It is an interesting illustration of the Unity of Man, and an encouragement to those of us who have no claims to genius, that, though of course there have been exceptions, still on the whole, periods of progress have generally been those when a nation has worked and felt together; the advance has been due not entirely to the efforts of a few great men, but also of a thousand little men; not to a single genius, but to a national effort. Think, indeed, what might be. "Ah! when shall all men's good Be each man's rule, and universal Peace Lie like a shaft of light across the land, And like a lane of beams athwart the sea, Thro' all the circle of the golden year." [6] Our life is surrounded with mystery, our very world is a speck in boundless space; and not only the period of our own individual life, but that of the whole human race is, as it were, but a moment in the eternity of time. We cannot imagine any origin, nor foresee the conclusion. But though we may not as yet perceive any line of research which can give us a clue to the solution, in another sense we may hold that every addition to our knowledge is one small step toward the great revelation. Progress may be more slow, or more rapid. It may come to others and not to us. It will not come to us if we do not strive to deserve it. But come it surely will. "Yet one thing is there that ye shall not slay, Even thought, that fire nor iron can affright." [7] The future of man is full of hope, and who can foresee the limits of his destiny? [1] Lubbock. _Fifty Years of Science_. [2] _The Senses of Animals_. [3] Lubbock. _Fifty Years of Science_. [4] _Ants, Bees, and Wasps_. [5] Lubbock. _The Senses of Animals_. [6] Tennyson. [7] Swinburne. CHAPTER XIII. THE DESTINY OF MAN. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."--ROMANS viii. 18. CHAPTER XIII. THE DESTINY OF MAN. But though we have thus a sure and certain hope of progress for the race, still, as far as man is individually concerned, with advancing years we gradually care less and less, for many things which gave us the greatest pleasure in youth. On the other hand, if our time has been well used, if we have warmed both hands wisely "before the fire of life," we may gain even more than we lose. If our strength becomes less, we feel also the less necessity for exertion. Hope is gradually replaced by memory: and whether this adds to our happiness or not depends on what our life has been. There are of course some lives which diminish in value as old age advances, in which one pleasure fades after another, and even those which remain gradually lose their zest; but there are others which gain in richness and peace all, and more, than that of which time robs them.