44 Musings by Camp-Fire and Wayside 



filled it with learners; nor is there any better 

 attestation of immortality than the extreme im- 

 probability that he should have lavished so much 

 time, care, wisdom, and wealth upon it if he had 

 no use for the students after their graduation. 

 Nature is the sole subject and source of all litera- 

 ture, all art, all science, and of all worthy religion. 

 She is the great astronomical observatory, a wheel- 

 ing cyclorama of the stars, and her laboratories are 

 filled with instruments both for celestial and terres- 

 trial research. 



The majestic pines have great loftiness and dig- 

 nity, but no airs of condescension. Nature does 

 not stoop to us, but lifts us up to herself. We are 

 as lofty as the trees, as pleasing as the lakes, and 

 as tranquil as the hills. If one intelligently study 

 Nature he will need no other monitor in self-culture 

 and refinement, and as it often appears to me, no 

 other priest in religion. As we enter these primi- 

 tive forests and float upon these unsullied waters, 

 what is it in them which fills us with delight? First, 

 it is the all-comprehending personal freedom, espe- 

 cially the moral freedom. Everything about us is 

 so friendly. There is not an envious eye, nor a 

 critical nor a venomous tongue, anywhere in the 

 all abroad. Everything is benevolent as well as 

 beautiful. Not one of these trees, flowers, lakes, 

 streams, birds, or wild animals will do us harm, or 

 seek to tyrannize over one's person, property, or 

 opinions; but all of them, in earth, water, or sky, 



