188 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



by I land the rising covey, and to sec tlio wild 

 duck and the pheasant bring out their young, 

 than to pull the fatal trigger. To watch a happy 

 bison calf now in the far West frisking round its 

 cow, w^ould j^lease me more than the chase and 

 combat with the bison bull ; and yet, as to strength 

 and activity, I cannot detect much failing, though 

 the close of a sportsman's life cannot be far off. 

 Of this I am perfectly sure, that year by year, 

 almost hour by hour, the great book of nature 

 yields fresh mysteries to the seeking mind, that 

 seem to have been unaccountably passed over; 

 perhaps in turning the 2)ages the leaves may have 

 adhered together, and thus the information has 

 been lost. If succeeding men, then, really wish to 

 find the truth, if they would divest ancient lore 

 of the tricks of the only men who had the power 

 to hand it down, as what they pleased, or served 

 the priestly purpose, let them seek the rock-bound 

 testimony braced in the bosom of the earth, sealed 

 under the ini])erishable pen of departed worlds : 

 a remaining record of the life that oiice rejoiced 

 in the same sun that Avarms us now. In these 

 terribly tenacious truths the assertions of priests 

 have nu part; tliere is iiotliing there that even 



