OF EDUCATION 5 



think that everything is about to be lost when all is 

 to be gained. 



Is not the knowledge of truth progressive ? Is 

 there not a principle within us which, when once 

 awakened, craves for progress and cannot be satisfied 

 without it ? However great our progress, this urges 

 us on to still greater achievements, and there is no 

 reason to believe that our methods of carrying on 

 human industries will ever cease to be superseded or 

 improved. There can be no end to discoveries in 

 nature, for the great Architect conceals nothing. 

 Upon every natural object is written, by the Creator, 

 its history and its use. We may not always read 

 aright, for we live in the infancy of systematic in- 

 quiry. We are not satisfied with things as they were 

 thirty year ago. At that time only the favored few 

 could, for instance, possess the likeness of his nearest 

 friend, and that was made by the devious hand of 

 man. Behold the change! One of nature's forces now 

 does the work. That agent which darts forth from 

 world to world throughout immensity and, com- 

 manded by Omnipotence, lights up the universe, 

 marshals the elements into forms of utility and beauty, 

 and covers the hills and plains with waving grasses 

 and flowers of every hue. Under the directing hand 

 of the modern artist the agent that paints the rainbow 

 paints alike the pictures of friends and of scenery, 



