ZSTHETIC RELATIONS OF BIRDS. 13 
ist I have ever met has convincingly illustrated. I could 
name nearly a dozen, living and dead, whom it has been 
my valued privilege to know. All had passed the allotted 
threescore and ten, and some were over fourscore. The 
friends and associates of their earlier days had passed 
away, and one might imagine that they had no interest 
in life and were simply waiting for the end. 
But these veterans were old in years only. Their 
hearts were young. The earth was fair; plants still 
bloomed, and birds sang for them. There was no idle 
waiting here; the days were all too short. With what 
boyish ardor they told of some recent discovery ; what 
inspiration there was in their enthusiasm ! 
So I say to you, if you would reap the purest pleas- 
ures of youth, manhood, and old age, go to the birds and 
through them be brought within the ennobling influences 
of Nature. 
