118 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



A Tendril Soliloquy. 



I sat on a crumbling stone wall at 

 the edge of a swamp, with my camera 

 and collecting box at my side. I was 



"BUT YOU, STRAGGLER, WHAT 

 DOING?" 



ARE YOU 



Oh, I just make collections for my own pleasure. I 

 do not care about other people." 



tired. I had been tramping for miles, 

 but in the last half hour had found lit- 

 tle of special interest or value. Per- 



haps that made me pessimistic, for my 

 thoughts ran in a "Persian Garden" 

 style. 1 felt like asking myself, as the 

 old farmer had asked me an hour or so 

 before, "Have ye lost anything, Mis- 

 ter?" 



Seriously, let me introspect, let me 

 form a "Rubiyat" of only three words, 

 "What's the use?" One can be selfish, 

 even in the love of nature. Are all 

 these miles of communion with na- 

 ture, is all this physical weariness en- 

 dured for self or for the good of oth- 

 ers? How will the world be made 

 happier and better by my labor? 

 Which is the more commendable, to 

 help self, or to help others? 



At that moment my eye was at- 

 tracted by a clambering grapevine 

 \\ ith a profusion of tendrils. How mu- 

 tually helpful, how each supports and 

 is supported in the climbing toward a 

 life that shall be higher and better 

 lighted. 



But von, straggler, what are you 

 doing? Only clinging, intertwining 

 for self. 



O fooiish tendril ! O unhappy vine ! 

 you cannot reach highest happiness for 

 self or others in being an individual. 



No other tendrils have intertwined 

 so gracefully, so firmly, — but it is all 

 lost, for you are only acting for self. 



O foolish tendril ! You neither sup- 

 port nor are supported. I believe that 

 yon are unhappy. 



No others have struggled harder, but 

 by your selfishness you have lost your 

 own happiness, and have added to the 

 burden already borne by the vine, O 

 foolish tendril ! 



HOW MUTIA' > i'KIP'-ri. HOW EACH SUPPORTS AND IS SUPPORTED IN THE 

 CLTMRTNG TOWARD A LIFE THAT SHALL BE HIGHER AND 



