4 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



awestruck, indeed, but pitying the long tale of 

 its victims, whose ceaseless cry is the music of 

 its axletree. 



But, though horrified at all the bloody tumult 

 of the world, let us not shut our eyes and try 

 to imagine that a different state of things exists, 

 but rather ceaselessly search out the truest facts 

 and the innermost laws that occasion it all ; and, 

 thus seeking, we may perchance gain some sense 

 of the almighty hidden forces that govern the 

 destiny of things ; seeing a blend of colour where 

 all seemed violent contrast, and hearing a har- 

 mony, though it be but faint, through the shriek- 

 ing discord. The discovery may not yield us 

 gold, it may not enable us to avoid one blow 

 of fate ; but if it merely render our leisure the 

 more refreshing, it will not have been in vain, 

 for it will thus strengthen us for the daily battle. 

 And it is not in the bulkiest forms that we shall 

 find the most important laws in operation, for in 

 the realm of Nature nothing is trivial ; indeed, man 

 has himself achieved some of his most artistic or 

 momentous triumphs by the aid of insignificant 

 helpers in Nature's workshop. Aided by organisms 



