s all
the accidents that so often make the toil futile, like the stealing of
eggs by other birds, and the predatory incursions of foes. One would
expect a law, framed by omnipotence, to be invariable, not hampered by
all kinds of difficulties that omnipotence, one might have thought,
could have provided against. And then comes this further strange
variation in the law, in the case of this single family of birds, and
the mystery thickens and deepens. And stranger than all is the
existence of the questioning and unsatisfied human spirit, that
observes these things and classifies them, and that yet gets no nearer
to the solution of the huge, fantastic, patient plan! To make a law,
as the Creator seems to have done; and then to make a hundred other
laws that seem to make the first law inoperative; to play this gigantic
game century after century; and then to put into the hearts of our
inquisitive race the desire to discover what it is all about; and to
leave the desire unsatisfied. What a labyrinthine mystery! Depth
beyond depth, and circle beyond circle!

It is a dark and bewildering region that thus opens to the view. But
one conclusion is to beware of seeming certainties, to keep the windows
of the mind open to the light; not to be over-anxious about the little
part we have to play in the great pageant, but to advance, step by
step, in utter trustfulness.

Perhaps that is your message to me, graceful bird, with the rich joyful
note! With what a thrill, too, do you bring back to me the brightness
of old forgotten springs, the childish rapture at the sweet tunable
cry! Then, in those far-off days, it was but the herald of the glowing
summer days, the time of play and flowers and scents. But now the soft
note, it seems, opens a door into the formless and uneasy world of
speculation, of questions that have no answer, convincing me of
ignorance and doubt, bidding me beat in vain against the bars that hem
me in. Why should I crave thus for certainty, for strength? Answer
me, happy bird! Nay, you guard your secret. Softer and more distant
sound the sweet notes, warning me to rest and believe, telling me to
wait and hope.

But one further thought! One is expected, by people of conventional
and orthodox minds, to base one's conceptions of God on the writings of
frail and fallible men, and to accept their slender and eager testimony
to the occurrence of abnormal events as the best revelation of God that
the worl