THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
253 
be found among the handsomest both as to 
form and embellishment. 
“ What wonderful and intelligent potencies 
‘ chance,’ ‘ evolution,’ and ‘ natural selection ’ 
must be, to so far outstrip the grandest exhi¬ 
bitions of reason—nay, to so adjust and enforce 
laws that the strongest minds, after years of 
zealous study, are unable to discover and ex¬ 
plain ! Are these the only factors which pro¬ 
duce the egg and push it on to its finished 
work ? Ah no ! 
‘ Bird and beast and creeping thing, 
That tread the earth or spread the wing. 
Eternal power and goodness prove— 
A God to honor, praise, and love.’ 
“ Many pre-eminent gifts have been claimed 
for the birds, and some of the reasons for the 
claim have been presented. An additional 
proof of their superior endowments will be 
found in the ^ gift of tongues ’ and in the na¬ 
tural power of melody. They are truly sharers 
in angels’ gifts —wings and so7ig. In the whole 
range of animal life not one outside of the 
feathered tribes has ever acquired so much 
as a single word of human speech or breathed 
22 
