THE AIM OF NATURE STUDY. 115 



" For I have learned 

 To look on nature, not as in the hour 

 Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes 

 The still, sad music of humanity, 

 Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power 

 To chasten and subdue. And I have felt 

 A presence that disturbs me with the joy 

 Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 

 Of something far more deeply interfused, 

 Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 

 And the round ocean, and the living air, 

 And the blue sky, and in the mind of man : 

 A motion and a spirit, that impels 

 All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 

 And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still 

 A lover of the meadows and the woods, 

 And mountains; and of all that we behold 

 From this green earth; of all the mighty world 

 Of eye and ear, both what they half create, 

 And what perceive; well pleased to recognize 

 In nature and the language of the sense, 

 The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, 

 The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul 

 Of all my moral being." 



Considering the higher aim of nature study, we see 

 the importance of correlating it with literature and art. 

 Much of the most beautiful in literature and art has 

 been inspired by nature ; and for an appreciation of this, 

 nature study is the best preparation. If we do not give 

 our pupils the beautiful thoughts which others have 

 gained from nature, if we do not read with them the 

 poets and other nature-loving writers, we miss one of 

 our greatest opportunities in nature study. 



Along with this appreciation of the beauty of their 



