But now he stands upon the sandy beach with the breakers in sight, his
eyes attracted to the sea weeds and pearly shells at his feet. He is
interested, and examines them carefully. Some of the shells he finds
inhabited, and, as he is a naturalist, is soon acquainted with each
specific form, and has a learned name for it. But he also finds a real
architect in the delicate tinted coral branches at his feet. Around the
head and mouth of this little creature, serving as arms for obtaining
food, he finds a number of tentacles. "Nature has given you a goodly
work to do, little architect," cries the naturalist, "and these
tentacles are well adapted to your animal wants. _Polypus_ is many
armed, and henceforth, most scientifically, your name shall be polyp!"
And then he begins a pleasing study. Zoophytes he finds everywhere,
spreading their beautiful architectural works along the continental
borders.
He crosses the stormy Atlantic, weighing the mighty power that drives
the storm. On, on through the quiet Indian ocean, the phosphorescent
Indian ocean, naming and collecting myriad living forms, until he
reaches the beautiful Polynesia, where, spread out in the tropical sun
are the coral reefs--monuments of submerged islands--with an epitaph to
the departed written in living characters around each placid lagoon.
The scientist, though, can read and understand; it is not beyond his
conception; and bringing together these epitaphs, he forms a perfect
image of those submerged lands. Vegetation and animalization, well
defined, are as clear in his imagination as though, even now, the white
sunlight were reflected from those ancient islands, forming a perfect
image on the retina.
He studies hard, and his conclusions, builded on the material laws of
nature, are reliable; and now he returns to civilization honored and
respected, bringing the material of his researches to the civilized
world.
There are other phenomena tho', fully as grand as coral islands and
polyps, and he is soon in the field of work again. The gallant ship
carries him through the wintry northern seas, with their ice mountains
towering beneath an enfeebled sun, to the realms of perpetual snow. Past
Greenland's milky glaciers that feed the Arctic main with ice mountains.
Past the struggling crater of Mount Hecla, where, bound by the king of
these ultimate realms, the Fire Demon struggles to be free, groaning out
the essence of wrath from his fiery nostril in moulten rivers that are
petrified by the rigid Ice King, and added to the adamantine chains with
which he is bound; on, on to the north through a world of icebergs that
moan and groan as though they were fettered in this desolate waste of
frozen sea, to bar the explorer from the frosty Ice King's ultimate
throne, the North Pole. But no; the scientific mind knows no defeat, and
he toils on over the icy fields, while the sun, aweary with his long
vigil, sinks further and further in the horizon, as though he could no
longer banish the sleep from his eyes, when lo!--an open Polar sea
stretches away to the northward, breaking against a rocky, mountainous
coast.
Filled with the joy of first discovery, the scientist voices the
language of his soul in one grand apostrophe: "Oh restless Polar sea,
that breaks upon this rock-bound coast, and spreads away, I know not
where, e'en as Eternity, had I but my gallant ship, I'd sail thy tossing
main!"
Sadly he toils back to the south, and none to soon. Creaking and roaring
the massive icebergs among, on comes the tempest, and the scientist is
thankful for the much needed shelter. The sun, too, has deserted him,
and the grand aurora borealis, like a flaming sword above the lost Eden,
seems to guard the Arctic realms, while sparkling gems glitter on each
icy pinnacle.
The Arctic winter, which but for the aurora borealis would be black as
the inkiest night, passes slowly away. Oh, how cold and gloomy it is!
How the explorer struggles and struggles with the rigid Ice King,
eagerly waiting for the departed sun to return and rescue him, and at
last his anxious watch is rewarded. The east puts on the blush of
modesty, a sure prophesy of his majesty's return, and immediately his
welcome face appears. As he comes up the way, the icebergs part to let
him pass, and the gallant ship, freed from her rigid chains, sails
onward to the south.
Thus, even thus it is that the scientist toils on and on in a masterly
search for truth. Is it for glory or wealth that he dares this? No; the
luxuries of civilization are even like contagion in his estimation, and
with a Stoical spirit that is grand, he leads a purely intellectual
life, drawing from Nature her richest treasures which she is only too
glad to give. His wisdom is like a rich soil in which the seeds of
knowledge and virtue germinate. He is a lover of truth, and in Nature he
finds his ideal.
Natural phenomena become beautified before his studious mind, and the
lower animal forms teach him objective lessons of wisdom, that, by their
very simplicity, are deeply impressed on his memory.
Even in the profound laws of chemistry and astronomy he finds a beauty
that is irresistable and studies them until he develops a giant
intellect. He can see beauty in truth; he can see truth in Nature; and
Nature becomes his inspiration.
For The Hawkeye O. and O.
CARE OF MINERALS.