; the shoreless ocean is thy slave! Thou sweepest over
the earth, and oaks, the growth of centuries, submit to thy viewless axe;
the snow-drift is scattered on the pinnacles of the Alps, the avalanche
thunders down their vallies. Thou holdest the keys of the frost, and canst
first chain and then set free the streams; under thy gentle governance the
buds and leaves are born, they flourish nursed by thee.

Why dost thou howl thus, O wind? By day and by night for four long months
thy roarings have not ceased--the shores of the sea are strewn with
wrecks, its keel-welcoming surface has become impassable, the earth has
shed her beauty in obedience to thy command; the frail balloon dares no
longer sail on the agitated air; thy ministers, the clouds, deluge the land
with rain; rivers forsake their banks; the wild torrent tears up the
mountain path; plain and wood, and verdant dell are despoiled of their
loveliness; our very cities are wasted by thee. Alas, what will become of
us? It seems as if the giant waves of ocean, and vast arms of the sea, were
about to wrench the deep-rooted island from its centre; and cast it, a ruin
and a wreck, upon the fields of the Atlantic.

What are we, the inhabitants of this globe, least among the many that
people infinite space? Our minds embrace infinity; the visible mechanism of
our being is subject to merest accident. Day by day we are forced to
believe this. He whom a scratch has disorganized, he who disappears from
apparent life under the influence of the hostile agency at work around us,
had the same powers as I--I also am subject to the same laws. In the face
of all this we call ourselves lords of the creation, wielders of the
elements, masters of life and death, and we allege in excuse of this
arrogance, that though the individual is destroyed, man continues for
ever.

Thus, losing our identity, that of which we are chiefly conscious, we glory
in the continuity of our species, and learn to regard death without terror.
But when any whole nation becomes the victim of the destructive powers of
exterior agents, then indeed man shrinks into insignificance, he feels his
tenure of life insecure, his inheritance on earth cut off.

I remember, after having witnessed the destructive effects of a fire, I
could not even behold a small one in a stove, without a sensation of fear.
The mounting flames had curled round the building, as it fell, and was
destroyed. They insinuated themselves into the