46 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



small, in the other it was the vast expanse of the setting sun 

 that produced such magnificent results. 



Read poetry and prose about Nature to the young folk, and, 

 better still, let them read it aloud in class or home. They like 

 and appreciate poetry, and poetry is a good tonic for the soul. 

 Sir Robert Ball has written that a whole life -time devoted to 

 the study of the common Daisy would be insufficient to reveal 

 all the mysteries of its life. How true a statement this is coming 

 from a man of world-wide fame, whose illuminating discourses 

 upon the wonders of the Heavens have charmed so many people 

 within the last decade. This great astronomer, this lovable 

 man, has passed hence, but his life's work, and, what is equally 

 important, his influence for good, remain behind. 



FIG. 15." DAISIES ARE DAISIES." 



I close with a beautiful quotation from Algernon Blackwood's 

 " The Extra Day," as showing what inspiring thoughts such a 

 common plant as the Daisy may bring forth. On page after 

 page of this book one may find some intimation of immortality, 

 some material fact heightened into a symbol by the imagination 

 that plays about it, or transfigures it in the medium of the child's 

 mind. Blackwood writes thus : 



" No flowers lie closer to the soil, or bring the smell of earth 

 more sweetly to the mind ; upon the lips and cheeks they are 

 soft as a kitten's fur, and He against the skin closer than tired 

 eyelids. They are the common people of the flower world, yet 

 have, in virtue of that fact, the beauty and simplicity of the 

 common people. Tljey own a subdued and unostentatious 



