MAY 
| far less upon his area of observation 
| than would be commonly supposed. 
Where he looks is of less importance 
ae oe he looks, and the experienced eye 
will often glean a rich harvest from apparently 
most unpromising fields. One’s range of re- 
search is usually determined by circumstances 
rather than by preference; and in either case 
unfamiliar surroundings will, in a measure, dis- 
tract his attention from the objects he is im- 
mediately seeking, while increasing familiarity 
with the place leaves the mind freer for its 
work, and gives quicker discernment of all the 
treasures hidden within it, until at last it may 
prove a very prolific field of investigation. It 
will rarely occur, however, that one will come 
to have such confidence in its boundless re- 
sources as to feel that complacent admiration 
which Thoreau cherished for his favorite haunts, 
of whom it is recorded that on one occasion he 
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