

PREFACE. 



3^ 



Though somewhat miscellaneous in subject, the reader will 

 easily perceive a consonance of purpose in the various Essays 

 contained in this volume. The papers were written at 

 various times during the intervals of severe, though not un- 

 congenial, duties, and are but several expressions of the 

 same sentiment. That sentiment is the love of Nature, and 

 more especially of that portion of Nature which is represented 

 in the out-door life of " green things," embodying, as they 

 do, a thousand suggestions of their relations to the life of 

 an, closely woven and encircled as he is by a net-work of 

 eauty, which gives a joy to his calmer hours, and enables 

 m to perceive, both by reason and analogy, his position 



iV7n the general scheme of creation. If the love of simple 



^things does no more for us than to quicken our perceptions, 



and enlarge the circle of our pleasures, it is certainly a love 



