Mark Twain on Our World from a letter to Olivia January 8, 1870 How insignificant we are, with our pigmy little world! - an atom glinting with uncounted myriads of other atom-worlds in a broad shaft of light streaming from God's countenance - and yet we prattle complacently about our speck being the Great World, and regard the other specks as pretty trifles made to steer our schooners by and inspire the reveries of "puppy" lovers. Did Christ live 33 years in each of the millions and millions of worlds that hold their majestic courses above our heads? Or was our small globe the favored one of all? Does one apple in a vast orchard think as much of itself as we do? or one leaf in the forest - or one grain of sand upon the sea shore? Do the ants argue upon vexed questions of ant theology - and do they climb a molehill and look abroad over the grand universe of an acre of ground and say "Great is God, who created all things for Us?" (edited by David Van Alstyne) Home / General Interest