86 Outlook to Nature 



tural books that I do not feel sure that some 

 day an attractive literature will rise out of the 

 achievements of these neglected rural people. 

 This literature will have a large significance be- 

 cause it will utilize genuine material that has 

 accumulated slowly and naturally and in great 

 part without conscious purpose, and which, 

 therefore, lies very close to original feelings 

 and motives of men. 



The nature-ward tendency. 



A fundamental offset for isolation is the 

 development of a keen intellectual and spiritual 

 interest in the objects and affairs of the country. 

 The nature-study movement to use the 

 phrase in its broadest sense is now evolving 

 this insight. A sympathetic knowledge of 

 nature will in the end be more satisfying than 

 much of the amusement that the town has 

 to offer. 



This sensitiveness to nature is now develop- 

 ing very rapidly also in the towns, and many 

 towns-people are expecting to take up farming 

 largely to satisfy this desire. I fear that many 



