A Word for Books 
in her gardening work and her landscape- 
painting. 
I have named Richard Jefferies as a de- 
lightful painter of the outdoor world. He 
instructs us much in many ways, but I think 
never better than when he confesses that he 
had no botanical knowledge. Read his little 
book called “The Open Air.” It proves 
that he was one of the closest observers of 
Nature who has ever written, yet that through- 
out his life he prided himself upon being a 
dilettante . I do not know that he would 
have liked this word, but it is the one which 
fits his case : he sturdily refused to study 
either science or art. Nevertheless, he was 
not content with his own ignorance. On 
every page he reveals that he was a born 
artist — one who noticed every faintest shade 
of color, effect of light, and subtility of form, 
and described them in words which only an 
artist or an experienced student of art can 
fully appreciate. On the other hand, he 
continually shows a yearning for that exact- 
ness in knowledge which only scientific 
study can supply. And, as he was thus 
born to know both art and science, and as 
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