116 WILD SPOBTS IN THE SOUTH. 



"Yes," answered Miss Jackson, "and to study the 

 positions, and manners of the birds and quadrupeds, so 

 that you can copy in your subject the true position and 

 figure, and not burlesque them. So, sometimes, what 

 would be thrown from father's game-bag to the cook to 

 be plucked, or, more likely still, cast away as worthless, 

 with a little care and study resumes its old shape, takes 

 again its natural pose, flashes its eye, and remains ' a joy 

 forever.' " 



" Do you not believe," said the Doctor, " that beauti- 

 ful associations, because beautiful, make the mind, 

 by exciting it in that direction, beautiful and gentle like- 

 wise ?" 



" No, not altogether. Why, if so, should not the In- 

 dian be the most beautiful minded of us all ?" 



" Because he has no beautiful moral or mental bases, 

 but, on the contrary, they are bad. The soul 

 and the mind are greater than the senses, and 

 their associations counterbalance. But let the soul 

 and mind lie idle, or present no counterbalancing 

 force, and then the natural lesson elevates by assimila- 

 tion." 



" Oh no, Doctor ; nature is more of an active teacher 

 than a mere assimilator. She not only teaches by her 

 unseen influence, but she preaches by word, and sound, 

 and sight. For what is the unfolding year ? for what 

 the garnered grain, and sapless winter ? It has more than 

 a productive use. Who tells the young Brent Goose, at 

 Vancouver's Island, that he will find no winter at Tampa 



