A Story of Conflict 



for destruction, but sometimes for modification, 

 altering its shape, making it larger or smaller, 

 rounding a curve here, adding a protuberance 

 there, giving finishing touches, and in the 

 end, if not from the beginning, acting also as 

 spoliator. 



But the work of building has not ceased ; it 

 never does cease. Through the ages it has gone 

 on, and it goes on yet. There are embryo 

 islands, perhaps embryo continents, being now 

 slowly fashioned in Ocean's workshops, not ready 

 for use. 



A great part of the work of land-building 

 takes place in darkness. It is carried on, not 

 merely from day to day, but from century to 

 century, never hasting, never pausing. The 

 materials are brought often from far distances, 

 not by men, but by streams, by rivers, by 

 glaciers, by ocean-waters ; and the weight of 

 those waters helps to weld the gathered materials 

 into a solid whole. 



Anybody who watches the results of even 

 one heavy downpour of rain on land may 

 gain some notion of what is going on every- 

 where. 



If your house has a soft- water tank, you can 

 hardly have failed to note how black the water 



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