The Great Lover 



L. H. Bailey 



Address of the President at the meeting of the American Nature- Study 

 Society, December 27, 19 16. 



"All mankind loves a lover." Thus saith Emerson, philosopher 

 of the over soul. 



The woxld loveth a lover because he is ideaHst and enthusiast. 

 Breaker of precedents, violater of experience, he gives himself 

 over to the demands of his soul, and liv^es in his dream as if the 

 dream were the greatest verity. All things doth he subordinate, 

 all obstacles doth he neglect, all transient enterprise doth he 

 scorn, that he may attain, that he may attain quickly and com- 

 pletely. His eagerness bears him on, buoys him beyond despond, 

 electrifies his eye. To every fellow lover he talks of his love, 

 explains it with the abandon of youth, and is never hindered or 

 abashed when the cynic on the four-corners of life scoffs at him 

 and asks him the way. To him the way is plain, — straight 

 ahead, straight ahead, on with the glow of hope and still on without 

 the shadow of faltering. And the farther he goes and the warmer 

 his ardor, the more do the people applaud. Verily, all mankind 

 love a lover ! 



When two souls meet with their loves, ardently and unashamed 

 do they talk of them. Whether the object is woman or man, 

 or the far pursuit of a desire that hath become a dream, it counteth 

 not, for they relieve themselves to each other. Wha' any two 

 persons love, that becometh the password. 



The greatest rewards are the enthusiasms. The enthusiast 

 is the lover. Enthusiasm brooks no precedent. It is not a 

 lawyer immersed in tomes of old decisions. It is not a dogma, 

 embalmed in sad history. It is the free outlook to the future, 

 the dem_ocracy of the mind, the refusal to be bound and tied. It 

 is the solvent to the soul. 



Every good student is a lover. One is a lover of books, 

 searching in the dim corridors that he may discover and resurrect 

 a great hope. One is a lover of words, following them in their 

 devious and fascinating histories. One is a lover of the stars, 

 going in far journeys beyond any man's journey. One is a lover 

 of his fellow men, forgetting himself. One is a lover of architec- 

 ture, building himself on beautiful forms and painting his dreams 



43' 



