OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



IS there any theory, philosophy, or 

 creed, is there any system or cul- 

 ture, any formulated method able 

 to meet and satisfy each separate item 

 of this agitated pool of human life ? By 

 which they may be guided, by which 

 hope, by which look forward? Not a 

 mere illusion of the craving heart — 

 something real, as real as the solid 

 walls of fact against which, like drifted 

 seaweed, they are dashed; something 

 to give each separate personality sun- 

 shine and a flower in its own existence 

 now; something to shape this million- 

 handed labour to an end and outcome 

 that will leave more sunshine and more 

 flowers to those who must succeed? 

 Something real now, and not in the 

 spirit-land ; in this hour now, as I stand 

 and the sun burns. Can any creed, 

 philosophy, system, or culture endure 

 the test and remain unmolten in this 

 fierce focus of human life ? . . . Full well 



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