Nature aiid Culture 43 



and the depraved. They never obtain the smallest 

 glimpse of her form or face, or have a suspicion 

 of her presence. She might condescend to teach 

 them, but she knov^^s it would be in vain. She is, 

 therefore, exclusive, and is accessible only to those 

 who partake of her own refined and beautiful spirit. 

 Nature has not the exclusiveness of what we call 

 "society." She reveals herself to the gladdened 

 eyes of the child. There could be no more pathetic 

 examples of bafified sympathy than are seen in the 

 rows of poor and struggling plants set in the win- 

 dows of a crowded tenement. Nature tries amid 

 the poisoned and sulphurous air to carry a smile to 

 the poor, and the poor thus reach out longing hands 

 to Nature. It is a joy to believe that each shall yet 

 be fully satisfied. 



Nature is the only university. Her teaching is 

 free, with a generous and delightful freedom, and 

 her splendid doors are ever open with a welcoming 

 hospitality. She takes the dimpled hand and leads 

 the toddling feet of the little child into her charmed 

 circle of beauty and mystery. The growing boy 

 rejoices in what he does not yet understand, and 

 the sage, having spent a life in her school, knows 

 that he has only begun to appreciate the infinite 

 opulence of her knowledge and the inexhaustible 

 kindness of her maternal heart toward her studious 

 sons and daughters. There is no better argument 

 for design than that the Creator ideally projected, 

 built, and endowed this celestial institution and 



