The Washington herald., 1907-05-12
THE BRIGHTER SIDE.

II thou at worn and hard BEST
With souovs that thou wolldst forget.
If lhou Woaidst read lesson that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep.
Go 70 the woods and hills. No tears
Dim the sweet lock that Nature wears
-LongfelloE
For many. a month the Book Of Nature
has lain closed, locked in the cold grasp
OF ice. hid beneath blankets OF snow,
swept from before our faces by the gales
Of winter
For many month no flower has bright
ened the outes gorid. no tree has been
source Of song, no brook has puTled TO
as OF purity
And now the volume is opened to US
again Now the greatest Of our teachers
unclasps the brown binding aud reveals
TO us once more the beauties of those
pages which come new-made each year.
Now. II we VIII, we may learn the truth
Of things from preachers commissioned
by God Himself from tutors fraught with
such knowledge as We can only glimpse
ia part when the eyes Of the mind are
clear and the eyes Of the heart open.
Now the flowers signal Come, and from
the treetops NE are wooed by hawiess
song, and the streams in the woods and
along the country roads rush at Us with
their welcome and everything seems bent
upon taking US out Of the closed world
into the open
And we. If We are wise. go.
We tarry not I'm the order OF our going,
we spend no time deciding whether we
shall walk or ride-though il is better 70
walk even if We can rlde-but simply get
out into the good green places where the
air has free play and the noise and bus
tie OF ordinary days are as far of as if
they had betaken themselves 10 some dis
tant star.
We go TO feel the old thrill-that best Of
thrills which caught us in childhood and
has held rs ever since We go 10 claim
kinship once again with the things that
have never betrayed us
We take with Us our joys. our secret
happinesses, our loves. and we find
thousand voices ready TO join in our re-
jocng, a thousand eyes ready 20 give
as looks Of sympathy and love.
We take with Us our sorrOws, our long
ings that yet remain, our burdens and
our tasks, and We are comfOrted, strength
ened, encouraged.
We go 10 Nature as we are. and We al
ways come away better and happier than
we went
But some Of US do not go. It is 20
these I would speak. 1t is to these who
are missing the best that is in life-yes,
the best-I would bear a message.
It is to these I would paint. if I could
the full beauties Of the blooming world
in spring and the fruitful world ia sum
mer and the sleepy world in autumn-if
there were words or even colors in which
30 depict these beauties as they appeal
to the eye: II there were ways of show
ing them as they appeal to the inner be
ing, which has an appreciation beyond
sound and color.
But the trees and flowers and birds can
not be interpreted They must speak. for
themselves. and when they are given this
chance they say things so vastly beyond
what eny tongue can form that they rem
der the listener rich in a wealth that
passes counting or measuring.
Life is a task for the best equipped
among US. For those who have not made
use of such weapons and tools as were
given them in the beginning. it IS a hard
task, productive of much sorrow and
small satisfaction.
Man. and the things Of man, are poor
CONSIDERS. You have gone to him. 20
them, and you know how it is. You
know how the world laughs with you
when you laugh, and how it stands OF
when you weep. and says: Il have no
time for tears
Do not know how Nature acts toward
men2
That is what you should find out
It is so easy. so free, that no person
who can move or be moved need lack it,
And it is a medicine 10 the sick and the
fraH, which has powers beyond that of
any other.
You know that besides sickness OF the
body and sickness Of the mind there is
such a thing as sickness of the soul. II
you knew this better you would be bet
ter able to cope with some of the feel
ings that arise within you from time to
time
And the great cure for this soul sick
ness is nature. Take it IN daily doses Of
just as great an amount as you have time
to imbibe. and take II regularly.
Soon you shall begin 10 feel that you
are coming into harmony with that In
finite Mind which guides and controls the
universe, giving yoa, a mere atom, pow
er to understand and appreciate, at least
in some degree, the wonders of space and
time and love.
Soon you shall see that the great book
we all need to read, learn and inwardly
digest is che book whose leaves are green
in summer, whose chapter headings are
the hills, and whose story IS that Of ali
good and all happiness.
The endless Book OF Nature, for which
God be thanked.
LEIGH AnTCHELL HODGES.