of them typical of much.

I happened the other evening to saunter into a room in which a certain
debating society was holding its weekly meeting. The paper out of
which the discussion arose had been read before my arrival. But I
gathered from the remarks of the speakers that it had dealt with a
scientific subject, and that questions of antiquity, geology, and
evolution were involved. After the fashion of debating societies, the
entire universe was promptly subjected to a complete overhaul. If the
truth must be told, I am afraid that I must confess to having forgotten
the eloquent contentions of the different speakers; but out of the
hurly-burly of that wordy conflict one utterance comes back to me. It
appealed to me at the time as being very curious, very pathetic, and
very striking. It made upon my mind an indelible impression. A tall
young fellow rose, and, in the shortest speech of the debate, imparted
to the discussion the only touch of real feeling by which it was
illumined. I do not know what it was that had struck so deep a chord
in his soul and set it all vibrating. It is wonderful how some stray
sound or sight or scent will sometimes summon to the mind a rush of
sacred memories. After a preliminary platitude or two, this speaker
suddenly referred to the connexion between science and faith. His eyes
flashed with manifest feeling; his whole being took on the tone of a
man in deadly earnest; his voice quivered with emotion. In one vivid
sentence he graphically described his aged grandfather as the old man
donned his spectacles and devoutly read--his faith unclouded by any
shadow of doubt--his morning chapter from the well-worn, large-type
Bible. And then, with a ring of such genuine passion that it sounded
to me like the cry of a creature in pain, he exclaimed, 'And,
gentlemen, I would give both my hands, and give them cheerfully, if I
could believe as my old grandfather believed!' He immediately sat
down. One or two members coughed. I could see from the faces of the
others that they all felt that the debate was getting out of bounds.
The world was wide, and the solar system fairly extensive; but this
speaker had wandered beyond the remotest frontiers of the universe.
And yet to me the utterance to which they had just listened was the
speech of the evening, the one speech to be remembered: '_Gentlemen, I
would give both my hands, and give them cheerfully, if I could believe
as my grandfather believ