creatures, so long should the idol survive and the maker go back to useful
dust. Whereas, did he doubt his idols and never himself--but this is
mostly a secret, for not many common idolmongers will cross that last
fence to the west, beyond the second field, where the cattle are strange
and the hour so late that one must turn back for bed and supper.

To one who accepts the simple truth thus put down precisely, it will be
apparent that the little boy was destined to see more than one idol
blasted before his eyes; yet, also, that he was not come to the foolish
caution of the wise, whom failure leads to doubt their own powers--as if
we were not meant to fail in our idols forever! Being, then, not come to
this spiritual decrepitude, fitted still to exercise a blessed contempt
for the Wisdom of the Ages, it is plain that he could as yet see an idol
go to bits without dismay, conscious only of the need for a new and a
better one.

Not all one's idols are shattered in a day. This were a catastrophe that
might wrench even youth's divine credulity.

Not until another year had gone, with its heavy-gaited school-months and
its galloping vacation-days, did the little boy come to understand that
Santa Claus was not a real presence. And instead of wailing over the ruins
of this idol, he brought a sturdy faith to bear, building in its place
something unseen and unheard of any save himself--an idol discernible only
by him, but none the less real for that.

The Imp with the hammer being no respecter of dignities, the idol of the
Front Room fell next, increasing the heap of ruins that was gathering
about his feet. Tragically came a day one spring, a cold, cloudy,
rational day, it seemed, when the Front Room went down; for the little