Evening star., 1946-12-28
This and That
Bu Charles E. TraceDeH
FAIRFAX, Va,


Dear Sir:
while walking home through the
woods, in very dispirited frame OF
mind after viewing the work OF vandals
in pulling up almost all our ground pine
and partridge berry (even though the
place is posted / chanced to look up
after hearing low twitter not far from
me, and there sat soft brown bird.
rather plump looking, about 7h inches
long. with spotted breast. the back
ground of which was lighter color, but
not white.
"In fact, the whole bird was rather
inconspicuous looking. I presume that
this was the hermit thrush as you have
said that he winters here sometimes AS
this is the first time I have seen one, l
felt compensated for the loss OF some OF
the virgin beauty of our woods.
Later in the day I took another stroll
on another part OF the property, and
there other trespassers had been at their
ugly work. 1 was feeling very. very Bit
ter, when again, as If to compensate
me. was offered another gift. looked
down and there was at my feet beauti-
full little white pine Seeding about ID
inches tall; 1 later found another one
not far away.
Thank you for the pleasure I daily
receive from reading your column.
Sincerely yours. B. D. c."
Emerson wrote classic essay on COM
pensations. One does not have to be
classic however. to understand some
thing about them.
Compensations OF one sort or another
come to all of us if we keep an open
: mind and do not insist too closely on
hugging the trouble of the moment.
It is easy to see the compensation, in
many cases, but the trouble comes in
realizing that it truly compensatcs-
and making it do SO.
Not every one, we feel sure, would be
willing to accept the beauty and interest
of hermit thrush in lieu of stolen
property.
This instant perception, at the very
time needed, is the real thing. and he
or she who has it possesses a greater gift
than money.
Interest in the outdoor life, If no
more than seen through window, offers
more compensation, perhaps, than any
other one activity.
This comes about in part, because
there are so many living, interesting
things outdoors.
One man found more than 1000
species of insects in a slightly larger
than average back yard. He did not
need to visit the jungles of the Amazon.
l. fnr h DO
mind and spirit were, concerned.
That is why one. suburban resident is
able to get fun out of watching simple
plain sparrows, whereas another might
growl because he did not have chick
adees or titmice.
Friends of starlings, abused and often
misunderstood birds, find great interest
in watching these stubby fellows.
Just as nature sometimes tempers the
wind to the shorn lamb, so also she
can compensate an honest locker for
lack of rarer items from her inexhaust-
ible storehouse OF types.
This is the good compensation of the
city dweller. At times he may think he
lacks natural material at hand, but If
he determinedly looks around him he
will be able to find more bird types, for
instance, than he can readily identify
The person who cannot go to the
South Pole himself will find some PEN
gums, among the best things to come
fror there, at the Zoo.
Compensations work both backwards
and forwards. If We put piece OF shin
ing stainless steel under an electron
microscope at $4,000 magnifications we
see something else again-a rough
shore, tree lined, apparently, with
breakers rolling in on the beach.
What a compensation, that the eyes
God gave us see nothing OF all this,
but accept the stainless steel as beauti-
fully smoothl