24 



THE BUILDING UP OF THE 



the very storm is only a means of developing the intellec- 

 tual and moral greatness of their nature. To the obscure 

 and crooked ways of their enemies they oppose plain, 

 straightforward conduct ; to their calumnies, a pure and 

 blameless life ; to their meanness and unfairness, upright- 

 ness and honor in all their transactions. It is thus that 

 they grow strong through conflict. Instead of being de- 

 graded, they are ennobled by the struggle, elevated in the 

 good opinion of their friends ; and like the tree, they de- 

 rive a permanent advantage from the storm, and look all 

 the better when it has passed. 



"We have in every tree an illustration of the maxim, 

 "In union there is strength." A few leaves by their 

 united labors form a shoot; and this, by repetition of 

 itself, has produced a great tree. Just as the first shoot 

 was built up by the leaves put forth by the growth of the 

 first season, so the entire tree has been constructed by the 

 labors of those successive generations of leaves with which 

 it was annually adorned. It is true that the roots, by the 

 food which they have taken up from the soil, have contri- 

 buted their part to the general structure ; but the stem 

 and branches have been formed from sap which was first 

 rendered nutritious in leaves. These humble yet perish- 

 able forms have been the architects of this noble and en- 

 during structure. 



So it is with man. Individually feeble, he becomes 

 powerful by entering into combination with his fellows. 

 Who has measured the magnitude of the earth, the 

 planets, and the sun, and calculated the distance of the 

 stars, by taking the diameter of the earth's orbit as a base 

 line ? Who has made to disappear alike the gloomy forest 

 and the poisonous swamp, and produced on their site a 

 landscape smiling with health and fertility? Who has 

 girdled the earth with railroads, drawn down the light- 

 nings from heaven, examined their nature, and given 

 them their appointed channels, uniting the two continents 

 with each other in telegraphic communication ? Whose 

 thoughts now traverse the ocean with the rapidity of the 



