56 OCCASIONAL PAPEBS. 



probably be able to place some old facts or thoughts 

 iii a new light ; but I shall be amply repaid if I 

 succeed in making only one more eager in his or her 

 pursuits in the woods and fields more desirous of 

 following out thoroughly that which at present is 

 taken up only in a desultory manner. 



I believe the love of created works to be inherent 

 in the human mind that it is not so much an 

 acquired love as one that will spring up involuntarily ; 

 we have it in us naturally ; it may lie a long time 

 dormant, but when some flower of spring, or 

 animated "thing of beauty" shall appear, at a 

 moment perhaps when the heart is peculiarly open 

 to its influence, it will implant itself in our memories , 

 and become a "joy for ever." Few indeed are they, 

 who, having once set foot within the porches of the 

 great palace of nature turn round and retrace their 

 steps. And the farther they advance the greater is 

 their wonder and delight the more keen is their 

 sense of enjoyment. When LINN^US, after years of 

 study, came to England, and for the first time in his 

 life saw the yellow gorse in flower, he fell on his 

 knees, and thanked GOD for the sight. No one can 

 understand this who has not discovered a rare plant 

 or seen some beautiful animal for the first time, 

 that he has long wished to find. 



Just as in childhood, as the years nay, as the 

 weeks roll by, we make fresh discoveries in the 

 world around us, feel ourselves growing wiser feel 

 an expansive power at work within us, produced by 

 the very objects which that power enables us to 

 appreciate so do we, in maturer years, among the 

 domains of nature, feel sources of new pleasures 



