Introduction
two leaves that seem at a rough glance to be absolute duplicates, the one of the other. I have never taken the trouble to measure the two leaves, which appear to be exactly of the same length and breadth, with a graduated rule; but I have no doubt that if I did, I should find that there was a difference, though a very small one. But I trace the veins that intersect the substance of the leaves, and find always that no two leaves are exactly alike. There is a difference, a very slight difference, often; but always a difference. And so it is in all things, animate and inanimate. To me, every sheep in a flock is like every other sheep; but it is not so to the shepherd; and the huntsman distinguishes every foxhound from the other at a glance. And so it is in the crafts, though it is not so in our modern, machine-turned wares; and there, perhaps, is a legitimate reason for our love of the ancient thing, from the Gothic Cathedral to the hammered ironwork scrolls that sustain the sign of the village Inn. This variety, this diversity are the enchantment of life, and make the
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