THE ORDEAL B? FIRE. 35 



Thus fire and water, in their ever-varying operations, 

 have been the principal agencies by which Nature has 

 Wrought out the great physical results upon which we 

 gaze with a familiarity which causes us to forget that these 

 safe and solid foundations on which we build cities, and to 

 which we gain a title with hard-earned gold, are but the 

 ruins of pre-existing hills, and valleys, and plains, in which 

 are entombed the long-forgotten relics of the brute nations 

 which preceded us in the possession of the earth. 



