294 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



"The Man With the Hoe" at the Sun- 

 rise Party. 



BY PROFESSOR ARETAS W. NOLAN STATE 

 UNIVERSITY, WEST VIRGINIA. 



One beautiful morning" in June I 

 planned a sunrise excursion for my na- 

 ture study class of University students. 



" 'UMPH, HELL!' GRUNTED THE OLD MAN 

 AND, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, TURNED 

 BACK TO HIS HOE." 



We reached the top of a splendid hill 

 just as the first gray light dawned 

 in the east. We had come to see the 

 morning and its great miracle of splen- 

 dor. We sat down on the crest of the 

 hill and waited. Gradually a ruddy 

 light appeared in the east. A flash of 



red shot up from. the distant hills; the 

 mass of overhanging clouds was streak- 

 ed and splashed with fire. The great 

 red rim of the sun appeared and the 

 morning was ushered in with glad- 

 ness. 



We all arose, removed our hats and 

 stood in silent reverence before this 

 renewed creation. Several yards from 

 the foot of the hill a farmhouse gave 

 evidence of early rising. An old man, 

 already at his hoe in the garden, had 

 noticed our strange crowd with bared 

 heads and suppressed excitement. He 

 laid his hoe aside' and laboriously 

 climbed the hill to where we were as- 

 sembled. 



"What's the matter with you folks 

 up here? Got something treed?" asked 

 the old man. 



We explained to him that we had 

 come to see the sunrise and began to 

 point out to him the glories of the 

 morning, now in full setting. 



"Umph, hell!" grunted the old man 

 and, without further ado, turned back 

 to his hoe. 



You have no doubt diagnosed the 

 old man's case. His heart was fuller 

 of the sordidness of hell than it was 

 of the splendors of heaven, and he did 

 not see the sunrise though its glories 

 shone all about him. The great funda- 

 mental hunger for beauty had died out 

 of his heart and he had lost the fountain 

 of youth forever. 



Civilization has led too many of us 

 away from the morning and the sun- 

 rise and the appreciation of nature's 

 beauty and splendor, and at the same 

 time it has led us away from youth- 

 fulness. If we are no longer moved 

 by the sunrise or the sunset, if we do 

 not hear the songs of the birds or see 

 the sky over our heads or the clods 

 at our feet, there is something wrong, 

 — we are growing old too soon and we 

 may become like the old man at the 

 sunrise party — unable to see the morn- 

 ing, for the hell that is in our hearts. 



