232 DR. CARPENTER, ON THE MICROSCOPE 



sights and sounds of Nature which seem to be the appointed food of the 

 youthful spirit, — the more does it seem important that he should in some 

 way be brought into contact with her, that be should have his thoughts 

 sometimes turned from the pages of books to those of Creation, from the 

 teachings of Man to those of God. Now if we attempt to give this direc- 

 tion to the thoughts and feelings in a merely didactic mode, it loses that 

 spontaneousness which is one of its most valuable features. But if we 

 place before the young a set of objects which can scarcely fail to excite 

 their healthful curiosity, satisfying this only so far as to leave them still 

 inquirers, and stimulating their interest from time to time by the disclo- 

 sure of such new wonders as arouse new feelings of delight, they come to 

 look upon the pursuit as an ever-fresh fountain of happiness and enjoy- 

 ment, and to seek every opportunity of following it for themselves. 



" There are no circumstances or conditions of life, which need be alto- 

 gether cut oif from tliese sources of interest and improvement. Those who 

 are brought up amidst the wholesome influences of a country life, have, it 

 is true, the greatest direct opportimities of thus drawing from the Natural 

 Creation the appropriate nurture for their own spiritual life. But the very 

 familiaritj' of the objects around them, prevents tliese from exerting their 

 most wholesome influence, imless they be led to see how much there is 

 beneath the surface even of what they seem to know best ; and in rightly 

 training them to look for this, how many educational objects, — physical, 

 intellectual, and moral, — may be answered at the same time ! ' A walk 

 without an object,' says Mr. Kingsley, ' unless in the most lovely and novel 

 scenery, is a poor exercise ; and as a recreation utterly nill. If we wish 

 rural walks to do our children any good, w'e must give them a love for 

 rural sights, an object in every walk ; we must teach them — and we can 

 teach them — to find wonder in every insect, sublimity in every hedge-row, 

 the records of past worlds in every pebble, and boundless fertility upon the 

 barren shore ; and so, by teaching them to make full use of that limited 

 sphere in which they now are, make them faithful in a few things, that 

 they may be fit hereafter to be rulers over much.' What can be a more 

 effectual means of turning such opportunities to the best account, than the 

 employment of an aid which not only multiplies almost infinitely the 

 sources of interest presented by the objects with which our eyes ai'e most 

 familiar, but finds inexhaustible life where all seems lifeless, ceaseless ac- 

 tivity where all seems motionless, perpetual change where all seems inert ? — 

 Turn, on the other hand, to the young who are growing up in our great 

 towns, in the heart of the vast Metropolis, whose range of vision is limited 

 on every side by bricks and mortar, who rarely see a green leaf or a fresh 

 blade of grass, and whose knowledge of animal life is practically limited to 

 the dozen or two of creatures that everywhere attach themselves to the 

 companionship of Man, and shape their habits by his. To attempt to in- 

 spire a real love of Nature by books and pictures, in those who have never 

 felt her influences, is almost hoi)eless. A child may be interested by ac- 

 counts of her wonders, as by any other instructive narrative ; but they 

 have little of life or reality in his mind, — far less than has the story of ad- 

 venture which appeals to his own sympathies, or even than the fairy tale 

 which charms and fixes his imagination. But here the Microscope may be 

 introduced with all the more advantage, as being almost the only means 

 accessible under such circumstances, for supplying what is needed, A 

 single rural or even suburban walk will afford stores of pleasurable occupa- 

 tion for weeks, in the examination of its collected treasures, A large glass 

 jar may be easily made to teem with life, in almost as many and as varied 

 forms as could be found by the unaided eye in long and toilsome voyages 

 over the wide ocean ; and a never-ending source of amusement is afforded 

 by the observation of their growth, their changes, their movements, their 



