Live Oaks 143 
now your true lover of the woods, how he 
abstracts himself from the company of his 
fellows, ostensibly to go a-botanising or to 
look for birds, but in reality to walk in dim 
groves with the good angel who awaits him 
there. Does he seem solitary and unsocial? 
Mark you, he but seeks diviner company 
than the town affords. 
There are minds so wholly subjective that 
they are disqualified as good observers of 
Nature; others so nearly objective that though 
their vision be keen and reliable they see 
nothing to advantage, their facts are all 
unrelated. The good naturalist is a blend of 
these. He sees as a scientist, he associates 
his facts as a philosopher. It is ridiculous to 
assume that any one ever sees Nature as it is; 
we see it with what mind we have—and the 
richer the mind, the richer the Nature we 
know. There are days when the grove is 
full of life—objective days; others when it is 
at a standstill, when little or nothing at- 
tracts the attention—and these are sub- 
jective days, when we must see with an inner 
eye. 
In California, such periods are fewer than 
in the East, for there is never a time when 
some birds and flowers are not in evidence. 
