The Love of Nature 
of a rugged mountain-range. There is a 
beauty of the lily 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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