My First Summer 



preaching his sublimest water and stone 

 sermons ! 



Now I 'm back at the camp-fire, and can- 

 not help thinking about my recognition of 

 my friend's presence in the valley while he 

 was four or five miles away, and while I 

 had no means of knowing that he was not 

 thousands of miles away. It seems super- 

 natural, but only because it is not under- 

 stood. Anyhow, it seems silly to make so 

 much of it, while the natural and com- 

 mon is more truly marvelous and myste- 

 rious than the so-called supernatural. In- 

 deed most of the miracles we hear of are 

 infinitely less wonderful than the com- 

 monest of natural phenomena, when fairly 

 seen. Perhaps the invisible rays that struck 

 me while I sat at work on the Dome are 

 something like those which attract and re- 

 pel people at first sight, concerning which 

 so much nonsense has been written. The 

 worst apparent effect of these mysterious 

 odd things is blindness to all that is divinely 

 [ 256] 





