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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 





HE IS "THE HAPPY FARMER." 



"My sturdy team goes swiftly round 

 And swiftly turns the fragrant ground." 





ping wood, of holding the plow, and of 

 seeing green things grow, but one that 

 can in well written lines transmit 

 some of that joy to others. Air. 

 Charlds H. Crandall is a poet pre- 

 eminently of the farm, though he has 

 written upon other topics. To him 

 the field, the forest, the sky and the 

 streams, mean more than the place in 

 which he raises his crops, gathers nuts 

 or hews firewood, although he is en- 

 gaged in all these interesting occupa- 

 tions as well as in other diversified 

 pursuits characteristic of the New 



England farm. He lives near to na- 

 ture. I wish that I could write in 

 glowing terms of his interest in na- 

 ture study, but I cannot. I wish that 

 he were a naturalist, but strictly 

 speaking he is not. He is a farmer 

 and farmer-poet ; he appreciates the 

 delights of his occupation, he trans- 

 mits his pleasure in it to humanity, 

 and he interests humanity in it, but 

 for the details of nature, as the nat- 

 uralist sees them, he has no special 

 affection. I doubt if, when he looks at 

 a pine tree or an oak tree or an apple 



ik :•'. ■ ' . ^ Jn -t 



'You'd like to hold the plow awhile? 

 All right, sir. I am willin'." 



- — From "Plowing." 



