hquake, as if they were light
as aspen leaves. And, remember, the poor little crystals have to live
their lives, and mind their own affairs, in the midst of all this, as
best they may. They are wonderfully like human creatures,--forget all
that is going on if they don't see it, however dreadful; and never think
what is to happen to-morrow. They are spiteful or loving, and indolent
or painstaking, and orderly or licentious, with no thought whatever of
the lava or the flood which may break over them any day; and evaporate
them into air-bubbles, or wash them into a solution of salts. And you
may look at them, once understanding the surrounding conditions of their
fate, with an endless interest. You will see crowds of unfortunate
little crystals, who have been forced to constitute themselves in a
hurry, their dissolving element being fiercely scorched away; you will
see them doing their best, bright and numberless, but tiny. Then you
will find indulged crystals, who have had centuries to form themselves
in, and have changed their mind and ways continually; and have been
tired, and taken heart again; and have been sick, and got well again;
and thought they would try a different diet, and then thought better of
it; and made but a poor use of their advantages, after all. And others
you will see, who have begun life as wicked crystals; and then have been
impressed by alarming circumstances, and have become converted crystals,
and behaved amazingly for a little while, and fallen away again, and
ended, but discreditably, perhaps even in decomposition; so that one
doesn't know what will become of them. And sometimes you will see
deceitful crystals, that look as soft as velvet, and are deadly to all
near them; and sometimes you will see deceitful crystals, that seem
flint-edged, like our little quartz-crystal of a housekeeper here,
(hush! Dora,) and are endlessly gentle and true wherever gentleness and
truth are needed. And sometimes you will see little child-crystals put
to school like school-girls, and made to stand in rows; and taken the
greatest care of, and taught how to hold themselves up, and behave: and
sometimes you will see unhappy little child-crystals left to lie about
in the dirt, and pick up their living, and learn manners, where they
can. And sometimes you will see fat crystals eating up thin ones, like
great capitalists and little labourers; and politico-economic crystals
teaching the stupid ones how to eat each other