Yes, the scientific creature
has. Go on, oh! many-tailed one."
"You miss the secular side a little. You cannot expect those grand,
good-humoured fellows of yours to be always content with devotional
excitement."
"But we don't. Our secular work, our care for the men's bodies, is just
as great as our care for their souls," said Fullerton, warmly. "We
simply cannot do everything; we lack means, and that must be our plea,
no matter how sordid it may seem to you. But you must clearly understand
that for my part, while I hold tenaciously to the primary duty of
'holding forth the Word of Life'--for it is 'the entrance of Thy Word
giveth light _and understanding to the simple_'--yet I am entirely with
you in feeling that we need to cultivate the intellect of these men. Go
on, Ferrier."
"Well; I meant to say that you must let the men know something of the
beauty of the world, and the wonder of it as well. Look here, Blair: do
you mean to say that I couldn't make a regular fairy tale out of the
geology of these Banks? Pray, ladies, excuse just a little shop; I can't
help it. Give me just one tooth of an elephant, dredged up off
Scarborough, and if I don't make those men delighted, then I may leave
the Royal Society."
"But, my good Bashaw," said Blair, "if you blindfold one of the
skippers, and tell him the soundings from time to time, he'll take you
from point to point, and pick up his marks just as surely as you could
touch your bedroom-door in the dark.
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