224 ^^ Touch with Nature. 



hint that will not need to be kept seven years be- 

 fore it proves useful. This is what I mean by 

 idling, and hold it worthy of a vigorous defence. 



Never reach beyond arm's length, for that is 

 labor and not idleness, or chase a white blackbird 

 from dawn till dark, forgetting that color is but 

 feather-deep, and that the mystery of a bird, and 

 not a chance happening, is the fact worth know- 

 ing. Do not count yourself a lord of creation, 

 either, when you enter the field, for you are not, 

 and the assumption makes you merely an in- 

 truder. Knock at the door, and ask to come in, 

 and you will be accorded a hearty welcome. Thus 

 it is, by humbling yourself, you shall be exalted. 



It is September, and the summer yet lingers. 

 Let us idly saunter beyond the town, gathering 

 the best fruit that offers, but not passing by un- 

 heeded that which is blighted. Here is matter for 

 leisurely contemplation : what caused the untimely 

 destruction? What is blight? Some creature 

 having equal claim to fruit has been ahead of you 

 merely, and you, man, lord of creation, get angry 

 because beaten by a bug ! As a spectator, and 

 not a victim, I am amused, and, lolling in the Sep- 



