THE TEXAN HUNTRESS. 341 



and that it was through such means that the material was to 

 be reached and elevated. That the laws of Mechanics were 

 the laws of the universe in dimuendo ! and that the hatreds, 

 the oppressions, the crimes, the monstrosities of our social 

 system, were only to be reached through Mechanics ! The 

 law of order was supreme, and this law required a material 

 medium. Mankind was only to be emancipated into leisure to 

 cultivate the spiritual by the aid of machinery ! — of rail-roads, 

 canals, &c. ! Then the working classes would have leisure, 

 leisure to think and feel ; leisure to cultivate the arts ; to 

 make the flowers grow ! 



" But, yet, as he taught, they need a higher Mechanics ! 

 They have steam, and air and electricity, — they have appro- 

 priated the water and the gasses, — brutes, minerals, vegeta- 

 tion, — all ! — but one Power ! superior to them all ! 



" The law of gravitation is the law of labor, of life, and of 

 progress ! This great law remains to be conquered ! "We have 

 conquered the elements and made them our slaves ! — how 

 slow they carry us ! We want to rein the law that governs 

 spheres ! 



"He was making the audacious attempt! He overwhelmed 

 me with the calm profundity of his knowledge — he dazzled me 

 in a very different sense from that first dazzle, which was 

 delirious, and simply, simple !" 



She placed her hands upon her eyes, and they looked very 

 thin and feeble ! A shudder passed through her frame. She 

 muttered : — 



" He dared attempt the ^perpetual motion,' and I dedicated 

 my life to him — but more to the great thought ! We came 

 apart from civilization, and made us a home here by the 

 unaided labor of our own hands. Here he has worked and 

 I have slaved, to the mighty thought that Grod may reveal 

 himself in Mechanics ! as well as by other revelations, — and 

 the children of Eve be thus released from all slavery!" 



I 



