RECUPERATION STRONGER THAN DECAY. 271 



there should be no pause, no halting in the onward march. 

 What are we that the earth should stand still at our bid- 

 ding, or pause to contemplate our tears ? Dust to dust is 

 the great law, but so long as a phoenix rises from the ashes 

 of decay, what right have we to murmur ? Time may deso- 

 late and destroy, but man can build up and beautify. True, 

 his works perish as he perishes, but new works and new men 

 are -rising forever to fill, and more than fill, the vacancies 

 and desolations of the past. Go ahead then, world ! Sweep 

 along, Progress ! Mow away, Time ! Tear down temple 

 and stronghold ; sweep away the marble palace and log- 

 house ! sweep away infancy and youth, manhood and old 

 age ; wipe out old memories, and pass the sponge over 

 cherished recollections. The energy and the ingenuity of 

 man are an over-match even for time. From the ruins of the 

 past, from the desolations of decay, new structures will rise, 

 and a new harvest, more abundant than the old, will spring 

 up from the stubble over which Time's sickle has passed. 

 Recuperation is a law stronger than decay, and it is written 

 all over the face of the earth." 



