_These_ are a growth also, and, as well as the diseases which
come upon them, under the control of the one spirit as much as the
great tree on which the insects prey, and in whose bark the busy bird
has made many a wound.
When we get the proper perspective of these things we shall find man,
however artificial, still a part of nature. Meanwhile, let us trust;
and while it is the soul's duty ever to bear witness to the best it
knows, let us not be hasty to conclude that in what suits us not there
can be no good. Let us be sure there _must_ be eventual good,
could we but see far enough to discern it. In maintaining perfect
truth to ourselves and choosing that mode of being which suits us, we
had best leave others alone as much as may be. You prefer the country,
and I doubt not it is on the whole a better condition of life to live
there; but at the country party you have mentioned you saw that no
circumstances will keep people from being frivolous. One may be
gossipping, and vulgar, and idle in the country,--earnest, noble and
wise, in the city. Nature cannot be kept from us while there is a sky
above, with so much as one star to remind us of prayer in the silent
night.
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