ul minds?" demanded Watty.

"You must ask one of themselves, Watty, for I don't know much about
their views; indeed, I'm not sure that I have represented them
correctly, though it's very likely I have, for there is no species of
nonsense under the sun that men have not been found to hold and defend
with more or less vigour."

"Would you not call that a proof of the Creator's intention that man
should exercise the investigative powers of his mind?" asked Ben.

"I would call it a proof of man's depravity," said Wilkins.

"What does Polly think?" asked Jack, with an amused look at the child,
whose fair brow wore an anxious little frown as she tried to understand.

"I think it's a proof of both," replied Polly, with a blush and a laugh;
"we have got the power to think and speak and reason, and we are
sometimes very naughty."

"Well said, Polly; we must call _you_ the philosopher in future," cried
Watty. "But Jack," he added, with a perplexed air, "it seems to me that
we live in such a world of confusion, both as to the limited amount of
our knowledge, and the extent of our differences of opinion, while
presumptuous incapacity attempts to teach us on the one hand, and
designing iniquity, or pure prejudice, seeks to mislead us on the other,
and misconception of one's meaning and motives all round makes such a
muddle of the whole that--that--it seems to me the search after truth is
almost hopeless, at least to ordinary minds."

"I admit it to be a great difficulty," replied Jack, "but it is by no
means hopeless. We must not forget that the world is well supplied with
extraordinary minds to keep the ordinary minds right."

"True, but when the extraordinary minds differ, what are the poor
ordinary ones to do?" asked Watty.

"Use their brains, Watty, use their brains," said Captain Samson, who
had come aft, and been listening to the conversation. "Your brains,
whether good or bad, were given to be used, not to be sold. The power
to reason is a gift that is not bestowed only on extraordinary minds.
The unlearned are sometimes better reasoners than the learned, though,
of course, they haven't got so many tools to work with. Still, they are
sufficiently furnished with all that's needful to run the race that is
set before them. God has given to every man--civilised and savage--a
brain to think with, a heart to feel with, a frame to work with, a
conscience to guide him, and a world, with all its wonderful stores, in
wh