FOREWORD 



us, is ever charged with pain, but if we have a love 

 for Nature and for the secrets she possesses, we 

 have an inward joy, of which none can rob us. The 

 more I turn to her, the more I realise the mystery of 

 her greatness ; the more I love her, the more love 

 she returns to me ; she never fails : and in the large- 

 ness of her heart there is nothing to cause pain, 

 but, the more she has to tell me, the less able am I 

 to interpret her dumb utterances, or pass on the 

 pure joy she gives so freely. 



The illustrations, just taken from everyday 

 country-side scenes (and not selected from well- 

 known beauty-spots), will I hope help my crude and 

 disjointed words ; I realise how, like those words, they 

 fail to convey the loveliness of the objects as I looked 

 upon them. The beauty, greatly diminished in the 

 photograph, suffers a further reduction at the hands 

 of the block-maker and printer, however great their 

 skill ; yet if the combined effort conveys to the reader 

 only some slight pleasure, and a greater power of 

 appreciation of this exquisite world, I shall be more 



than satisfied. 



E. B. 



May 1919. 



VI 11 



