THINKING GOD'S THOUGHTS.

BY ISABEL GOODHUE.

The great majority of human beings spend their lives in thinking man's thoughts after him. Every thoughtful person will own that there is a great yearning in the hearts of men and women of to-day for more wholesome, sincere, and satisfying experiences and for more of the freshness and simple joy of life. Any suggestion that promises to aid even indirectly in bringing about these better conditions is worthy of consideration. The one I have to offer is for a more universal acquaintance with the features of Nature near us and for frequent and direct contact with her.

In our efforts to lift the mind above the disintegrating effects of grief and anxiety, let us also remember that constant dwelling in thought upon lifeless things, however ingenious, and upon conventionalities and business custom is exhausting to brain and nerve. The Spirit of the Ideal is moving in and irradiating everything that has life. It fills the elements. The "God-push" is felt through all the universe of expression. The march of life is ever toward higher manifestation. He who comes in close touch with Nature partakes of this subtle beauty and power. Did you ever return from a mountain climb or lonely country ramble without feeling this uplift and refreshment of soul? Have you not often caught from such an outing an inspiration for your work that sent into it the very individuality and charm that you had been seeking? This is a very real experience. Your mind, being freed to a certain degree from the lower, heavier thought-current, responded readily to the Infinite Force.

Maurice Thompson says: "Thought-gathering is like berry-gathering: one must go to the wild vines for the racy

flavored fruit." That the trend of interest has set strongly in this direction, the increasing number of popular books on birds, trees, flowers, and kindred phases of outdoor life is proof. It is said upon good authority that of the thousands of such books published in the last ten years not one has been a complete failure, financially. If the daily papers and illustrated magazines reflect the popular demand, the constant publication of Nature-articles shows an increasing interest in these subjects. Also, an enlightened intelligence is redeeming the primitive energy within us from the savage instinct that destroys for the pleasure of feeling power and skill to destroy, and that on the other hand encourages the destruction of happy lives for the gratification of vanity.

As we know more of the life-stories of the beautiful and interesting creatures about us, which are so dependent upon our power, the tide of good-will wells spontaneously within us and we ourselves are enriched by its broader flow. As each expression of life becomes precious to us, we are more easily assured that, whatever its experiences on the upward way, "not one is forgotten" by the Infinite Love and Intelligence. Every child should be taught to know and love the common birds. animals, trees, and flowers of his or her locality, and have the attention called, directly or indirectly, to such beauties as form and color, light and shade, and rhythmic motion. Much depends, of course, upon the teacher's realization of the possibilities of the study. Surely Surely a love for the beautiful in Nature and a sympathetic interest in all forms of life cannot be awak ened by teaching children the discases of trees and in dissecting and studying the structure of the dead form! Let the teacher arouse appreciation and love for life and beauty fresh from the Creator's thought, the awakening of a noble protectiveness, and the opening to the child of a door to wholesome pleasure—a door that, once opened, can never be closed. Early youth is a period when the sensuous and emotional natures must be considered.

The association of boys and girls in hearty out-of-door exercise, tours of discovery into the woods and fields, and, under wise guidance, a study of the beauty, purity, and true meaning of all natural forces, will do much to satisfy and render unattractive the overstimulation of many so-called pleasThis is an interest in which people, at all periods of life, may find equal enjoyment, and in it families may find common ground of companionship. The soothing and refreshing power of Nature is universally conceded, and in the degree of our oneness with the Source of all life do we rejoice in her great, sweet harmonies and freedom from discordant thought.

ures.

I have in mind a grand woman, the principal of a college preparatory school, who had been reared in a family of Naturelovers. After rising early and accomplishing a marvelous amount of educational and literary work, she would often take a five or ten mile walk, alone with the sweet out-of-doors, and return, as she said, "completely rested and ready to work until midnight." That woman was filled with the strength and merry comradeship of Nature. Most of the boys in her school prized her companionship for a tramp more than that of their play fellows. She was their friend and confidante. Can you not picture the vigor and fresh naturalness of the girls who were long under her influence?

A well-known naturalist says, in a delightful book about birds:

"To appreciate the beauty of form and plumage of birds, their grace of motion and musical powers, we must know them. Then, too, we will be attracted by their high mental development, or what I have elsewhere spoken of as their human attributes. Man exhibits hardly a trait which he will not find reflected in the life of a bird. The sight of a bird or the sound of its voice is at all times an event of such significance to me, a source of such unfailing pleasure, that when I go afield with those to whom birds are strangers I am deeply impressed by the comparative barrenness of their world; for they are in ignorance of the great store of enjoyment which might be theirs for the asking, . . . and here lies the secret of youth in age which every venerable naturalist I have ever met has convincingly illustrated. I could name nearly a dozen, living and

dead, whom it has been my valued privilege to know. All had passed the allotted threescore-and-ten, and some were over fourscore. The friends and associates of their earlier days had passed away, and one might imagine that they had no interest in life and were waiting for the end. But these veterans were old in years only. Their hearts were young. The earth was fair; plants still bloomed, and birds sang, for them. There was no idle waiting here; the days were all too short; so I say to you, if you would reap the purest pleasures of youth, manhood, and old age, go to the birds, and through them be brought within the ennobling influences of Nature."

When one has even a general appreciation of the beauties around him, he enjoys much; but it is when he learns to recognize from the plane of friendship the particular birds, trees, and flowers that he discovers a hundred new beauties and wonders and comes to have innumerable experiences, exquisite or amusing as the case may be. Such a one finds the pleasures of travel and vacation times doubled, and many a period of difficulty lightened. Though a certain amount of change is beneficial to the mind, and therefore to the body, life in the country need never be commonplace or devoid of interest to one whose eyes are opened to the wonders about him, and who learns to read the Divine Thoughts of beauty, power, and opulence written everywhere.

However, it is the busy dwellers in our cities who need especially to be helped back to Nature in thought. The city parks offer many opportunities for observation at all seasons of the year to one who knows where to look, and long quiet rides to the farthest suburbs give one a breadth of outlook and an expansion of sky at least. A little enterprise will usually discover a number of delightful country nooks within easy reach of any city. Why may not Nature and out-of-door clubs become more common than euchre clubs? Let us speed the day when Nature-study classes shall be formed at all of our summer resorts, and in our cities and towns where mothers, teachers, and adults from all walks of life, as well as children, may, with the aid of competent instructors, become familiar with the natural features of the locality in which they live and

be easily started on the road to independent discovery. Is there not here a new and delightful avenue for teachers? To the pupils such study will inevitably serve as a means of recreation and open a world of living symbolism full of spiritual significance, much of which will be felt even if not intellectually analyzed.

The greatest Master of truth lived much in the out-ofdoors. When in need of rest, notably after having been drawn upon by crowds of ignorant and unhappy men and women, he would retire to some lonely mountain-side, and in that primitive freshness and purity receive renewed realization of the Divine Presence.

It is a pitiable desecration of such a nature as ours to give it up to the world. Some baser thing might have been given without regret; but to bow down reason and conscience, to bind them to the clods of earth, to contract those faculties that spread themselves out beyond the world, even to infinity,-to contract them to worldly trifles, it is pitiable, it is something to mourn and to weep over.-Orville Dewey.

IT is vain to think that we can love the Master more than he has been loved in olden times; but that love can become more intelligent with the progress of our race, and it can be kindled in an ever-widening circle of pure and gentle souls. To fulfil this possibility should be the aim of the Christian Church, as it is our best hope of the spiritual welfare of mankind.-Howard N. Brown.

TO ME it seems that the soul, in all its higher actions, in original thought, in the creations of genius, in the soarings of imagination, in its love of beauty and grandeur, in its aspirations after a pure and unknown joy, and especially in disinterestedness, in the spirit of self-sacrifice, and in enlightened devotion, has a character of infinity.-C. G. Ames.