he sham. Wonder not
at the world of man. Waste not your admiration, interest, hope on it,
its pretty toys, gay fashions, fine clothes, tawdry luxuries, silly
amusements. Wonder at the works of God. You will not, perhaps, take my
advice yet. The world of man looks so pretty, that you will needs have
your peep at it, and stare into its shop windows; and if you can, go to a
few of its stage plays, and dance at a few of its balls. Ah--well--After
a wild dream comes an uneasy wakening; and after too many sweet things,
comes a sick headache. And one morning you will awake, I trust and pray,
from the world of man to the world of God, and wonder where wonder is
due, and worship where worship is due. You will awake like a child who
has been at a pantomime over night, staring at the "fairy halls," which
are all paint and canvas; and the "dazzling splendours," which are gas
and oil; and the "magic transformations," which are done with ropes and
pulleys; and the "brilliant elves," who are poor little children out of
the next foul alley; and the harlequin and clown, who through all their
fun are thinking wearily over the old debts which they must pay, and the
hungry mouths at home which they must feed: and so, having thought it all
wondrously glorious, and quite a fairy land, slips tired and stupid into
bed, and wakes next morning to see the pure light shining in through the
delicate frost-lace on the window-pane, and looks out over fields of
virgin snow, and watches the rosy dawn and cloudless blue, and the great
sun rising to the music of cawing rooks and piping stares, and says,
"This is the true wonder. This is the true glory. The theatre last
night was the fairy land of man; but this is the fairy land of God."
CHAPTER VII--THE CHALK-CARTS
What do you want to know about next? More about the caves in which the
old savages lived,--how they were made, and how the curious things inside
them got there, and so forth.
Well, we will talk about that in good time: but now--What is that coming
down the hill?
Oh, only some chalk-carts.
Only some chalk-carts? It seems to me that these chalk-carts are the
very things we want; that if we follow them far enough--I do not mean
with our feet along the public road, but with our thoughts along a road
which, I am sorry to say, the public do not yet know much about--we shall
come to a cave, and understand how a cave is made. Meanwhile, do not be
in a hurry to say, "Only
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