THE UPLIFT 27 



The supreme characteristic of the 

 ocean, at least in its higher range of influ- 

 ence, is that it is "big enough." For it is 

 this spaciousness (in continuous exten- 

 sion) which enables the ocean to become 

 for men a usable sign of measureless dis- 

 tance. In the terse saying of Julius H. 

 Ward, "It calls forth the feeling of end- 

 less reach." 



Right here we come upon what, to 

 some students of nature anyway, is the 

 chief difference (aesthetic difference) be- 

 tween the sea and the mountains. It lies 

 in the direction of the reach. In the one 

 case the reach is out over the earth ; in the 

 other case the reach is up into the sky. 

 Suitably we might call one the terrestrial 

 outreach; the other the celestial uplift. 



Do we appreciate the value of an up- 

 ward direction in space? Do we under- 

 stand "the philosophy of the steeple"? 

 The gist of the matter can be brought out 

 and made emphatic, perhaps, in this way; 

 imagine a large, wild prairie, level-lined, 



