272 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



how I interpret Nature, and goes on to say he 

 cannot for the life of him see very much when 

 he takes a walk. " I know a tree's a tree and 

 a rock's a rock, but then I'm stuck." He is not 

 one whit more stuck than I am in trying to 

 reply. I have been trying for six months to 

 formulate some sort of answer and have only 

 gotten so far as " Dear Sir." "The Interpre- 

 tation of Nature" is a very pretty title for an 

 essay, but who dare tackle it ? Thoreau might 

 have done so, but our home fields have been 

 left without a master-hand since his day. 



I have nothing to say upon the art of inter- 

 preting Nature, for that is really what my cor- 

 respondent means, but here are thoughts that I 

 have had upon the subject ; disjointed think- 

 ing, as I rambled all too aimlessly down the 

 wood-path and over the ever-suggestive mead- 

 ows. I cull these brevities from many note- 

 books, picking here and there among the many 

 mentionings of bird and beast and flower. 



Life is short at best, and to no one is given 

 intellectual range to cover the whole field of 

 knowledge. We are necessarily dependent upon 

 others for the greater part of what we acquire 



