Part 11 (2/2)
”But, mamma, we shall not always have so much to do as we have now,” said Williarave; ”and then we shall find our books a great source of enjoyo to the other side of the island, and see what have been spared to us, and whether they have been ed; but that cannot be until after the rains are over, and we can use the boat again
”Look at this rave, turning to Willias it has!”
”Yes, I have seen so like it in old books How fast it runs with its little legs; thinner than hairs - hoonderful!”
”Yes, Williarave, ”we have only to examine into any portion, however small, of creation, and we are i which points out to us the ihty more than the careful provision which has been nificant of created beings This little animal is perhaps one of many millions, who have their term of existence, and their enjoyment, as well as we have What is it? - an insect of thein creation; yet has the sas, hardly visible, have their muscles and their sinews; and every other portion of its body is as complete, as fearfully and wonderfully fashi+oned, as our own Such is his will; and what insects we ought to feel ourselves, when compared to the God of power and of love!”
”Let rave, ”the infinity of his creative power, displayed in endless variety Ast the millions of men that have been born, and died, if ever yet were there seen two faces or two bodies exactly alike; nay, if you could exah there may be millions upon millions in a forest, you could not discover two leaves of precisely the same form and make”
”I have often tried in vain,” replied William; ”yet some animals are so much alike, that I cannot perceive any difference between them - sheep, for instance”
”Very true; you cannot tell the difference, because you have not examined them; but a shepherd, if he has seven hundred sheep under his care, will know every one of thereat difference between theh not perceptible to the casual observer; and the same, no doubt, is the case with all other classes of animals”
”Yes, Willias that I have seen, and I have even in norance felt what your papa has now told you; and it has brought into my mind the words of Job: `When I consider, I am afraid of him'”
”Papa,” said William, after a pause in the conversation, ”you have referred to the variety - the wonderful variety - shown in the works of the Deity Tell me some other prominent feature in creation”
”One of the most remarkable, William, is order”
”Point out to me, papa, where and in what that quality is , my dear boy; whether we cast our eyes up to the heavens above us, or penetrate into the bowels of the earth, the principle of order is everywhere - everything is governed by fixed lahich cannot be disobeyed: we have order in the seasons, in the tides, in the movement of the heavenly bodies, in the instinct of anined to each; from the elephant who lives more than a century, to the ephemeral fly, whose whole existence is limited to an hour
”Inani laws Metals, and rocks, and earths, and all the do fro itself in the allotted place, until that form is complete: we have order in production, order in decay; but all is simple to him by whom the planets were thrown out into space, and were commanded to roll in their eternal orbits”
”Yes; the stars in the heavens are beautiful,” said William, ”but they are not placed there in order”
”The fixed stars do not appear to us to be in order - that is, they do not stud the heavens at equal distances from each other as we view them; but you must recollect that they are at very different distances fro over all infinity of space; and we have reason to suppose that this our earth is but a le portion of an infinite whole As the stars now appear to us, they are useful to thehim to cross the trackless seas; and to the astronomer, who calculates the ti that this world of ours is supposed to be but one of a e is bounded to this our own earth, which we have ascertained very satisfactorily to be but one of several planets revolving round our own sun I say our own sun, because we have every reason to suppose that each of those fixed stars, and ht and glorious as our own, and of course throwing light and heat upon unseen planets revolving round theive you some idea of the vastness, the power, and the immensity of God?”
”One alrave
”Yes,” replied Mr Seagrave; ”and it has been surnificence of the Great Architect, that there lorious suns, which seem to us confused in the heavens above us, will appear all syular order, whirling round in one stupendous and perfect systen; and where can that be, if it is not in that heaven which we hope to gain?”
There was a silence for a few moments, when William said, ”They say that there are people who are atheists, papa How can they be so if they only look around theht to ood Christians”
”No, rave; ”there you are in error Few deny the existence of a Deity, and an exaood and devout ood men to be found under every denoans; but they are not Christians”
”Very true, papa”
”Faith in things seen, if I e the power and goodness of the Alhty, but it will not make them wise to salvation; for that end, it is necessary, as the Apostle saith, to have faith in things not seen”
Chapter xxxVI
”Well, Ready,” said Mr Seagrave, after breakfast, ”which is to be our next job?”
”Why, sir, I think we had better all set to, to collect the branches and ends of the cocoa-nut trees cut down, and stack thee pile, and I think, by to-night, we shall have et into it much After that, as the weather will not permit us to leave the house for any time, ill cut our salt-pan and make our fish-pond; they will take a week at least, and then we shall have little th of the rains is over already, and perhaps in a fortnight we h the wood, and examine e have saved from the wreck”
”And we are to explore the island; are we not, Ready?” said Willia to do that”
”Yes, William, but that must be alhts, perhaps, and we must look out for fine weather We will, however, do that before we bring the stores round in the boat”
”But how are we to make the salt-pan, Ready? We must cut it out of the solid rock”
”Yes, William; but I have three or four of what they call cold chisels, and with one of theet on faster than you think; for the coral rock, although hard at the surface, is soft a little below it”
The whole of that day was e up the cocoa-nut branches and wood Ready able top, over which he tied the long branches, so that the rain would pour off it
”There,” said Ready, as he came down the ladder, ”that will be our provision for next year; we have quite enough left to go on with till the rainy season is over, and we shall have no difficulty in collecting it afterwards when the weather is dry”
Mr Seagrave sighed and looked grave; Ready observed it, and said, ”Mr Seagrave, it is not that we may want it; but still we must prepare for the next rainy season, in case we do want it That Captain Osborn, if he lives, will send to look for us, I have no doubt; nay, I believe that Mackintosh will do the saet that they all h we have been so mercifully preserved We must put our trust in God, sir”
”We must, Ready; and if it is his will, we must not hts will come in spite of my endeavours to restrain them”
”Of course they will, sir; that's natural: however, sir, you ood, and it is sinful”
”I feel it is, Ready; and when I see how patient, and even happy, ry with myself”
”A woman, sir, bears adversity better than a man A woman is all love, and if she has but her husband and children with her, and in good health, she will make herself happy al shut out of the world as you are now”
”It is our arave; ”but let us say no more about it: God must dispose ofrequested by William, continued his narrative
”I left off, if I recollect right, William, just as the Hottentot, with the cattle under his care, had frightened away the baboons ere tor us Well, we came out of the cave and sat down under the rock, so that the Hottentot could not see us, and we had a sort of council of war Roain; for he said it was ridiculous to be wandering about without any arht fall in with soht It would have been the wisest thing which we could have done; but Hastings said, that if ent back we should be laughed at, and the idea of being laughed at ree that ould not Bear this in mind, William, and never let the fear of ridicule induce you to do what is wrong; or if you have done wrong, prevent you fro to what is your duty”
”Many thanks for your advice, Ready; I hope Williarave
”Well, sir, such was our reason for not giving up ourso decided, the next point of consultation between us was, hoere to procure arms and a this over, I peeped froht be; I perceived that he had laid himself down, and wrapped himself up in his kross, a mantle of sheep-skins which they alear Noe had observed that he carried his musket in his hand, e first saw hio out ars and Roet possession of his ood idea, and Hastings said he would crawl to him on his hands and knees, while we remained behind the rock He did so very cautiously, and found the man's head covered up in his kross and fast asleep; so there was no fear, for the Hottentots are very hard to wake at any tis first took the musket and carried it away out of the reach of the Hottentot, and then he returned to hi his powder-horn and a the ood luck, and determined to walk very cautiously some distance from where the Hottentot lay, that in case he awoke he should not see us Keeping our eyes about in every direction, lest we should meet with anybody else, we proceeded nearly a mile towards Table Bay, e fell in with a stream of water This was another happy discovery, for ere very thirsty; so we concealed ourselves near the stream after we had quenched our thirst, and ht with us”
”But, Ready, did you not do wrong to steal the Hottentot's musket?”
”No, William; in that instance it could not be considered as a theft We were in an ene to escape; ere therefore just as much at ith the country as hen they took us prisoners, and we no more stole the musket than they could be said to have stolen our shi+p Arave?”