270 A SUNDAY IN CHEYNE ROW. 



beyond the cell determines them. The final destiny 

 and summing up of a nation is, perhaps, as little 

 within the conscious will and purpose of the indi- 

 vidual citizens. When you come to large masses, to 

 long periods, the law of nature steps in. The day 

 is hot or the day is cold, the spring is late or the 

 spring is early ; but the inclination of the earth's axis 

 makes the winter and summer sure. The wind blows 

 this way and blows that, but the great storms gyrate 

 and travel in one general direction. There is a wind 

 of the globe that never varies, and there is the breeze 

 of the mountain that is never two days alike. The 

 local hurricane moves the waters of the sea to a 

 depth of but a few feet ; but the tidal impulse goes 

 to the bottom. Men and communities in this world 

 are often in the position of arctic explorers, who are 

 making great speed in a given direction, while the ice 

 floe beneath them is making greater speed in the op- 

 posite direction. This kind of progress has often be- 

 fallen political and ecclesiastical parties in this coun- 

 try. Behind mood lies temperament ; back of the 

 caprice of will lies the fate of character ; back of 

 both is the bias of family ; back of that the tyranny 

 of race ; still deeper, the power of climate, of soil, of 

 geology, the whole physical and moral environment. 

 Still we are free men only so far as we rise above 

 these. We cannot abolish fate, but we can in a 

 measure utilize it. The projectile force of the bullet 

 does not annul or suspend gravity ; it uses it. The 

 floating vapor is just as true an illustration of the 

 law of gravity as the falling avalanche. 



