FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 187 



XXXVI. 



I SUPPOSE it was fated that Pandora should 

 lift the cover from the box. We may wish 

 that she had sat upon it, or tumbled it into 

 the sea, or disposed of it in some other way, 

 but it is of no use. The box was to be 

 opened. That way lay the path of the race, 

 and take any by-road you might, you were 

 sure to come out upon the same track at last. 



But I think that the Greeks only had a 

 forecast of what might be, and that the box 

 was not really opened until very recently. 

 The ancients thought that they had puzzling 

 questions to deal with, but they were mis 

 taken. They might badger their brains 

 about &quot;Fixed fate, freewill, foreknowledge 

 absolute &quot; ; but these, being insoluble riddles 

 which they might take or leave, were simply 

 personal problems, as were most others with 

 which they had to deal. It was left to the 

 age of the printing press, steam, and electri 

 city, above all to the age of the &quot; walking 

 delegate,&quot; to propound puzzles which must 

 be dealt with if human society is to continue 



