Under the Oaks and Elsewhere 



siasm over little nothings. It has taken soiAe 

 time to be convinced of this, but now I am firm 

 in the belief; and because the world at large 

 cares nothing for some meadow ditch or name- 

 less upland brook, I do not propose to abate one 

 jot my enthusiasm for what I find, even here 

 where nobody comes and all is tame. 



Over the range of my rambles I found the 

 marks of the coming and going of destructive 

 men for more than two centuries, until almost 

 nothing was left, as Nature would have it. 

 Then, the place was forsaken of men, and while 

 their backs were turned, Nature repaired the 

 mischief and beckoned to me to come on. 

 Strange to relate, there seems to be a good 

 deal to occupy one where the traveller had pro- 

 claimed that all was tame. Where bigness only 

 counts, we are more apt to be excited than sat- 

 isfied. Fever heat is exhausting, not exhilarat- 

 ing and the re-action to commonplace condi- 

 tions too great a change: it proves a shock. 

 We do not need the element of danger or in- 

 tense excitement to make life enjoyable. As 

 well claim the necessity of alcohol to aid diges- 

 tion. The acorn still sprouts in the way it 

 always did and not a minnow in the brook but 



247 



