mental, certainly, yet not ignorant, nor merely va{)i(l. 

 He does not always wander aloni; the lake by night. 

 He is a nature-student, as well as a nature-lover, and 

 he does a great deal more than hoot at the owls. 

 This, though, is as near as he comes to anything 

 scientific, and so worth while, according to the pro- 

 fessor. 



II 



And it is as near as he ought to come to reality 

 and facts — according to the philosopher. 



"We want only the facts of nature," says the sci- 

 entist. *' Nothing in nature is worth while," says the 

 philosopher, "but mood, background, atmosphere." 



"Nor can I recollect that my mind," says one of 

 our philosophers, "in these walks, was much called 

 away from contemplation by the petty curiosities of 

 the herbalist or birdlorist, for I am not one zealously 

 addicted to scrutinizing into the minuter secrets of 

 nature. It never seemed to me that a flower was 

 made sweeter by knowing the construction of its 

 ovaries. . . . The wood thrush and the veery sing as 

 melodiously to the uninformed as to the subtly curi- 

 ous. Indeed, I sometimes think a little ignorance is 

 wholesome in our communion with nature." 



67 



