RURAL HOURS. 



231 



upon their jaded spirits — jaded with the one- 

 isided culture of society or society novels. 



" What," exclaims some of our readers, 

 "do you find all this in a book that is only 

 a diary of ordinary country life ? A book 

 that gives an account of a walk in the woods, 

 of maple trees, squirrels, crickets and swal- 

 lows ? A book without a story — which be- 

 gins with a snowstorm, and ends with a sun- 

 set 1 " 



Yes, you arc quite right. There is no 

 story, but the story of the earth — the oldest 

 of all story books — and no incidents but the 

 incidents of nature — God's incidents. But 

 do you think such incidents too trifling and 

 commonplace for your attention? Do you 

 think it pleasant or wise to live three score 

 years in a world so full of curious and won- 

 derful facts, that great and learned men have 

 spent ages in diving but a little way into 

 them, and never recognise their existence ? 

 Is it of no consequence that you do not know, 

 even by name, the trees and flowers, the birds 

 and animated nature, the rocks and stones 

 under your feet ? Ah I believe us, there is a 

 great heart in the bosom of nature, which you 

 may hear beat if you will only confidinlgy and 

 trustingly woo her daily in her secret haunts. 

 Yes, you may fall in love with nature ; and it 

 is a passion that grows — not weakens — by 

 enjoyment; a feeling that calms — not ex- 

 cites — the soul; a sentiment that always en- 

 nobles, and never degrades the heart. 



We welcome Miss CoorER's volume, also, 

 because it proves to us that time and culture 

 will develop in our fair countrywomen that 

 fondness for nature, and that nice observation 

 of it, which are among the rarest and best 

 traits of national character ; traits, we may 

 add, which one only sees in the Anglo-Saxon 

 and northern nations. 



Women, in the country, must have some 

 objects of interest beyond their ordinary 

 household cares and joys. If they love coun- 



try life, rural pleasures, nature, then comes 

 a national character, based upon pure and 

 wholesome tastes. If they care only for so- 

 cial enjoyments, and look upon occasional 

 solitude as something absolutely stifling or 

 barren, then arises a feverish appetite for 

 cities, and the life of crowds. And Avho does 

 not know that in all countries, it is the taste 

 of the mother, the wife, the daughter, wliich 

 educates and approves, and fixes, the tastes 

 and habits of the people ? It pleases us bet- 

 ter then, we repeat, to see this first proof of 

 an intelligent, genuine, feminine fondness for 

 nature and rural life, than to see the advent 

 of a great sculptor or painter. Heaven vouch- 

 safes to every nation, sooner or later, a few 

 great warriors and men of genius ; but not 

 to every one a national character, which takes 

 root in the soil. 



It is a little singular, that although almost 

 all children love rural life and the wild Avoods, 

 the instinct for these things so often vanishes 

 in the mature mind, tliat it seems almost a 

 cultivated taste when we find it strong in a 

 person of ripe years. Business and pleasure 

 vitiate the appetite for nature, but do not de- 

 stroy it ; and a little patient attention to her 

 will win back her friendship. If, therefore, 

 any of our readers find such a volume as the 

 Rural Hours uninteresting, let them believe 

 that the fault is in themselves, and not in the 

 subject, or the method in which it is treated. 

 It is not a volume to while away a journey, or 

 to take into the i"ail-cars, but one for a soli- 

 tary walk in the fields, or a rainy day by the 

 fireside. As a pleasant companion, to open 

 the eyes of the blind to the beauty and inte- 

 i-est of simple country life, it is a real trea- 

 sure. It is as full of instruction, too, as a 

 volume of natural history, with the advantage 

 of telling a novice no more than he can easily 

 comprehend, and frightening him with no need- 

 less scientific names and technicalities. It is 

 thoroughly national, and is perhaps the only 



