102 



THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



the plush pile is produced, by the sharp knife of the 

 manufacturer passing over the woven and rugged threads 

 under heavy pressure. But what shears of Atropos cut 

 each individual thread of life in those smooth, soft, 

 rounded cushions of green and gold to the same size ? 

 How much has been sacrificed to gain that uniformity 

 of surface ! No single moss is allowed to grow at its 

 own sweet will, but is trimmed in its Procrustes' bed by 

 an inexorable law by the same law which has shaped 

 the crystals in the rock upon whose surface it grows. 

 Each individual is adapted to its own place in the 

 rnossy mound, diminishing in size from the centre 

 where the cushion is thickest to the edge where it is 

 thinnest ! The separate filaments, though independent 

 of each other, are subdued to the same spherical 

 obedience as the round dome of the full-foliaged tree 

 whose branches and twigs radiate from a common 

 central stem. We have the interpretation of this 

 peculiarity in the economy of the moss-tuft in the higher 

 world of man, where the same social law moulds the 

 tastes, characters, and habits of the individuals who 

 live together. They grow to one uniform likeness. 

 Should each individual insist upon having his mathe- 

 matically exact due, there can be no such thing as 

 general harmony or social life at all. Should each be 

 determined to stand upon his absolute rights, there will 

 be painful discord throughout the community ; but, on 

 the other hand, if each yields a little to his neighbour, 

 and circumscribes a little of his own individuality in 

 order to make room for his neighbour's, there will be an 



