132 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
These things, or at least many of them, would 
be useless creations if there were no intelli¬ 
gences to search them out; and why go to 
these voiceless instructors if there are no great 
moral lessons to be drawn from them ? And 
in what can these tiny monitors instruct us if 
not to give us higher and clearer conceptions 
of the wisdom and goodness of God ? As we 
resume the thread of our investigations let us 
carry this thought with us, and we shall, I trusty 
find the advantage of it as we strive to reach a 
higher round in our beautiful ladder. 
“ As we have not yet got our feet from the 
round hidden beneath the surface of our famil¬ 
iar pond, let me give some few reminiscences, 
which will explain why I have made it so pro¬ 
lific a theme. 
“ My first studies with the microscope were 
pursued wholly without instruction, and with 
only an indefinite idea that a drop of water was 
often the dwelling-place of many curious forms 
of vegetable and animal life. As each new rev¬ 
elation was made of the tiny inhabitants of this 
minute world, all the joys of a new discovery 
were experienced, in addition to the excitement 
caused by the strange forms gazed upon. As 
