live in tradition. There is mystery here; but it is hid by the
darkness of bygone ages. There is a true history here, but we
have not learned well the alphabet used. Here are doubtless
wondrous scenes; but our stand-point is removed by time so vast,
the mist of years is so thick before us, that only the ruder
outlines can be determined. The delicate tracery, the body of
the picture, are hidden from our eye. The question as to the
antiquity and primitive history of man, is full of interest in
proportion as the solution is beset with difficulties. We
question the past; but only here and there a response is heard.
Surely bold is he who would attempt, from the few data at hand,
to reconstruct the history of times and people so far removed.
We quickly become convinced that many centuries, and tens of
centuries, have rolled away since man's first appearance on the
earth. We become impressed with the fact, "that multitudes of
people have moved over the surface of the Earth, and sunk into
the night of oblivion, without leaving a trace of their
existence: without a memorial through which we might have at
least learned their names."<1>

To think of ourselves, is to imagine for our own nation an
immortality. We are so great, so strong, surely nothing can move
us. Let us learn humility from the past: and when, here and
there, we come upon some reminder of a vanished people, trace
the proofs of a teeming population in ancient times, and recover
somewhat of a history, as true and touching as any that poets
sing, let us recognize the fact, that nations as well as
individuals pass away and are forgotten.

The past guards its secret well. To learn of it we must seek new