54 Outlook to Nature 



hamlets, and rural communities, and isolated 

 farmers, and poets living far out in the center 

 of the world. 



The men in the country are men, living their 

 lives, with days full of work and of plans and 

 of progress. They have problems, and these 

 problems must be solved. These are prob- 

 lems of honest sustenance for themselves and 

 those whom they love. The parasitic occupa- 

 tions are in the city. If the universities are to 

 help to solve the problems of the " dark gray 

 city," they must also help to solve the problems 

 of the free open country. The city is elaborate 

 and artificial : the country is direct and natural. 



The country living is essentially an outlook 

 to nature, and the farmer is a naturalist. In 

 proportion as he is a good naturalist he is a 

 good farmer. The farmer, woodsman, hunter, 

 explorer, knows more about the things in the 

 out-of-doors than you can find in any book, 

 and he knows them so well that he cannot tell 

 them. It is only those of us who acquire 

 knowledge recently and freshly that hasten to 

 publish it. The best naturalists do not write. 



