Litchfield enquirer., 1837-04-13
TOR rm HlloUIRm


 ON THE OBSERVATION OF NATURE
 The sweetest hours of a mans converse with na- ture are those during which he has it all to himseIE-
 is then that the career of thought runs free and far as the light of heaven and vanity is subdued and bt terness is swcetened and hope is elevated by the parison of ones own little requirements and cares with the mighty expanse around, and of the perfect nothingness of this life in respect to that which then rises clearly and convincngly in the anticipation.
 That is the feeling of natural objects which Ihave wished to excite and encourage if that end could be seen and kept in view, the observation of the facts would be very easy matter; and, every person must begin observation in his own way or else lose all the pleasure of it, the less of detail which was mn- ged with the attempt to excite the feeling it seemed to me the better. Following my own judgment on a subject which is perfectly original that so far as
 know there is not book or even page expressly on 1t, may be wrong and may have failed; but even in that case shall not feel much humbledby absolute failure in an original attempt, should have done at inferiority in an imitation
 The plan which have adopted has been to throw romentary glances those portions ofnature which struck capable of refectng the greatest breadth and briancy of light Whatever situation in life we may be placed whether in the height of prosperity smarng under the ills of diversity, the mind will all ways find relief and pleasure in observing nature.- | If we do not observe nature, we incur disgrace as | we'll as suffer loss-we are ungrateiul to our Maker and we are unworthy of ourselves. Wherefore were the organs and faculties of observation given us, if | do not use them? The senses though as we have, without cost study, effort our part, and apt undervalue them, are in reality choice gifts and the productions of nature are so admirably fitted for the qualification of those senses that it is altogeth CT impossible to perceive that the one must have been made for the other. Why was every tint and tone of color mingled in the light of day as that they all come out clear and perfect and tell us not merely of substance but of space' and wherefore, when the sky is couded and the backness of darkness shades the landscape, is the arch of Hope with its seven-fod glory set in the rain cloud, if it be for us to look and admire and learn, and love? Why does the rose give forth it's odor and the scent of the lavender and of the mgnionete steal viewless upon the still air round us, and the blooming bean and the new-mown hay outscen all the preparations of the apothecary if it be not to vile unto the garden and the field, in order that we may breathe health, and at the same time cull pleasure and instruction there Wherefore sings the breeze in the forest why whispers the zeph VT among the reeds anG how comes it that the caves and holows of the barren mountains give out their tones as if the earth musical instrument of innumerabe strings, if it be not to tempt forth in order to learn however fair, new and infor ming that great nstrucress is who speaks speaks to all the senses at and the same instant? And the pleasure goes deeper, strikes home, clcaves more closely, remains more permanently, than can be sup posed of the external organ of sense So exquisite and at the same time mysterious an action is life, that it does not appear that the particle of mat ter abide with it for two moments of time that can be separated, considered a succession even in thought. It is probable that the same material eye never two successive objects that the same ol- factory surface never conveys two successive odors; that the same material ear never hears two success sve sounds; and that the same sentent palate never tastes or the same sentient finger touches, twice. It is probable that they perform their offices and are gone-dissipated into the thin air. or absorbed by those vessels which, ramed all over the body, collect the waste from every part; and by one of the most beautiful processes in nature, constantly remove death out of the body while the equally wonderful system of nutrition is at the same time every where furnishing the materials of life. But although those individual portions of matter far too minute for the cogn. zance of any eye or of any microscope and though as composing organs of observation, they are more
 eetng than observation itse yet they are faithful to the mind and their memory never perishes. This is an exceedingly curious well as an exceedingly in terestng speculation; and, even if we had no more it alone would be sufficient to make us happy. The matter which thus passes from death to death through life, and is not measurable moment on its passage bears upon its invisible and rapid wings all the infor nation that we receive, and the happiness that enjoy It delights with softness in touching, with raciness in tasting, with perfume in smelling with music in hearing, and with all the world in seeing : and what would we, what we have more than that? Thus, as the act of life is, as were, not mat measurable in duration, the quantity of happiness that enjoy is not a sum of measurable durations and thus it has nothing do with time in the com way oi estimating it by the visible motion of vsi- ble matter
 It is said or fabled of the ancient Scythians, that they slew the wise in order to inherit their wisdom and the strong in order to inherit their strengths but we would only senses-our powers of observa. ton aright-we might inherit the wisdom and the strength of past ages, well those of the present and even behold and grasp forward into futurty with out iDjuring hair of any living creature. In that way an observant man may and does actually concentrate enjoyment into one brief hour, nay into one mmeasurable moment than dull and care less drawls of his hree-score and ten years And it is in the observation of nature only that this unbounded happiness. this happiness which time can not measure space bound, is to be found out All that is of human making or human possession is h.. H. Al