And so it is in all the works of God. Even the
startling phenomena presented by the earth's surface, which earlier
philosophers supposed to be the result of violent and sudden
convulsions, are now regarded as the result of the slow and ordinary
action of natural powers. Leisurely movement is the eternal and
universal law. And it is no use complaining; you cannot alter it. You
cannot make a hen hatch her eggs in less than three weeks, do what you
will. You may crack the shells, thinking to let the chickens out a
little earlier; but you let death in, and the chickens never do come out
at all. "The more haste the less speed." I have had proof of this more
than once in my own experience. I once lived in a house terribly
infested with rats, and I wanted to get rid of them as quick as I could,
for they were a great nuisance. But, I was in too big a hurry to
succeed. One night I heard a terrible splashing in the water-tub in the
cellar. "That's a rat," said I, "I'll dispatch that, anyhow:" and I took
the lighted candle and poker, and hastened into the cellar, thinking to
kill the creature at once. When the rat saw me with candle and poker, it
made an extra spring, completely cleared the edge of the tub, and got
safe away into its hole.
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