Year after year he visited the grove; still he could
observe no special growth of the oaks. Finally the grove was cut down.
Up sprang the tiny oaks, and flourished in the light and sunshine now
freely admitted to them. Thick and tall, they grew into a very forest,
and the pines had never a chance to rise up and crowd them out. Do you
think the naturalist's search stopped then? Oh, no! He next found out
how the tiny oaks came among the pines; he inquired into the habits
of squirrels as planters, into the character of winds and birds as
farmers and bundle-boys; and was at length able to account for the
succession of our forest trees.
The commonplace will never advance to meet us; but have faith in its
intrinsic merit, look for beauty, and you will find it. Could you
predict that from the plants lying in the stagnant pool such a perfect
flower as a lily would spring? If you were passing a low, thatched
cottage made of rough stone, its only pretence being a coat of
whitewash, would you guess it held a poet? And, if you were riding
along in a horse-car, interested only in the foreign-looking faces
and the remarkable clothes, would you be likely to know that a great
philanthropist sat beside you? No, not unless you had learned to observe
more wisely than most girls; and not unless you had found out the noble
worth of certain ordinary men and women whose faces are not pictured
in books, nor raised on medallions.
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