The Love of Nature 



of a rugged mountain -range. There is a 

 beauty of the Hly and a beauty of the pine, 

 a beauty of the mountain and a beauty of the 

 plain, a beauty of wide outlooks, of stately, 

 high- walled amphitheatres, and of gentle, se- 

 questered corners. One kind necessarily ex- 

 cludes the other kinds ; but that does not mat- 

 ter if each arrests the eye, interests the mind, 

 and appeals to the imagination and the heart. 



Everyone realizes that more kinds of art 

 appeal to the connoisseur than to the ordinary 

 observer, and that he does not exalt showy, 

 spectacular kinds above all others. All the 

 greatest artists in the world did not paint 

 palace-ceilings or big altar-pictures ; some 

 of the world's most famous masterpieces 

 measure only a couple of spans and do not 

 show a single note of vivid color. And so 

 it is with Nature and her masterpieces. The 

 finest composition wrought with mountain- 

 peaks and deep ravines is not more beautiful 

 or wonderful than one which can be wrought 

 with a gray bowlder, a pine-tree, and a car- 

 pet of moss or fern ; the most splendid pan- 

 oramic background is not more enchanting 

 than may be a foreground of flowery meadow, 



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