76 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



But with the fullness and fairness of Nature about us, and with our 

 senses quickened that we may become possessors of the lavish gifts which 

 she bestows upon whosoever will enjoy them, existence is a warmly appre- 

 ciated pleasure and every contribution to the welfare of life a thankfully 

 received and treasured blessing. Even the untutored soul of the savage 

 is stirred with the throbbings of a higher life as he gazes upon that 

 "orient pavilion flushed with a thousand gorgeous and shifting hues, 

 from out whose dazzling portals issue the outgoings of the morning." 

 The whispering breezes through leafy branches tell many a tale to the 

 dusky inhabitant of the forest of love and the purer enjoyments of life. 

 The starry flower opens its bright petals to the admiring gaze of the 

 Indian maiden and teaches her lessons of grace and beauty, of goodness 

 and purity, of truth and love. 



Yet it is not over the rude and the barbarous that the beauty, variety and 

 harmony of the objects of Nature and Nature's art exert their full power. 

 It is only by those whose cultivated senses, refined intelligence and 

 awakened sympathies permit the soft and silent influences, springing from 

 a close and loving communion with the visible forms and vibrating sym- 

 pathies about us, that the richest treasures are found and the fullest lessons 

 learned in Nature's store-houses and in Nature's school-rooms. 



" To hi-m who, in the love of Nature, holds 

 Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 

 A various language ; for his gayer hours 

 She has a voice of gladness and a smile 

 And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 

 Into his darker musings with a mild 

 And healing sympathy that steals away 

 Their sharpness ere he is aware." BRYANT. 



The painted cup upturned to catch the glistening dew, the hanging 

 bell tolling its perfume upon the air, the simple leaf fanned by the 

 evening breeze, the clustering purple of the vine, the spire of the pine, 

 the flecked shade of the generous linden, have awakened memories and 

 associations that have given the intelligence a wider reach and better 

 compass, the imagination higher flights and purer creations, the affections 

 stronger ties and holier bonds, the aspirations nobler aims and grander 

 purposes, the conscience quicker sensibilities and greater power for good 

 among thoughtful and cultured men and women in all lands, in every 

 age. 



" When thy heart in its pride would stray 



From the pure first-loves of its youth away, 



When the sullying breath of the world would come 

 O'er the flowers it brought from its childhood home, 



Think of the tree at thy father's door, 



And the kindly spell shall have power once more." Mrs. Hemans. 



Taught by our better instincts and the nobler philosophies of life 

 joined to our dependence upon the objects of sense for so much of our 

 knowledge and enjoyment, with such intimate relations to our moral 

 improvement and future destiny, is it too much to say that the humblest 



