atures
walked hand in hand "in the grateful evening mild," and held such
sweet converse with each other that they forgot all time, all
seasons and their change, for all pleased alike. Thus it was in the
beginning, and thus it will be at the end; for even in the darkest
as in the brightest hours hopeful humanity looks forward to
something better, as--

"Of better and brighter days to come
Man is talking and dreaming ever."

And who would have it otherwise? As sunshine is the most important
thing in the natural world, so it is the best thing in human life.
People with sunshiny dispositions are always happy and welcome
everywhere, whether on the road, in the sick-room, or in the halls
of gayety. They drive away the blues and bring in hope and good
cheer; without them, life would not be worth living.

The French philosopher Figuier was so impressed with the value of
sunshine in human nature that he taught that the rays of the sun,
which bring light and heat and life and all blessings to the earth,
are nothing but the loving emanations of the just spirits who have
reached the sun, the final abode of all immortal souls; and its
light and heat are the result of their effulgent goodness and
sunshiny dispositions.

Every traveller, then, who wishes to experience even the common and
apparent enjoyments of the way, should start out with a light heart and
rich in hope; but if he wishes to taste also the _latent_ enjoyments of
the way, he must have an observing eye, and the love of Nature in his
heart. It is astonishing how the systematic cultivation of the
observing faculties will develop in one the habit of seeing and
enjoying his environment. This habit grows as rapidly as heavenly
wisdom in one who has made an honest attempt to obtain a knowledge of
God, when--

"Each faculty tasked to perceive Him
Has gained an abyss where a dewdrop was asked."

What a source of pleasure, solace, and recreation, then, is open to
him who knows how to distinguish and appreciate the beautiful in
Nature! He hears in every breeze and every ripple of water a voice
which the uncultivated ear cannot hear; and he sees in every
fleeting cloud and varied aspect of Nature some beauty which the
ignorant cannot see.

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes."

There is truth in the quaint language of Platen: "The more things
thou learnest to