68 THE HOUSE I LIVE IN. 



USES or THE HAND. Small as this mem- 

 ber of the frame is, it is a part of the utmost 

 consequence. Even if the house the soul lives 

 in were a palace, or had cost as much as 

 St. Peter's church at Rome, or the Pyramids 

 of Egypt, it would be of very little use with- 

 out it. And if all such houses in the world 

 were without it, neither those houses, nor any- 

 thing else, would long be worth much. The 

 farmer could not sow his grain, or plant his 

 corn, or weed or hoe it while growing, or col- 

 lect it when ripe. Nor, if it were grown, 

 could the miller grind it, or the baker make it 

 into bread. Neither could we raise anything 

 else to eat in its stead. We might get along 

 a few years with what is already raised ; but 

 what then ? The fruits and roots and nuts 

 which grow without cultivation I mean with- 

 out our labor would not last us and the thou- 

 sands of beasts and birds which feed on them, 

 very long. 



Do you say that if we could get nothing 

 else to eat, we should then have a good right 

 to kill and eat animals ? But we could not 

 get them. How could we ? 



