82 LITTLE THINGS IMPORTANT. 



oak-bud that ever sprouted ; and but for the ger- 

 mination of that, we should never have had an 

 oak. Nor is the oak a solitary instance ; for as 

 we trace any thing toward its origin, we find that 

 the limit which we approach is that " nothing," 

 out of which Almighty Power spake and com- 

 manded " all things." 



It is, therefore, always dangerous to slight 

 little things, for little things are all begin- 

 nings; and in obtaining knowledge, and thence 

 enjoyment, it is at the beginning only that we 

 can begin. All those beginnings are in nature ; 

 and those who discovered and applied the pro- 

 perty of water which has been mentioned, had no 

 more to do in the making of that property than 

 those to whom it is altogether unknown. Any 

 body too, who possesses the organ of sense neces- 

 sary for the purpose, and will exercise that organ, 

 may know those beginnings ; and then comes the 

 proper exercise of man. One thing is compared 

 with another ; the process is continued ; the rela- 

 tions of these things to each other are again com- 

 pared, those that are fit are adopted, those unfit 

 rejected: and thus discovery is piled upon dis- 

 covery, just as one little brick is piled upon an- 

 other, until the observant and reflective man rears 

 a splendid edifice, and calls it ,an invention ; and 

 it adorns human nature as much as the most mag- 

 nificent material palace adorns the earth. Even 

 now they are erecting in Westminster Abbey a 

 monument to James Watt, and, perhaps, it had 

 been as creditable had it been done some time ago. 

 But James Watt needs no memorial at their hands. 

 Make the tour of these kingdoms, and you shall 



