218 LOVERS OF NATUEE 



take it all in in a glance, it enters swiftly 

 through all my senses; but if I set about writ- 

 ing an account of my experience for my reader, 

 how long and tedious the process, how I must 

 beat about the bush! And then, if I would 

 have him see and feel it, I must avoid a point- 

 blank description and bring it to him, or him 

 to it, by a kind of indirection, so as to surprise 

 him and give him more than I at first seemed 

 to promise. 



To a countryman like myself the presence of 

 natural objects, the open face of the country, 

 sheds a cheering and soothing influence at all 

 times; but it is only at rare intervals that he 

 experiences the thrill of a fresh impression. I 

 find that a kind of preoccupation, as the farmer 

 with his Avork, the angler with his rod, the 

 sportsman with his gun, the walker with his 

 friend, the lounger with his book, aff'ords con- 

 ditions that are not to be neglected. So much 

 will steal in at the corners of your eyes; the 

 unpremeditated glance, when the mind is passive 

 and receptive, often stirs the soul. Upon 

 whom does the brook make such an impression 

 as upon the angler? How he comes to know 

 its character! how he studies its every phase! 

 how he feels it through that rod and line as if 

 they were a part of himself! I pity the per- 

 son who does not get at least one or two fresh 

 impressions of the charm and sweetness of na- 

 ture in the spring. Later in the season it gets 

 to be more of an old story ; but in March whe-u 

 the season is early, and in April when, the se^ 



