and then
Aaron took command. 'And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down;
for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have
corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way
which I commanded them; they have made a molten calf, and have
worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy
gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!'
As long, I say, as Moses was skipper and Aaron first mate, Aaron did
magnificently. But when Aaron took command, he was, as Dr. Whyte says,
'a mere reed shaken with the wind; as weak and as evil as any other
man. Those forty days that Moses spent on the mount brought out, among
other things, both Moses' greatness and Aaron's littleness and weakness
in a way that nothing else could have done. "Up, make us gods, which
shall go before us; for, as for this Moses, we know not what is become
of him." And Aaron went down like a broken reed before the idolatrous
clamour of the revolted people.' The day of judgement, depend upon it,
will be a day of tremendous surprises. And not least among its
astonishments will be the disclosure of the immense debt that the world
owes to its first mates. And the first mates who never become skippers
will in that great day understand the reason why. And when they know
the reason why, they will be among the most thankful of the thankful.
It will be so much better for me to be applauded at the last as a good
and faithful first mate than to have to confess that, as skipper, I
drove the vessel on the rocks.

PART III

I

WHEN THE COWS COME HOME

I can see them now as they come, very slowly and in single file, down
the winding old lane. The declining sun is shining through the tops of
the poplars, the zest of daytime begins to soften into the hush and
cool of evening, when they come leisurely sauntering through the grass
that grows luxuriously beside the road. One after another they come
quietly along--Cherry and Brindle, Blossom and Darkie, Beauty and
Crinkle, Daisy and Pearl. A stranger watching them as they appear
round the bend of the pretty old lane fancies each of them to be the
last, and has just abandoned all hope of seeing another, when the next
pair of horns makes its unexpected appearance. They never hurry home;
they just come. A particularly tempting wisp in the long sweet grass
under the hedge will induce an instant halt. The least thing passing
a