Introductory 



them to pieces, " is the cry of the lazy 

 nature-lover. Surely if we like a thing 

 we wish to know something about it, to 

 enjoy some intimacy with it, to learn its 

 secrets. Who actually cares most for 

 flowers, the man who glances admiringly 

 at them and turns away, or he who stud- 

 ies their structure, inquires into the func- 

 tion of each part, reads the meaning of 

 their marvellous coloring, and translates 

 the invitation expressed by their fra- 

 grance? I doubt if he who has never 

 been so brutal as " to pull a flower to 

 pieces," even dimly understands all the 

 strange, sweet joy of a wood walk these 

 spring days, when we are tempted eagerly 

 almost breathlessly but always rever- 

 ently, with the reverence that is born of 

 even the beginnings of knowledge, and 

 by so much superior to that which springs 

 from ignorance, to turn the pages and 

 decipher what we can 



" In nature's infinite book of secrecy." 

 II 



