THE LAN DSCAPE BEAUTIFUL 



noteworthy (with all high respect to 

 Mother Eve), that when human society, 

 the next great teacher, entered the world, 

 sorrow came also. So that from the first 

 day till now the one has taught us of pain 

 and sin (and forgiveness, to be sure!), while 

 the other has taught of peace and beauty 

 and hope. 



It is most simply and emphatically true 

 that the landscape is our chief teacher in 

 the world of beauty. The lake, the river, 

 the hills, the sky, the sunset, these (with 

 the human form) are the great themes of 

 all art. Painting, poetry and music en- 

 deavor to interpret to us what here we 

 may see face to face. And what part of 

 most men's lives is painting or music, 

 or even poetry and jurchitecture, beside the 

 landscape? Once or twice in a lifetime we 

 visit the great art gallery, or we hear the 

 best music; but every day we have the ever- 

 lasting hills. Occasionally a line of poetry 

 stirs our whole soul; but every breath of 

 wind in the pine-trees can tell the same 

 story. 



The landscape is omnipresent. All 

 these other things are accidental and 

 escapable. It is like the air that we breathe 



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