2l6 IN BIRD LAND. 



XVI. 

 THE SECRET OF APPRECIATION. 



IT is an open secret, and perhaps not a very pro- 

 found one. I need not prolong the reader's 

 suspense, if mayhap he should feel any, by assum- 

 ing a mysterious air, but may as well frankly divulge 

 the secret at once. There are times when melo- 

 drama is sadly out of place — if, indeed, it is ever in 

 place. What, then, is the secret of appreciation? 

 It is simply being en rapport with the object or 

 truth to be appreciated. No more patent fact was 

 ever declared than that which Saint Paul wrote : 

 " Spiritual things are spiritually discerned." There 

 must be mental kinship, or there cannot be true 

 valuation. Bring a depressed or distracted mind to 

 the most exhilarating service, and you will miss its 

 pith and point, and go away unrewarded. 



The same truth obtains in our commerce with 

 Nature, which, it would seem, will not brook a rival in 

 our hearts if we would win from her all her treasured 

 sweets. " Give me your whole mind, your whole 

 attention," she says, "or I will close up every foun- 

 tain of refreshment." \Vhat benefit will that man 

 whose mind is absorbed in the affairs of the market 

 derive from a woodland stroll? What secret will 



