in their courses. When he had once got
hold of this idea, he never permitted his mind to rest, until he had
searched out all the laws, by which the planets are guided through the
sky. This he did as thoroughly as if he had gone up among the stars, and
tracked them in their orbits. The boy had found out the mechanism of a
windmill; the man explained to his fellow-men the mechanism of the
universe.

While making these researches he was accustomed to spend night after night
in a lofty tower, gazing at the heavenly bodies through a telescope. His
mind was lifted far above the things of this world. He may be said,
indeed, to have spent the greater part of his life in worlds that lie
thousands and millions of miles away; for where the thoughts and the heart
are, there is our true existence.

Did you never hear the story of Newton and his little dog Diamond? One
day, when he was fifty years old, and had been hard at work more than
twenty years, studying the theory of Light, he went out of his chamber,
leaving his little dog asleep before the fire. On the table lay a heap of
manuscript papers, containing all the discoveries which Newton had made
during those twenty years. When his master was gone, up rose little
Diamond, jumped upon the table, and overthrew the lighted candle. The
papers immediately caught fire.

Just as the destruction was completed, Newton opened the chamber-door, and
perceived that the labors of twenty years were reduced to a heap of ashes.
There stood little Diamond, the author of all the mischief. Almost any
other man would have sentenced the dog to immediate death. But Newton
patted him on the head with his usual kindness, although grief was at his
heart.

"Oh, Diamond, Diamond," exclaimed he, "thou little knowest the mischief
thou hast done."

This incident affected his health and spirits for some time afterwards;
but, from his conduct towards the little dog, you may judge what was the
sweetness of his temper.

Newton lived to be a very old man, and acquired great renown, and was made
a Member of Parliament, and received the honor of knighthood from the
king. But he cared little for earthly fame and honors, and felt no pride
in the vastness of his knowledge. All that he had learned only made him
feel how little he knew in comparison to what remained to be known.

"I seem to myself like a child," observed he, "playing on the sea-shore,
and picking up here and there a curious shell or a pretty pebb