Art Out-of-Doors 



even afar off as you get the merest glimpse 

 of them, all the easily visible plants near 

 your home ; and then the fruit of the les- 

 son has become a part of your life, a part of 

 yourself, a new sense, a new apartment 

 opened in your brain. It means not only 

 special knowledge of special plants, but 

 much keener vision, more delicate powers 

 of appreciation, a more subtile and yet a 

 broader and richer faculty of enjoyment. 

 And thus it is a thing that you will carry 

 with you forever after, wherever you may 

 go. Now for the first time you really love 

 the beauty of Nature, because now for the 

 first time you really see and understand the 

 beauty of some of its component parts. 



My ovvui knowledge of botany is a smat- 

 tering indeed, and part of it I forget from 

 one summer to another. But the fruit of it 

 I would not exchange for any acquirement 

 which has cost me a hundred-fold the amount 

 of time and trouble. This cost me only 

 such odd hours as I could spare each day 

 during a single busy summer. It does not 

 enable me to know a quarter of all the plants 

 I see when I leave my own little corner of 



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