2 ANIMAL SKETCHES. 



and natural operations. I want you, my young friends, to 

 be, with Wordsworth's Boy, to every mood of nature, 



' ' As sensitive as waters are 

 To the sky's influence in a kindred mood 

 Of passion : and obedient as the lute 

 That waits upon the touches of the wind." 



I want you to feel that 



"The earth 



And common face of nature speak to you 

 Rememberable things." 



And I want you to have an eye ever restless in its search 

 for the beauty and the wonder of the world 



" An eye 



Which from a tree, a stone, a withered leaf, 

 To the broad ocean and the azure heavens 

 Spangled with kindred multitudes of stars, 

 Could find no surface where its power might sleep." 



Do not think, however, that I am advocating the study 

 of nature to the exclusion of the study of mankind. 

 Remember that he who wrote the words that I have quoted 

 wrote also the Two Voices and the Sonnet to Milton. 



First of all, then, I would have you cultivate the spirit 

 of interest for you may cultivate as you may stunt, or 

 even destroy, the varied germs of your nature. The child 

 is generally brimful of keenest interest in the natural sights 

 and sounds of the busy, restless world around him ; and we 

 may encourage or snub this early tendency of the mind. 

 The latter is, no doubt, the easier course. Snubbing 

 requires no knowledge and leaves a comfortable sense of 

 superiority; encouragement needs more knowledge than 

 some of us possess. It requires patience and sympathy ; 

 and since the young philosopher will no doubt press on 



