VI PREFACE. 



interesting when life is properly conducted. There is the 

 beauty and innocence of childhood ; the enthusiasm and 

 buoyancy of youth ; the energy and strength of manhood, 

 and the ripened wisdom and experience of age. Our 

 vitality declines now almost imperceptibly, and, finally, 

 man passes away like a leaf, a flower, a tree. 



These influences affect not only the works of Nature, 

 but those of man. We may retard the operation of the 

 laws of decay, but we cannot suspend them. The most 

 enduring monuments, once resplendent with the glory of 

 the genius of man ; his palaces and pyramids, or the lofty 

 column which tells of the struggles of the past to future 

 generations, may, for ages, defy the stroke of the lightning 

 and the storms of the atmosphere, but they shall be con- 

 quered by its quiet and imperceptible influences ; by its 

 gently descending dews, and the disintegrating power of 

 its oxygen, as time rolls onward. Their beauty and strength 

 shall disappear, and other generations shall look thought- 

 fully on their ruins, and the lowly moss and lichen shall 

 feed on their broken and dissevered fragments. 



Life is short, and we must make the most of it ; it is a 

 warfare, and we must nerve ourselves for the conflict. 

 How many spend it miserably in the vain pursuit of riches ! 

 Is this wise ? It is our duty to obtain a competency, and 

 prepare, if possible, a beautiful home for our family which 

 they can call their own when we are gone ; but the most 

 valuable wealth that we can leave them, is a spirit of self- 

 dependence and good principles. For uprightness of con- 

 duct is so noble and beautiful a feature, that it invariably 

 makes a man friends and leads to inevitable success in the 

 pursuits of life. 



The few hints given in this volume as to the study of 

 Nature, and how to spend life happily, will not, I hope, be 

 lost on some of my readers, who will gratefully remember 

 me for the good I have done them, when I shall have long 

 passed away from this fleeting evanescent scene. 



HABLAND COULTAS. 



STOREY STREET, MANTUA YILLE, 

 February 12th, 1860. 



