NATURE AND THE CITY. 



" Now from the town. 



Buried in smoke and sleep and noisome damps, 

 Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields. 

 Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling: drops 

 From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze 

 Of sweetbriar hedges I pursue my walk ; 

 Or taste the smell of dairy." 



Thomson. 



A COUNTRY LANE 



LIKE the cheery greeting one gets in the 

 country. Every one always speaks to every 

 one else, as if in acknowledgment of some 

 world-old mark of blue blood that shines 

 from the eyes of every human being. How 

 different from the hasty, heartless nod of 

 recognition one gets in cities, even from 

 the best acquaintances! Democracy is 

 greatness; most people are aristocrats. 



Among country people we come into 

 contact with simple, elementary impres- 

 sions. They are, I think, happier than 

 city people, more wholesomely happy. There is 

 less attention paid to the whims of fastidious fash- 

 ion, there is less conventional life, there is more 

 freedom in the country than in the city. There is an 

 essential directness and frankness of character and 

 speech in all people who live in the country. The very 

 outdoors itself, their nearness to Nature, their sim- 

 plicity of life, and their self-reliance may make them 

 so. Pure air and the best of food contribute to it. 



306 



