I    HAVE    MADE    UP    MY
MIND


IHAVE    MADE    UP    MY     MIND

jRYSTALS  are  beautiful  things.  Many
precious  stones  are  crystals.  The  dia
mond  is  a  crystal,  and  the  quartz
family  sparkles  in  a  variety  of  colors  on
cuffs  and  neckties  and  rings  and  wherever
else  the  adventitious  aids  of  nature's  quarries
can  accentuate  native  beauty  by  a  new  at
traction  or  relieve  the  eye  for  the  absence  of
beauty  by  a  distracting  substitute.  Crystals
are  as  wonderful  in  their  birth  as  they  are
glorious  in  their  full  growth.  They  solidify
out  of  molten  masses  or  marshal  along  their
rigid  lines  when  some  liquid  evaporates  or,
more  rarely,  start  into  being  from  condensed
vapors.  It  is  a  never-ceasing  source  of  won
der  to  see  the  multitude  of  molecules  move
into  line  like  well-drilled  soldiers.
Crystals  are  usually  handsome,  but  they
are  always  hard  and  they  have  sharp  edges
and  follow  rigid  lines  and  protrude  into


186  MUSTARD     SEED

awkward  points.  Now  if  crystals  had  brains
and  a  tongue  in  addition  to  their  other  fine
qualities,  they  would  find  it  hard  not  to  be
proud.  They  would  at  once  be  put  with
that  class  of  people  which  is  also  likely  to  be
rigid  and  hard  and  angular,  the  people  who
have  made  up  their  mind.  It  would  be
desirable  to  add  the  crystals  to  this  family  of
crystallized  souls.  They  might  impart  some
of  their  beauty  to  their  human  counterparts,
who  do  not  furnish  us  with  many  precious
stones  or  desirable  ornaments.
