8 IN THE ACADIAN LAND. 



It depends upon what taste and love of nature 

 that one brings to tlie landscape or the woods, 

 whether he will discover beauty therein. If the 

 woods are only to be looked upon as an assem- 

 blage of trees serviceable for saw-logs, ship- 

 timber, cordwood, harrow-crotches and sled-run- 

 ners, then this is the view of the browsing moose. 

 He knows the locality as a feeding-ground and 

 shelter. We do not blame him for not looking 

 deeper, because his natural capacity goes no 

 farther. But man has finer endowments, that, 

 if rightly cultivated and properly used, enable 

 him to appreciate the beauty and diversity and 

 infinite resources of nature. Even the great 

 works of men's minds and hands are worthy of 

 study and admiration. How much more worthy 

 are the products of the master mind that brings 

 forth suns in galaxies, and finds room in the 

 commonest toadstool to exercise a skill and 

 power that passes our comprehension. It is 

 the proper part of education, at home and in the 

 school, to draw out these higher qualities of 

 the mind, that show themselves in the eager 

 curiosity and enthusiasm of childhood and youth. 

 Alas, that our methods are so well calculated 

 to suppress the opening buds of higher promise I 

 Alas that the " life star " that was born with us 

 "fades into the light of common day " and the 



