A BIRD-GAZER'S PUZZLES 



THE days of my youth have come back to me. I 

 am again at the foot of the ladder, a boy in the 

 primary school, a speller of a-b-abs. The experi- 

 ence is pleasant, but not unmixedly so; it is 

 sweet, with a suggestion of bitter. I am finding 

 out daily that one is never too old to be mis- 

 taken. I knew it before, of course; but I am 

 still finding it out ; for the two things are not 

 incompatible. One may know a thing, and still 

 have need to learn it. It is possible that the 

 most erudite scholar has never more than begun 

 to apprehend his own ignorance ; nay, that he 

 would never make more than a beginning in that 

 salutary study were he to burn the midnight oil 

 for a thousand years. In that time he might 

 square the circle and discover the philosopher's 

 stone, but he would not discover how little he 

 knew. In that respect, in respect to what we do 

 not know, human capacity is unlimited. Finite 

 creatures that we are, we are endowed with a 

 kind of negative infinity. And, for one, I wish to 

 make the most of my greatest gift. It shall not 

 be " lodged with me useless," if I can help it. 



