ng, utterly regardless of the things of most worth in life;
that Nature is indeed "red in tooth and claw"; that all she cares
for--all she selects as the fittest to survive--are the merely strongest,
the most pushing and aggressive, the individuals who will simply
trample down their neighbours in order that they themselves may
"survive"; or if, again, the Naturalist convinces him that all he has
seen in the forest has come about by pure chance; that it is by a mere
fluke that we find orchids and not mushrooms, men and not
monkeys, at the head of plant and animal life; and that Nature
herself is wholly indifferent as to which of the two establishes its
preeminence--then he will feel the chill upon his soul, he will shrivel
up within himself, the very fountain-spring of Beauty will be frozen
up, and never again will he see Beauty in any single one of Nature's
manifestations.

But if, on the other hand, the Naturalist is able to convince the Artist
that in spite of the very evident struggle for existence Nature does
not care twopence whether the "fittest" survive or not so long as
what is best in the end prevails; that far from things coming about by
mere chance Nature has a distinct end in view, and that end the
accomplishment of what he himself most prizes, then the heart of
the Artist will warm to the heart of Nature with a fervour it had
never known before; his heart will throb with her heart, and every
beauty he has seen in plain or mountain, in flower, bird, or man, will
be a hundredfold increased.

Which of these two views of Nature, so far as Nature can be judged
from what we see of her on this planet, is correct, he has now to
determine. The profound mystery which everywhere prevails in the
forest and which exerts such a compelling spell upon us he will want
to probe to the bottom. He will not be content with the outward
prettiness of butterfly and orchid, or with the mere profusion and
variety of life, or with the colossal size of animals and trees. He will
want to burrow down and get at the very root and mainspring of this
forest life. He will want to reach the very Heart of Nature here
manifested in such manifold variety. He will want to arrive at the
inner significance of all this variety of life. Then only will he
understand Nature and be able to decide whether Nature is cruel and
therefore to be feared, or kind and gracious and therefore to be loved.

* * *

Now, when we go into the forest and look into