A r 



UNH 



A SHARP LOOKOUT. 



ONE has only to sit down in the woods or fields, or 

 by the shore of the river or lake, and nearly every- 

 thing of interest will come round to him, the birds, 

 the animals, the insects ; and presently, after his eye 

 has got accustomed to the place, and to the light and 

 shade, he will probably see some plant or flower that 

 he had sought in vain for, and that is a pleasant sur- 

 prise to him. So, on a large scale, the student and 

 lover of nature has this advantage over people who 

 gad up and down the world, seeking some novelty or 

 excitement ; he has only to stay at home and see the 

 procession pass. The great globe swings around to 

 him like a revolving show-case^ the change of the 

 seasons is like the passage of strange and new coun- 

 tries ; the zones of the earth, with all their beauties 

 and marvels, pass one's door, and linger long in the 

 passing. What a voyage is this we make without 

 leaving for a night our own fireside ! St. Pierre well 

 says that a sense of the power and mystery of nature 

 shall spring up as fully in one's heart after he has 

 made the circuit. of his own field as after returning 

 from a voyage round the world. I sit here amid the 

 junipers of the Hudson, with purpose every year to 

 go to Florida, or to the West Indies, or to the Pacific 



