LUTHER BURBANK, THE MAN 



deep problem of human life to listen to the 

 note of a lark in the sky. 



By the time he had reached the age of 

 twelve he had come to a knowledge of the 

 outward forms of nature such as few lads ever 

 attain at such an age. All the books he could 

 command bearing upon any phase of science 

 or nature he read and reread. The habit thus 

 acquired has lasted. He may not be able to 

 tell you the plot of the latest novel, but be 

 sure he will be able to talk with you about the 

 latest discovery of the scientists and to dissect 

 their conclusions with consummate art. I can 

 in no way better illustrate the trend of the 

 lad's mind at that time than to say that in 

 his maturer years the author which he has 

 read most and which he quotes more often 

 than any other is Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



As a lad, he was not indifferent to the sports 

 of other children, and entered heartily into 

 many of them, though there was ever a 

 greater fascination for him in the open page of 

 a book than in rod or gun or ball. And great- 

 est of all was the fascination of the natural 

 world opening to him as it opens to the heart 

 of a poet. 



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