own blood. Prometheus must be really chained to his rock, and Dirce in
very fact be tossed and gored by the wild bull, and Orpheus be torn to
pieces by a real bear, and Icarus was compelled to fly, even though it
was known he would be dashed to death. When the heroism of "Mucius
Scaevola" was represented, a real criminal was compelled to thrust his
hand into the flame without a murmur, and stand motionless while it was
being burned. Hercules was compelled to ascend the funeral pyre, and
there be burned alive. The poor slaves and criminals were compelled to
play their parts heroically until the flames enveloped them.

The pirate Gibbs, who was executed in New York, said that when he
robbed the first vessel his conscience made a hell in his bosom; but
after he had sailed for years under the black flag, he could rob a
vessel and murder all the crew, and lie down and sleep soundly. A man
may so accustom himself to error as to become its most devoted slave,
and be led to commit the most fearful crimes in order to defend it, or
to propagate it.

When Gordon, the celebrated California stage-driver, was dying, he put
his foot out of the bed and swung it to and fro. When asked why he did
so, he replied, "I am on the down grade and cannot get my foot on the
brake."

In our great museums you see stone slabs with the marks of rain that
fell hundreds of years before Adam lived, and the footprint of some
wild bird that passed across the beach in those olden times. The
passing shower and the light foot left their prints on the soft
sediment; then ages went on, and the sediment hardened into stone; and
there the prints remain, and will remain forever. So the child, so
soft, so susceptible to all impressions, so joyous to receive new
ideas, treasures them all up, gathers them all into itself, and retains
them forever.

A tribe of Indians attacked a white settlement and murdered the few
inhabitants. A woman of the tribe, however, carried away a very young
infant, and reared it as her own. The child grew up with the Indian
children, different in complexion, but like them in everything else.
To scalp the greatest possible number of enemies was, in his view, the
most glorious thing in the world. While he was still a youth he was
seen by some white traders, and by them conducted back to civilized
life. He showed great relish for his new life, and especially a strong
desire for knowledge and a sense of reverence which took the