XII 



LOVERS OF NATURE 



\ 1 7 E love nature with a different love at differ- 

 * ' ent periods of our lives. In youth our love 

 is sensuous. It is not so much a conscious love as 

 it is an irresistible attraction. The senses are keen 

 and fresh, and they crave a field for their exercise. 

 We delight in the color of flowers, the perfume of 

 meadows and orchards, the moist, fresh smell of the 

 woods. We eat the pungent roots and barks, we 

 devour the wild fruits, we slay the small deer. 

 Then nature also offers a field of adventure ; it chal- 

 lenges and excites our animal spirits. The woods 

 are full of game, the waters of fish ; the river invites 

 the oar, the breeze, the sail, the mountain-top prom- 

 ises a wide prospect. Hence the rod, the gun, the 

 boat, the tent, the pedestrian club. In youth we 

 are nearer the savage state, the primitive condition 

 of mankind, and wild nature is our proper home. 

 The transient color of the young bird points its 

 remote ancestry, and the taste of youth for rude 

 nature in like manner is the survival of an earlier 

 race instinct. 



