THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. 55 
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 lereafter to 
be rulers over much. 
I may seem to exaggerate the advantages of such 
studies; but the question after all is one of expe- 
rience: and I have had experience enough and to 
spare that what I say is true. I have seen the 
young man of fierce passions, and uncontrollable 
daring, expend healthily that energy which threat- 
ened daily to plunge him into recklessness, if not 
into sin, upon hunting out and collecting, through 
rock and bog, snow and tempest, every bird and egg - 
of the neighbouring forest. I have seen the culti- 
vated man, craving for travel and for success in life, 
pent up in the drudgery of London work, and yet 
keeping his spirit calm, and perhaps his morals all 
the more righteous, by spending over his microscope 
evenings which would too probably have gradually 
been wasted at the theatre. I have seen the young | 
London beauty, amid all the excitement and temp- 
