Art Out-of -Doors 



People of this kind, I say, do not care 

 about Nature ; at most they care for those 

 conspicuous natural effects which they call 

 scenery. Scenery is not the whole of natural 

 beauty; it is only one manifestation of it; 

 and a person who delights in a magnificent 

 view but finds all flat regions hopelessly tire- 

 some, or who feels the grandeur of a rocky 

 coast but not the lovehness of a green-fringed, 

 quiet shore, is in a rudimentary stage of 

 development. His attitude is like that of one 

 who should profess to love flowers but, while 

 admiring a rose, should despise a forget-me- 

 not. The true lover of Nature is he who 

 gives interested attention to all natural effects 

 and forms, and finds much beauty where the 

 average eye finds none. 



Of course there are grades and degrees of 

 natural beauty, and for each the true lover 

 will have a corresponding degree of ad- 

 miration. He will not call a Belgian plain 

 as beautiful as the valley of the Rhone, or 

 declare that a nettle has the charm of a 

 branch of apple-blossoms. But there are few 

 plants which have no beauty of any kind ; 

 and there are few earthly spots, where man's 



310 



