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To Mrs. S. B. Shaw.

Wayland, 1857.
It is a dark, drizzling day, and I am going to make sunshine for myself by sitting down before the old fire-place and having a cosy chat with you. Did you see Mr. H--'s sermon, preached soon after his return from Palestine? He thinks the truth of the Bible is proved by the fact that Jordan is still flowing and the Mount of Olives still standing. He says his faith was greatly strengthened by a sight of them [94] By the same token he ought to consider Grecian mythology proved, because Olympus and Parnassus are still standing; and a sight of them ought to strengthen his faith in Jupiter and the Muses. What a fuss they have made about finding the name of Jonah among the inscriptions at Nineveh! Does that prove that the whale swallowed him, and that he did not “set easy” on the whale's stomach? I can never get over wondering at the external tendency of a large class of minds.

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