144 GLAUCUS; OR, 



copy neither, and fear neither the silence nor the 

 laughter of the mighty mother Earth, if he will be 

 but wise, and hear her tell him, alike in both — 

 " Why call me mother ? Why ask me for knowledge 

 which I cannot teach, peace which I cannot give or 

 take away ? I am only your foster-mother and your 

 nurse — and I have not been an unkindly one. But 

 you are God's children, and not mine. Ask Him. 

 I can amuse you with my songs ; but they are but 

 a nurse's lullaby to the weary flesh. I can awe you 

 with my silence ; but my silence is only my just 

 humility, and your gain. How dare 1 pretend to 

 tell you secrets which He who made me knows 

 alone ? I am but inanimate matter ; why ask of 

 me things which belong to living spirit? In God 

 I. live and move, and have my being ; I know not 

 how, any more than thou knowest. Wlio will tell 

 thee what life is, save He who is the Lord of life? 

 And if He will not tell thee, be sure it is because 

 thou needest not to know. At least, why seek God 

 in nature, the living among the dead? He is not 

 here : He is risen." 



