magnetism. If the sun
forsake its place in the heavens, and go chasing after the bright tail
of some gay comet, what will become of the planets? Let the sun be true
to itself, and even the comet comes around in time."

The old man looks at Chester with a smile which asks, "Is it not so?"

"Your philosophy is excellent for men of courage, like yourself," says
Chester. "But few can bear to be hated all their lives by the mass of
their fellow-men, as many have been, for the sake of the truth."

"Those men who do bear that cross are martyrs of the noblest sort,"
returns Father Brighthopes. "They are not only men of true courage, but
men of fortitude, which is a sort of enduring and perpetual courage. To
them the truth, and the few who see and love that truth,--if only a
handful of poor fishermen and three or four pious women,--will be more
precious than all the kingdoms of the earth. If the devil of ambition
whispers that by forsaking the former the latter may be gained, they can
resist the temptation; for they know the value of internal convictions
of right, and the worthlessness of external shows and shadows and
happiness.

"Great truths, when first revealed to mankind, need such martyrs.
Opposition assists in the development of principles, as alternate frosts
and heats in spring heave and loosen the soil. New truths, like sheaves
of grain, must be well threshed by the flail of persecution, and
winnowed by the wind of criticism, to separate the pure wheat from the
straw and chaff.

"But to none of us, I am confident, will be given the crown of
martyrdom. Mankind is too enlightened to make many martyrs now-a-days.
We gravitate to truth, and we crucify no more the prophet who reveals it
to our sight. This is an age in which principles may be demonstrated,
and will always be respected. Then let us embrace them, and have that
ballast to steady us in the stormy voyage of life."

"Men of principle, even to-day," Chester replies, "are accused of
fickleness and inconsistency, and all sorts of unworthy motives, by
those who do not understand them."

"Very well; I can bear to be misunderstood for a little while," says the
old man. "Those who are not established on the same ground of truth
imagine that I waver, while it is themselves who are continually
shifting. It took the earth a great while to learn that the sun and
stars did not revolve around it every twenty-four hours. What cared the
eternal sun? A ledge upreared in