Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-08-30
Natural Adaptation Oar School Master.

From the mirror of nature we are con.
'tantlv reelected, consequently life's future
experiences in successive steps may be
correctly read from first to last, prompting
US to INIT that nature should be regarded
IS our faithful instructor. Through our
faculties Of sense the unmistaken positive.
ness OF our trus characteristics are unfold.
ed, appealing not so much to our reason as
to our vision of natures variety order,
hrmDny prompted by our own intuition.
saying. every man his proper gift"
am not unmindful that | am entering a
field of thought too broad for me to com
prehand room for more able minds to
explore. And when swing open the door
and ent"r this region, pardon me ii in
this brief space of time, fceby attempt to
give you picture photograplically idetl-
ized upon your minds canvass of life's
success drawn from natures harmony
Hoping | may energize some latent ideas
in the minds Of those before me, tanning
it into hreezs that might be productive
in giving us larger viewtAf ourselves.
or relation to each other add to things
with which we are surrounded, learning
our true standpoint, thereby finding our
true place, as component part in the great
mechanism ofnature's successful harmony !;
thereby eradicating all discomfort, de-
veloping true satisfaction, as the result of
true success. IF should even feebly ac-
complish this much, my aspirations would
be satiated. 1t may seem somewhat novel
at first that a subje bearing upon agri>
culture specifically should be presented
under this head. Yet moments thought,
n brief examination and the conclusion is !;
1t is the great centre from which radiates
every line of true success. 1t is the heart
propelling the life blood through all legiti-
mate pursuits. In nature one Of its funda.
mental laws. Every legitimate object or
persint that is rpened, matured into q
final result, had its origin, growth in the
illness of the means certain to secure the
end esigned-adaptatio Nature seems
to be filled with this element apparent In
every direction. The very first ray of
light falling upon the pages of this great
volume, unfolds IA fitness of every thing
animate and inanimate to certain appro-
pirate end BY the adaptation of our
organs of sight to the light of the sun fall
ing upon nature reflected in all its hues,
objects are rendered pleasurable to the
senses, with perfect harmony Of beauty,
exquisite in color, physical structure and
locatIon-every thing in its appropriate
place, performing its own peculiar mis-
sion, adapted and fitted to all the surround.
ings in natures vibrations. No errors, no
mistakes. Creation from beginning was
one perfect adaptation.
Natural adaptation IS one of the essen
tials of existence, evinced in the forest,
throughout vegetation, as well rs fully
demonstrated throughout the animal king
dom, each species having largely its own
natural locality, instructive powers, and
forces to perfectly develop their organiza-
lion in their preconceived mission. The
tree upon the mountain top, or isolated in
the valley, or on the mountain side builds
its structure more slow and compact than
in the forest, obeying the laws of light and
circulation, rearing itself no faster than
making safe the base of its superstructives
multiplying and extending its roots to call
into requisition more food to strengthen,
extend md deepen its foundation that it
may adapt itselfto resist more opposing
clements to porpetuate its healthful exist
ence. Each herb, plant, tree lying latent
in its seed adapted peculiarly to soil and
climate. is developed only by change in
the elements Of the atmosphere and essen
ces Of the soil compatible with its nature,
rs exhibited upon its own hill sides, by the
removing of one kind of timber by the
woodman's AK or fire, and new species ap-
pears because a change Of situation in the
obeyng of the principles of adaptation.
This same principle has ever been rec.
ognized through all time. See the bot
anist walking hour after hour, in anxious
search for some particular plant till at last,
wnaried, he detects its habitaton by the
side of a stream or on the damp borders Of
lake, he takes in the surroundings OF
soil, climate, studies its structure, he dis.
covers the fitness of its home. The orni.
thologicll studies the nature of birds,
stellthily climbing along through the
BUSH catching each warbling note till his
eye falls upon some strange bird, watches
its habits Of life, propagation. instincts of
preservation and defence; the zoologst,
tho history of animals, their climate, food,
instincts The gcologist roaming over
hill, thtouyh plain, reading a great his.
tory of hundred thousand years, in the
swell anl roll of the meadow. in the round
ell escarpment of rocks, in the long level
of the plateaus; ask each in his depart
ment of research to roll back the scroll
reading down through the vista of past
ages, recording theI footprints of birds in
the rock, the impress of the forest leaf in
the coal bed, the fossil bones or the masto-
don and monsters of the sea and land,
awakening the decaying giant forest tree
from his long repose, and methinGs you
would have them say, leach development
of life, animate and inanimate, from the
essences OF creation in the great periodical
spiral of creative power, had its perfect
adaptation contemporaneous to their varied
wants and necessities. as they swelled out
from the great bosom of natures adapta.
ton"
While we are thus viewing the picture
of natural adaptation without, human life
is depicted upon the canvass within; for
man is but a miniature of nature, the EN-.
bodiment of everything that exists, the
compound essence of everything we see
around us, hence we begin to reason from
these symbols and trace the analogy ad-
hitting that nature proves true to herself;
that every thing is wrought out and de.
monstrated precisely proportionate to the
kind of means employed as cause to effect,
always the same, changed only by circum.
stances. That we each have an individual
mission particularly designed for some
particular path OF life adapted to some
specific vocation, procliviies that naturally
tend to mark our pathway, accelerate our
progress, securing efficiency and ultimate
snccess, other things being equal The
old proverb is: Takes all sorts of people
to make world" This proverb express
cs the wonderful Ifullness and richness of
the world; its thousand.fold varieties, all
working together in one grand harmony
Of adaptation, attractions and repulsions,
loves and hates, compartnershps and
competitions, riRalry and opposition on
one side partnership and associations on
the olhor-all resulting in an orbed. beau
tilul whole, if we find our proper gift-the
most important factor in life. To what
business am called For what has God
given me a capacity that | may do my
own work, and not somebody's else P
Now, then, if we err not in Judging cor.
rectly of our natural adaptation, the tend.
encies that well up in our being, we shall
be powerfully aided in bringing into ro.
QUESTION all the means for a perfect adapt.