66 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER 
our eyes to behold the illumination. We had a 
sad and painful experience when wallowing in 
the slough the other night, and hurled our an¬ 
athemas upon it without stint; and should have 
judged it to be about the last place in all crea¬ 
tion where one could look to find stores of de¬ 
lightful entertainment. Doctor Dean has shown 
me, at least, that such conclusions would have 
been entirely wrong. He has made it plain that 
the very mud and slime which smeared and re¬ 
pelled us the other night are nevertheless teem¬ 
ing with forms of beauty, and that they are 
correlated with a beneficence of design which 
culminates in man’s completer happiness.” 
“ All very true,” was the reply. “ I inferred 
that such was his purpose, and I give him all 
the credit due for his kind intentions; but to 
me the force of his logic was not at all conclu¬ 
sive. The foot of his ladder is planted in the 
mud, .and I fear that as we attempt to climb it 
it will sink deeper and deeper, so that when we 
reach the top round, instead of being above 
clouds and storms, we shall still find ourselves 
floundering in the same slough of despondency 
from which we sought to escape.” 
“ But let us hope for better results,” responded 
