ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] 
Mature Motes : 
tEbe Selborne Society’s flDaoasinc, 
No. 199. JULY, 1906. Voi.. XVII. 
THE CULT OF THE SELBORNIAN. 
By Dudley Wilmot Buxton. 
WAS asked to commit to paper the gist of what I said 
at the Annual General Meeting of the Selborne Society, 
and I do so with the hope that some members may 
be in sympathy with my mood. As I write I am in 
“ the garden that I love,” and the drone of bees, the song of 
birds, with now and again the warning cry of the robin, form a 
not inappropriate orchestra to my theme. In days like these 
in which we live, the stress and strain of life become almost 
overwhelming ; we grow strenuous, not only in amassing money, 
in the prosecution of research, in following the elusive chimera 
called “social success,” but even in moments which should be 
devoted to self-culture, Nature study, thought. Indeed, too 
many find their life so engrossed by their routine pursuits that 
they wilfully forego all change of occupation, and voluntarily 
divorce themselves from those placid joys afforded by a retreat 
from the outer world into the realm of Nature which Selbornians 
hold so dear. It may be worth while to elaborate in what our 
cult consists. Truly Gilbert White of Selborne was onr patron 
saint, but few of us can lead the contemplative life he led, or 
pass restful days in a fair country side, noting day by day in 
his diary the items which make up the Naturalist’s Calendar, 
the flight and incoming of birds, the growth and variations of 
plants. These things are for the few, but given the spirit 
which actuated White, the environment can always be found. 
In most cases it is the spirit which is lacking. Even in the 
heart of the country, when the voices of Nature call aloud and 
the sweet breath of new mown hay, the indescribable beauty 
of lush meadows at the hour of sunset, seem to compel to 
Nature-love and contemplation of the beautiful, men yet stand 
aloof discussing turnips, or point-to-point races. In cities, 
amid the squalor of alleys and wynds, Selbornians dwell, and 
