24 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:1— Jan., 1919 



meditate on some master-piece of art, conclude that the achieve- 

 ments of man are remarkable when his heart and soul are in his 

 work ? Is it unscientific to consent to the notion that this stimulus 

 from the beautiful and masterful asserts itself in the daily tasks of 

 these workmen ? If the answers to these questions are in the nega- 

 tive, the conclusion that the beauty of Paris is a fundamental cause 

 for its large number of artisans is warranted. In many of the rural 

 communities, hamlets, and small cities of any country it is not 

 possible, for financial and other reasons, to furnish a stimulation 

 of the sense of the beautiful through architectural buildings and art 

 institutes. However, any intimations of despair vanish with a 

 realization that the best in the inhabitants in these places may be 

 touched by nature, God's handiwork, among which not the least in 

 attractiveness are the trees. Our nature: poets have caught the 

 spirit of the open country. The task that remains is to make this 

 uplift universal, the enjoyment and inspiration of the common folk. 

 If this aesthetic appreciation and subsequent influence is to be 

 shared by the masses, the stimulation in this direction can not be 

 deferred to the middle of life or old age, the twilight and eve of 

 existence, but must have its beginning in youth, the morn of life. 

 This statement rests on psychological grounds, and is a most direct 

 argument for the study of trees in nature-study. Youth is the 

 l^eriod of mental plasticity, the opportune time for the formation of 

 attitudes. Wordsworth must have had this truth in mind when 

 he wrote: 



"My heart leaps up when I behold 



A Rainbow in the sky: 



So was it when my life began ; 



So is it now I am a Man; 



So be it when I shall grow old. 



Or let me die! 



The child is Father of the Man; 



And I could wish my days to be 



Bound each to each by natural piety." 



Not only may a study of trees give valuable economic instruc- 

 tion, excellent ethical lessons, and aesthetic inspiration, but also a 

 strengthening in religious faith. The religious faith in mind does 

 not rest on the pantheist's conception of unity with nature, but 

 on the soul's endeavor of harmony with its Maker, through the 

 exercise of the powers of mind. One of the difficulties in much 

 religious thinking is a reluctance to accord the same fairness in 



