OUTDOOR LIFE IN LITERATURE. 19 
Emerson’s ‘“‘ Rhodora,” ‘‘Monadnoc,” ‘The Snow- 
storm,” ‘‘May-day” and ‘“Wood-notes” are favorites 
with lovers of Nature, and so, too, are Bryant’s ‘“ Thana- 
topsis,” ‘The Painted Cup,” ‘The Fringed Gentian” 
and “Lines to a Waterfowl.” The influences of life at 
Concord speak in the former, and of the quiet and 
peace at Cummington in the latter. The high-water 
mark of poetry, to rise beyond which some “Storm and 
Stress” period of a later civilization will be needed, was 
reached in ‘“‘ Thanatopsis,” a marvellous production for 
a youth of eighteen. American poetry may be said to 
begin with this poem as its spring, and the stream has 
rolled on with ever-widening course. 
Access to the best literature is now comparatively 
easy. The reading of it properly may open our eyes 
to see for ourselves the beauties which such guides 
point out. Herein lies the value of a good book. It 
stimulates its readers to self-activity. And so, a good 
outdoor book may be to its readers a gateway through 
which they may pass into the Elysian Fields of Nature- 
study and Life. 
