Chapter 4

And Nature, the old nurse, tookThe child upon her knee.Saying, “Here is a story-bookThy father has written for thee.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

And Nature, the old nurse, tookThe child upon her knee.Saying, “Here is a story-bookThy father has written for thee.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

And Nature, the old nurse, tookThe child upon her knee.Saying, “Here is a story-bookThy father has written for thee.”—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

And Nature, the old nurse, took

The child upon her knee.

Saying, “Here is a story-book

Thy father has written for thee.”

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Once on a time a little boy was taken from the noise and bustle of city life to a sparsely settled land where a great forest stretched away in every direction. To this land his parents came to make a home in the heart of the deep wood. A large log house had been built in an open space from which great oaks, beeches, maples and other trees had been removed, and here, surrounded by nature’s forms and activities, they lived many years.

What a delightful experience this was to this little boy! How wonderful this new world seemed to him! Here were flowers of every hue, bees, birds, butterflies, and many other interesting things to excite his childish wonder. He soon learned the names of the shrubs, the trees, the wild fruits and the flowers; and the habits of the honey gatherers, the feathered folk, and the little animals of the wood.

This story has its foundation in these experiences and was written in the hope that it will prove interesting and instructive to many children. It teaches its young readers to see material things as they really are, so that the early impressions shall always be the true ones; it teaches them to apply the same habit of careful observation to language formsand constructions, so they shall know how thoughts must be expressed, and more than that, how they may be expressed beautifully. It is believed that it will influence them to observe nature’s works closely—the beauty in the dense foliage of spring, in the myriad forms of life, in nest building and bird music, in the vitality of growth, in the sweet beneficence of the universal mother, so that they may come to know

“There are tongues in trees,Books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones,And good in everything.”

“There are tongues in trees,Books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones,And good in everything.”

“There are tongues in trees,Books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones,And good in everything.”

“There are tongues in trees,

Books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones,

And good in everything.”

Acknowledgments are due to Wilber Hershel Williams for assistance in the preparation of this volume; to Frances Squire Potter, James S. Greenwood, and Z. C. Spencer for literary criticism and helpful suggestions.

J. D. W.

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