•THE STORY OF MY HEART' 193 



to the thought. Give us, then, greater strength of body, 

 greater length of days ; give us more vital energy, let our 

 limbs be mighty as those of the giants of old. Supple- 

 ment such organs with nobler mechanical engines — with 

 extended means of locomotion ; add novel and more 

 minute methods of analysis and discovery. Let us 

 become as demi-gods. . . .'* 



Reclining under a chestnut-tree in this mood, he says 

 that it is impossible to conceive ideas of murder, violence, 

 or aught degrading ; the whole existence is ' permeated 

 with reverent love.' In the future, he thinks, ' the 

 human race might be as we are this moment,' under the 

 chestnut-tree. 



The finest passages follow : 



' It is probable that with the progress of knowledge it 

 will be possible to satisfy the necessary wants of existence 

 much more easily than now, and thus to remove one great 

 cause of discord. . . . 



' This blade of grass grows as high as it can, the nightin- 

 gale there sings as sweetly as it can, the goldfinches feed 

 to their full desire, and lay down no arbitrary rules of 

 life ; the great sun above pours out its heat and light 

 in a flood unrestrained. What is the meaning of this 

 hieroglyph, which is repeated in a thousand other ways 

 and shapes, which meets us at every turn ? It is evident 

 that all living creatures, from the zoophyte upwards — 

 plant, reptile, bird, animal, and in his natural state, in 

 his physical frame, man also — strive with all their power 

 to obtain as perfect an existence as possible. . . . All tends 

 to one end, a fuller development of the individual, a 

 higher condition of the species ; still farther, to the pro- 

 duction of new races capable of additional progress. 

 Part and parcel as we are of the great community of 

 living beings, indissolubly connected with them from the 

 lowest to the highest by a thousand ties, it is impossible 

 for us to escape from the operation of this law. 



' The physical and the mental man are, as it were, a 



* ' Nature and Eternity ' {Lofigman!s Magazine^ May, 1895). 



13 



