140 UNDER THE TREES. 



To-day we had discovered that nature reveals her 

 self only to the open mind and heart ; to all others 

 she is deaf and dumb. The worldling who seeks 

 her never sees so much as the hem of her garment ; 

 the egotist, the self-engrossed man, searches in 

 vain for her counsel and consolation ; the over 

 anxious, fretful soul finds her indifferent and 

 incommunicable. We may seek her far and wide, 

 with minds intent upon other things, and she will 

 forever elude us ; but on the morning we open 

 our windows with a free mind, she is there to break 

 for us the seal of her treasures and to pour out the 

 perfume of her flowers. She is cold, remote, inac 

 cessible only so long as we close the doors of our 

 hearts and minds to her. With the drudges and 

 slaves of mere getting and saving she has nothing 

 in common ; but with those who hold their souls 

 above the price of the world and the bribe of suc 

 cess she loves to share her repose, her strength, 

 and her beauty. In Arden Rosalind and I cared 

 as little for the world we had left as children intent 

 upon daisies care for the dust of the road out of 

 which they have come into the wide meadows. 



