l8o THE WOODLANDS. 



more of these marvellous creatures, and this wonder- 

 ful world, will discover for himself more than we 

 could teach him. His experience will then be akin 

 to that of the Rev. Charles Kingsley when he wrote, 

 "I have so long enjoyed the wonders of nature; 

 never, I can honestly say, alone, because when man 

 was not with me I had companions in every bee, and 

 flower, and pebble ; and never idle, because I could 

 not pass a swamp or a tuft of heather without finding 

 in it a fairy tale of which I could but decipher here 

 and there a line or two, and yet found them more 

 interesting than all the books, save one, which were 

 ever written upon earth." 



