The heavens change every moment and reflect
their glory or gloom on the plains beneath."
The love of Nature is a great gift, and if it is frozen or crushed out,
the character can hardly fail to suffer from the loss. I will not, indeed,
say that a person who does not love Nature is necessarily bad; or that one
who does, is necessarily good; but it is to most minds a great help. Many,
as Miss Cobbe says, enter the Temple through the gate called Beautiful.
There are doubtless some to whom none of the beautiful wonders of Nature;
neither the glories of the rising or setting sun; the magnificent
spectacle of the boundless ocean, sometimes so grand in its peaceful
tranquillity, at others so majestic in its mighty power; the forests
agitated by the storm, or alive with the song of birds; nor the glaciers
and mountains--there are doubtless some whom none of these magnificent
spectacles can move, whom "all the glories of heaven and earth may pass in
daily succession without touching their hearts or elevating their
minds.
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