We will not ask those who differ with us concerning the Galileo question to wait another century—the period assigned by Sir John Herschel as "requisite"! Herschel gave that opinion in 1828, which would send us to A.D. 1928 "to go through the task."
As it might not probably be convenient either for us or for those who differ with us to resume the controversy in that year, namely, 1928, we will—in the spirit of compromise, and taking all the rest for granted—content ourselves with and abide by the "satisfactory solution" promised for 1874, to which period it would seem proper, on scientific grounds, to adjourn any attempt to show that a system not yet proved in 1868 was, nevertheless, fully demonstrated in 1633.
"Out Of The Depths Have I Cried Unto Thee O Lord!"
A Christmas Sketch.
"Our blood splashes upward, O our tyrants!
And your purple shows your path,
But the child's sob curseth deeper in the silence
Than the strong man in his wrath."
"If wishes were horses, beggars might ride," says the proverb.
What a pity it is that wishes are not horses!—that at seasons when almost every tongue drops the words, "A merry Christmas!" "A happy New-Year!" the will should not rise and breathe the breath of life into those words; make them move, make them work; put bit and bridle on them, and direct them to go where they are most needed. Wishes might then be made into very excellent horses, and beggars might ride at least once a year; might be lifted for a day out of the mire of care and suffering that dulls the light of heaven to their eyes, and stops out the voices of heaven from their ears; lifted into a belief in the humanity of man and the mercy of God; might be given a little restful journey into that easy land where the rich dwell every day.
There is more truth than poetry in the line,