JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 3 1 



snowfall, and there really is usually an index to the coming hour, 

 which, perhaps, to read properly, requires a delicate impressiona- 

 bility, or a habit of contemplation and watchful observance. Has it 

 not become an adage that " coming events cast their shadows 

 before"? and co-ordination and co-relation seem hackneyed scien- 

 tific terms, and poets, the most ancient as well as some of the more 

 modern ones, have had faith in Nature's prophecies. (See In 

 Memoriam, Canto XCI.) : 



" Yea, tho' it spake and bared to view 

 A fact within the coming year, 

 And tho' the months, revolving near, 

 Should prove the phantom- warning true." 



" They might not seem thy prophecies, 

 But spiritual presentiments, 

 And such refraction of events 

 As often rises ere they rise." 



Old Chaucer tells (See Canterbury Tales) : 



" That Destiny warneth all, and some 

 Of every of their adventures 

 By previsions or figures, 

 But it is warned too darkly." 



/. (?., the hints are writ in too coUossal character to be read, except 

 in a just and appropriate mental perspective. 



Wordsworth avers, in the poem on " Presentiir.ents," that 



" God instructs the brute to scent 

 All changes of the element." 



" Blest times when mystery is laid bare, 

 Truth shows a glorious face, 

 While on the isthmus which commands 

 The councils of both worlds she stands." 



" 'Tis said that warnings ye dispense, 

 Emboldened by a keener sense, 

 . , . And teach us to beware." 



Storm centers gyrate and cycles revolve, but to discover when 

 one's energy or influence has run its course and another is advanc- 

 ing to replace the spent force perhaps requires more than mortal 

 acumen ; but many among us try to read Nature's riddles. In daily 

 phenomena the " Idea," the " Concept," the " Fiat," the decree 



