176 In Touch with Nature. 



wandering ? If I learned little, I enjoyed much, 

 and these are vacation days. But does one learn 

 so little when method is left in the lurch ? There 

 is at such a time a deal of unconscious cerebra- 

 tion, and the most trivial incident of a mountain, 

 tramp, when recalled, stands out in boldest out- 

 line and has far more significance than we sup- 

 posed. I shall not need to turn to the photo- 

 graphs that my companions took to see the 

 landscapes that were spread out before me, and I 

 doubt not but that in years to come, when wan- 

 dering about the fields at home, I will have their 

 familiar birds and plants bring vividly before me 

 incident after incident that at the time made but 

 the faintest impression upon me. It has proved 

 so heretofore, and I look for its repetition in the 

 future. We learn much, if we but desire to learn, 

 without making further effort. It adds a bright 

 leaf to memory's volume to walk over a mountain. 

 The day is well advanced, and what of the 

 landscape that I have so frequently mentioned ? 

 Who shall dare describe it ? If it needs a lifetime 

 to fathom the secrets of a single hill, what can be 

 said, after a few hours, of scores of mountains 



