FLINT IMPLEMENTS. 
351 
thought ; the other has seen the beauty of the flowers, the habits 
of the birds, the great glorious picture that grand old Nature 
opens to those who love her. Which is best or even most 
practical ? To have a pursuit, even if it be but the study of 
flint chips, or have no other resource than that dreariest of all 
dull things, a mere “ constitutional ” walk. Average eyes by 
research and examination become comparatively microscopic in 
their power, and in seeking or searching for analogy between 
flint tools we may learn to understand better the shape and 
form and usefulness of other things too. Eye-training is mind- 
training also, for they must work together ; and our woods and 
barren hill-tops, our valleys and plains have a fresh interest and 
a fresh light thrown on them if there can be found traces of 
human occupation to show that others, too, had loved them, 
others too, had seen their beauty before Greek or Roman had 
got beyond the age of Neolithic man. “ The mind like a knife 
quickly rusts if not used. Unless the eye is trained to see, it 
becomes dim ; unless the ear is trained to hear, it gets dulled ; 
and this is why so many, careless to sharpen their wits on the 
whetstone of outlook and thought, enter into life and pass away 
from it, never knowing in what a world of beauty, bounty, and 
wonder they have lived.” 
Lastly one study so leads to another. An examination of the 
surface of the ground would lead most people to wonder what 
there was beneath it. The stone axe driven firmly into the head 
of a Bos jorimigenius , such as was found in the Lincoln Fens, 
must direct attention to the question of how the skull was de- 
posited where it was found, and what were the physical conditions 
of the world in old time. Prehistoric archaeology and geology 
are so closely allied as to be in some cases inseparable. Is 
geology of no importance ? Can any knowledge of this grand 
universe around be considered valueless ? What is good and 
vital and useful in any study will live ; what is of no value will 
pass away like last year’s flowers, which, useless as they seemingly 
were, gave pleasure and interest to some in their brief existence. 
Longfellow once wrote of a man of great scientific knowledge 
and repute — 
Nature, the old nurse, took 
The child upon her knee, 
Saying, a Here is a story-book 
Thy father has written for thee.” 
“ Come wander with me,” she said, 
Into regions yet untrod, 
And read what is still unread 
In the manuscripts of God.” 
