ,l4 ,so ,i am1 and so you ought all to be4 ,i can read her over and over again1 without ever tiring2 there's no one whose every page is so full1 and so delightful1 no one who brings you into the company of pleasanter or wiser people2 no one who tells you more truly how to do right4 ,and it is very nice1 in the midst of a wild world1 to have the very ideal of poetical justice done always to one's hand3--to have everybody found out1 who tells lies2 and everybody decorated with a red riband1 who doesn't2 and to see the good ,laura1 who gave away her half sovereign1 receiving a grand ovation from an entire dinner party disturbed for the purpose2 and poor1 dear1 little ,rosamond1 who chooses purple jars instead of new shoes1 left at last without either her shoes or her bottle4 ,but it isn't life3 and1 in the way children might easily understand it1 it isn't morals4 ,,jessie4 ,how do you mean we might understand it8 ,l4 ,you might think ,miss ,edgeworth meant that the right was to be done mainly because one was always rewarded for doing it4 ,it is an injustice to her to say that3 her heroines always do right simply for its own sake1 as they should2 and her examples of conduct and motive are wholly admirable4 ,but her representation of events is false and misleading4 ,her good characters never are brought into the deadly trial of goodness1--the doing right1 and suffering for it1 quite finally4 ,and that is life1 as ,god arranges it4 ,taking up one's cross does not at all mean having ovations at dinner parties1 and being put over everybody else's head4 ,,dora4 ,but what does it mean then8 ,that is just what we couldn't understand1 when you were telling us about not sacrificing ourselves1 yesterday4 ,l4 ,my dear1 it means simply that you are to go the road which you see to be the straight one2 carrying whatever you find is given you to carry1 as well and stoutly as you can2 without making faces1 or calling people to come and look at you4 ,above all1 you are neither to load1 nor unload1 yourself2 nor cut your cross to your own liking4 ,some people think it would be better for them to have it large2 and many1 that they could carry it much faster if it were small2 and even those who like it largest are usually very particular about its being ornamental1 and made of the best ebony4 ,but all that you have really to do is to keep your back as straight as you can2 and not think about what is upon it--above all1 not to boast of what is upon it4 ,the real and essential meaning of virtue is in that straightness of back4 ,yes2 you may laugh1 children1 but it is4 ,you know ,i was to tell you about the words that began with ,v4 ,sibyl1 what does virtue mean literally8 ,,sibyl4 ,does it mean courage8 ,l4 ,yes2 but a particular kind of courage4 ,it means courage of the nerve2 vital courage4 ,that first syllable of it1 if you look in ,max ,muller1 you will find really means nerve1 and from it come vis1 and vir1 and virgin 7through vireo71 and the connected word virga--a rod2--the green rod1 or springing bough of a tree1 being the type of perfect human strength1 both in the use of4 it in the ,mosaic story1 when it becomes a serpent1 or strikes the rock2 or when ,aaron's bears its almonds2 and in the metaphorical expressions1 the ,rod out of the stem of ,jesse1 and the ,man whose name is the ,branch1 and so on4 ,and the essential idea of real virtue is that of a vital human strength1 which instinctively1 constantly1 and without motive1 does what is right4 ,you must train men to this by habit1 as you would the branch of a tree2 and give them instincts and manners 7or morals7 of purity1 justice1 kindness1 and courage4 ,once rightly trained1 they act as they should1 irrespectively of all motive1 of fear1 or of reward4 ,it is the blackest sign of putrescence in a national religion1 when men speak as if it were the only safeguard of conduct2 and assume that1 but for the fear of being burned1 or for the hope of being rewarded1 everybody would pass their lives in lying1 stealing1 and murdering4 ,i think quite one of the notablest historical events of this century 7perhaps the very notablest71 was that council of clergymen1 horror-struck at the idea of any diminution in our dread of hell1 at which the last of ,english clergymen whom one would have expected to see in such a function1 rose as the devil's advocate2 to tell us how impossible it was we could get on without him4 ,,violet 7after a pause74 ,but1 surely1 if people weren't afraid-- 7hesitates again74 ,l4 ,they should be afraid of doing wrong1 and of that only1 my dear4 ,otherwise1 if they only don't do wrong for fear of being punished1 they ,,have done wrong in their hearts already4 ,,violet4 ,well1 but surely1 at least one ought to be afraid of displeasing ,god2 and one's desire to please ,him should be one's first motive8 ,l4 ,he never would be pleased with us1 if it were1 my dear4 ,when a father sends his son out into the world--suppose as an apprentice --fancy the boy's coming home at night1 and saying1 ,father1 ,i could have robbed the till to-day2 but ,i didn't1 because ,i thought you wouldn't like it4 ,do you think the father would be particularly pleased8 7,,violet is silent47 ,he would answer1 would he not1 if he were wise and good1 ,my boy1 though you had no father1 you must not rob tills8 ,and nothing is ever done so as really to please our ,great ,father1 unless we would also have done it1 though we had had no ,father to know of it4 ,,violet 7after long pause74 ,but1 then1 what continual threatenings1 and promises of reward there are6 ,l4 ,and how vain both6 with the ,jews1 and with all of us4 ,but the fact is1 that the threat and promise are simply statements of the ,divine law1 and of its consequences4 ,the fact is truly told you1-- make what use you may of it3 and as collateral warning1 or encouragement1 or comfort1 the knowledge of future consequences may often be helpful to us2 but helpful chiefly to the better state when we can act without reference to them4 ,and there's no measuring the poisoned influence of that notion of future reward on the mind of ,christian ,europe1 in the early ages4 ,half the monastic system rose out of that1 acting on the occult pride and ambition of good people 7as the other half of it came of their follies and misfortunes74 ,there is always a considerable quantity of pride1 to begin with1 in what is called giving one's self to ,god4 ,as if one had ever belonged to anybody else6 ,,dora4 ,but1 surely1 great good has come out of the monastic system --our books1--our sciences--all saved by the monks8 ,l4 ,saved from what1 my dear8 ,from the abyss of misery and ruin which that false ,christianity allowed the whole active world to live in4 ,when it had become the principal amusement1 and the most admired art of ,christian men1 to cut one another's throats1 and burn one another's towns2 of course the few feeble or reasonable persons left1 who desired quiet1 safety1 and kind fellowship1 got into cloisters2 and the gentlest1 thoughtfullest1 noblest men and women shut themselves up1 precisely where they could be of least use4 ,they are very fine things1 for us painters1 now--the towers and white arches upon the tops of the rocks2 always in places where it takes a day's climbing to get at them2 but the intense tragi-comedy of the thing1 when one thinks of it1 is unspeakable4 ,all the good people of the world getting themselves hung up out of the way of mischief1 like ,bailie ,nicol ,jarvie2--poor little lambs1 as it were1 dangling there for the sign of the ,golden ,fleece2 or like ,socrates in his basket in the ,clouds6 7,i must read you that bit of ,aristophanes again1 by the way47 ,and believe me1 children1 ,i am no warped witness1 as far as regards monasteries2 or if ,i am1 it is in their favor4 ,i have always had a strong leaning that way2 and have pensively shivered with ,augustines at ,st4 ,bernard2 and happily made hay with ,franciscans at ,fesole2 and sat silent with ,carthusians in their little gardens1 south of ,florence2 and mourned through many a day-dream1 at ,melrose and ,bolton4 ,but the wonder is always to me1 not how much1 but how little1 the monks have1 on the whole1 done1 with all that leisure1 and all that good-will6 ,what nonsense monks characteristically wrote2--what little progress they made in the sciences to which they devoted themselves as a duty1--medicine especially2--and1 last and worst1 what depths of degradation they can sometimes see one another1 and the population round them1 sink into2 without either doubting their system1 or reforming it6 7,seeing questions rising to lips47 ,hold your little tongues1 children2 it's very late1 and you'll make me forget what ,i've to say4 ,fancy yourselves in pews1 for five minutes4 ,there's one point of possible good in the conventual system1 which is always attractive to young girls2 and the idea is a very dangerous one2-- #jthe notion of a merit1 or exalting virtue1 consisting in a habit of meditation on the things above1 or things of the next world4 ,now it is quite true1 that a person of beautiful mind1 dwelling on whatever appears to them most desirable and lovely in a possible future1 will not only pass their time pleasantly1 but will even acquire1 at last1 a vague and wildly gentle charm of manner and feature1 which will give them an air of peculiar sanctity in the eyes of others4 ,whatever real or apparent good there may be in this result1 ,i want you to observe1 children1 that we have no real authority for the reveries to which it is owing4 ,we are told nothing distinctly of the heavenly world2 except that it will be free from sorrow1 and pure from sin4 ,what is said of pearl gates1 golden floors1 and the like1 is accepted as merely figurative by religious enthusiasts themselves2 and whatever they pass their time in conceiving1 whether of the happiness of risen souls1 of their intercourse1 or of the appearance and employment of the heavenly powers1 is entirely the product of their own imagination2 and as completely and distinctly a work of fiction1 or romantic invention1 as any novel of ,sir ,walter ,scott's4 ,that the romance is founded on religious theory or doctrine2--that no disagreeable or wicked persons are admitted into the story2--and that the inventor fervently hopes that some portion of it may hereafter come true1 does not in the least alter the real nature of the effort or enjoyment4 ,now1 whatever indulgence may be granted to amiable people for pleasing themselves in this innocent way1 it is beyond question1 that to seclude themselves from the rough duties of life1 merely to write religious romances1 or1 as in most cases1 merely to dream them1 without taking so much trouble as is implied in writing1 ought not to be received as an act of heroic virtue4 ,but1 observe1 even in admitting thus much1 ,i have assumed that the fancies are just and beautiful1 though fictitious4 ,now1 what right have any of us to assume that our own fancies will assuredly be either the one or the other8 ,that they delight us1 and appear lovely to us1 is no real proof of its not being wasted time to form them3 and we may surely be led somewhat to distrust our judgment of them by observing what ignoble imaginations have sometimes sufficiently1 or even enthusiastically1 occupied the hearts of others4 ,the principal source of the spirit of religious contemplation is the ,east2 now ,i have here in my hand a ,byzantine image of ,christ1 which1 if you will look at it seriously1 may1 ,i think1 at once and forever render you cautious in the indulgence of a merely contemplative habit of mind4 ,observe1 it is the fashion to look at such a thing only as a piece of barbarous art2 that is the smallest part of its interest4 ,what ,i want you to see1 is the baseness and falseness of a religious state of enthusiasm1 in which such a work could be dwelt upon with pious pleasure4 ,that a figure1 with two small round black beads for eyes2 a gilded face1 deep cut into horrible wrinkles2 an open gash for a mouth1 and a distorted skeleton for a body1 wrapped about1 to make it fine1 with striped enamel of blue and gold2--that such a figure1 ,i say1 should ever have been thought helpful towards the conception of a ,redeeming ,deity1 may make you1 ,i think1 very doubtful1 even of the ,divine approval1--much more of the ,divine inspiration1--of religious reverie in general4 ,you feel1 doubtless1 that your own idea of ,christ would be something very different from this2 but in what does the difference consist8 ,not in any more divine authority in your imagination2 but in the intellectual work of six intervening centuries2 which1 simply1 by artistic discipline1 has refined this crude conception for you1 and filled you1 partly with an innate sensation1 partly with an acquired knowledge1 of higher forms1--which render this ,byzantine crucifix as horrible to you1 as it was pleasing to its maker4 ,more is required to excite your fancy2 but your fancy is of no more authority than his was3 and a point of national art-skill is quite conceivable1 in which the best we can do now will be as offensive to the religious dreamers of the more highly cultivated time1 as this ,byzantine crucifix is to you4 ,,mary4 ,but surely1 ,angelico will always retain his power over everybody8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,i should think1 always2 as the gentle words of a child will3 but you would be much surprised1 ,mary1 if you thoroughly took the pains to analyze1 and had the perfect means of analyzing1 that power of ,angelico1--to discover its real sources4 ,of course it is natural1 at first1 to attribute it to the pure religious fervor by which he was inspired2 but do you suppose ,angelico was really the only monk1 in all the ,christian world of the middle ages1 who labored1 in art1 with a sincere religious enthusiasm8 ,,mary4 ,no1 certainly not4 ,l4 ,anything more frightful1 more destructive of all religious faith whatever1 than such a supposition1 could not be4 ,and yet1 what other monk ever produced such work8 ,i have myself examined carefully upwards of two thousand illuminated missals1 with especial view to the discovery of any evidence of a similar result upon the art1 from the monkish devotion2 and utterly in vain4 ,,mary4 ,but then1 was not ,fra ,angelico a man of entirely separate and exalted genius8 ,l4 ,unquestionably2 and granting him to be that1 the peculiar phenomenon in his art is1 to me1 not its loveliness1 but its weakness4 ,the effect of inspiration1 had it been real1 on a man of consummate genius1 should have been1 one would have thought1 to make everything that he did faultless and strong1 no less than lovely4 ,but of all men1 deserving to be called great1 ,fra ,angelico permits to himself the least pardonable faults1 and the most palpable follies4 ,there is evidently within him a sense of grace1 and power of invention1 as great as ,ghiberti's3--we are in the habit of attributing those high qualities to his religious enthusiasm2 but1 if they were produced by that enthusiasm in him1 they ought to be produced by the same feelings in others2 and we see they are not4 ,whereas1 comparing him with contemporary great artists1 of equal grace and invention1 one peculiar character remains notable in him1--which1 logically1 we ought therefore to attribute to the religious fervor2--and that distinctive character is1 the contented indulgence of his own weaknesses1 and perseverance in his own ignorances4 ,,mary4 ,but that's dreadful6 ,and what is the source of the peculiar charm which we all feel in his work8 ,l4 ,there are many sources of it1 ,mary2 united and seeming like one4 ,you would never feel that charm but in the work of an entirely good man2 be sure of that2 but the goodness is only the recipient and modifying element1 not the creative one4 ,consider carefully what delights you in any original picture of ,angelico's4 ,you will find1 for one minor thing1 an exquisite variety and brightness of ornamental work4 ,that is not ,angelico's inspiration4 ,it is the final result of the labor and thought of millions of artists1 of all nations2 from the earliest ,egyptian potters downwards--,greeks1 ,byzantines1 ,hindoos1 ,arabs1 ,gauls1 and ,northmen--all joining in the toil2 and consummating it in ,florence1 in that century1 with such embroidery of robe and inlaying of armor as had never been seen till then2 nor probably1 ever will be seen more4 ,angelico merely takes his share of this inheritance1 and applies it in the tenderest way to subjects which are peculiarly acceptant of it4 ,but the inspiration1 if it exist anywhere1 flashes on the knight's shield quite as radiantly as on the monk's picture4 ,examining farther into the sources of your emotion in the ,angelico work1 you will find much of the impression of sanctity dependent on a singular repose and grace of gesture1 consummating itself in the floating1 flying1 and above all1 in the dancing groups4 ,that is not ,angelico's inspiration4 ,it is only a peculiarly tender use of systems of grouping which had been long before developed by ,giotto1 ,memmi1 and ,orcagna2 and the real root of it all is simply--,what do you think1 children8 ,the beautiful dancing of the ,florentine maidens6 ,,dora 7indignant again74 ,now1 ,i wonder what next6 ,why not say it all depended on ,herodias' daughter1 at once8 ,l4 ,yes2 it is certainly a great argument against singing that there were once sirens4 ,,dora4 ,well1 it may be all very fine and philosophical1 but shouldn't ,i just like to read you the end of the second volume of ,modern ,painters6 ,l4 ,my dear1 do you think any teacher could be worth your listening to1 or anybody else's listening to1 who had learned nothing1 and altered his mind in nothing1 from seven and twenty to seven and forty8 ,but that second volume is very good for you as far as it goes4 ,it is a great advance1 and a thoroughly straight and swift one1 to be led1 as it is the main business of that second volume to lead you1 from ,dutch cattle-pieces1 and ruffian-pieces1 to ,fra ,angelico4 ,and it is right for you also1 as you grow older1 to be strengthened in the general sense and judgment which may enable you to distinguish the weaknesses from the virtues of what you love1 else you might come to love both alike2 or even the weaknesses without the virtues4 ,you might end by liking ,overbeck and ,cornelius as well as ,angelico4 ,however1 ,i have perhaps been leaning a little too much to the merely practical side of things1 in to-night's talk2 and you are always to remember1 children1 that ,i do not deny1 though ,i cannot affirm1 the spiritual advantages resulting1 in certain cases1 from enthusiastic religious reverie1 and from the other practices of saints and anchorites4 ,the evidence respecting them has never yet been honestly collected1 much less dispassionately examined3 but assuredly1 there is in that direction a probability1 and more than a probability1 of dangerous error1 while there is none whatever in the practice of an active1 cheerful1 and benevolent life4 ,the hope of attaining a higher religious position1 which induces us to encounter1 for its exalted alternative1 the risk of unhealthy error1 is often1 as ,i said1 founded more on pride than piety2 and those who1 in modest usefulness1 have accepted what seemed to them here the lowliest place in the kingdom of their ,father1 are not1 ,i believe1 the least likely to receive hereafter the command1 then unmistakable1 ,friend1 go up higher4 ,,lecture #h4 ,,crystal ,,caprice ,formal ,lecture in ,schoolroom1 after some practical examination of minerals4 ,l4 ,we have seen enough1 children1 though very little of what might be seen if we had more time1 of mineral structures produced by visible opposition1 or contest among elements2 structures of which the variety1 however great1 need not surprise us3 for we quarrel1 ourselves1 for many and slight causes1--much more1 one should think1 may crystals1 who can only feel the antagonism1 not argue about it4 ,but there is a yet more singular mimicry of our human ways in the varieties of form which appear owing to no antagonistic force2 but merely to the variable humor and caprice of the crystals themselves3 and ,i have asked you all to come into the schoolroom to-day1 because1 of course1 this is a part of the crystal mind which must be peculiarly interesting to a feminine audience4 7,great symptoms of disapproval on the part of said audience47 ,now1 you need not pretend that it will not interest you2 why should it not8 ,it is true that we men are never capricious2 but that only makes us the more dull and disagreeable4 ,you1 who are crystalline in brightness1 as well as in caprice1 charm infinitely1 by infinitude of change4 7,audible murmurs of ,worse and worse6 ,as if we could be got over that way6 ,etc4 ,the ,,lecturer1 however1 observing the expression of the features to be more complacent1 proceeds47 ,and the most curious mimicry1 if not of your changes of fashion1 at least of your various modes 7in healthy periods7 of national costume1 takes place among the crystals of different countries4 ,with a little experience1 it is quite possible to say at a glance1 in what districts certain crystals have been found2 and although1 if we had knowledge extended and accurate enough1 we might of course ascertain the laws and circumstances which have necessarily produced the form peculiar to each locality1 this would be just as true of the fancies of the human mind4 ,if we could know the exact circumstances which affect it1 we could foretell what now seems to us only caprice of thought1 as well as what now seems to us only caprice of crystal3 nay1 so far as our knowledge reaches1 it is on the whole easier to find some reason why the peasant girls of ,berne should wear their caps in the shape of butterflies2 and the peasant girls of ,munich theirs in the shape of shells1 than to say why the rock-crystals of ,dauphine should all have their summits of the shape of lip-pieces of flageolets1 while those of ,st4 ,gothard are symmetrical1 or why the fluor of ,chamouni is rose-colored1 and in octahedrons1 while the fluor of ,weardale is green1 and in cubes4 ,still farther removed is the hope1 at present1 of accounting for minor differences in modes of grouping and construction4 ,take1 for instance1 the caprices of this single mineral1 quart2--variations upon a single theme4 ,it has many forms2 but see what it will make out of this ,,one1 the six-sided prism4 ,for shortness' sake1 ,i shall call the body of the prism its column1 and the pyramid at the extremities its cap4 ,now1 here1 first you have a straight column as long and thin as a stalk of asparagus1 with two little caps at the ends2 and here you have a short thick column1 as solid as a haystack1 with two fat caps at the ends2 and here you have two caps fastened together1 and no column at all between them6 ,then here is a crystal with its column fat in the middle1 and tapering to a little cap2 and here is one stalked like a mushroom1 with a huge cap put on the top of a slender column6 ,then here is a column built wholly out of little caps1 with a large smooth cap at the top4 ,and here is a column built of columns and caps2 the caps all truncated about half-way to their points4 ,and in both these last1 the little crystals are set anyhow1 and build the large one in a disorderly way2 but here is a crystal made of columns and truncated caps1 set in regular terraces all the way up4 ,,mary4 ,but are not these groups of crystals1 rather than one crystal8 ,l4 ,what do you mean by a group1 and what by one crystal8 ,,dora 7audibly aside1 to ,,mary1 who is brought to pause74 ,you know you are never expected to answer1 ,mary4 ,l4 ,i'm sure this is easy enough4 ,what do you mean by a group of people8 ,,mary4 ,three or four together1 or a good many together1 like the caps in these crystals4 ,l4 ,but when a great many persons get together they don't take the shape of one person8 7,,mary still at pause47 ,,isabel4 ,no1 because they can't2 but you know the crystals can2 so why shouldn't they8 ,l4 ,well1 they don't2 that is to say1 they don't always1 nor even often4 ,look here1 ,isabel4 ,,isabel4 ,what a nasty ugly thing6 ,l4 ,i'm glad you think it so ugly4 ,yet it is made of beautiful crystals2 they are a little gray and cold in color1 but most of them are clear4 ,,isabel4 ,but they're in such horrid1 horrid disorder6 ,l4 ,yes2 all disorder is horrid1 when it is among things that are naturally orderly4 ,some little girls' rooms are naturally orderly1 ,i suppose2 or ,i don't know how they could live in them1 if they cry out so when they only see quartz crystals in confusion4 ,,isabel4 ,oh6 but how come they to be like that8 ,l4 ,you may well ask4 ,and yet you will always hear people talking1 as if they thought order more wonderful than disorder6 ,it is wonderful--as we have seen2 but to me1 as to you1 child1 the supremely wonderful thing is that nature should ever be ruinous or wasteful1 or deathful6 ,i look at this wild piece of crystallization with endless astonishment4 ,,mary4 ,where does it come from8 ,l4 ,the ,tete ,noire of ,chamonix4 ,what makes it more strange is that it should be in a vein of fine quartz4 ,if it were in a mouldering rock1 it would be natural enough2 but in the midst of so fine substance1 here are the crystals tossed in a heap2 some large1 myriads small 7almost as small as dust71 tumbling over each other like a terrified crowd1 and glued together by the sides1 and edges1 and backs1 and heads2 some warped1 and some pushed out and in1 and all spoiled1 and each spoiling the rest4 ,,mary4 ,and how flat they all are6 ,l4 ,yes2 that's the fashion at the ,tete ,noire4 ,,mary4 ,but surely this is ruin1 not caprice8 ,l4 ,i believe it is in great part misfortune2 and we will examine these crystal troubles in next lecture4 ,but if you want to see the gracefullest and happiest caprices of which dust is capable1 you must go to the ,hartz2 not that ,i ever mean to go there myself1 for ,i want to retain the romantic feeling about the name2 and ,i have done myself some harm already by seeing the monotonous and heavy form of the ,brocken from the suburbs of ,brunswick4 ,but whether the mountains be picturesque or not1 the tricks which the goblins 7as ,i am told7 teach the crystals in them1 are incomparably pretty4 ,they work chiefly on the mind of a docile1 bluish-colored1 carbonate of lime2 which comes out of a gray limestone4 ,the goblins take the greatest possible care of its education1 and see that nothing happens to it to hurt its temper2 and when it may be supposed to have arrived at the crisis which is to a well brought up mineral1 what presentation at court is to a young lady--after which it is expected to set fashions--there's no end to its pretty ways of behaving4 ,first it will make itself into pointed darts as fine as hoarfrost2 here1 it is changed into a white fur as fine as silk2 here into little crowns and circlets1 as bright as silver2 as if for the gnome princesses to wear2 here it is in beautiful little plates1 for them to eat off2 presently it is in towers which they might be imprisoned in2 presently in caves and cells1 where they may make nun-gnomes of themselves1 and no gnome ever hear of them more2 here is some of it in sheaves1 like corn2 here1 some in drifts1 like snow2 here1 some in rays1 like stars3 and1 though these are1 all of them1 necessarily1 shapes that the mineral takes in other places1 they are all taken here with such a grace that you recognize the high caste and breeding of the crystals wherever you meet them1 and know at once they are ,hartz- born4 ,of course1 such fine things as these are only done by crystals which are perfectly good1 and good-humored2 and of course1 also1 there are ill-humored crystals who torment each other1 and annoy quieter crystals1 yet without coming to anything like serious war4 ,here 7for once7 is some ill-disposed quartz1 tormenting a peaceable octahedron of fluor1 in mere caprice4 ,i looked at it the other night so long1 and so wonderingly1 just before putting my candle out1 that ,i fell into another strange dream4 ,but you don't care about dreams4 ,,dora4 ,no2 we didn't1 yesterday2 but you know we are made up of caprice2 so we do1 to-day3 and you must tell it us directly4 ,l4 ,well1 you see1 ,neith and her work were still much in my mind2 and then1 ,i had been looking over these ,hartz things for you1 and thinking of the sort of grotesque sympathy there seemed to be in them with the beautiful fringe and pinnacle work of ,northern architecture4 ,so1 when ,i fell asleep1 ,i thought ,i saw ,neith and ,st4 ,barbara talking together4 ,,dora4 ,but what had ,st4 ,barbara to do with it8 ,l4 ,my dear1 ,i am quite sure ,st4 ,barbara is the patroness of good architects2 not ,st4 ,thomas1 whatever the old builders thought4 ,it might be very fine1 according to the monks' notions1 in ,st4 ,thomas1 to give all his employer's money away to the poor3 but breaches of contract are bad foundations2 and ,i believe1 it was not he1 but ,st4 ,barbara1 who overlooked the work in all the buildings you and ,i care about4 ,however that may be1 it was certainly she whom ,i saw in my dream with ,neith4 ,neith was sitting weaving1 and ,i thought she looked sad1 and threw her shuttle slowly2 and ,st4 ,barbara was standing at her side1 in a stiff little gown1 all ins and outs1 and angles2 but so bright with embroidery that it dazzled me whenever she moved2 the train of it was just like a heap of broken jewels1 it was so stiff1 and full of corners1 and so many-colored and bright4 ,her hair fell over her shoulders in long1 delicate waves1 from under a little three pinnacled crown1 like a tower4 ,she was asking ,neith about the laws of architecture in ,egypt and ,greece2 and when ,neith told her the measures of the pyramids1 ,st4 ,barbara said she thought they would have been better three-cornered and when ,neith told her the measures of the ,parthenon1 ,st4 ,barbara said she thought it ought to have had two transepts4 ,but she was pleased when ,neith told her of the temple of the dew1 and of the ,caryan maidens bearing its frieze3 and then she thought that perhaps ,neith would like to hear what sort of temples she was building herself1 in the ,french valleys1 and on the crags of the ,rhine4 ,so she began gossiping1 just as one of you might to an old lady3 and certainly she talked in the sweetest way in the world to ,neith2 and explained to her all about crockets and pinnacles3 and ,neith sat1 looking very grave2 and always graver as ,st4 ,barbara went on2 till at last1 ,i'm sorry to say1 ,st4 ,barbara lost her temper a little4 ,,mary 7very grave herself74 ,st4 ,barbara8 ,l4 ,yes1 ,mary4 ,why shouldn't she8 ,it was very tiresome of ,neith to sit looking like that4 ,,may4 ,but1 then1 ,st4 ,barbara was a saint6 ,l4 ,what's that1 ,may8 ,,may4 ,a saint6 ,a saint is--,i am sure you know6 ,l4 ,if ,i did1 it would not make me sure that you knew too1 ,may3 but ,i don't4 ,,violet 7expressing the incredulity of the audience74 ,oh1--sir6 ,l4 ,that is to say1 ,i know that people are called saints who are supposed to be better than others3 but ,i don't know how much better they must be1 in order to be saints2 nor how nearly anybody may be a saint1 and yet not be quite one2 nor whether everybody who is called a saint was one2 nor whether everybody who isn't called a saint1 isn't one4 7,general silence2 the audience feeling themselves on the verge of the ,infinities--and a little shocked--and much puzzled by so many questions at once47 ,l4 ,besides1 did you never hear that verse about being--called to be saints8 ,,may 7repeats ,rom4 i4 #g74 ,l4 ,quite right1 ,may4 ,well1 then1 who are called to be that8 ,people in ,rome only8 ,,may4 ,everybody1 ,i suppose1 whom ,god loves4 ,l4 ,what6 little girls as well as other people8 ,,may4 ,all grown-up people1 ,i mean4 ,l4 ,why not little girls8 ,are they wickeder when they are little8 ,,may4 ,oh1 ,i hope not4 ,l ,why not little girls1 then8 7,pause7 ,,lily4 ,because1 you know we can't be worth anything if we're ever so good1--,i mean1 if we try to be ever so good and we can't do difficult things--like saints4 ,l ,i am afraid1 my dear that old people are not more able or willing for their difficulties than you children are for yours4 ,all ,i can say is1 that if ever ,i see any of you1 when you are seven or eight and twenty1 knitting your brows over any work you want to do or to understand as ,i saw you ,lily knitting your brows over your slate this morning ,i should think you very noble women4 ,but--to come back to my dream--,st ,barbara did lose her temper a little1 and ,i was not surprised4 ,for you can't think how provoking ,neith looked1 sitting there just like a statue of sandstone1 only going on weaving like a machine and never quickening the cast of her shuttle1 while ,st ,barbara was telling her so eagerly all about the most beautiful things and chattering away1 as fast as bells ring on ,christmas ,eve1 till she saw that ,neilh didn't care1 and then ,st ,barbara got as red as a rose1 and stopped just in time1-- or ,i think she would really have said something naughty4 ,,isabel ,oh please1 but didn't ,neith say anything then8 ,l4 ,yes4 ,she said1 quite quietly1 ,it may be very pretty1 my love2 but it is all nonsense4 ,,isabel4 ,oh dear1 oh dear2 and then8 ,l4 ,well2 then ,i was a little angry myself1 and hoped ,st4 ,barbara would be quite angry2 but she wasn't4 ,she bit her lips first2 and then gave a great sigh--such a wild1 sweet sigh--and then she knelt down and hid her face on ,neith's knees4 ,then ,neith smiled a little1 and was moved4 ,,isabel4 ,oh1 ,i am so glad6 ,l4 ,and she touched ,st4 ,barbara's forehead with a flower of white lotus2 and ,st4 ,barbara sobbed once or twice1 and then said3 ,if you only could see how beautiful it is1 and how much it makes people feel what is good and lovely2 and if you could only hear the children singing in the ,lady chapels6 ,and ,neith smiled1--but still sadly1--and said1 ,how do you know what ,i have seen1 or heard1 my love8 ,do you think all those vaults and towers of yours have been built without me8 ,there was not a pillar in your ,giotto's ,santa ,maria del ,fiore which ,i did not set true by my spear-shaft as it rose4 ,but this pinnacle and flame work which has set your little heart on fire1 is all vanity2 and you will see what it will come to1 and that soon2 and none will grieve for it more than ,i4 ,and then every one will disbelieve your pretty symbols and types4 ,men must be spoken simply to1 my dear1 if you would guide them kindly1 and long4 ,but ,st4 ,barbara answered1 that1 ,indeed she thought every one liked her work1 and that the people of different towns were as eager about their cathedral towers as about their privileges or their markets2 and then she asked ,neith to come and build something with her1 wall against tower2 and see whether the people will be as much pleased with your building as with mine4 ,but ,neith answered1 ,i will not contend with you1 my dear4 ,i strive not with those who love me2 and for those who hate me1 it is not well to strive with me1 as weaver ,arachne knows4 ,and remember1 child1 that nothing is ever done beautifully1 which is done in rivalship2 nor nobly1 which is done in pride4 ,then ,st4 ,barbara hung her head quite down1 and said she was very sorry she had been so foolish2 and kissed ,neith2 and stood thinking a minute3 and then her eyes got bright again1 and she said1 she would go directly and build a chapel with five windows in it2 four for the four cardinal virtues1 and one for humility1 in the middle1 bigger than the rest4 ,and ,neith very nearly laughed quite out1 ,i thought2 certainly her beautiful lips lost all their sternness for an instant2 then she said1 ,well1 love1 build it1 but do not put so many colors into your windows as you usually do2 else no one will be able to see to read1 inside3 and when it is built1 let a poor village priest consecrate it1 and not an archbishop4 ,st4 ,barbara started a little1 ,i thought1 and turned as if to say something2 but changed her mind1 and gathered up her train1 and went out4 ,and ,neith bent herself again to her loom1 in which she was weaving a web of strange dark colors1 ,i thought2 but perhaps it was only after the glittering of ,st4 ,barbara's embroidered train3 and ,i tried to make out the figures in ,neith's web1 and confused myself among them1 as one always does in dreams2 and then the dream changed altogether1 and ,i found myself1 all at once1 among a crowd of little ,gothic and ,egyptian spirits1 who were quarreling3 at least the ,gothic ones were trying to quarrel2 for the ,egyptian ones only sat with their hands on their knees1 and their aprons sticking out very stiffly2 and stared4 ,and after a while ,i began to understand what the matter was4 ,it seemed that some of the troublesome building imps1 who meddle and make continually1 even in the best ,gothic work1 had been listening to ,st4 ,barbara's talk with ,neith2 and had made up their minds that ,neith had no workpeople who could build against them4 ,they were but dull imps1 as you may fancy by their thinking that2 and never had done much1 except disturbing the great ,gothic building angels at their work1 and playing tricks to each other2 indeed1 of late they had been living years and years1 like bats1 up under the cornices of ,strasbourg and ,cologne cathedrals1 with nothing to do but to make mouths at the people below4 ,however1 they thought they knew everything about tower building2 and those who had heard what ,neith said1 told the rest2 and they all flew down directly1 chattering in ,german1 like jackdaws1 to show ,neith's people what they could do4 ,and they had found some of ,neith's old workpeople somewhere near ,sais1 sitting in the sun1 with their hands on their knees2 and abused them heartily3 and ,neith's people did not mind at first1 but1 after a while1 they seemed to get tired of the noise2 and one or two rose up slowly1 and laid hold of their measuring rods1 and said1 ,if ,st4 ,barbara's people liked to build with them1 tower against pyramid1 they would show them how to lay stones4 ,then the ,gothic little spirits threw a great many double somersaults for joy2 and put the tips of their tongues out slyly to each other1 on one side2 and ,i heard the ,egyptians say1 they must be some new kind of frog--they didn't think there was much building in them4 ,however1 the stiff old workers took their rods1 as ,i said1 and measured out a square space of sand2 but as soon as the ,german spirits saw that1 they declared they wanted exactly that bit of ground to build on1 themselves4 ,then the ,egyptian builders offered to go farther off and the ,german ones said1 ,ja wohl4 ,but as soon as the ,egyptians had measured out another square1 the little ,germans said they must have some of that too4 ,then ,neith's people laughed2 and said1 they might take as much as they liked1 but they would not move the plan of their pyramid again4 ,then the little ,germans took three pieces1 and began to build three spires directly2 one large1 and two little4 ,and when the ,egyptians saw they had fairly begun1 they laid their foundation all round1 of large square stones3 and began to build1 so steadily that they had like to have swallowed up the three little ,german spires4 ,so when the ,gothic spirits saw that1 they built their spires leaning1 like the tower of ,pisa1 that they might stick out at the side of the pyramid4 ,and ,neith's people stared at them2 and thought it very clever1 but very wrong2 and on they went1 in their own way1 and said nothing4 ,then the little ,gothic spirits were terribly provoked because they could not spoil the shape of the pyramid2 and they sat down all along the ledges of it to make faces2 but that did no good4 ,then they ran to the corners1 and put their elbows on their knees1 and stuck themselves out as far as they could1 and made more faces2 but that did no good1 neither4 ,then they looked up to the sky1 and opened their mouths wide1 and gobbled1 and said it was too hot for work1 and wondered when it would rain2 but that did no good1 neither4 ,and all the while the ,egyptian spirits were laying step above step patiently4 ,but when the ,gothic ones looked1 and saw how big they had got1 they said1 ,ach1 ,himmel6 and flew down in a great black cluster to the bottom2 and swept out a level spot in the sand with their wings1 in no time1 and began building a tower straight up1 as fast as they could4 ,and the ,egyptians stood still again to stare at them2 for the ,gothic spirits had got quite into a passion1 and were really working very wonderfully4 ,they cut the sandstone into strips as fine as reeds2 and put one reed on the top of another1 so that you could not see where they fitted3 and they twisted them in and out like basket work1 and knotted them into likenesses of ugly faces1 and of strange beasts biting each other2 and up they went1 and up still1 and they made spiral staircases at the corners1 for the loaded workers to come up by 7for ,i saw they were but weak imps1 and could not fly with stones on their backs71 and then they made traceried galleries for them to run round by2 and so up again2 with finer and finer work1 till the ,egyptians wondered whether they meant the thing for a tower or a pillar3 and ,i heard them saying to one another1 ,it was nearly as pretty as lotus stalks2 and if it were not for the ugly faces1 there would be a fine temple1 if they were going to build it all with pillars as big as that6 ,but in a minute afterwards1--just as the ,gothic spirits had carried their work as high as the upper course1 but three or four1 of the pyramid--the ,egyptians called out to them to mind what they were about1 for the sand was running away from under one of their tower corners4 ,but it was too late to mind what they were about2 for1 in another instant1 the whole tower sloped aside2 and the ,gothic imps rose out of it like a flight of puffins1 in a single cloud2 but screaming worse than any puffins you ever heard3 and down came the tower1 all in a piece1 like a falling poplar1 with its head right on the flank of the pyramid2 against which it snapped short off4 ,and of course that waked me4 ,,mary4 ,what a shame of you to have such a dream1 after all you have told us about ,gothic architecture6 ,l4 ,if you have understood anything ,i ever told you about it1 you know that no architecture was ever corrupted more miserably2 or abolished more justly by the accomplishment of its own follies4 ,besides1 even in its days of power1 it was subject to catastrophes of this kind4 ,i have stood too often1 mourning1 by the grand fragment of the apse of ,beauvais1 not to have that fact well burnt into me4 ,still1 you must have seen1 surely1 that these imps were of the ,flamboyant school2 or1 at least1 of the ,german schools correspondent with it in extravagance4 ,,mary4 ,but1 then1 where is the crystal about which you dreamed all this8 ,l4 ,here2 but ,i suppose little ,pthah has touched it again1 for it is very small4 ,but1 you see1 here is the pyramid1 built of great square stones of fluor spar1 straight up2 and here are the three little pinnacles of mischievous quartz1 which have set themselves1 at the same time1 on the same foundation2 only they lean like the tower of ,pisa1 and come out obliquely at the side3 and here is one great spire of quartz which seems as if it had been meant to stand straight up1 a little way off2 and then had fallen down against the pyramid base1 breaking its pinnacle away4 ,in reality1 it has crystallized horizontally1 and terminated imperfectly3 but1 then1 by what caprice does one crystal form horizontally1 when all the rest stand upright8 ,but this is nothing to the phantasies of fluor1 and quartz1 and some other such companions1 when they get leave to do anything they like4 ,i could show you fifty specimens1 about every one of which you might fancy a new fairy tale4 ,not that1 in truth1 any crystals get leave to do quite what they like2 and many of them are sadly tried1 and have little time for caprices--poor things6 ,,mary4 ,i thought they always looked as if they were either in play or in mischief6 ,what trials have they8 ,l4 ,trials much like our own4 ,sickness1 and starvation2 fevers1 and agues1 and palsy2 oppression2 and old age1 and the necessity of passing away in their time1 like all else4 ,if there's any pity in you1 you must come to-morrow1 and take some part in these crystal griefs4 ,,dora4 ,i am sure we shall cry till our eyes are red4 ,l4 ,ah1 you may laugh1 ,dora3 but ,i've been made grave1 not once1 nor twice1 to see that even crystals cannot choose but be old at last4 ,it may be but a shallow proverb of the ,justice's2 but it is a shrewdly wide one4 ,,dora 7pensive for once74 ,i suppose it is very dreadful to be old6 ,but then 7brightening again71 what should we do without our dear old friends1 and our nice old lecturers8 ,l4 ,if all nice old lecturers were minded as little as one ,i know of2-- ,,dora4 ,and if they all meant as little what they say1 would they not deserve it8 ,but we'll come--we'll come1 and cry4 ,,lecture #i4 ,,crystal ,,sorrows ,working ,lecture in ,schoolroom4 ,l4 ,we have been hitherto talking1 children1 as if crystals might live1 and play1 and quarrel1 and behave ill or well1 according to their characters1 without interruption from anything else4 ,but so far from this being so1 nearly all crystals1 whatever their characters1 have to live a hard life of it1 and meet with many misfortunes4 ,if we could see far enough1 we should find1 indeed1 that1 at the root1 all their vices were misfortunes3 but to-day ,i want you to see what sort of troubles the best crystals have to go through1 occasionally1 by no fault of their own4 ,this black thing1 which is one of the prettiest of the very few pretty black things in the world1 is called ,tourmaline4 ,it may be transparent1 and green1 or red1 as well as black2 and then no stone can be prettier 7only1 all the light that gets into it1 ,i believe1 comes out a good deal the worse2 and is not itself again for a long while74 ,but this is the commonest state of it1--opaque1 and as black as jet4 ,,mary4 ,what does ,tourmaline mean8 ,l4 ,they say it is ,ceylanese1 and ,i don't know ,ceylanese1 but we may always be thankful for a graceful word1 whatever it means ,,mary4 ,and what is it made of8 ,l4 ,a little of everything there's always flint and clay1 and magnesia in it1 and the black is iron1 according to its fancy1 and there's boracic acid if you know what that is and if you don't1 ,i cannot tell you today1 and it doesn't signify and there's potash1 and soda1 and1 on the whole1 the chemistry of it is more like a mediaeval doctor's prescription1 than the making of a respectable mineral but it may1 perhaps1 be owing to the strange complexity of its make1 that it has a notable habit which makes it1 to me one of the most interesting of minerals4 ,you see these two crystals are broken right across1 in many places1 just as if they had been shafts of black marble fallen from a ruinous temple1 and here they lie1 imbedded in white quartz1 fragment succeeding fragment keeping the line of the original crystal1 while the quartz fills up the intervening spaces ,now tourmaline has a trick of doing this1 more than any other mineral ,i know here is another bit which ,i picked up on the glacier of ,macugnaga2 it is broken1 like a pillar built of very flat broad stones1 into about thirty joints1 and all these are heaved and warped away from each other sideways1 almost into a line of steps1 and then all is tilled up with quartz paste4 ,and here1 lastly is a green ,indian piece1 in which the pillar is first disjointed1 and then wrung round into the shape of an ,s4 ,,mary4 ,how ,,can this have been done8 ,l4 ,there are a thousand ways in which it may have been done1 the difficulty is not to account for the doing of it1 but for the showing of it in some crystals and not in others ,you never by any chance get a quartz crystal broken or twisted in this way4 ,if it break or twist at all which it does sometimes1 like the spire of ,dijon1 it is by its own will or fault1 it never seems to have been passively crushed ,but1 for the forces which cause this passive ruin of the tourmaline1--here is a stone which will show you multitudes of them in operation at once ,it is known as biecciated agate1 beautiful1 as you see1 and highly valued as a pebble yet1 so far as ,i can read or hear no one has ever looked at it with the least attention ,at the first glance1 you see it is made of very fine red striped agates1 which have been broken into small pieces1 and fastened together again by paste also of agate ,there would be nothing wonderful in this1 if this were all4 ,it is well known that by the movements of strata1 portions of rock are often shattered to pieces3--well known also that agate is a deposit of flint by water under certain conditions of heat and pressure3 there is1 therefore1 nothing wonderful in an agate's being broken2 and nothing wonderful in its being mended with the solution out of which it was itself originally congealed4 ,and with this explanation1 most people1 looking at a brecciated agate1 or brecciated anything1 seem to be satisfied4 ,i was so myself1 for twenty years2 but1 lately happening to stay for some time at the ,swiss ,baden1 where the beach of the ,limmat is almost wholly composed of brecciated limestones1 ,i began to examine them thoughtfully2 and perceived1 in the end1 that they were1 one and all1 knots of as rich mystery as any poor little human brain was ever lost in4 ,that piece of agate in your hand1 ,mary1 will show you many of the common phenomena of breccias2 but you need not knit your brows over it in that way2 depend upon it1 neither you nor ,i shall ever know anything about the way it was made1 as long as we live4 ,,dora4 ,that does not seem much to depend upon4 ,l4 ,pardon me1 puss4 ,when once we gain some real notion of the extent and unconquerableness of our ignorance1 it is a very broad and restful thing to depend upon3 you can throw yourself upon it at ease1 as on a cloud1 to feast with the gods4 ,you do not thenceforward trouble yourself1--nor any one else1--with theories1 or the contradiction of theories2 you neither get headache nor heart-burning and you nevermore waste your poor little store of strength or allowance of time4 ,however1 there are certain facts1 about this agate-making1 which ,i can tell you2 and then you may look at it in a pleasant wonder as long as you like1 pleasant wonder is no loss of time4 ,first1 then1 it is not broken freely by a blow2 it is slowly wrung1 or ground1 to pieces4 ,you can only with extreme dimness conceive the force exerted on mountains in transitional states of movement4 ,you have all read a little geology2 and you know how coolly geologists talk of mountains being raised or depressed4 ,they talk coolly of it1 because they are accustomed to the fact2 but the very universality of the fact prevents us from ever conceiving distinctly the conditions of force involved4 ,you know ,i was living last year in ,savoy2 my house was on the back of a sloping mountain1 which rose gradually for two miles behind it2 and then fell at once in a great precipice toward ,geneva1 going down three thousand feet in four or five cliffs1 or steps4 ,now that whole group of cliffs had simply been torn away by sheer strength from the rocks below1 as if the whole mass had been as soft as biscuit4 ,put four or five captains' biscuits on the floor1 on the top of one another2 and try to break them all in half1 not by bending1 but by holding one half down1 and tearing the other halves straight up2--of course you will not be able to do it1 but you will feel and comprehend the sort of force needed4 ,then1 fancy each captains' biscuit a bed of rock1 six or seven hundred feet thick2 and the whole mass torn straight through2 and one half heaved up three thousand feet1 grinding against the other as it rose1--and you will have some idea of the making of the ,mont ,saleve4 ,,may4 ,but it must crush the rocks all to dust6 ,l4 ,no2 for there is no room for dust4 ,the pressure is too great2 probably the heat developed also so great that the rock is made partly ductile2 but the worst of it is1 that we never can see these parts of mountains in the state they were left in at the time of their elevation2 for it is precisely in these rents and dislocations that the crystalline power principally exerts itself4 ,it is essentially a styptic power1 and wherever the earth is torn1 it heals and binds2 nay1 the torture and grieving of the earth seem necessary to bring out its full energy2 for you only find the crystalline living power fully in action1 where the rents and faults are deep and many4 ,,dora4 ,if you please1 sir1--would you tell us--what are faults8 ,l4 ,you never heard of such things8 ,,dora4 ,never in all our lives4 ,l4 ,when a vein of rock which is going on smoothly1 is interrupted by another troublesome little vein1 which stops it1 and puts it out1 so that it has to begin again in another place--that is called a fault4 ,i always think it ought to be called the fault of the vein that interrupts it2 but the miners always call it the fault of the vein that is interrupted4 ,,dora4 ,so it is1 if it does not begin again where it left off4 ,l4 ,well1 that is certainly the gist of the business3 but1 whatever good-natured old lecturers may do1 the rocks have a bad habit1 when they are once interrupted1 of never asking ,where was ,i8 ,,dora4 ,when the two halves of the dining-table came separate1 yesterday1 was that a fault8 ,l4 ,yes2 but not the table's4 ,however1 it is not a bad illustration1 ,dora4 ,when beds of rock are only interrupted by a fissure1 but remain at the same level1 like the two halves of the table1 it is not called a fault1 but only a fissure2 but if one half of the table be either tilted higher than the other1 or pushed to the side1 so that the two parts will not fit1 it is a fault4 ,you had better read the chapter on faults in ,jukes's ,geology2 then you will know all about it4 ,and this rent that ,i am telling you of in the ,saleve1 is one only of myriads1 to which are owing the forms of the ,alps1 as1 ,i believe1 of all great mountain chains4 ,wherever you see a precipice on any scale of real magnificence1 you will nearly always find it owing to some dislocation of this kind2 but the point of chief wonder to me is the delicacy of the touch by which these gigantic rents have been apparently accomplished4 ,note1 however1 that we have no clear evidence1 hitherto1 of the time taken to produce any of them4 ,we know that a change of temperature alters the position and the angles of the atoms of crystals1 and also the entire bulk of rocks4 ,we know that in all volcanic1 and the greater part of all subterranean1 action1 temperatures are continually changing1 and therefore masses of rock must be expanding or contracting1 with infinite slowness1 but with infinite force4 ,this pressure must result in mechanical strain somewhere1 both in their own substance1 and in that of the rocks surrounding them2 and we can form no conception of the result of irresistible pressure1 applied so as to rend and raise1 with imperceptible slowness of gradation1 masses thousands of feet in thickness4 ,we want some experiments tried on masses of iron and stone2 and we can't get them tried1 because ,christian creatures never will seriously and sufficiently spend money1 except to find out the shortest ways of killing each other4 ,but1 besides this slow kind of pressure1 there is evidence of more or less sudden violence1 on the same terrific scale2 and1 through it all1 the wonder1 as ,i said1 is always to me the delicacy of touch4 ,i cut a block of the ,saleve limestone from the edge of one of the principal faults which have formed the precipice2 it is a lovely compact limestone1 and the fault itself is filled up with a red breccia1 formed of the crushed fragments of the torn rock1 cemented by a rich red crystalline paste4 ,i have had the piece ,i cut from it smoothed1 and polished across the junction2 here it is2 and you may now pass your soft little fingers over the surface1 without so much as feeling the place where a rock which all the hills of ,england might have been sunk in the body of1 and not a summit seen1 was torn asunder through that whole thickness1 as a thin dress is torn when you tread upon it4 7,the audience examine the stone1 and touch it timidly1 but the matter remains inconceivable to them47 ,,mary 7struck by the beauty of the stone74 ,but this is almost marble8 ,l4 ,it is quite marble4 ,and another singular point in the business1 to my mind1 is that these stones1 which men have been cutting into slabs1 for thousands of years1 to ornament their principal buildings with1--and which1 under the general name of marble1 have been the delight of the eyes1 and the wealth of architecture1 among all civilized nations1--are precisely those on which the signs and brands of these earth agonies have been chiefly struck2 and there is not a purple vein nor flaming zone in them1 which is not the record of their ancient torture4 ,what a boundless capacity for sleep1 and for serene stupidity1 there is in the human mind6 ,fancy reflective beings1 who cut and polish stones for three thousand years1 for the sake of the pretty stains upon them2 and educate themselves to an art at last 7such as it is71 of imitating these veins by dexterous painting2 and never a curious soul of them1 all that while1 asks1 ,what painted the rocks8 7,the audience look dejected1 and ashamed of themselves47 ,the fact is1 we are all1 and always1 asleep1 through our lives2 and it is only by pinching ourselves very hard that we ever come to see1 or understand1 anything4 ,at least1 it is not always we who pinch ourselves2 sometimes other people pinch us2 which ,i suppose is very good of them1--or other things1 which ,i suppose is very proper of them4 ,but it is a sad life2 made up chiefly of naps and pinches4 7,some of the audience1 on this1 appearing to think that the others require pinching1 the ,,lecturer changes the subject47 ,now1 however1 for once1 look at a piece of marble carefully1 and think about it4 ,you see this is one side of the fault2 the other side is down or up1 nobody knows where2 but1 on this side1 you can trace the evidence of the dragging and tearing action4 ,all along the edge of this marble1 the ends of the fibers of the rock are torn1 here an inch1 and there half an inch1 away from each other2 and you see the exact places where they fitted1 before they were torn separate3 and you see the rents are now all filled up with the sanguine paste1 full of the broken pieces of the rock2 the paste itself seems to have been half melted1 and partly to have also melted the edge of the fragments it contains1 and then to have crystallized with them1 and round them4 ,and the brecciated agate ,i first showed you contains exactly the same phenomena2 a zoned crystallization going on amidst the cemented fragments1 partly altering the structure of those fragments themselves1 and subject to continual change1 either in the intensity of its own power1 or in the nature of the materials submitted to it2--so that1 at one time1 gravity acts upon them1 and disposes them in horizontal layers1 or causes them to droop in stalactites2 and at another1 gravity is entirely defied1 and the substances in solution are crystallized in bands of equal thickness on every side of the cell4 ,it would require a course of lectures longer than these 7,i have a great mind1--you have behaved so saucily--to stay and give them7 to describe to you the phenomena of this kind1 in agates and chalcedonies only1--nay1 there is a single sarcophagus in the ,british ,museum1 covered with grand sculpture of the #ahth dynasty1 which contains in magnificent breccia 7agates and jaspers imbedded in porphyry71 out of which it is hewn1 material for the thought of years2 and record of the earth-sorrow of ages in comparison with the duration of which1 the ,egyptian letters tell us but the history of the evening and morning of a day4 ,agates1 ,i think1 of all stones1 confess most of their past history1 but all crystallization goes on under1 and partly records1 circumstances of this kind--circumstances of infinite variety1 but always involving difficulty1 interruption1 and change of condition at different times4 ,observe1 first1 you have the whole mass of the rock in motion1 either contracting itself1 and so gradually widening the cracks1 or being compressed1 and thereby closing them1 and crushing their edges1--and1 if one part of its substance be softer1 at the given temperature1 than another1 probably squeezing that softer substance out into the veins4 ,then the veins themselves1 when the rock leaves them open by its contraction1 act with various power of suction upon its substance2--by capillary attraction when they are fine1--by that of pure vacuity when they are larger1 or by changes in the constitution and condensation of the mixed gases with which they have been originally filled4 ,those gases themselves may be supplied in all variation of volume and power from below2 or1 slowly1 by the decomposition of the rocks themselves2 and1 at changing temperatures1 must exert relatively changing forces of decomposition and combination on the walls of the veins they fill2 while water1 at every degree of heat and pressure 7from beds of everlasting ice1 alternate with cliffs of native rock1 to volumes of red hot1 or white hot1 steam71 congeals1 and drips1 and throbs1 and thrills1 from crag to crag2 and breathes from pulse to pulse of foaming or fiery arteries1 whose beating is felt through chains of the great islands of the ,indian seas1 as your own pulses lift your bracelets1 and makes whole kingdoms of the world quiver in deadly earthquake1 as if they were light as aspen leaves4 ,and1 remember1 the poor little crystals have to live their lives1 and mind their own affairs1 in the midst of all this1 as best they may4 ,they are wonderfully like human creatures1--forget all that is going on if they don't see it1 however dreadful2 and never think what is to happen to-morrow4 ,they are spiteful or loving1 and indolent or painstaking1 and orderly or licentious1 with no thought whatever of the lava or the flood which may break over them any day2 and evaporate them into air-bubbles1 or wash them into a solution of salts4 ,and you may look at them1 once understanding the surrounding conditions of their fate1 with an endless interest4 ,you will see crowds of unfortunate little crystals1 who have been forced to constitute themselves in a hurry1 their dissolving element being fiercely scorched away2 you will see them doing their best1 bright and numberless1 but tiny4 ,then you will find indulged crystals1 who have had centuries to form themselves in1 and have changed their mind and ways continually2 and have been tired1 and taken heart again2 and have been sick1 and got well again2 and thought they would try a different diet1 and then thought better of it2 and made but a poor use of their advantages1 after all4 ,and others you will see1 who have begun life as wicked crystals2 and then have been impressed by alarming circumstances1 and have become converted crystals1 and behaved amazingly for a little while1 and fallen away again1 and ended1 but discreditably1 perhaps even in decomposition2 so that one doesn't know what will become of them4 ,and sometimes you will see deceitful crystals1 that look as soft as velvet1 and are deadly to all near them2 and sometimes you will see deceitful crystals1 that seem flint-edged1 like our little quartz-crystal of a housekeeper here 7hush6 ,dora71 and are endlessly gentle and true wherever gentleness and truth are needed4 ,and sometimes you will see little child-crystals put to school like school-girls1 and made to stand in rows2 and taken the greatest care of1 and taught how to hold themselves up1 and behave3 and sometimes you will see unhappy little child-crystals left to lie about in the dirt1 and pick up their living1 and learn manners where they can4 ,and sometimes you will see fat crystals eating up thin ones1 like great capitalists and little laborers2 and politico-economic crystals teaching the stupid ones how to eat each other1 and cheat each other2 and foolish crystals getting in the way of wise ones2 and impatient crystals spoiling the plans of patient ones1 irreparably2 just as things go on in the world4 ,and sometimes you may see hypocritical crystals taking the shape of others1 though they are nothing like in their minds2 and vampire crystals eating out the hearts of others2 and hermit-crab crystals living in the shells of others2 and parasite crystals living on the means of others2 and courtier crystals glittering in attendance upon others2 and all these1 besides the two great companies of war and peace1 who ally themselves1 resolutely to attack1 or resolutely to defend4 ,and for the close1 you see the broad shadow and deadly force of inevitable fate1 above all this3 you see the multitudes of crystals whose time has come2 not a set time1 as with us1 but yet a time1 sooner or later1 when they all must give up their crystal ghosts3--when the strength by which they grew1 and the breath given them to breathe1 pass away from them2 and they fail1 and are consumed1 and vanish away2 and another generation is brought to life1 framed out of their ashes4 ,,mary4 ,it is very terrible4 ,is it not the complete fulfillment1 down into the very dust1 of that verse3 ,the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain8 ,l4 ,i do not know that it is in pain1 ,mary3 at least1 the evidence tends to show that there is much more pleasure than pain1 as soon as sensation becomes possible4 ,,lucilla4 ,but then1 surely1 if we are told that it is pain1 it must be pain8 ,l4 ,yes2 if we are told2 and told in the way you mean1 ,lucilla2 but nothing is said of the proportion to pleasure4 ,unmitigated pain would kill any of us in a few hours2 pain equal to our pleasures would make us loathe life2 the word itself cannot be applied to the lower conditions of matter in its ordinary sense4 ,but wait till to-morrow to ask me about this4 ,to-morrow is to be kept for questions and difficulties2 let us keep to the plain facts to-day4 ,there is yet one group of facts connected with this rending of the rocks1 which ,i especially want you to notice4 ,you know1 when you have mended a very old dress1 quite meritoriously1 till it won't mend any more-- ,,egypt 7interrupting74 ,could not you sometimes take gentlemen's work to illustrate by8 ,l4 ,gentlemen's work is rarely so useful as yours1 ,egypt2 and when it is useful1 girls cannot easily understand it4 ,,dora4 ,i am sure we should understand it better than gentlemen understand about sewing4 ,l4 ,my dear1 ,i hope ,i always speak modestly1 and under correction1 when ,i touch upon matters of the kind too high for me2 and besides1 ,i never intend to speak otherwise than respectfully of sewing2--though you always seem to think ,i am laughing at you4 ,in all seriousness1 illustrations from sewing are those which ,neith likes me best to use2 and which young ladies ought to like everybody to use4 ,what do you think the beautiful word wife comes from8 ,,dora 7tossing her head74 ,i don't think it is a particularly beautiful word4 ,l4 ,perhaps not4 ,at your ages you may think bride sounds better2 but wife's the word for wear1 depend upon it4 ,it is the great word in which the ,english and ,latin languages conquer the ,french and the ,greek4 ,i hope the ,french will some day get a word for it1 yet1 instead of their dreadful femme4 ,but what do you think it comes from8 ,,dora4 ,i never did think about it4 ,l4 ,nor you1 ,sibyl8 ,,sibyl4 ,no2 ,i thought it was ,saxon1 and stopped there4 ,l4 ,yes1 but the great good of ,saxon words is1 that they usually do mean something4 ,wife means weaver4 ,you have all the right to call yourselves little housewives1 when you sew neatly4 ,,dora4 ,but ,i don t think we want to call ourselves 'little housewives'4 ,l4 ,you must either be house-wives1 or house-moths2 remember that4 ,in the deep sense1 you must either weave men's fortunes1 and embroider them1 or feed upon1 and bring them to decay4 ,you had better let me keep my sewing illustration1 and help me out with it4 ,,dora4 ,well1 we'll hear it1 under protest4 ,l4 ,you have heard it before1 but with reference to other matters4 ,when it is said1 no man putteth a piece of new cloth on an old garment1 else it taketh from the old1 does it not mean that the new piece tears the old one away at the sewn edge8 ,,dora4 ,yes2 certainly4 ,l4 ,and when you mend a decayed stuff with strong thread1 does not the whole edge come away sometimes1 when it tears again8 ,,dora4 ,yes2 and then it is of no use to mend it any more4 ,l4 ,well1 the rocks don't seem to think that3 but the same thing happens to them continually4 ,i told you they were full of rents1 or veins4 ,large masses of mountain are sometimes as full of veins as your hand is2 and of veins nearly as fine 7only you know a rock vein does not mean a tube1 but a crack or cleft74 ,now these clefts are mended1 usually1 with the strongest material the rock can find2 and often literally with threads2 for the gradually opening rent seems to draw the substance it is filled with into fibers1 which cross from one side of it to the other1 and are partly crystalline2 so that1 when the crystals become distinct1 the fissure has often exactly the look of a tear1 brought together with strong cross stitches4 ,now when this is completely done1 and all has been fastened and made firm1 perhaps some new change of temperature may occur1 and the rock begin to contract again4 ,then the old vein must open wider2 or else another open elsewhere4 ,if the old vein widen1 it ,,may do so at its center2 but it constantly happens1 with well filled veins1 that the cross stitches are too strong to break2 the walls of the vein1 instead1 are torn away by them3 and another little supplementary vein--often three or four successively--will be thus formed at the side of the first4 ,,mary4 ,that is really very much like our work4 ,but what do the mountains use to sew with8 ,l4 ,quartz1 whenever they can get it3 pure limestones are obliged to be content with carbonate of lime2 but most mixed rocks can find some quartz for themselves4 ,here is a piece of black slate from the ,buet3 it looks merely like dry dark mud2 you could not think there was any quartz in it2 but1 you see1 its rents are all stitched together with beautiful white thread1 which is the purest quartz1 so close drawn that you can break it like flint1 in the mass2 but1 where it has been exposed to the weather1 the fine fibrous structure is shown3 and1 more than that1 you see the threads have been all twisted and pulled aside1 this way and the other1 by the warpings and shifting of the sides of the vein as it widened4 ,,mary4 ,it is wonderful6 ,but is that going on still8 ,are the mountains being torn and sewn together again at this moment8 ,l4 ,yes1 certainly1 my dear3 but ,i think1 just as certainly 7though geologists differ on this matter71 not with the violence1 or on the scale1 of their ancient ruin and renewal4 ,all things seem to be tending towards a condition of at least temporary rest2 and that groaning and travailing of the creation1 as1 assuredly1 not wholly in pain1 is not1 in the full sense1 until now4 ,,mary4 ,i want so much to ask you about that6 ,,sibyl4 ,yes2 and we all want to ask you about a great many other things besides4 ,l4 ,it seems to me that you have got quite as many new ideas as are good for any of you at present3 and ,i should not like to burden you with more2 but ,i must see that those you have are clear1 if ,i can make them so2 so we will have one more talk1 for answer of questions1 mainly4 ,think over all the ground1 and make your difficulties thoroughly presentable4 ,then we'll see what we can make of them4 ,,dora4 ,they shall all be dressed in their very best2 and curtsey as they come in4 ,l4 ,no1 no1 ,dora2 no curtseys1 if you please4 ,i had enough of them the day you all took a fit of reverence1 and curtsied me out of the room4 ,,dora4 ,but1 you know1 we cured ourselves of the fault1 at once1 by that fit4 ,we have never been the least respectful since4 ,and the difficulties will only curtsey themselves out of the room1 ,i hope2--come in at one door--vanish at the other4 ,l4 ,what a pleasant world it would be1 if all its difficulties were taught to behave so6 ,however1 one can generally make something1 or 7better still7 nothing1 or at least less of them1 if they thoroughly know their own minds2 and your difficulties--,i must say that for you1 children1--generally do know their own minds1 as you do yourselves4 ,,dora4 ,that is very kindly said for us4 ,some people would not allow so much as that girls had any minds to know4 ,l4 ,they will at least admit that you have minds to change1 ,dora4 ,,mary4 ,you might have left us the last speech1 without a retouch4 ,but we'll put our little minds1 such as they are1 in the best trim we can1 for to-morrow4 ,,lecture #aj4 ,,the ,,crystal ,,rest ,evening4 ,the fireside4 ,l's arm-chair in the comfortablest corner4 ,l4 7perceiving various arrangements being made of footstool1 cushion1 screen1 and the like47 ,yes1 yes1 it's all very fine6 and ,i am to sit here to be asked questions till supper-time1 am ,i8 ,,dora4 ,i don't think you can have any supper to-night3--we've got so much to ask4 ,,lily4 ,oh1 ,miss ,dora6 ,we can fetch it him here1 you know1 so nicely6 ,l4 ,yes1 ,lily1 that will be pleasant1 with competitive examination going on over one's plate3 the competition being among the examiners4 ,really1 now that ,i know what teasing things girls are1 ,i don't so much wonder that people used to put up patiently with the dragons who took ,,them for supper4 ,but ,i can't help myself1 ,i suppose2--no thanks to ,st4 ,george4 ,ask away1 children1 and ,i'll answer as civilly as may be4 ,,dora4 ,we don't so much care about being answered civilly1 as about not being asked things back again4 ,l4 ,ayez seulement la patience que je le parle4 ,there shall be no requitals4 ,,dora4 ,well1 then1 first of all--,what shall we ask first1 ,mary8 ,,mary4 ,it does not matter4 ,i think all the questions come into one1 at last1 nearly4 ,,dora4 ,you know1 you always talk as if the crystals were alive2 and we never understand how much you are in play1 and how much in earnest4 ,that's the first thing4 ,l4 ,neither do ,i understand1 myself1 my dear1 how much ,i am in earnest4 ,the stones puzzle me as much as ,i puzzle you4 ,they look as if they were alive1 and make me speak as if they were2 and ,i do not in the least know how much truth there is in the appearance4 ,i'm not to ask things back again to-night1 but all questions of this sort lead necessarily to the one main question1 which we asked1 before1 in vain1 ,what is it to be alive8 ,,dora4 ,yes2 but we want to come back to that3 for we've been reading scientific books about the conservation of forces1 and it seems all so grand1 and wonderful2 and the experiments are so pretty2 and ,i suppose it must be all right3 but then the books never speak as if there were any such thing as life4 ,l4 ,they mostly omit that part of the subject1 certainly1 ,dora2 but they are beautifully right as far as they go2 and life is not a convenient element to deal with4 ,they seem to have been getting some of it into and out of bottles1 in their ozone and antizone lately2 but they still know little of it3 and1 certainly1 ,i know less4 ,,dora4 ,you promised not to be provoking1 to-night4 ,l4 ,wait a minute4 ,though1 quite truly1 ,i know less of the secrets of life than the philosophers do2 ,i yet know one corner of ground on which we artists can1 stand1 literally as ,life ,guards at bay1 as steadily as the ,guards at ,inkermann2 however hard the philosophers push4 ,and you may stand with us1 if once you learn to draw nicely4 ,,dora4 ,i'm sure we are all trying6 but tell us where we may stand4 ,l4 ,you may always stand by ,form1 against ,force4 ,to a painter1 the essential character of anything is the form of it1 and the philosophers cannot touch that4 ,they come and tell you1 for instance1 that there is as much heat1 or motion1 or calorific energy 7or whatever else they like to call it71 in a tea-kettle as in a ,gier-eagle4 ,very good2 that is so2 and it is very interesting4 ,it requires just as much heat as will boil the kettle1 to take the ,gier-eagle up to his nest2 and as much more to bring him down again on a hare or a partridge4 ,but we painters1 acknowledging the equality and similarity of the kettle and the bird in all scientific respects1 attach1 for our part1 our principal interest to the difference in their forms4 ,for us the primarily cognizable facts1 in the two things1 are1 that the kettle has a spout1 and the eagle a beak1 the one a lid on its back1 the other a pair of wings1--not to speak of the distinction also of volition which the philosophers may properly call merely a form or mode of force1--but then1 to an artist1 the form or mode1 is the gist of the business4 ,the kettle chooses to sit still on the hob1 the eagle to recline on the air4 ,it is the fact of the choice1 not the equal degree of temperature in the fulfillment of it1 which appears to us the more interesting circumstance--though the other is very interesting too4 ,exceedingly so6 ,don't laugh children1 the philosophers have been doing quite splendid work lately1 in their own way especially1 the transformation of force into light is a great piece of systematized discovery and this notion about the sun being supplied with his flame by ceaseless meteoric hail is grand1 and looks very likely to be true4 ,of course1 it is only the old gunlock1--flint and steel1--on a large scale but the order and majesty of it are sublime4 ,still1 we sculptors and painters care little about it4 ,it is very fine1 we say1 and very useful1 this knocking the light out of the sun1 or into it1 by an eternal cataract of planets4 ,but you may hail away1 so1 forever1 and you will not knock out what we can4 ,here is a bit of silver1 not the size of half-a-crown1 on which1 with a single hammer stroke1 one of us1 two thousand and odd years ago1 hit out the head of the ,apollo of ,clazomenas4 ,it is merely a matter of form2 but if any of you philosophers1 with your whole planetary system to hammer with1 can hit out such another bit of silver as this1--we will take off our hats to you4 ,for the present1 we keep them on4 ,,mary4 ,yes1 ,i understand2 and that is nice2 but ,i don't think we shall any of us like having only form to depend upon4 ,l4 ,it was not neglected in the making of ,eve1 my dear4 ,,mary4 ,it does not seem to separate us from the dust of the ground4 ,it is that breathing of the life which we want to understand4 ,l4 ,so you should3 but hold fast to the form1 and defend that first1 as distinguished from the mere transition of forces4 ,discern the molding hand of the potter commanding the clay1 from his merely beating foot1 as it turns the wheel4 ,if you can find incense1 in the vase1 afterwards1--well3 but it is curious how far mere form will carry you ahead of the philosophers4 ,for instance1 with regard to the most interesting of all their modes of force-- light2--they never consider how far the existence of it depends on the putting of certain vitreous and nervous substances into the formal arrangement which we call an eye4 ,the ,german philosophers began the attack1 long ago1 on the other side1 by telling us1 there was no such thing--as light at all1 unless we chose to see it3 now1 ,german and ,english1 both1 have reversed their engines1 and insist that light would be exactly the same light that it is1 though nobody could ever see it4 ,the fact being that the force must be there1 and the eyes there2 and light means the effect of the one on the other2--and perhaps1 also--7,plato saw farther into that mystery than any one has since1 that ,i know of71--on something a little way within the eyes2 but we may stand quite safe1 close behind the retina1 and defy the philosophers4 ,,sibyl4 ,but ,i don't care so much about defying the philosophers1 if only one could get a clear idea of life1 or soul1 for one's self4 ,l4 ,well1 ,sibyl1 you used to know more about it1 in that cave of yours1 than any of us4 ,i was just going to ask you about inspiration1 and the golden bough1 and the like2 only ,i remembered ,i was not to ask anything4 ,but1 will not you1 at least1 tell us whether the ideas of ,life1 as the power of putting things together1 or making them2 and of ,death1 as the power of pushing things separate1 or unmaking them1 may not be very simply held in balance against each other8 ,,sibyl4 ,no1 ,i am not in my cave to-night2 and cannot tell you anything4 ,l4 ,i think they may4 ,modern ,philosophy is a great separator2 it is little more than the expansion of ,moliere's great sentence1 ,il s'ensuit de la1 que tout ce qu'ily a de beau est dans les dictionnaires2 il n'y a que les mots qui sont transposes4 ,but when you used to be in your cave1 ,sibyl1 and to be inspired1 there was 7and there remains still in some small measure71 beyond the merely formative and sustaining power1 another1 which we painters call passion--,i don't know what the philosophers call it2 we know it makes people red1 or white2 and therefore it must be something1 itself2 and perhaps it is the most truly poetic or making force of all1 creating a world of its own out of a glance1 or a sigh3 and the want of passion is perhaps the truest death1 or unmaking of everything2--even of stones4 ,by the way1 you were all reading about that ascent of the ,aiguille ,verte1 the other day8 ,,sibyl4 ,because you had told us it was so difficult1 you thought it could not be ascended4 ,l ,yes1 ,i believed the ,aiguille ,verte would have held its own4 ,but do you recollect what one of the climbers exclaimed1 when he first felt sure of reaching the summit4 ,,sibyl4 ,yes1 it was1 ,oh1 ,aiguille ,verte1 vous etes morte1 vous etes morte6 ,l4 ,that was true instinct4 ,real philosophic joy4 ,now1 can you at all fancy the difference between that feeling of triumph in a mountain's death2 and the exultation of your beloved poet1 in its life-- ,quantus ,athos1 aut quantus ,eryx1 aut ipse coruscis ,quum fremit ilicibus quantus1 gaudetque nivali ,vertice1 se attollens pater ,apenninus ad auras4 ,,dora4 ,you must translate for us mere housekeepers1 please-- whatever the carekeepers may know about it4 ,,may4 ,i'll try then to8 ,l4 ,no ,dryden is a far way worse than nothing1 and nobody will do ,you can't translate it4 ,but this is all you need know1 that the lines are full of a passionate sense of the ,apennines' fatherhood1 or protecting power over ,italy2 and of sympathy with1 their joy in their snowy strength in heaven1 and with the same joy1 shuddering through all the leaves of their forests4 ,,mary4 ,yes1 that is a difference indeed1 but then1 you know1 one can't help feeling that it is fanciful4 ,it is very delightful to imagine the mountains to be alive2 but then1--are they alive8 ,l4 ,it seems to me1 on the whole1 ,mary1 that the feelings of the purest and most mightily passioned human souls are likely to be the truest4 ,not1 indeed1 if they do not desire to know the truth1 or blind themselves to it that they may please themselves with passion2 for then they are no longer pure3 but if1 continually seeking and accepting the truth as far as it is discernible1 they trust their ,maker for the integrity of the instincts4 ,he has gifted them with1 and rest in the sense of a higher truth which they cannot demonstrate1 ,i think they will be most in the right1 so4 ,,dora and ,,jessie 7clapping their hands74 ,then we really may believe that the mountains are living8 ,l4 ,you may at least earnestly believe that the presence of the spirit which culminates in your own life1 shows itself in dawning1 wherever the dust of the earth begins to assume any orderly and lovely state4 ,you will find it impossible to separate this idea of gradated manifestation from that of the vital power4 ,things are not either wholly alive1 or wholly dead4 ,they are less or more alive4 ,take the nearest1 most easily examined instance--the life of a flower4 ,notice what a different degree and kind of life there is in the calyx and the corolla4 ,the calyx is nothing but the swaddling clothes of the flower2 the child-blossom is bound up in it1 hand and foot2 guarded in it1 restrained by it1 till the time of birth4 ,the shell is hardly more subordinate to the germ in the egg1 than the calyx to the blossom4 ,it bursts at last2 but it never lives as the corolla does4 ,it may fall at the moment its task is fulfilled1 as in the poppy2 or wither gradually1 as in the buttercup2 or persist in a ligneous apathy1 after the flower is dead1 as in the rose2 or harmonize itself so as to share in the aspect of the real flower1 as in the lily2 but it never shares in the corolla's bright passion of life4 ,and the gradations which thus exist between the different members of organic creatures1 exist no less between the different ranges of organism4 ,we know no higher or more energetic life than our own2 but there seems to me this great good in the idea of gradation of life--it admits the idea of a life above us1 in other creatures1 as much nobler than ours1 as ours is nobler than that of the dust4 ,,mary4 ,i am glad you have said that2 for ,i know ,violet and ,lucilla and ,may want to ask you something2 indeed1 we all do2 only you frightened ,violet so about the anthill1 that she can't say a word2 and ,may is afraid of your teasing her1 too3 but ,i know they are wondering why you are always telling them about heathen gods and goddesses1 as if you half believed in them2 and you represent them as good2 and then we see there is really a kind of truth in the stories about them2 and we are all puzzled3 and1 in this1 we cannot even make our difficulty quite clear to ourselves2--it would be such a long confused question1 if we could ask you all we should like to know4 ,l4 ,nor is it any wonder1 ,mary2 for this is indeed the longest1 and the most wildly confused question that reason can deal with2 but ,i will try to give you1 quickly1 a few clear ideas about the heathen gods1 which you may follow out afterwards1 as your knowledge increases4 ,every heathen conception of deity in which you are likely to be interested1 has three distinct characters3-- ,i4 ,it has a physical character4 ,it represents some of the great powers or objects of nature--sun or moon1 or heaven1 or the winds1 or the sea4 ,and the fables first related about each deity represent1 figuratively1 the action or the natural power which it represents2 such as the rising and setting of the sun1 the tides of the sea1 and so on4 ,,ii4 ,it has an ethical character1 and represents1 in its history1 the moral dealings of ,god with man4 ,thus ,apollo is first1 physically1 the sun contending with darkness2 but morally1 the power of divine life contending with corruption4 ,athena is1 physically1 the air2 morally1 the breathing of the divine spirit of wisdom4 ,neptune is1 physically1 the sea2 morally1 the supreme power of agitating passion2 and so on4 ,,iii4 ,it has1 at last1 a personal character2 and is realized in the minds of its worshipers as a living spirit1 with whom men may speak face to face1 as a man speaks to his friend4 ,now it is impossible to define exactly1 how far1 at any period of a national religion1 these three ideas are mingled2 or how far one prevails over the other4 ,each inquirer usually takes up one of these ideas1 and pursues it1 to the exclusion of the others2 no impartial effort seems to have been made to discern the real state of the heathen imagination in its successive phases4 ,for the question is not at all what a mythological figure meant in its origin2 but what it became in each subsequent mental development of the nation inheriting the thought4 ,exactly in proportion to the mental and moral insight of any race1 its mythological figures mean more to it1 and become more real4 ,an early and savage race means nothing more 7because it has nothing more to mean7 by its ,apollo1 than the sun2 while a cultivated ,greek means every operation of divine intellect and justice4 ,the ,neith1 of ,egypt1 meant1 physically1 little more than the blue of the air2 but the ,greek1 in a climate of alternate storm and calm1 represented the wild fringes of the storm-cloud by the serpents of her aegis2 and the lightning and cold of the highest thunderclouds1 by the ,gorgon on her shield3 while morally1 the same types represented to him the mystery and changeful terror of knowledge1 as her spear and helm its ruling and defensive power4 ,and no study can be more interesting1 or more useful to you1 than that of the different meanings which have been created by great nations1 and great poets1 out of mythological figures given them1 at first1 in utter simplicity4 ,but when we approach them in their third1 or personal1 character 7and1 for its power over the whole national mind1 this is far the leading one71 we are met at once by questions which may well put all of you at pause4 ,were they idly imagined to be real beings8 and did they so usurp the place of the true ,god8 ,or were they actually real beings1--evil spirits1--leading men away from the true ,god8 ,or is it conceivable that they might have been real beings1--good spirits1--entrusted with some message from the true ,god8 ,these were the questions you wanted to ask2 were they not1 ,lucilla8 ,,lucilla4 ,yes1 indeed4 ,l4 ,well1 ,lucilla1 the answer will much depend upon the clearness of your faith in the personality of the spirits which are described in the book of your own religion2--their personality1 observe1 as distinguished from merely symbolical visions4 ,for instance1 when ,jeremiah has the vision of the seething pot with its mouth to the north1 you know that this which he sees is not a real thing2 but merely a significant dream4 ,also1 when ,zachariah sees the speckled horses among the myrtle trees in the bottom1 you still may suppose the vision symbolical2--you do not think of them as real spirits1 like ,pegasus1 seen in the form of horses4 ,but when you are told of the four riders in the ,apocalypse1 a distinct sense of personality begins to force itself upon you4 ,and though you might1 in a dull temper1 think that 7for one instance of all7 the fourth rider on the pale horse was merely a symbol of the power of death1--in your stronger and more earnest moods you will rather conceive of him as a real and living angel4 ,and when you look back from the vision of the ,apocalypse to the account of the destruction of the ,egyptian first-born1 and of the army of ,sennacherib1 and again to ,david's vision at the threshing floor of ,araunah1 the idea of personality in this death-angel becomes entirely defined1 just as in the appearance of the angels to ,abraham1 ,manoah1 or ,mary4 ,now1 when you have once consented to this idea of a personal spirit1 must not the question instantly follow3 ,does this spirit exercise its functions towards one race of men only1 or towards all men8 ,was it an angel of death to the ,jew only1 or to the ,gentile also8 ,you find a certain ,divine agency made visible to a ,king of ,israel1 as an armed angel1 executing vengeance1 of which one special purpose was to lower his kingly pride4 ,you find another 7or perhaps the same7 agency1 made visible to a ,christian prophet as an angel standing in the sun1 calling to the birds that fly under heaven to come1 that they may eat the flesh of kings4 ,is there anything impious in the thought that the same agency might have been expressed to a ,greek king1 or ,greek seer1 by similar visions8--that this figure1 standing in the sun1 and armed with the sword1 or the bow 7whose arrows were drunk with blood71 and exercising especially its power in the humiliation of the proud1 might1 at first1 have been called only ,destroyer1 and afterwards1 as the light1 or sun1 of justice1 was recognized in the chastisement1 called also ,physician or ,healer8 ,if you feel hesitation in admitting the possibility of such a manifestation1 ,i believe you will find it is caused1 partly indeed by such trivial things as the difference to your ear between ,greek and ,english terms2 but1 far more1 by uncertainty in your own mind respecting the nature and truth of the visions spoken of in the ,bible4 ,have any of you intently examined the nature of your belief in them8 ,you1 for instance1 ,lucilla1 who think often1 and seriously1 of such things8 ,,lucilla4 ,no2 ,i never could tell what to believe about them4 ,i know they must be true in some way or other2 and ,i like reading about them4 ,l4 ,yes2 and ,i like reading about them too1 ,lucilla2 as ,i like reading other grand poetry4 ,but1 surely1 we ought both to do more than like it8 ,will ,god be satisfied with us1 think you1 if we read ,his words1 merely for the sake of an entirely meaningless poetical sensation8 ,,lucilla4 ,but do not the people who give themselves to seek out the meaning of these things1 often get very strange1 and extravagant8 ,l4 ,more than that1 ,lucilla4 ,they often go mad4 ,that abandonment of the mind to religious theory1 or contemplation1 is the very thing ,i have been pleading with you against4 ,i never said you should set yourself to discover the meanings2 but you should take careful pains to understand them1 so far as they are clear2 and you should always accurately ascertain the state of your mind about them4 ,i want you never to read merely for the pleasure of fancy2 still less as a formal religious duty 7else you might as well take to repeating ,paters at once2 for it is surely wiser to repeat one thing we understand1 than read a thousand which we cannot74 ,either1 therefore1 acknowledge the passages to be1 for the present1 unintelligible to you2 or else determine the sense in which you at present receive them2 or1 at all events1 the different senses between which you clearly see that you must choose4 ,make either your belief1 or your difficulty1 definite2 but do not go on1 all through your life1 believing nothing intelligently1 and yet supposing that your having read the words of a divine book must give you the right to despise every religion but your own4 ,i assure you1 strange as it may seem1 our scorn of ,greek tradition depends1 not on our belief1 but our disbelief1 of our own traditions4 ,we have1 as yet1 no sufficient clue to the meaning of either2 but you will always find that1 in proportion to the earnestness of our own faith1 its tendency to accept a spiritual personality increases3 and that the most vital and beautiful ,christian temper rests joyfully in its conviction of the multitudinous ministry of living angels1 infinitely varied in rank and power4 ,you all know one expression of the purest and happiest form of such faith1 as it exists in modern times1 in ,richter's lovely illustrations of the ,lord's ,prayer4 ,the real and living death-angel1 girt as a pilgrim1 for journey1 and softly crowned with flowers1 beckons at the dying mother's door2 child-angels sit talking face to face with mortal children1 among the flowers2-- hold them by their little coats1 lest they fall on the stairs2 whisper dreams of heaven to them1 leaning over their pillows2 carry the sound of the church bells for them far through the air2 and even descending lower in service1 fill little cups with honey1 to hold out to the weary bee4 ,by the way1 ,lily1 did you tell the other children that story about your little sister1 and ,alice1 and the sea8 ,,lily4 ,i told it to ,alice1 and to ,miss ,dora4 ,i don't think ,i did to anybody else4 ,i thought it wasn't worth4 ,l4 ,we shall think it worth a great deal now1 ,lily1 if you will tell it us4 ,how old is ,dotty1 again8 ,i forgot4 ,,lily4 ,she is not quite three2 but she has such odd little old ways1 sometimes4 ,l4 ,and she was very fond of ,alice8 ,,lily4 ,yes2 ,alice was so good to her always6 ,l4 ,and so when ,alice went away8 ,,lily4 ,oh1 it was nothing1 you know1 to tell about2 only it was strange at the time4 ,l4 ,well2 but ,i want you to tell it4 ,,lily4 ,the morning after ,alice had gone1 ,dotty was very sad and restless when she got up2 and went about1 looking into all the corners1 as if she could find ,alice in them1 and at last she came to me1 and said1 ,is ,alie gone over the great sea8 ,and ,i said1 ,yes1 she is gone over the great1 deep sea1 but she will come back again some day4 ,then ,dotty looked round the room2 and ,i had just poured some water out into the basin2 and ,dotty ran to it1 and got up on a chair1 and dashed her hands through the water1 again and again2 and cried1 ,oh1 deep1 deep sea6 send little ,alie back to me4 ,l4 ,isn't that pretty1 children8 ,there's a dear little heathen for you6 ,the whole heart of ,greek mythology is in that2 the idea of a personal being in the elemental power2--of its being moved by prayer2--and of its presence everywhere1 making the broken diffusion of the element sacred4 ,now1 remember1 the measure in which we may permit ourselves to think of this trusted and adored personality1 in ,greek1 or in any other1 mythology1 as conceivably a shadow of truth1 will depend on the degree in which we hold the ,greeks1 or other great nations1 equal1 or inferior1 in privilege and character1 to the ,jews1 or to ourselves4 ,if we believe that the great ,father would use the imagination of the ,jew as an instrument by which to exalt and lead him2 but the imagination of the ,greek only to degrade and mislead him3 if we can suppose that real angels were sent to minister to the ,jews and to punish them2 but no angels1 or only mocking spectra of angels1 or even devils in the shapes of angels1 to lead ,lycurgus and ,leonidas from desolate cradle to hopeless grave3--and if we can think that it was only the influence of specters1 or the teaching of demons1 which issued in the making of mothers like ,cornelia1 and of sons like ,cleobis and ,bito1 we may1 of course1 reject the heathen ,mythology in our privileged scorn3 but1 at least1 we are bound to examine strictly by what faults of our own it has come to pass1 that the ministry of real angels among ourselves is occasionally so ineffectual1 as to end in the production of ,cornelias who entrust their child-jewels to ,charlotte ,winsors for the better keeping of them2 and of sons like that one who1 the other day1 in ,france1 beat his mother to death with a stick2 and was brought in by the jury1 guilty1 with extenuating circumstances4 ,,may4 ,was that really possible8 ,l4 ,yes1 my dear4 ,i am not sure that ,i can lay my hand on the reference to it 7and ,i should not have said the other day--it was a year or two ago71 but you may depend on the fact2 and ,i could give you many like it1 if ,i chose4 ,there was a murder done in ,russia1 very lately1 on a traveler4 ,the murderess's little daughter was in the way1 and found it out1 somehow4 ,her mother killed her1 too1 and put her into the oven4 ,there is a peculiar horror about the relations between parent and child1 which are being now brought about by our variously degraded forms of ,european white slavery4 ,here is one reference1 ,i see1 in my notes on that story of ,cleobis and ,bito2 though ,i suppose ,i marked this chiefly for its quaintness1 and the beautifully ,christian names of the sons2 but it is a good instance of the power of the ,king of the ,valley of ,diamonds ,footnote3 ,notes vi4 among us4 ,in ,galignani of ,july #ba-bb1 #ahfb1 is reported a trial of a farmer's son in the department of the ,yonne4 ,the father1 two years ago1 at ,malay le ,grand1 gave up his property to his two sons1 on condition of being maintained by them4 ,simon fulfilled his agreement1 but ,pierre would not4 ,the tribunal of ,sens condemns ,pierre to pay eighty-four francs a year to his father4 ,pierre replies1 he would rather die than pay it4 ,actually1 returning home1 he throws himself into the river1 and the body is not found till next day4 ,,mary4 ,but--but--,i can't tell what you would have us think4 ,do you seriously mean that the ,greeks were better than we are2 and that their gods were real angels8 ,l4 ,no1 my dear4 ,i mean only that we know1 in reality1 less than nothing of the dealings of our ,maker with our fellow-men2 and can only reason or conjecture safely about them1 when we have sincerely humble thoughts of ourselves and our creeds4 ,we owe to the ,greeks every noble discipline in literature1 every radical principle of art2 and every form of convenient beauty in our household furniture and daily occupations of life4 ,we are unable1 ourselves1 to make rational use of half that we have received from them3 and1 of our own1 we have nothing but discoveries in science1 and fine mechanical adaptations of the discovered physical powers4 ,on the other hand1 the vice existing among certain classes1 both of the rich and poor1 in ,london1 ,paris1 and ,vienna1 could have been conceived by a ,spartan or ,roman of the heroic ages only as possible in a ,tartarus1 where fiends were employed to teach1 but not to punish1 crime4 ,it little becomes us to speak contemptuously of the religion of races to whom we stand in such relations2 nor do ,i think any man of modesty or thoughtfulness will ever speak so of any religion1 in which ,god has allowed one good man to die1 trusting4 ,the more readily we admit the possibility of our own cherished convictions being mixed with error1 the more vital and helpful whatever is right in them will become3 and no error is so conclusively fatal as the idea that ,god will not allow us to err1 though ,he has allowed all other men to do so4 ,there may be doubt of the meaning of other visions1 but there is none respecting that of the dream of ,st4 ,peter2 and you may trust the ,rock of the ,church's ,foundation for true interpreting1 when he learned from it that1 in every nation1 he that feareth ,god and worketh righteousness1 is accepted with ,him4 ,see that you understand what that righteousness means2 and set hand to it stoutly3 you will always measure your neighbors' creed kindly1 in proportion to the substantial fruits of your own4 ,do not think you will ever get harm by striving to enter into the faith of others1 and to sympathize1 in imagination1 with the guiding principles of their lives4 ,so only can you justly love them1 or pity them1 or praise4 ,by the gracious effort you will double1 treble--nay1 indefinitely multiply1 at once the pleasure1 the reverence1 and the intelligence with which you read3 and1 believe me1 it is wiser and holier1 by the fire of your own faith to kindle the ashes of expired religions1 than to let your soul shiver and stumble among their graves1 through the gathering darkness1 and communicable cold4 ,,mary 7after some pause74 ,we shall all like reading ,greek history so much better after this6 but it has put everything else out of our heads that we wanted to ask4 ,l4 ,i can tell you one of the things2 and ,i might take credit for generosity in telling you2 but ,i have a personal reason--,lucilla's verse about the creation4 ,,dora4 ,oh1 yes--yes2 and its pain together1 until now4 ,l4 ,i call you back to that1 because ,i must warn you against an old error of my own4 ,somewhere in the fourth volume of ,modern ,painters1 ,i said that the earth seemed to have passed through its highest state3 and that1 after ascending by a series of phases1 culminating in its habitation by man1 it seems to be now gradually becoming less fit for that habitation4 ,,mary4 ,yes1 ,i remember4 ,l4 ,i wrote those passages under a very bitter impression of the gradual perishing of beauty from the loveliest scenes which ,i knew in the physical world2--not in any doubtful way1 such as ,i might have attributed to loss of sensation in myself--but by violent and definite physical action2 such as the filling up of the ,lac de ,chede by landslips from the ,rochers des ,fiz2--the narrowing of the ,lake ,lucerne by the gaining delta of the stream of the ,muotta- ,thal1 which1 in the course of years1 will cut the lake into two1 as that of ,brientz has been divided from that of ,thun2--the steady diminishing of the glaciers north of the ,alps1 and still more1 of the sheets of snow on their southern slopes1 which supply the refreshing streams of ,lombardy3--the equally steady increase of deadly maremma round ,pisa and ,venice2 and other such phenomena1 quite measurably traceable within the limits even of short life1 and unaccompanied1 as it seemed1 by redeeming or compensatory agencies4 ,i am still under the same impression respecting the existing phenomena2 but ,i feel more strongly1 every day1 that no evidence to be collected within historical periods can be accepted as any clue to the great tendencies of geological change2 but that the great laws which never fail1 and to which all change is subordinate1 appear such as to accomplish a gradual advance to lovelier order1 and more calmly1 yet more deeply1 animated ,rest4 ,nor has this conviction ever fastened itself upon me more distinctly1 than during my endeavor to trace the laws which govern the lowly framework of the dust4 ,for1 through all the phases of its transition and dissolution1 there seems to be a continual effort to raise itself into a higher state2 and a measured gain1 through the fierce revulsion and slow renewal of the earth's frame1 in beauty1 and order1 and permanence4 ,the soft white sediments of the sea draw themselves1 in process of time1 into smooth knots of sphered symmetry2 burdened and strained under increase of pressure1 they pass into a nascent marble2 scorched by fervent heat1 they brighten and blanch into the snowy rock of ,paros and ,carrara4 ,the dark drift of the inland river1 or stagnant slime of inland pool and lake1 divides1 or resolves itself as it dries1 into layers of its several elements2 slowly purifying each by the patient withdrawal of it from the anarchy of the mass in which it was mingled4 ,contracted by increasing drought1 till it must shatter into fragments1 it infuses continually a finer ichor into the opening veins1 and finds in its weakness the first rudiments of a perfect strength4 ,rent at last1 rock from rock1 nay1 atom from atom1 and tormented in lambent fire1 it knits1 through the fusion1 the fibers of a perennial endurance2 and1 during countless subsequent centuries1 declining1 or1 rather let me say1 rising1 to repose1 finishes the infallible luster of its crystalline beauty1 under harmonies of law which are wholly beneficent1 because wholly inexorable4 7,the children seem pleased1 but more inclined to think over these matters than to talk47 ,l4 7after giving them a little time74 ,mary1 ,i seldom ask you to read anything out of books of mine2 but there is a passage about the ,law of ,help1 which ,i want you to read to the children now1 because it is of no use merely to put it in other words for them4 ,you know the place ,i mean1 do not you8 ,,mary4 ,yes 7presently finding it72 where shall ,i begin8 ,l4 ,here1 but the elder ones had better look afterwards at the piece which comes just before this4 ,,mary 7reads7 ,a pure or holy state of anything is that in which all its parts are helpful or consistent4 ,the highest and first law of the universe1 and the other name of life1 is therefore1 'help'4 ,the other name of death is 'separation'4 ,government and cooperation are in all things1 and eternally1 the laws of life4 ,anarchy and competition1 eternally1 and in all things1 the laws of death4 ,perhaps the best1 though the most familiar1 example we could take of the nature and power of consistence1 will be that of the possible changes in the dust we tread on4 ,exclusive of animal decay1 we can hardly arrive at a more absolute type of impurity1 than the mud or slime of a damp1 over trodden path1 in the outskirts of a manufacturing town4 ,i do not say mud of the road1 because that is mixed with animal refuse1 but take merely an ounce or two of the blackest slime of a beaten footpath1 on a rainy day1 near a manufacturing town4 ,that slime we shall find in most cases composed of clay 7or brickdust1 which is burnt clay71 mixed with soot1 a little sand and water4 ,all these elements are at helpless war with each other1 and destroy reciprocally each other's nature and power competing and fighting for place at every tread of your foot1 sand squeezing out clay1 and clay squeezing out water1 and soot meddling everywhere1 and defiling the whole4 ,let us suppose that this ounce of mud is left in perfect rest1 and that its elements gather together1 like to like1 so that their atoms may get into the closest relations possible4 ,let the clay begin4 ,ridding itself of all foreign substance1 it gradually becomes a white earth1 already very beautiful1 and fit1 with help of congealing fire1 to be made into finest porcelain1 and painted on1 and be kept in kings' palaces4 ,but such artificial consistence is not its best4 ,leave it still quiet1 to follow its own instinct of unity1 and it becomes1 not only white but clear2 not only clear1 but hard2 nor only clear and hard1 but so set that it can deal with light in a wonderful way1 and gather out of it the loveliest blue rays only1 refusing the rest4 ,we call it then a sapphire4 ,such being the consummation of the clay1 we give similar permission of quiet to the sand4 ,it also becomes1 first1 a white earth2 then proceeds to grow clear and hard1 and at last arranges itself in mysterious1 infinitely fine parallel lines1 which have the power of reflecting1 not merely the blue rays1 but the blue1 green1 purple1 and red rays1 in the greatest beauty in which they can be seen through any hard material whatsoever4 ,we call it then an opal4 ,in next order the soot sets to work4 ,it cannot make itself white at first2 but1 instead of being discouraged1 tries harder and harder2 and comes out clear at last2 and the hardest thing in the world3 and for the blackness that it had1 obtains in exchange the power of reflecting all the rays of the sun at once1 in the vividest blaze that any solid thing can shoot4 ,we call it then a diamond4 ,last of all1 the water purifies1 or unites itself2 contented enough if it only reach the form of a dewdrop3 but if we insist on its proceeding to a more perfect consistence1 it crystallizes into the shape of a star4 ,and1 for the ounce of slime which we had by political economy of competition1 we have1 by political economy of co-operation1 a sapphire1 an opal1 and a diamond1 set in the midst of a star of snow4 ,l4 ,i have asked you to hear that1 children1 because1 from all that we have seen in the work and play of these past days1 ,i would have you gain at least one grave and enduring thought4 ,the seeming trouble1--the unquestionable degradation1--of the elements of the physical earth1 must passively wait the appointed time of their repose1 or their restoration4 ,it can only be brought about for them by the agency of external law4 ,but if1 indeed1 there be a nobler life in us than in these strangely moving atoms2--if1 indeed1 there is an eternal difference between the fire which inhabits them1 and that which animates us1--it must be shown1 by each of us in his appointed place1 not merely in the patience1 but in the activity of our hope2 not merely by our desire1 but our labor1 for the time when the ,dust of the generations of men shall be confirmed for foundations of the gates of the city of ,god4 ,the human clay1 now trampled and despised1 will not be1--cannot be1-- knit into strength and light by accident or ordinances of unassisted fate4 ,by human cruelty and iniquity it has been afflicted2--by human mercy and justice it must be raised3 and1 in all fear or questioning of what is or is not1 the real message of creation1 or of revelation1 you may assuredly find perfect peace1 if you are resolved to do that which your ,lord has plainly required1--and content that ,he should indeed require no more of you1--than to do ,justice1 to love ,mercy1 and to walk humbly with ,him4 ,,notes4 ,,note ,i4 ,page #bf4 ,that third pyramid of hers4 ,,throughout the dialogues1 it must be observed that ,sibyl is addressed 7when in play7 as having once been the ,cumaean ,sibyl2 and ,egypt as having been ,queen ,nitocris1--the ,cinderella and the greatest heroine and beauty of ,egyptian story4 ,the ,egyptians called her ,neith the ,victorious 7,nitocris71 and the ,greeks ,face of the ,rose 7,rhodope74 ,chaucer's beautiful conception of ,cleopatra in the ,legend of ,good ,women1 is much more founded on the traditions of her than on those of ,cleopatra2 and1 especially in its close1 modified by ,herodotus's terrible story of the death of ,nitocris1 which1 however1 is mythologically nothing more than a part of the deep monotonous ancient dirge for the fulfillment of the earthly destiny of ,beauty3 ,she cast herself into a chamber full of ashes4 ,i believe this ,queen is now sufficiently ascertained to have either built1 or increased to double its former size1 the third pyramid of ,gizeh3 and the passage following in the text refers to an imaginary endeavor1 by the ,old ,lecturer and the children together1 to make out the description of that pyramid in the #afgth page of the second volume of ,bunsen's ,egypt's ,place in ,universal ,history--ideal endeavor1--which ideally terminates as the ,old ,lecturer's real endeavors to the same end always have terminated4 ,there are1 however1 valuable notes respecting ,nitocris at page #baj of the same volume3 but the ,early ,egyptian ,history for the ,young1 by the author of ,sidney ,gray1 contains1 in a pleasant form1 as much information as young readers will usually need4 ,,note ,,ii4 ,page #bg4 ,pyramid of ,asychis8 ,,this pyramid1 in mythology1 divides with the ,tower of ,babel the shame1 or vain glory1 of being presumptuously1 and first among great edifices1 built with brick for stone4 ,this was the inscription on it1 according to ,herodotus3 ,despise me not1 in comparing me with the pyramids of stone2 for ,i have the pre-eminence over them1 as far as ,jupiter has pre- eminence over the gods4 ,for1 striking with staves into the pool1 men gathered the clay which fastened itself to the staff1 and kneaded bricks out of it1 and so made me4 ,the word ,i have translated kneaded is literally drew2 in the sense of drawing1 for which the ,latins used duco2 and thus gave us our ductile in speaking of dead clay1 and ,duke1 ,doge1 or leader1 in speaking of living clay4 ,as the asserted pre-eminence of the edifice is made1 in this inscription1 to rest merely on the quantity of labor consumed in it1 this pyramid is considered1 in the text1 as the type1 at once1 of the base building1 and of the lost labor1 of future ages1 so far at least as the spirits of measured and mechanical effort deal with it2 but ,neith1 exercising her power upon it1 makes it a type of the work of wise and inspired builders4 ,,note ,,iii4 ,page #bi4 ,the ,greater ,pthah4 ,,it is impossible1 as yet1 to define with distinctness the personal agencies of the ,egyptian deities4 ,they are continually associated in function1 or hold derivative powers1 or are related to each other in mysterious triads1 uniting always symbolism of physical phenomena with real spiritual power4 ,i have endeavored partly to explain this in the text of the tenth ,lecture here1 it is only necessary for the reader to know that the ,greater ,pthah more or less represents the formative power of order and measurement he always stands on a four-square pedestal1 the ,egyptian cubit1 metaphorically used as the hieroglyphic for truth1 his limbs are bound together1 to signify fixed stability1 as of a pillar2 he has a measuring-rod in his hand1 and at ,philas1 is represented as holding an egg on a potter's wheel2 but ,i do not know if this symbol occurs in older sculptures4 ,his usual title is the ,lord of ,truth4 ,others1 very beautiful ,king of the ,two ,worlds1 of ,gracious ,countenance1 ,superintendent of the ,great ,abode1 etc41 are given by ,mr4 ,birch in ,arundale's ,gallery of ,antiquities1 which ,i suppose is the book of best authority easily accessible4 ,for the full titles and utterances of the gods1 ,rosellini is as yet the only--and ,i believe1 still a very questionable--authority1 and ,arundale's little book1 excellent in the text1 has this great defect1 that its drawings give the statues invariably a ludicrous or ignoble character ,readers who have not access to the originals must be warned against this frequent fault in modern illustration 7especially existing also in some of the painted casts of ,gothic and ,norman work at the ,crystal ,palace74 ,it is not owing to any willful want of veracity3 the plates in ,arundale's book are laboriously faithful3 but the expressions of both face and body in a figure depend merely on emphasis of touch1 and1 in barbaric art most draughtsmen emphasize what they plainly see--the barbarism1 and miss conditions of nobleness1 which they must approach the monument in a different temper before they will discover and draw with great subtlety before they can express4 ,the character of the ,lower ,pthah1 or perhaps ,i ought rather to say1 of ,pthah in his lower office1 is sufficiently explained in the text of the third ,lecture1 only the reader must be warned that the ,egyptian symbolism of him by the beetle was not a scornful one1 it expressed only the idea of his presence in the first elements of life4 ,but it may not unjustly be used1 in another sense1 by us1 who have seen his power in new development1 and1 even as it was1 ,i cannot conceive that the ,egyptians should have regarded their beetle headed image of him 7,champollion1 ,pantheon1 p4 #ab71 without some occult scorn4 ,it is the most painful of all their types of any beneficent power1 and even among those of evil influences1 none can be compared with it1 except its opposite1 the tortoise headed demon of indolence4 ,pasht 7p4 #bg1 line #i7 is connected with the ,greek ,artemis1 especially in her offices of judgment and vengeance4 ,she is usually lioness headed1 sometimes cat headed1 her attributes seeming often trivial or ludicrous unless their full meaning is known1 but the inquiry is much too wide to be followed here4 ,the cat was sacred to her1 or rather to the sun1 and secondarily to her4 ,she is alluded to in the text because she is always the companion of ,pthah 7called the beloved of ,pthah1 it may be as ,judgment1 demanded and longed for by ,truth71 and it may be well for young readers to have this fixed in their minds1 even by chance association4 ,there are more statues of ,pasht in the ,british ,museum than of any other ,egyptian deity2 several of them fine in workmanship1 nearly all in dark stone1 which may be1 presumably1 to connect her1 as the moon1 with the night2 and in her office of avenger1 with grief4 ,thoth 7p4 #ca1 line #ab71 is the ,recording ,angel of ,judgment2 and the ,greek ,hermes--,phre 7line #af71 is the ,sun4 ,neith is the ,egyptian spirit of divine wisdom1 and the ,athena of the ,greeks4 ,no sufficient statement of her many attributes1 still less of their meanings1 can be shortly given2 but this should be noted respecting the veiling of the ,egyptian image of her by vulture wings--that as she is1 physically1 the goddess of the air1 this bird1 the most powerful creature of the air known to the ,egyptians1 naturally became her symbol4 ,it had other significations2 but certainly this1 when in connection with ,neith4 ,as representing her1 it was the most important sign1 next to the winged sphere1 in ,egyptian sculpture2 and1 just as in ,homer1 ,athena herself guides her heroes into battle1 this symbol of wisdom1 giving victory1 floats over the heads of the ,egyptian ,kings4 ,the ,greeks1 representing the goddess herself in human form1 yet would not lose the power of the ,egyptian symbol1 and changed it into an angel of victory4 ,first seen in loveliness on the early coins of ,syracuse and ,leontium1 it gradually became the received sign of all conquest1 and the so called ,victory of later times1 which1 little by little1 loses its truth1 and is accepted by the moderns only as a personification of victory itself1--not as an actual picture of the living ,angel who led to victory4 ,there is a wide difference between these two conceptions1--all the difference between insincere poetry1 and sincere religion4 ,this ,i have also endeavored farther to illustrate in the tenth ,lecture1 there is however one part of ,athena's character which it would have been irrelevant to dwell upon there1 yet which ,i must not wholly leave unnoticed4 ,as the goddess of the air1 she physically represents both its beneficent calm1 and necessary tempest other storm deities 7as ,chrysaor and ,aeolus7 being invested with a subordinate and more or less malignant function1 which is exclusively their own1 and is related to that of ,athena as the power of ,mars is related to hers in war4 ,so also ,virgil makes her able to wield the lightning herself1 while ,juno cannot1 but must pray for the intervention of ,aeolus4 ,she has precisely the correspondent moral authority over calmness of mind1 and just anger4 ,she soothes ,achilles1 as she incites ,tydides2 her physical power over the air being always hinted correlatively4 ,she grasps ,achilles by his hair--as the wind would lift it--softly1 ,it fanned his cheek1 it raised his hair1 ,like a meadow gale in spring ,she does not merely turn the lance of ,mars from ,diomed2 but seizes it in both her hands1 and casts it aside1 with a sense of making it vain1 like chaff in the wind2--to the shout of ,achilles1 she adds her own voice of storm in heaven--but in all cases the moral power is still the principal one--most beautifully in that seizing of ,achilles by the hair1 which was the talisman of his life 7because he had vowed it to the ,sperchius if he returned in safety71 and which1 in giving at ,patroclus' tomb1 he1 knowingly1 yields up the hope of return to his country1 and signifies that he will die with his friend4 ,achilles and ,tydides are1 above all other heroes1 aided by her in war1 because their prevailing characters are the desire of justice1 united in both1 with deep affections2 and1 in ,achilles1 with a passionate tenderness1 which is the real root of his passionate anger ,ulysses is her favorite chiefly in her office as the goddess of conduct and design4 ,,note ,,iv4 ,page #ha4 ,geometrical limitations4 ,,it is difficult1 without a tedious accuracy1 or without full illustration1 to express the complete relations of crystalline structure1 which dispose minerals to take1 at different times1 fibrous1 massive1 or foliated forms2 and ,i am afraid this chapter will be generally skipped by the reader3 yet the arrangement itself will be found useful1 if kept broadly in mind2 and the transitions of state are of the highest interest1 if the subject is entered upon with any earnestness4 ,it would have been vain to add to the scheme of this little volume any account of the geometrical forms of crystals an available one1 though still far too difficult and too copious1 has been arranged by the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,mitchell1 for ,orr's ,circle of the ,sciences2 and1 ,i believe1 the nets of crystals1 which are therein given to be cut out with scissors and put prettily together1 will be found more conquerable by young ladies than by other students4 ,they should also1 when an opportunity occurs1 be shown1 at any public library1 the diagram of the crystallization of quartz referred to poles1 at p4 #h of ,cloizaux's ,manuel de ,mineralogie2 that they may know what work is2 and what the subject is4 ,with a view to more careful examination of the nascent states of silica1 ,i have made no allusion in this volume to the influence of mere segregation1 as connected with the crystalline power4 ,it has only been recently1 during the study of the breccias alluded to in page #ahf1 that ,i have fully seen the extent to which this singular force often modifies rocks in which at first its influence might hardly have been suspected2 many apparent conglomerates being in reality formed chiefly by segregation1 combined with mysterious brokenly-zoned structures1 like those of some malachites4 ,i hope some day to know more of these and several other mineral phenomena 7especially of those connected with the relative sizes of crystals71 which otherwise ,i should have endeavored to describe in this volume4 ,,note ,v4 ,page #afh4 ,st4 ,barbara4 ,i ,,would have given the legends of ,st4 ,barbara1 and ,st4 ,thomas1 if ,i had thought it always well for young readers to have everything at once told them which they may wish to know4 ,they will remember the stories better after taking some trouble to find them2 and the text is intelligible enough as it stands4 ,the idea of ,st4 ,barbara1 as there given1 is founded partly on her legend in ,peter de ,natahbus1 partly on the beautiful photograph of ,van ,eyck's picture of her at ,antwerp3 which was some time since published at ,lille4 ,,note ,,vi4 ,page #bbg4 ,king of the ,valley of ,diamonds4 ,,isabel interrupted the ,lecturer here1 and was briefly bid to hold her tongue2 which gave rise to some talk1 apart1 afterwards1 between ,l4 and ,sibyl1 of which a word or two may be perhaps advisably set down4 ,,sibyl4 ,we shall spoil ,isabel1 certainly1 if it don't mind3 ,i was glad you stopped her1 and yet sorry1 for she wanted so much to ask about the ,valley of ,diamonds again1 and she has worked so hard at it1 and made it nearly all out by herself4 ,she recollected ,elisha's throwing in the meal1 which nobody else did4 ,l4 ,but what did she want to ask8 ,,sibyl4 ,about the mulberry trees and the serpents2 we are all stopped by that4 ,won't you tell us what it means8 ,l4 ,now1 ,sibyl1 ,i am sure you1 who never explained yourself1 should be the last to expect others to do so4 ,i hate explaining myself4 ,,sibyl4 ,and yet how often you complain of other people for not saying what they meant4 ,how ,i have heard you growl over the three stone steps to purgatory1 for instance6 ,l4 ,yes2 because ,dante's meaning is worth getting at1 but mine matters nothing at least1 if ever ,i think it is of any consequence so ,i speak it as clearly as may be4 ,but you may make anything you like of the serpent forests ,i could have helped you to find out what they were1 by giving a little more detail1 but it would have been tiresome4 ,,sibyl4 ,it is much more tiresome not to find out ,tell us1 please1 as ,isabel says1 because we feel so stupid4 ,l4 ,there is no stupidity1 you could not possibly do more than guess at anything so vague4 ,but ,i think1 you1 ,sibyl1 at least1 might have recollected what first dyed the mulberry4 ,,sibyl4 ,so ,i did1 but that helped little1 ,i thought of ,dante's forest of suicides1 too1 but you would not simply have borrowed that4 ,l4 ,no6 ,if ,i had had strength to use it1 ,i should have stolen it1 to beat into another shape2 not borrowed it4 ,but that idea of souls in trees is as old as the world2 or at least1 as the world of man4 ,and ,i ,,did mean that there were souls in those dark branches1--the souls of all those who had perished in misery through the pursuit of riches1 and that the river was of their blood1 gathering gradually1 and flowing out of the valley4 ,then ,i meant the serpents for the souls of those who had lived carelessly and wantonly in their riches2 and who have all their sins forgiven by the world1 because they are rich3 and therefore they have seven crimson crested heads1 for the seven mortal sins2 of which they are proud3 and these1 and the memory and report of them1 are the chief causes of temptation to others1 as showing the pleasantness and absolving power of riches2 so that thus they are singing serpents4 ,and the worms are the souls of the common money getters and traffickers1 who do nothing but eat and spin3 and who gain habitually by the distress or foolishness of others 7as you see the butchers have been gaining out of the panic at the cattle plague1 among the poor71--so they are made to eat the dark leaves1 and spin1 and perish4 ,,sibyl4 ,and the souls of the great1 cruel1 rich people who oppress the poor1 and lend money to government to make unjust war1 where are they8 ,l4 ,they change into the ice1 ,i believe1 and are knit with the gold1 and make the grave dust of the valley ,i believe so1 at least1 for no one ever sees those souls anywhere4 7,,sibyl ceases questioning47 ,,isabel 7who has crept up to her side without any one seeing74 ,oh1 ,sibyl1 please ask him about the fireflies6 ,l4 ,what1 you there1 mousie6 ,no2 ,i won't tell either ,sibyl or you about the fireflies1 nor a word more about anything else you ought to be little fireflies yourselves1 and find your way in twilight by your own wits4 ,,isabel4 ,but you said they burned1 you know8 ,l4 ,yes2 and you may be fireflies that way too1 some of you1 before long1 though ,i did not mean that4 ,away with you1 children4 ,you have thought enough for to-day4 ,,note ,,to ,,second ,,edition ,sentence out of letter from ,may 7who is staying with ,isabel just now at ,cassel71 dated #aeth ,june1 #ahgg3-- ,i am reading the ,ethics with a nice ,irish girl who is staying here1 and she's just as puzzled as ,i've always been about the fireflies1 and we both want to know so much4--,please be a very nice old ,lecturer1 and tell us1 won't you8 ,well1 ,may1 you never were a vain girl2 so could scarcely guess that ,i meant them for the light1 unpursued vanities1 which yet blind us1 confused among the stars4 ,one evening1 as ,i came late into ,siena1 the fireflies were flying high on a stormy sirocco wind1--the stars themselves no brighter1 and all their host seeming1 at moments1 to fade as the insects faded4