Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/103

103

THE POLICY OF NATIONS.

will many a name now highly praised in history, whose
fame is built on blackened ruins and moldering skele-
tons, only fill as a monument of human folly a small
unenviable space in the book of the past, while they
shall diligently inquire after the deeds of him who has
helped to lay a foundation-stone for the better time."
  "And still the most apparently destructive wars," re-
marked Oswald, " have contributed essentially to the
progress of mankind."
  "Because there is a God in heaven who watches and
directs them. The tempest clears the atmosphere, and
is succeeded by a day of sunshine. But this fair day
must have its origin above the tempest and the clouds ;
the storms do not create it ; they only discharge their
baleful weapons, and dispel the vapors from which they
themselves are born."
  The pastor's wife, who feared that her husband was
growing somewhat heated, now interrupted him by say-
ing with a smile, "The vapors of my tea-kettle have
had plenty of time to gather themselves into a thunder-
cloud, if they were not of a peaceable nature."
  Mander, however, after a short pause recommenced
their earnest conversation. The experiences of an
eventful life had gifted him with that cautious judg-
ment which confines itself within the bounds of the
actual, and ventures no glance beyond the visible point
of departure. Yet he was pleased to listen to a man
who, in a position so narrow, and so barren of bright
and cheerful hopes for himself, was still dreaming of an
ideal for humanity ; and therefore he had purposely
made objections so far as was necessary to keep up the
excitement on the part of Hold. But by this means