228 THE STORY OF THE MOUNTAINS
heat will last to render life possible for many millions of years yet, does it not seem almost criminally childish for us—Hindus, Christians, and Mohamedans alike—to be so continually and inces- santly looking backward to great and holy men of the past, as if all the best were necessarily behind, instead of sometimes looking forward to the even greater men to come—to the higher species of men who will yet evolve; of whom our holiest and our greatest are only the forerunners ; and for the production of whom it should be our highest duty consciously and of purpose to pave the way, as the poor primitive men, though uncon- sciously, prepared the ground for the civilised men of to-day? Ought we not more accurately to adjust our sense of proportion; to rise above the ant-like attitude of mind, and attune our thoughts to the breadth and height of the mountains, to the purity of their snowy summits, and to the clearness of the azure skies they almost seem to touch ?
To some the sight of these mountain miasses, the thought of the tremendous forces which gave them rise, and of the time their moulding has involved, brings no other feeling than depression. The size, the titanic nature of the forces, and the vastness of the time impress them only with a
