16 IN THE ACADIAN LAND. 



handle to a stone to form a club, inaugurated 

 without ceremonies, the opening of the epoch, 

 wherein mind was to measure itself with muscles 

 and claws and win the dominion of the world, 

 and analyze the light of sun and stars. The 

 first men were forest dwellers ; their homes were 

 amid tropical trees, where their ancestors had 

 dwelt for unknown ages. The Bible has it, that 

 Adam was placed in a lovely spot, where the 

 Lord God had made to grow eveiy tree that is 

 " pleasant to the sight and good for food." The 

 sight was to be gratified as well as the appetite. 

 The love of beauty was considered before the 

 demand for food. " Trees pleasant to the sight " 

 shows that the Creator expected a responsive 

 admiration on the part of man. He was not to 

 exclaim first of all, what delicious-looking berries ! 

 but, what beautiful trees! sentiment first and 

 stomach afterwards. IE it be contended that we 

 cannot live on sentimental considerations, I 

 reply that neither can we live on " bread alone." 

 Eating and drinking are mere coal-heaving opera- 

 tions, to enable us to make a voyage of life 

 wherein the highest qualities may come to 

 growth. If that be not the truth, then far 

 better would it have been, that man never ad- 

 vanced beyond the stage where the satisfaction 

 of life was in the gratification of appetite. The 



