316 THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



admiration of his schoolfellows by the unerring way 

 in which he selected the non-stingers, he could not 

 raise in one of them the desire to learn his secret. 



The joys of natural history, as they appeal to the 

 rare youth who discovers them, spring from many 

 sources. The books carry you in this science a very 

 little way. They loose you then on a field that con- 

 tains endless possibilities for original research. Most 

 of the things you discover are matters of great 

 certainty, whereas human affairs reek with convention, 

 and are governed by exceptions more numerous than 

 rules. But the greatest charm of all is that we never 

 know what is the next thing that is going to turn up. 

 In this respect the boy is on a level with the most 

 scientific of naturalists. Neither can control the 

 beasts of the field ; they can only make the most of 

 them when they come. Nature is most ours when 

 we have quarrelled with all mankind. Many of the 

 writer's best boyish discoveries were made at times 

 when he had wandered away from his fellows definitely 

 because they displeased him, and at such times there 

 is no peacemaker like a new bird's nest or a beetle 

 with a new trick. The peace of these woodland 

 interviews passes all description, if not all under- 

 standing. It is just ourself and the universe, ourself 

 not standing for a negative quantity, but for the 

 dearest and most interesting person known to us. 

 Philosophy tells us that all the external objects are 

 impressions, if not creations, of our own internal 

 sense. Yes, but other human beings seem constantly 

 to object to this theory. It is we who are the 

 foreigner. The wild creatures do not so clash with 

 .our dominant personality. We can talk to them, 



