A SHARP LOOKOUT 33 



that the walker gathers in the woods and fields, 

 as with the common weeds and coarser wild flow- 

 ers which he plucks for a bouquet, — wild carrot, 

 purple aster, moth mullein, sedge, grass, etc. : they 

 look common and uninteresting enough there in the 

 fields, but the moment he separates them from the 

 tangled mass, and brings them indoors, and places 

 them in a vase, say of some choice glass, amid 

 artificial things, — behold, how beautiful ! They 

 have an added charm and significance at once; they 

 are defined and identified, and what was common 

 and familiar becomes unexpectedly attractive. The 

 writer's style, the quality of mind he brings, is the 

 vase in which his commonplace impressions and 

 incidents are made to appear so beautiful and sig- 

 nificant. 



Man can have but one interest in nature, namely, 

 to see himself reflected or interpreted there, and we 

 quickly neglect both poet and philosopher who fail 

 to satisfy, in some measure, this feeling. 



