A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



would have destroyed itself long ago if there had 

 not been an iron hand which crushed down its 

 impertinence once every twenty-four hours and 

 said : c Nothingness, if you please, for seven 

 hours ; say your prayers and shut your eyes in 

 helplessness, and I will try and repair damages ?&quot; 



I must have laughed, not disrespectfully, but 

 with that kind of gleeful surprise that one experi 

 ences when he sees a Scripture quotation in a yel 

 low journal, for he said: 



&quot; It sounds fanciful to you. Let me tell you 

 that in my profession I have many a time come 

 face to face with the Benign Universal doing for 

 man what his individualism could not do for 

 itself. Just as soon as his self-determination was 

 suspended entirely, some kind of protective arm 

 seemed to wind itself around him. You never 

 saw a somnambulist walk on the dizzy edge of a 

 precipice, did you ? &quot; 



&quot; I congratulate my nerves that I never did.&quot; 



&quot;Well, I did. If we had recalled her to con 

 sciousness, she would have broken her neck. 

 You have probably seen a drunken man do 

 things that would have killed a sober man.&quot; 



&quot; True ; but I never felt that in the nature of 

 things one was safer when intoxicated than when 



D 



sober.&quot; 



&quot; It wasn t necessary to draw any such con 

 clusion. Because Nature takes pity on a drunken 

 man, you needn t imitate him. It is only neces 

 sary to perceive that back of the free and defiant 

 agent is another which cannot make itself operative 



154 



