FREE FOR THE DAY. fg 



knowledge of his own, he champions the cry of 

 the crowd, be it right or wrong. When a friend 

 returns from a distant land, or even from a 

 walk in the country, we do not ask concerning 

 what we have often seen for ourselves, or know 

 from hearsay, is a feature of the land, but of those 

 peculiarities that particularly impress him, and 

 his personal adventures; and, by proper ques- 

 tioning, a dozen ramblers over the same area 

 will tell as many different stories. If every ob- 

 server or traveler was a mere cataloguing machine 

 what a cool welcome would each receive on his 

 return from an outing. 



How are we to know whether or not we " see 

 straight " whether or not we correctly inter- 

 pret ? Time alone will decide this ; adding there- 

 to the experiences of others. From the sum total 

 of many observers will ultimately spring the 

 truth, if happily we shall ever possess it ; but no 

 one experience must be suppressed. I saw the 

 Niagara River recently where it is crossed by the 

 suspension bridge, and the water was intensely 

 black save where flecked with snowy foam. I 

 had seen this river at this same spot previously, 

 and had seen it since, and always, except this one 

 instance, the water was deeply blue or brilliant- 

 ly green. It may never have been black before, 

 and may never be so again, but this has no bear- 

 ing upon the fact that once, at least, that torrent 



