14 With Feet to the Earth 



walk, for to divest the world of the per- 

 sonal factor in our understanding of it is 

 impossible. It must reflect us. And be 

 open to all impressions. Man is an animal 

 who can live more outside of himself than 

 the others can. Or, to reverse that propo- 

 sition, he can absorb the most into himself. 

 So full is nature of delight that we suffer a 

 kind of stun of plenitude in her company. 

 We are often surprised at the beauty re- 

 vealed in a familiar scene by a photograph. 

 We had looked along the same road, at the 

 same clump of wood, the same tangle of 

 wild flowers, and it had not seemed won- 

 derful. That is because equal beauty un- 

 folds around us in every direction, and our 

 eyes are not trained to the selective use 

 that is art. Yet, the sympathetic tramp 

 may be an artist with his eye. Why not ? 

 If we look with the unprejudiced minds of 

 children we are artists, in so far. 



The trouble is, we know what ought to 

 be in a certain place, and we think we see 

 it ; but often we do not There are even 

 mathematic and mechanic falsities that are 

 aesthetic truths. When a horse is painted 



