ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF GOD 



made Eve poach on Edenic preserves and 

 still tempts her modern juvenile descend- 

 ants to know the worst about their dolls. 



The consideration of this interesting habit 

 of punching holes in the earth, however, is 

 only a mental vestibule to the theme in 

 hand, which is the earth itself, whose magic 

 properties might well stimulate a mental 

 boring much deeper than any a cane could 

 achieve. Yet despite its wondrous wizardry 

 in behalf of man, bird, and beast, what is 

 more scorned and ignored than the plain, 

 brown soil, trampled under foot of man? 

 Even our catch-word, "cheap as dirt," bears 

 witness to the popular misvaluation of one 

 of the greatest of Nature's miracles. Wear- 

 ing more gaudy vestments, made in 

 heaven, clouds and rainbows catch the 

 groundlings and even win the poet's praise 

 by the lure of distance and the coquetry of 

 evanescence, But the humble, steadfast soil 

 veils its virtues in plain, homely tints, and 

 wears a second heavier veil of familiarity, 

 which only the inward eye of wonder may 

 pierce. 



34 



