250 FRESH FIELDS 



summer sure. The wind blows this way and blows 

 that, but the great storms gyrate and travel in one 

 general direction. There is a wind of the globe that 

 never varies, and there is the breeze of the mountain 

 that is never two days alike. The local hurricane 

 moves the waters of the sea to a depth of but a 

 few feet, but the tidal impulse goes to the bottom. 

 Men and communities in this world are often in the 

 position of arctic explorers, who are making great 

 speed in a given direction while the ice-floe beneath 

 them is making greater speed in the opposite direc- 

 tion. This kind of progress has often befallen 

 political and ecclesiastical parties in this country. 

 Behind mood lies temperament ; back of the caprice 

 of will lies the fate of character; back of both is 

 the bias of family; back of that, the tyranny of 

 race; still deeper, the power of climate, of soil, of 

 geology, the whole physical and moral environment. 

 Still we are free men only so far as we rise above 

 these. We cannot abolish fate, but we can in a 

 measure utilize it. The projectile force of the bul- 

 let does not annul or suspend gravity; it uses it. 

 The floating vapor is just as true an illustration of 

 the law of gravity as the falling avalanche. 



Carlyle, I say, had sounded these depths that lie 

 beyond the region of will and choice, beyond the 

 sphere of man's moral accountability; but in life, 

 in action, in conduct, no man shall take shelter 

 here. One may summon his philosophy when he 

 is beaten in battle, and not till then. You shall 

 not shirk the hobbling Times to catch a ride on the 



