INFL UENCES IN LITER A TURE. log 



sources, and the well-rounded genius seems to 

 feed itself upon Nature much more than upon 

 books. A book is most useful as a literary 

 helper, when it may be used as a glass with 

 which to better view Nature. I would not be 

 understood as saying that all worthy literature 

 is or should be a mere interpretation of out- 

 door life ; far from it. Out-door life, I may 

 say, furnishes the inspiration, the enthusiasm, 

 the freshness. It furnishes the water for the 

 clay, it gives the hand its certainty, the mind 

 its new leases upon youth. It does not make 

 the mind nor the hand ; it merely informs 

 them with the creative effluence of Nature, as 

 Thoreau would express it. It has a fertilizing 

 power — this lonely communion with the out- 

 door forms of life — which one may trace in the 

 best works of the geniuses of all ages. Pan, 

 when he pursued the flying Syrinx, and at last 

 clasped , an armful of reeds instead of the 

 nymph, very accurately typified the poet. He 

 took the reeds and made of them his pipe. 

 He had caught the idea of music from the 

 sounds of the rustling leaves and stems. If 

 you would like to fully understand the mean- 

 ing of this myth of Pan and Syrinx go clasp 

 an armful of wild green reeds and hold your 

 ear close to them. You will hear the sound 

 of washing seas and rippling rivers and flow- 

 ing breezes all blending together ; voices from 

 vast distances and snatches of immemorial 

 song will come to you. Like Pan you will 

 long for a pipe, that you may express what 

 has been suggested to you by the reeds. 



Awhile ago I said that direct, conscious 

 study of Nature was not best for gathering 

 those impressions most valuable to the poet 



