the very fibre of the race, and is as
indestructible as the imagination in
which it has its roots. Deep in the
heart of humanity lies the unshak-
able faith in its essential divinity, and
in the reality of its highest hopes of
development and attainment. The
failure of noble schemes, the decline
of enthusiasms, the fading of visions
and dreams which seemed to have the
luminous constancy of fixed stars,
breed temporary depressions and pass-
ing moods of scepticism and despair;
but the spiritual vitality of the race
always reasserts itself, and faith returns
after every disaster or disillusion.

Indeed, as the race grows older and
masters more and more a knowledge
of its conditions, the impression of
the essential greatness of the experi-
ence we call life deepens in the finer
spirits. It becomes clear that the

[[261]]

p260 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p261w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p262

v?