PREFACE 



AWHEEL may have many spokes, but can 

 have but one hub. So I may say of this vol- 

 ume of mine that there are many themes and 

 chapter-headings, but there is but one central 

 thought into which they all converge, and that is 

 that the universe is good, and that it is our rare 

 good fortune to form a part of it. As this collection 

 of essays does not aim to be a systematic treatise on 

 any one theme, but rather a series of sallies, excur- 

 sions, into the world of semi-philosophical specula- 

 tion, there is inevitably much repetition ; there may 

 even be some contradiction. But I have concluded 

 to let them stand, as I find myself an interested 

 spectator of the workings of my own mind when, in 

 following different roads, it arrives at the same 

 truth. As all roads lead to Rome, so in the realm in 

 which my mind works in this volume, all roads lead 

 to the conclusion that this is the best possible world, 

 and these people in it are the best possible people. 

 The heart of Nature is sound. I feel toward the 

 great Mother somewhat as a man does who takes 

 out a policy in an insurance company: he believes 

 the company is solvent and will meet its obligations. 

 I look upon the universe as solvent and worthy of 



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