ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF GOD 



In addition to the national and religious 

 affection inspired by certain rivers, lakes, or 

 other bodies of water, most of us have a more 

 personal and intimate memory of some far- 

 away brook or lake of our childhood some 

 gay little friendly brook, perhaps, that 

 played with us, whose winning ways made 

 us love all other brooks for its sake. Be- 

 ginning its tutelage with a child, such a 

 brook weaves a silver thread of poetry 

 through all his early musings, and long after 

 he has passed beyond the echo of its music 

 his homing heart follows its winding curves 

 over woodland ledge and meadow, as his feet 

 followed it in days that have passed into the 

 great river of years. It becomes at once a 

 memory and an inspiration. 



So essentially poetic is flowing water to 

 eye and ear, and so rich in its symbolic sug- 

 gestions, that always it seems to give a 

 gentle challenge to poets of all times: "I 

 sing sing, too, my little brothers." And 

 the challenge has been accepted by almost 

 every poet worthy of the name, from David 

 and Job to the least erected bard of our own 



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