EAST AND WEST. 381 



wants require, influenced in some degree, of course, by the sur- 

 rounding country. 



We all anticipate that the valley of the Mississippi will be the 

 home, the happy home of millions and tens of millions of hu- 

 man beings. There, no doubt, the j. races as well as luxuries 

 of civilization will abound ; but it is not probable that the chief 

 abodes of art, of science, of intellectual labor, of inventive, 

 creative genius will 1 e there. 



But plains not only fail to nourish and strengthen the physi- 

 cal man by pure air and water, and an ever-pressing necessity 

 for labor, but they lack proper food for the intellectual man. 

 Where are the poets, born upon the plain, or the poets who 

 have sung of the plain. The plain is destitute of inspiration. 

 The inspiration common to all men has its root and support in 

 the feeling that we are in the presence of God. To be sure we 

 are in his presence always ; but there is no language of the 

 plain, it has no voice, it litters nothing, it reveals nothing, to 

 the mind or soul. In a flat country, a hill, however insignifi- 

 cant, is a relief. A few weeks ago, a friend standing by my 

 side in one of the level towns of the Old Colony, — and no part of 

 Massachusetts can be called a plain, — pointed with zeal to the 

 Miltoji hills, evidently gratified by the view, even at a distance, 

 of so trifling an elevation of land. 



It is difficult to say how far the operations of the mind are 

 self-acting. We are influenced by what is around us. The 

 sun, the moon, the planetary host, the myriads of stars, not 

 only perform their parts in the great system of celestial me- 

 chanics, but they perpetually invite and attract men to the 

 paths of science and religion. Paganism, or that form which 

 bids men adore the sun, is sincere worship, though its proper 

 object is unknown. 



Yet it is certain from this that we are so constituted as to 

 accept the instruction and influence of God's revelation in 

 nature. And what is true of the influence of other worlds and 

 systems, is in a degree true of the globe on which we dwell. A 

 single majestic tree, a forest, a cataract, a mountain, the ocean, 

 will often compel us to homage and adoration. So a stone, a 

 leaf, a shell, a flower, we know not why or how, stimulates a 

 mind so that it advances to new regions of science and heights 

 of learning. No part of the world is destitute of these teachers 



