70 



NATURE'S BENEFICENCE 



Fellowship with nature is not denied to dwellers 

 in the city* Though it may seem far away and lost 

 in impossible distance, it is really crowding in on 

 every hand* Some animals may have long since 

 departed, the wisest being first to go* The Beaver 

 leaves with the earliest indications of permanent 

 human settlement, as a prudent man foreseeth the 

 evil and hideth himself* One by one his forest friends 

 depart, as wisdom gives them understanding, until a 

 few degenerates like the Muskrat and the Skunk fall 

 into habits of domestication* Birds may avoid the 

 city, with its fumes and exhalations, as a place 

 unclean* Still the inviting fellowship is at our doors* 

 In every neglected field, in every swampy indentation, 

 under every clump of Witch-ha^el or Dogwood, 

 among the seedling Oaks, Maples, and Elms, by 

 every muddy stream not yet diverted to a culvert, 

 and even along the open roadways, the varied colours 

 and fantastic shapes of the wild flora show that 

 nature's lamp still holds out to burn* It is not neces- 

 sary to make a long pilgrimage to the primeval forest, 

 nor to envy those blessed with the privilege of a 

 private audience with the spirit of solitude in her 



