New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-15
IN TIE COUNTRY.


city begins TO yearn for the country. and to
recall with warm approval CowperS line.
God made the country, and man inadc inc 'o"n'
or that older saving OF Conveys,
God tlIe first garden made, the first city CAIN
The feeling which thus mpclS us to get near
70 Natures heart at a time when she Is most
lovely and lovable is in every way crcdltabc
In Ms. and the man who cannot respond to IT
* indeed TO he piticd. From henccforth until
tho cold weather comes again multitudes OF
city folk will visit the country under more or
less happy auspices, and though not all of them
will find that conscious pleasure in it that can
only come 10 those who have trained them
selves TO note its manifold beauties, and who
arc besides, in sympathetic harmony with those
beauties. vet the results in all cases must be
beneficial The wcll-mcaning but misguided
people who spend sunday, their only day for
an outing in some shabby suburban seer
garden all unmindfuI of the beauties of flower
and foliage around them, or the ovciworkcd
business men who spend most Of their time
in the country in stuify summer hotel billiard
room. certainly miss a great deal that might
svcctcn and rcCreatc their lives. But IT Is
perhaps better that they should do even this.
l;ttlr - il u.s. than to live always in an artificial
woIld If bricks and mortar. They rccog-
nizc. at least in theory, the need Of change and
fresh air And perhaps in time they will come
to understand those subtle delights that Nature
is ever ready 10 unfold to all who love her
4 keen appreciation OF beauty in vegetation
and landscape has become So integral a part
of our lattcr-day culture that we do not realize
how modern thing it is. But we at once do
fnn
Bible. and find that they do not contain even
the words and phrases by which we express
our thoughts on this subject. The old Hebrew
prophets and the classic poets of antiquity were
often sublime and beautiful when they de-
scribcd natural phenomena in their relation to
man: but they had nothing TO say of beautiful
landscape views. of the wOndrOus processes
Of Nature with which modern naturllsts and
poets have made us 50 well acquainted. Even
10 the people Of his own generation Words
worth spoke in an unknown tongue, because
they were but little trained in the school of
Nature Of which he such master. But
10 the people who drank in with delight the
stately poetry of Isaiah or Homer the simple
natnrlliSm of Wordsworth would have seemed
utter diocy. - completely we the children
of the age in which we live.
But not all modcinS who rave over views
and 90 daft over flowers and foliage and per
feet lawns, are III possession OF the true secret
Of Nature. Many superficial people are con
tent simply 10 catch up the stock phrases about
landscapes. and trees, and flowers, without
really understanding or caring for any Of these
things. Iou may meet good mon, and wom
en- too. any day who think they have thor
4 IL.
uhirlcd through il on Il limited express. or if
they have spent week or so in gazing at a
pretty landscape from the piazza Of summer
hotel. We are fond of making grcGarious in
cursions into the country. and when we have
Joined in the volublc chorus. Isn't it just too
lovely for anyhing?' we fondly imagine we
have proved our possession of the true aesthetic
faculty But Nature cannot be properly OBJ
served in Il proniscuous crowd. much less
understood. To catch her spirit and truly in
tcrpret her message yon must see her alone
away from the beaten tracks, or better still.
in the congenlal company of those You love.
Visit the country thus. in these days Of fresh
verdurc and abounding life and many new and
delightful experiences will como to Won. Leave
behind you tho artifciality and the fret and
the disappointing ambitions of city life, and
then as you wander through field or forest, let
eye and car be open for what will come to
them. If You are country bred, the song of
the birds, and the scent Of the old familiar
flowers, and the soughng Of the wind through
the well-remembered trees, will bring to you
food of holy memories and associations.
And even if you arc the vericst cit, the Amcri-
can equivalent of the London cockncy. YOU
will come to Il vivid appreciation of the poets
words
One impulse from q vcrnal wood
May teach you more OF man.
OF moral evil and Of good
Than all the sascs can.