vii. THE SWALLOW'S NEST. I ^ I 



will last many seasons, and may continue to be used 

 as a family mansion for several generations, needing 

 little or no repairs each spring. In this respect the 

 swallow's nest rebukes our undue haste to accomplish 

 our human tasks, our attempts to produce great results 

 with the least expenditure of time and labour. This 

 vice lies at the root of all our inferior and unstable 

 workmanship. The nations of old built slowly, and 

 they built as if for eternity. It is almost as difficult to 

 dig a stone out of an old Roman building as it was 

 to extract it from its original quarry. How different 

 from the houses which we construct with untempered 

 mortar, and hasty, careless workmanship, and which 

 consequently need continual repairs, are never satis- 

 factory, and hardly last out a single generation. 



The swallow's nest has a wise lesson for us in the 

 building of many other structures, mental and moral, as 

 well as material. To labour steadily and to wait 

 patiently is the precept which it enforces. Only by 

 slow and cautious degrees can any human effort reach 

 perfection. The secret of success is to bide our time, 

 and allow our work to settle and acquire the compact- 

 ness and solidity which mature consideration alone pro- 

 duces. Every day something should be attempted, 

 something done, by which to earn our night's repose. 

 Especially in the growth of the spiritual being, the forma- 

 tion of the Christian character, do we need to act upon 

 the swallow's motto of " Haste is slow." We must not 

 force our higher nature into premature or impatient de- 

 velopment lest it become weak and unstable. Like all 



