SHALL WE ACCEPT THE UNIVERSE? 



ship with her wind-sown seeds in order to be 

 sure that she hits the small swamp in one corner 

 of it. 



A stream of energy, not described by the ad- 

 jective "inexhaustible," bears the universe along, 

 and all forms of life, man with the rest, take their 

 chances amid its currents and its maelstroms. The 

 good Providence shows itself in the power of adap- 

 tation which all forms of life possess. Some forms of 

 sea-weed or sea-grass grow where the waves pound 

 the shore incessantly. How many frail marine crea- 

 tures are wrecked upon the shore, but how many 

 more are not wrecked! How many ships go down 

 in the sea, but how many more are wafted safely 

 over it! 



The Providence in Nature seems intent only on 

 playing the game, irrespective of the stakes, which to 

 us seem so important. Whatever the issue, Nature 

 is the winner. She cannot lose. Her beneficence is 

 wholesale. Her myriad forms of life are constantly 

 passing through "the curtain of fire" of her inor- 

 ganic forces, and the casualties are great, but the 

 majority get through. The assault goes on and will 

 ever go on. It is like a stream of water that is whole 

 and individual at every point, but fixed and stable 

 at no point. To play the game, to keep the currents 

 going — from the depths of sidereal space to the 

 shallow pool by the roadside; from the rise and fall 

 of nations, to the brief hour of the minute summer 



9 



