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Show 52 ATTACHMENT TO NATURE. kindled by the descendants of those whose ~nces- j tors tenanted his sides before Mexico was a c1ty, or the Atzec race had journeyed into ce~tral_America. ~ Now, whenever the globe speaks m un.Ison fro~ every point of its surface, and history brmgs testimony from its every page, we may re_st a.ssured that there is more than common instructiOn m the tale ; and therefore we should read and meditate tlpon it w'ith more than ordinary attention. And why i_s it, that man not only cling·s with the grea~est pertinacity to those places of the earth to wh1ch, as we would say, nature has been the least bount~ful, but also loves them with the most heartfelt affectiOn, and acquires an elevation of mind, a determinedness of purpose, and a joyance of spirit i~ them, more ~han m places which abound far more m the good thmgs of this world 1 The facts are certain and absolute; for there is not one exception to them ; and therefore the lesson that they teach us must be wisdom. It is wisdom, too, which bears directly upon our present object; and it is wisdom which is soon learned. It is simply this : that in those wild and, as we would call them, barren places, man's chief occup~tion and converse are with nature: whereas, In richer places, where there is more to tempt w::>rldly ambition and worldly enterprise, art is his chief occupation, and becomes by habit his chief enjoyment. Now, up to a certain point, and that as high as you please, so that it is not exclusive, the practice of art is highly commendable; and people can never make too many us~ful things, make them too well, or be too diligent, or take too much delight in the making of them. It is that attention to art which has made our cotmtry what it is,-given to the humblest of our cottagers comforts for which the chiefs and kings of some tribes would be delighted to change their kingdoms and thrones. Not only that, but which, in absolute comfort, and in LOVE OF NATURE. 53 ~hat gre3:test of ail comforts, the means of ac uirin(J' mfo~ma~wn. has placed the peasant of the ~resent day m circumstances more favourable than tho f ~he pe~r two centuries ago; which has now r~~t~d Itself firmly throughout the country, and is like a ~oodly tree, ever verdant and ever fruitful, rear~n Its top to the heavens, and spreading its boughs t~ . the uttermost ends of the earth. Well should we love th~t, and dear to us al~ sh~ul? be that country, those fa.thers, and those mstJtutwns which have brought 1t forward, and preserved it for our use. and gladly should we bestow our brio-htest thou(Tht' and our be~t ner~ed arm upon the farther spr~ad and p~rfectwn of,!t.; so that we may not have the ignoble name o~ the Idl~ generation;" but make our children still more mdebted to us than we are to our fathers. But though the obligation on us to do fhat be of the. c~ear~st an~, a~ the same time, of the most im· perat1ve and bmdmg character, it does not thence fol_low that we too should not have our full share of enJoyment. Indeed, that is absolutely necessar to the successful execution of the other; for it is ~at. / te~ of common observation, that the miserable work , mtserably,. and spread misery around them, as an unclean thmg spreads CG":'rnption. . And we really have the key to that en'o ment m the character and conduct of those ~Juntai~ races _to whom allusion has been made, inasmuch as theu love of_ natnre, and nature which is barren rs compared With OUrS, is really greater than our ove of all the na~ure and all the art which we possess. The ~recJ~n fable of Anta>us, the earth} ~tant, wr~stlmg With Hercules, the giant of celesti!t .;:cent, Is far from an uninstructing one ; because it h 'Y show us, and probably was intended to show us ¥w we may most successfully wrestle with the giant o ou~ car~s, under what form or circumstances soeYer t at giant may assail us. When Antreus was E2 |
