THE ART OF SEEING THINGS 



and water negative, and he interprets the symptoms 

 accordingly. He is keenly alive to all outward 

 impressions. When he descends from the hiU in 

 the autumn twilight, he notes the cooler air of the 

 valley like a lake about him; he notes how, at other 

 seasons, the cooler air at times settles down between 

 the mountains like a vast body of water, as shown by 

 the level line of the fog or the frost upon the trees. 



The modern man looks at nature with an eye of 

 sympathy and love where the earlier man looked 

 with an eye of fear and superstition. Hence he 

 sees more closely and accurately; science has made 

 his eye steady and clear. To a hasty traveler 

 through the land, the farms and country homes all 

 seem much alike, but to the people bom and reared 

 there, what a difference! They have read the fine 

 print that escapes the hurried eye and that is so 

 full of meaning. Every horizon line, every curve 

 in hiU or valley, every tree and rock and spring 

 run, every turn in the road and vista in the land- 

 scape, has its special features and makes its own 

 impression. 



Scott wrote in his journal: "Nothing is so tire- 

 some as walking through some beautiful scene 

 with a minute philosopher, a botanist, or a pebble- 

 gatherer, who is eternally calling your attention 

 from the grand features of the natural picture to 

 look at grasses and chuckie-stanes." No doubt 

 Scott's large, generous way of looking at things 

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