24 NATURE STUDY. 



A Rich Inheritance. 



BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 



In one of his greatest novels, Dickens, himself a keen 

 observer, says : "I believe the power of observation in 

 very young children to be quite wonderful for its closeness 

 and accuracy. Indeed, I think that most grown men who 

 are remarkable in this respect may with greater propriety 

 be said not to have lost the faculty than to have acquired 

 it ; the rather as I generally observ^e such men to retain a 

 certain freshness, and gentleness, and capacity of being 

 pleased, which are also an inheritance they have preserved 

 from their childhood." 



It is remarkable how many people fear to be childlike, 

 lest they appear to be childish. Mistaking repression for 

 culture, and confounding indifference with refinement, 

 they check enthusiasm and conceal emotion until they de- 

 stroy the one and become incapable of the other. Never 

 permitting to themselves the joy of a surprise, they miss 

 much of the flavor and zest of life, become world-weary, 

 and grow old at heart before their time. They have thrown 

 awa}^ an inheritance of their childhood, and have lost the 

 capacity of being pleased. 



On the other hand, to such as those of whom Dickens 

 wrote, each succeeding sunrise is as wonderful as if it 

 were the first outpouring of light in the beginning. They 

 find delight in the flowers, rejoice with the birds, are 

 openly enthusiastic and are not ashamed. Such can hard- 

 ly be said to grow old. They have preserv^^ed the capacity 

 of being pleased as a rich inheritance, and have come as 

 near the fountain of perpetual youth as is permitted to 

 mortals. 



Nor is it at all doubtful that the power of observation, a 



