CONTACT WITH NATURE. . 15 



rested on a clump of Clavelince (Plate I., fig. 4), almost 

 as translucent as tlie water in which they stood ! And 

 wherefore, three weeks afterwards, could I not be in- 

 duced to stop and pick up either of these, unless of 

 very magnificent pretensions ? If nature were not 

 more inexhaustible than man's curiosity, we should 

 come to the end of our hunting pleasures in a few 

 years. As it is, our lifetime is too brief. 



If these fi^^st thrills can never come back to us, there 

 is ample compensation in the new vistas which open 

 with increasing knowledge ; the first kiss may be 

 peculiar in its charm, but as the years roll on, we learn 

 to love more and more the cheek on which we first 

 found little besides that charm. Knowledsfe widens, 

 and changes its horizon ; and as we travel, we pass 

 under newer skies lighted by serener stars. In direct 

 contact with Nature we not only learn reverence by 

 having our own insignificance forced on us, but we 

 learn more and more to appreciate the Infinity on all 

 sides ; so that we cannot give ourselves up to one small 

 segment of the circle, no matter how small, without 

 speedily discerning that life piled on life would not 

 sufiice to travel over this small segment of a segment. 

 And yet the very immensity of the world of Life is a 

 source of encouragement. Compared with what is 

 accessible to us, the knowledge, even of the wisest, is 

 as that of a child ; but if, instead of comparing what is 

 with what is to he known, we compare our knowledge 

 with our previous ignorance, the rapidity of progress 

 becomes the k-eenest motive for endeavour. A few 



