They are the raw material, out of
which many of our goodly garments of modern science and religion
are made up. The illiterate negroes on the cotton plantation, and the
rude hunters in the jungle or seal fishery, produce the staple, or
procure the skins, which after long labour afford comfort and
adornment to proud philosophers and peers. The golden cross on the
saintly bosom and the glittering crown on the sovereign brow were
embedded as rough ore in primeval rocks ages before their wearers
were born to boast of them. We shall esteem our treasures none the
less because their origin is known, as we love "the Best of men"
none the less because he was born of a woman. We closed our series
of moon myths with a vision of a beautiful country, ornamented
with groves of fruitful trees, whose seeds had been carried thither by
white-winged doves; and carried thither because "some accident"
had destroyed the trees in their native isles on earth. Thus the lunar
world had become a desirable scene of superior and surpassing
loveliness. Who can reflect upon this dream of human childhood,
and not recall some dreams of later years? Who can fail to discern
slight touches of the same hand which we see displayed in other
designs? "Happily for historic truth," says Mr. Tylor, "mythic
tradition tells its tales without expurgating the episodes which
betray its real character to more critical observation." [103] Who is
not led on from Tahiti to Greece, and to the Isles of the Blessed, the
Elysium which abounds in every charm of life, and to the garden of
the Hesperides, with its apples of gold; thence to the Meru of the
Hindoos, the sacred mountain which is perpetually clothed in the
rays of the sun, and adorned with every variety of plants and trees;
thence again to the Heden of the Persians, of matchless beauty,
where ever flourishes the tree Hom with its wonderful fruit; on to
the Chinese garden, near the gate of heaven, whose noblest spring is
the fountain of life, and whose delightful trees bear fruits which
preserve and prolong the existence of man? [104] Thence an easy
entrance is gained to the Hebrew Paradise, with its abounding trees
"pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the
midst of the garden"; and finally arises a sight of the "better land" of
the Christian poetess, the incorruptible and undefiled inheritance of
the Christian preacher, the prospect which is "ever vernal and
blooming,--and, best of all