"THE STORY OF MY HEART." 287 



for Nature, everything in her is anti-human. 

 Nothing in Nature cares for man. The earth 

 would let him perish, and would not trouble, 

 for his sake, to bring forth food or water. The 

 sun would scorch and burn him. He cannot 

 drink the sea. The wild creatures would 

 mangle and slay him. Diseases would rack 

 him. The very things which most he loves 

 live for themselves, and not for him. If all 

 mankind were to die to-morrow, Nature would 

 still go on, careless of his fate. There is no 

 spirit, no intelligence in Nature. And in the 

 events of human life, everything, he says, 

 happens by pure chance. No prudence in con- 

 duct, no wisdom or foresight, can effect any- 

 thing. The most trivial circumstance the 

 smallest accident is sufficient to upset the 

 deepest plan of the wisest mind. All things 

 happen by chance. This, then, is the melan- 

 choly outcome of all his passionate love of 

 Nature. It is to this conclusion that he has 

 been brought by his solitary communion with 

 Nature. Man is quite alone, he says, without 

 help and without hope of guidance. The 

 Deity but, then, what does he mean by a 



