By the light of the
stars the non-essentials of life are seen in their true proportions.
There are so many things which have only a commercial value, and even
that is uncertain. Why strive for them or worry about them? In nature
there is a noble indifference to everything save the attainment of
the ideal. Flattery aids not an inch to the growth of a tendril, blame
does not take one tint from the sky. In nature is the joy of living,
of infinite, eternal life. Her eternity is now, today, this hour. Each
of her creatures seeks the largest, fullest, best life possible under
given conditions. The wild raspberries on which the catbirds were
feeding today would have been just as fine had there been no catbird
to eat them or human eye to admire them. Had there been no human ear
to delight, the song of the woodthrush would have been just as sweet.
The choke-cherries crimsoning in the summer sun, the clusters of the
nuts swelling among the leaves of the hickory will strive to attain
perfection, whether or no there are human hands to gather them. They
live in beauty, simplicity and serenity, all-sufficient in themselves
to achieve their ends.
* * * * *
Let me live by the old road among the flowers and the trees, the same
old road year after year, yet new with the light of each morning.
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