Then the forging, and the grinding, and the filing, and the whetting, with the shock of blade on blade, till the clatter of that smithy, mingling and dividing, mellowed, rose sweeter than the notes fabled of the sun, when he with his first rays smote upon the head of Memnon in wonder-loving Egypt; or the song heard by the wandering Greek hard by Charibdis, enticing the listening mariner to his death. Aha! aha! thou hast found a new life, and a new action, greatest of metals. Who are ye, who thus welcome me with a hymn of glory? We are the light, the eldest born, begotten in love, in love to endure forever. We were present at thy beginning, and saw the hand which moulded thee with fire. We saw the joy of thy young days, and acknowledge thee a child of God, like unto ourselves. We know thy offices, and the laws which rule thee, liquid or congealed, obedient to God’s will. In the depths of the earth wert thou engendered, and didst dwell in darkness for this hour. From the center didst thou spring upward, and wert poured through all the veins of matter, to strengthen and complete. But now thou art born into a new life, and art appointed to build and destroy. Another, mightier than thyself, shall shape thee, and thou shall be his bondsman until thy work is done. In the furnace and at the forge shall thy true worth be tried, and every good by heaven blessed, by thee be multiplied. Then sing the praise of iron; the sturdy and noble iron— Clink, clank; Glowing, flashing; Clanging, clashing; Sharp and quick; With the grinding, and the filing, and the whetting, and the shock of blade on blade; while the clatter of the smithy ringing, cries, it is mine to civilize. SECTION VIII. The brothers hastened from the mount, and descending, bore homeward the new-found metal with dances, and with shouts, which called Erix and Zella to meet them, and to listen, with growing eyes and a faith equal to their own, to the marvelous tale of the light which fell from heaven, and their blindness and the voice within them, and the altar burned, and the molten pool, and the strange wild music which they heard, until a knowledge entered into them of the gift they had received.