'
"`Yes,' answered Hollins, `and if we succeed, as I feel we shall,
for I think I know the hearts of all of us here, this may be the
commencement of a new EEpoch for the world. We may become the
turning-point between two dispensations: behind us every thing
false and unnatural, before us every thing true, beautiful, and
good.'
"`Ah,' sighed Miss Ringtop, `it reminds me of Gamaliel J.
Gawthrop's beautiful lines:
"`Unrobed man is lying hoary
In the distance, gray and dead;
There no wreaths of godless glory
To his mist-like tresses wed,
And the foot-fall of the Ages
Reigns supreme, with noiseless tread.'
"`I am willing to try the experiment,' said I, on being appealed to
by Hollins; `but don't you think we had better observe some kind of
order, even in yielding every thing to impulse? Shouldn't there
be, at least, a platform, as the politicians call it--an agreement
by which we shall all be bound, and which we can afterwards exhibit
as the basis of our success?'
"He meditated a few moments, and then answered--
"`I think not.
Pages:
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291