THE FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 7 
the calm sweet pictures of nature. They are like 
Peter Bell of whom Wordsworth wrote : 
" A primrose by a river's brim 
A yellow primrose was to him, 
And it was nothing more." 
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But we will not be like these, we will open our 
eyes, and ask, " What are these forces or fairies, and 
how can we see them ? " 
Just go out into the country, and sit down quietly 
and watch nature at work. Listen to the wind as 
it blows, look at the clouds rolling overhead, and the 
waves rippling on the pond at your feet. Hearken 
to the brook as it flows by, watch the flower-buds 
opening one by one, and then ask yourself, " How 
all this is done ? " Go out in the evening and see 
the dew gather drop by drop upon the grass, or 
trace the delicate hoar-frost crystals which bespangle 
every blade on a winter's morning. Look at the 
vivid flashes of lightning in a storm, and listen to the 
pealing thunder : and then tell me, by what machinery 
is all this wonderful work done ? Man does none of 
it, neither could he stop it if he were to try ; for it 
is all the work of those invisible forces or fairies 
whose acquaintance I wish you to make. Day and 
night, summer and winter, storm or calm, these fairies 
are at work, and we may hear them and know them, 
and make friends of them if we will. 
There is only one gift we must have before we can 
learn to know them we must have imagination. I 
do not mean mere fancy, which creates unreal images 
and impossible monsters, but imagination, the power 
of making pictures or images in our mind, of that 
which is, though it is invisible to us. Most children 
