PREFACE 
flatter myself that I can resolve it, or any other 
similar question, but I find the effort stimulating, 
and now and then IJ get a gleam of light. 
We live in a wonderful world, and the wonders of 
the world without us are matched and more than 
matched by the wonders of the world within us. 
This interior world has its natural history also, and 
to observe and record any of its facts and incidents, 
or trace any of its natural processes, is well worthy 
of our best moments. 
I have given the name of the initial chapter, 
“Under the Apple-Trees,” to the whole collection, 
because most of the essays were written in my camp 
under the trees, in the old orchard where I gathered 
apples as a farm-boy. The wild life about me ap- 
pealed to my love of natural history, while thoughts 
and suggestions from beyond the horizon occupied 
my more philosophical meditations. 
Joun Burrovuaszs. 
