Whenever we take a trip on the railroad and see the miles of cars, the
acres of roofing and wall, the towns full of brick buildings, we rejoice
that iron rust is red, not white or some leas satisfying color.
We do not know why it is so. Zinc and aluminum are metals very much like
iron in chemical properties, but all their salts are colorless. Why is
it that the most useful of the metals forms the most beautiful
compounds? Some say, Providence; some say, chance; some say nothing. But
if it had not been so we would have lost most of the beauty of rocks and
trees and human beings. For the leaves and the flowers would all be
white, and all the men and women would look like walking corpses.
Without color in the flower what would the bees and painters do? If all
the grass and trees were white, it would be like winter all the year
round. If we had white blood in our veins like some of the insects it
would be hard lines for our poets. And what would become of our morality
if we could not blush?
"As for me, I thrill to see
The bloom a velvet cheek discloses!
Made of dust! I well believe it,
So are lilies, so are roses.
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