Nature mid Culture 45 



are seeking to give us pleasure; and it is not a 

 passive but an active service which they are render- 

 ing to each other and to us. It was a true inspira- 

 tion which led the Puritans and the Pilgrims to go 

 to the American wilderness in search of religious 

 liberty. There was no inquisitor, heresy-hunter, or 

 persecutor in the cathedrals of the forests. There 

 were no slave-hunters, carrying in their hands man- 

 acles for the mind. Nature is free and munificent 

 in her offers of knowledge. Her book is unclasped, 

 plainly printed, and open to the light of the sun. 

 We have but to learn to read. When God would 

 make the great human race, he cradled it under the 

 trees; when he would make a nation great, he led 

 it out into the unroofed wilderness. 



All about me is a carpet of brown, touched here 

 and there with the scarlet of wintergreen and 

 pigeon-berries and the purple of blueberries. As 

 I walk upon it my footfalls cannot be heard. The 

 pines are rough barked and stalwart; but listen to 

 their breathing — how softly strong it is! Notice 

 that bending frond of goldenrod. A bee is tram- 

 pling over it with great haste, thrusting her tongue 

 hurriedly into this yellow gold-chased cup, and then 

 into that. She springs into the air, and after a 

 moment of wavering and angular flight, finds her 

 bearings, and goes straight and swiftly, circles a 

 moment over the hive, and then alights on its bal- 

 cony. Her wings are scarcely folded when her 



