THE LITTLE GREBE. 281 



cially to the uninformed and the young, for whom chiefly 

 these pages are intended ; and therefore the better-informed 

 reader will perhaps pardon me if I add one or two sentences 

 more. 



If we ascribe purpose to animals, what more can we ascribe 

 to man ? and how can we refuse it to plants and stones ? It 

 is unnecessary to draw the conclusion, for it stands broadly 

 declared in the premises ; if those premises are true, then 

 there is no immortal spirit in man, and no Creator of the 

 world. The purposes of matter are in matter itself, and all 

 else is a delusion. 



That would be a gloomy and hopeless state of things ; but 

 as it is the irresistible conclusion from the premises, if these 

 have been fairly assumed, gloomy though it be, it must 

 nevertheless be true j and if true, we must accede to it 

 manfully, notwithstanding its gloom : for he who would 

 not relinquish even mind and immortality for the truth, 

 is unworthy of the one or the other. Let us see coolly 

 and calmly. 



How do we know the purposes of our fellow-men ? Is it 

 before they in some way reveal them to us, by word or by 

 action ? No. And do the words always set forth the pur- 

 pose, or does the end always answer the forethought ? 

 Assuredly not, otherwise there could be no deception and no 

 disappointment ; and yet the most cautious among us meet 

 with enough of both. We know nothing of the purposes of 

 men farther than they tell us, and we have no means of find- 

 ing out whether they tell us all, or if what they tell us be 

 true. And it is well for us that such is the case ; for if all 

 the purposes of mankind were revealed, even for a single day, 

 it would so bring them into collision, that there would be a 

 general massacre, from each one striving to defeat the purpose 

 of another. In this case, " ignorance" truly " is bliss," and 

 knowledge would be misery destruction. This, by the way, 



