Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-09-14

shen, at last, fish, which sne made leap,
saying as she did SO:
"That's what Dame Dust knows how
to produce, when she pleases, at the
bottom of water. But there's some
thing better than that. Turn round
and look at the shore"
L turned. The calcar and all its
components, mixed with flint and clay,
had formed on the surface fine brown
and rich dust, out of which had sprung
hbrous plants of singular form.
''That is vegetable earth," said the
Fairy.
"Wait a little while, and you will see
trees growing"
then saw an arborescent vegetation
rise rapidly from the ground and peo-
pie itself with reptiles and insects,
while on the shore unknown creatures
crawled and darted about, and caused
me great terror.
'These animals will not alarm you
on the earth of the future" said the
Fairy. "They are destined to manure
it with their remains. There are not
yet any human beings here to fear
them.
"Holdp' cried; "here is world of
monsters that shock mel Here Is your
arthlbelonging to these devourIng crea-
lures who live upon one another. DO
you need all these massscres and all
these stupidities to make us q muck
heap? I can understand their not be-
ing good for anything else, but l can't
understand a creation so rich in AMI
mated forms to do nothing and to leave
nothing worth anything behind it.
"Manure is something, il it Is not
everything; the conditions it will cre-
ate will be favorable to different beings
who will succeed those on which you
are looking"
"And which will disappear. in their
turn, l know that. 1 know that crea-
ton will go on improving itself up to
the creation of Man-at least, that is,
think, what 1 have been told, But L
had not pictured to myself this prodi-
gality of life and destruction, which ter
rifles me and fills me with repugnance; /;
these hideous forms, these gigantic
amphibia, these monstrous crocodiles,
and all these crawling or swimming
beasts which seem to live only to use
their teeth and devour one another"
My indignation highly amused Fairy
Dust.
"Matter is matter" she replied, "It
is always logical in its operations. The
human mind is not-and you have
proved it-you who live by eating
| charming birds, and crowd of crea-
lures more beautiful and intelligent
| than these. Have [ to teach you that
there is no production possible without
permanent destruction, and would you
| like to reverse the order OF nature?"
"Yes, L would should like that
all should go well from the first day.
| If Nature is q great fairy she might
have done without all all these abomin-
| able experiments, and made q world in
which we should all have been angels,
living by mind only, in the bosom of
an Interchangeable and always beautiful
creation"
The great fairy Nature has higher
views" replied Dame Dust. 'She
does not intend to stop at the things of
which you know. She is always at
work and inventing. For her, for
whom there is no such thing as the sus-
pension of life. rest would be death.
If things did not change the work of
the King of the Genii would be ended,
and this king, who Is ncessant and su-
preme activity, would end with his
work. The world which you see, and
| to which you Will return presently
when your vision of the past has faded
away, this world of man, which you
think is better than that of the ancient
animals, this world with which you yet
are not satisfied, since you wish to live
eternally in pure spiritual condition
this poor planet, still in a state of in
fancy, Is destined to transform itself
infinitely. The future will make of you
all-feeble human creatures that you
are-fairles and genii possessing sci
ence, reason and goodness. You have
seen what have shown to you, that
these first drafts of life, representing
simply instinct, are nearer to you than
you are to that which will some day
be the reign of mind in the earth which
you inhabit. The occupants of that
future world will then have the right
to despise you, as you now despise the
world OF the great saurians.
"Oh! II that is So" l replied, 'if all
that 1 have seen of the past will make
me think the better of the future, LET
me see more that is new"
"And, above all, said the Fairy,
"don't let rs too much despise the past
for fear of committing the ingratitude
of despising the present. When the
great Spirit of life used the materials
which furnished it, it did marvels from
the first day. Look at the eyes of this
monster which your learned men have
called the ichthyosaurus."
''They are as large as my head, and
frighten me-"
"They are very superior to yours
They ere at once long and short-sight
ed at will. They see prey at great dis
tances as with telescope, and when i
is quito near, by simple change o
!; action, they see it perfectly at its tru,
distance without needing spectacles
At that moment of creation nature haC
but one purpose; to make a thinking
animal. 1t gave to this creature or
gnns marvelously appropriate to it
wants. Don't you think it made 1
very pretty beginning-are you no
struck by itP In this way it will pro
ceed from better to better, with all the
beings which are to succeed those yor
now see. Those which appear to yol
poor, ugly, pitiful, are yet prodigies o
! adaptation to the place in the midst o
which they have manifested them
selves"
"And, like the others, they think o
| nothing but eating"
"Cf what would you have then
think? The earth has no wish to b.
admired. The sky, which exists to-da,
! and for ever, will continue to exis
without the aspirations and prayers o
; tiny living creatures adding anythin,
to the splendor and majesty of its laws
: The fairy of your little planet, n,
, doubt, knows the great First Cause
{ but if she is ordered to make a bein
who shall perceive or guess that Cause
| it will be in obedience to the law O
time-that law of which you can form
no idea, because you I've too short
| space to appreciate its operations
You think those operations slow, ye
) they are carried on with beyilderinI
rapidity. will free your mind from