CoLENSo. — Presidential Address. 133 



sake the labour is itself reward. Attainment is the highest 

 reward. Doubtless the prize stimulates exertion, encourages 

 and forms a part of the motive, but only a subordinate one, 

 and knowledge would still have a "price above rubies" if 

 there were no prize at all. They who seek knowledge for the 

 sake of a prize are not genuine lovers of knowledge. They 

 only love the rewards of knowledge ; had it no honour or 

 substantial advantage connected with it they would be in- 

 dolent. It is a spurious goodness which is good for the sake 

 of reward. The child that speaks truth for the sake of the 

 praise of truth is not truthful ; the man who is honest because 

 " honesty is the best policy" has not integrity in his heart. 

 Would that the parents of families here in Hawke's Bay could 

 be brought to duly consider this, and to perceive the great 

 and lasting advantages and benefits and true pleasures arising 

 from the following of Nature and her manifold teachings, and 

 so direct and lead their progeny into something better than 

 the low frivolities and transient pleasures and waste of time of 

 the present age. 



For, believe me, there is a rapture in gazing with a trained 

 eye on this wondrous world. Let us not depreciate what God 

 has given. The highest pleasure of sensation comes through 

 the eye ; she ranks above all the rest of the senses in dignity. 

 He whose eye is so refined by culture and discipline that he 

 can repose with pleasure upon the serene outline of beautiful 

 forms has reached the purest of the sensational raptures. 

 There is a joy in contemplating the manifold forms in which 

 the All-beautiful has concealed His essence — the living gar- 

 ment in which the Invisible has robed His mysterious loveli- 

 ness. In every aspect of nature there is joy ; whether it be 

 the purity of virgin morning, or the sombre grey of a day of 

 clouds, or the solemn pomp and majesty of night ; whether it 

 be the chaste lines of the crystal on the yonder Euahine 

 Mountain-range, or the waving ever- changing outlines of dis- 

 tant hills (as those south beyond Havelock and north to- 

 wards Wairoa) tremulously visible through the slanting rays 

 of the setting sun ; the minute petals of the New Zealand 

 daisy, or the overhanging forms of mysterious ancient forests : 

 it is a pure delight to see. I hope a better day is at hand for 

 our Government schools, when Education Boards (if existing) 

 or Committees (when formed of proper literate men) will pay 

 full attention to this one great quahfication, or main desider- 

 atum, on the part of teachers seeking situations — viz., their 

 love for natural science and for scientific study, and their apt- 

 ness to teach such both out of school as well as in school. 

 Such a teacher in a country school would prove a real blessing 

 to the youths under his care, and be a great means of keeping 

 them from degenerating on leaving school, as well as preserv- 



