From Pillar to Post 



beauty of the day's purpose is made plain to 

 him who faces Nature in her most exaggerated 

 moods. The driving rain, the sullen blast, the 

 crashing of branches yielding to the storm, are 

 too full of meaning to be ignored, yet personal 

 comfort usually controls and we are blind to 

 all that happens about us. Huddled in our 

 dens, we scarcely peep out of the holes until 

 some confiding thrush announces that the skies 

 are clear. Every day is perfect of its kind, and 

 those people are lacking who are equal to only 

 one sort of day. We can have our Eden any- 

 where, and we are not to be despoiled unless we 

 elect to permit it. Demonstrate your unfitness, 

 and the penalty of violating the laws of com- 

 mon-sense will be your portion. Perhaps Adam 

 deserved to be turned out, — it is an open ques- 

 tion, — but he need not have been plagued with 

 thorns and thistles had he been what man is 

 capable of being. 



The advantage of the Eden of to-day is that 

 all restrictions on our curiosity are removed. 

 We can taste of every fruit and are urged to 

 do so. Our limitations of knowledge are due to 

 our laziness. We are treated more fairly than 

 Adam the first. 



285 



