l6 With Feet to the Earth 



whimsey into our heads that it serves us, 

 an amusing idea. What do you suppose 

 nature thinks of men ? Looks up to them 

 as her perfect work, or down on them as 

 the most prying, meddlesome, troubling 

 children she has begotten ? She is full of 

 lessons for us : 



Calm : no useless emotion or action for its 

 own sake ; this teaches security and repose. 



Economy : adaptation of means to an 

 end without waste of energy, material, or 

 time ; this teaches us to avoid nerves, frit- 

 tering and unprepared action. 



Constancy : each force, each element, 

 holding to its purpose ; this teaches pa- 

 tience, protection, love. 



Evolution : everything working towards 

 the death of the unfit and the establish- 

 ment of higher, more self-sufficing forms ; 

 this teaches civilization. 



One of its lessons is hard for us to learn, 

 for it is the lesson of modesty, or reserve. 

 There are men so made that they look 

 patronizingly over the mountains, the sea, 

 the prairies, the sky, all those symbols of 

 the infinite, and say, " How nice it is that 



