Poetic Interpretation 157 



Over the mountain-side and mead, 



Another proud groom is telling his name: 

 Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link, 

 Spink, spank, spink; 

 The meadow belongs to wife and me 

 Life is as happy as life can be. 



Chee, chee, chee. 



This is the age of fact, and we are glad of 

 it. But it may be also an age of the imagina- 

 tion. There need be no divorce of fact and 

 fancy; they are only the poles of experience. 

 What is called the scientific method is only 

 imagination trained and set within bounds. 

 Compared with the whole mass of scientific 

 attainment, mere fact is but a minor part, after 

 all. Facts are bridged by imagination. They 

 are tied together by the thread of speculation 

 and hypothesis. The very essence of science is 

 to reason from the known to the unknown. 



There can be no objection to the poetic inter- 

 pretation of nature. It is essential only that the 

 observation be correct and the inference reason- 

 able, and that we allow it only at proper times. 

 In teaching science we may confine ourselves to 



