io8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Time and Dissolution vs. Thought and 

 Evolution. 



A friend took a long' pedestrian jour- 

 ney with me through the most rural 

 and picturesque part of the country. 

 We passed a deserted, dilapidated, de- 

 caying farmhouse. The gates were off 

 their hinges, most of the picket fence 

 was broken down, one of the barn 

 doors was off and the other swinging 

 by one hinge, the garden was smoth- 

 ered in weeds and the appearance of 

 the whole place was that of desolation. 



Said my friend, "Isn't it a pity that 

 this picturesque farmhouse and its 

 pleasing surroundings have been desert- 

 ed and neglected for so many years?" 

 Then he gave me a little history of the 

 place because he was acquainted with 

 that part of the country and knew the 

 sad story of this farm that once was in 

 good condition and prosperous. 



We travelled onward for a mile or 

 more and approached a thoroughly 

 modern farm with well painted out- 

 buildings, with a silo, with the fences 

 in good condition, and with all the 

 surroundings bearing the marks of 

 modern and intelligent cultivation. 



My friend said, "Mr has made a 



great transformation in the few years 

 during which he has been here. He is 

 a thinker and worker, and in addition 

 he has the facilities for developing the 

 farm." 



We travelled onward still, and my 

 friend, who is an atheist, began to 

 draw me into conversation on his fav- 

 orite subject. "It does seem wonder- 

 ful," he explained, "that the plants and 

 animals of our earth are so wonderful- 



ly developed and so well adapted to 

 their surroundings, but there was 

 plenty of time, you understand, to 

 bring about any number of changes. 

 Time will accomplish much if you have 

 enough of it. The improvements may 

 be extremely slow from century to cen- 

 tury, but if you have centuries enough 

 you can accomplish almost any degree 

 of perfection." 



"Perhaps so," I said, "but time, 

 plenty of it, alas ! too much of it 

 Drought only dissolution and decay to 

 that farmhouse that first attracted our 

 attention." 



"But then," he eagerly interrupted, 

 "that kind of time produces nothing 

 but dissolution and decay." 



"Oh, I see!" I exclaimed; "it re- 

 quires not time only, but intelligence 

 to produce a place like that second 

 one." 



"Yes, yes," he eagerly assented. 



And I said, "When you assent to 

 that, as you have done, don't you see 

 that you are 'begging the question,' and 

 throwing away your argument that, as 

 I understand it, development and pro- 

 gress can be caused by time alone, 

 without the influence of an Infinite In- 

 telligence to overrule and to direct? 

 You are no atheist. Be an atheist if 

 you are bold enough to take the risk 

 but don't be a fraud." 



This was a dream that I had last 

 night. I am dictating it to my steno- 

 grapher the first thing upon my arrival 

 at the office. I dreamed no more. Per- 

 haps you know more of an atheist's 

 mind and can help me finish the dream. 

 This old earth is evolving, it is improv- 



