ching may issue from them. Nor is it necessary that this
gratitude be expressed only in collected materials, or that all
preaching and all teaching shall be indoors. The best understanding of
our relations to the earth will be possible when we learn how to apply
our devotions in the open places.

_The keeping of the beautiful earth_

The proper care-taking of the earth lies not alone in maintaining its
fertility or in safeguarding its products. The lines of beauty that
appeal to the eye and the charm that satisfies the five senses are in
our keeping.

The natural landscape is always interesting and it is satisfying. The
physical universe is the source of art. We know no other form and color
than that which we see in nature or derive from it. If art is true to
its theme, it is one expression of morals. If it is a moral obligation
to express the art-sense in painting and sculpture and literature and
music, so is it an equal obligation to express it in good landscape.

Of the first importance is it that the race keep its artistic
backgrounds, and not alone for the few who may travel far and near and
who may pause deliberately, but also for those more numerous folk who
must remain with the daily toil and catch the far look only as they
labor. To put the best expression of any landscape into the
consciousness of one's day's work is more to be desired than much
riches. When we complete our conquest, there will be no unseemly
landscapes.

The abundance of violated landscapes is proof that we have not yet
mastered. The farmer does not have full command of his situation until
the landscape is a part of his farming. Farms may be units in
well-developed and pleasing landscapes, beautiful in their combinations
with other farms and appropriate to their setting as well as attractive
in themselves.

No one has a moral right to contribute unsightly factory premises or a
forbidding commercial establishment to any community. The lines of
utility and efficiency ought also to be the lines of beauty; and it is
due every worker to have a good landscape to look upon, even though its
area be very constricted. To produce bushels of wheat and marvels of
machinery, to maintain devastating military establishments, do not
comprise the sum of conquest. The backgrounds must be kept.

If moral strength comes from good and sufficient scenery, so does the
preservation of it become a social duty. It is much more than a civic
obligation.