28 Outlook to Nature 



the result of full and serious lives. The roll 

 of machinery is rhythm and rhyme ; the blow- 

 ing of the wind is music. 



It has been my good fortune to have had 

 many years' experience in the teaching of farm 

 boys. They are interesting boys, strong, 

 virile, courageous. They have had the tre- 

 mendous advantage of having been let alone, 

 and of having developed naturally. They 

 hold their youth. It is my habit to call these 

 agricultural students together frequently, and, 

 amongst other exercises, to read them poetry. 

 Usually at first they are surprised ; they had 

 not thought of it before ; or they thought 

 poetry is for girls : but they come again. 

 They may hide it, but these farm boys are 

 as full of sentiment as an egg of meat. There 

 was one fellow who had to support himself and 

 help members of his family. He was a good 

 student, but the lines of his life had been hard. 

 Whenever he called at my office it was to ask 

 advice about money affairs or to tell me of dif- 

 ficulties that he feared he could not overcome. 

 Apparently there was no sentiment in his life, 



