{"product_id":"2940014385077","title":"THE HEART OF NATURE:THE QUEST FOR NATURAL BEAUTY","description":"PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe value of Knowledge and Character is duly impressed upon us.\u003cbr\u003eOf the value of Freedom we are told so much that we have come to\u003cbr\u003eregard it as an end in itself instead of only a means, or necessary\u003cbr\u003econdition. But Beauty we are half-inclined to connect with the\u003cbr\u003eeffeminate. Poetry, Music, and Literature are under suspicion with\u003cbr\u003ethe average English schoolboy, whose love of manliness he will\u003cbr\u003eshare with nothing else. Yet love of Beauty persists in spite of all\u003cbr\u003ediscouragement, and will not be suppressed. Natural Beauty,\u003cbr\u003eespecially, insists on a place in our affections, derived originally\u003cbr\u003efrom Love, and essentially and inseparably connected with it,\u003cbr\u003eNatural Beauty acknowledges supremacy to Love alone. And it\u003cbr\u003edeserves our generous recognition, for it is wholesome and\u003cbr\u003erefreshing for our souls.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe acute observation and telling description of Natural Beauty is at\u003cbr\u003eleast as necessary for the enjoyment of life as the pursuit of Natural\u003cbr\u003eScience to which so much attention is paid. For the concern of the\u003cbr\u003eformer is the character, and of the latter only the cause of natural\u003cbr\u003ephenomena; and of the two, character is the more important. It is,\u003cbr\u003eindeed, high time that we Englishmen were more awake than we are\u003cbr\u003eto the value of Natural Beauty. For we are born lovers of Nature,\u003cbr\u003eand no more poetic race than ourselves exists. Our country at its best,\u003cbr\u003eon an early summer day, is the loveliest little home in all the world.\u003cbr\u003eAnd we go out from this island home of ours to every land. We have\u003cbr\u003eunrivalled opportunities, therefore, of seeing innumerable types of\u003cbr\u003enatural objects. By observing Nature in so many different aspects,\u003cbr\u003eand by comparing our impressions with one another, we ought to\u003cbr\u003eunderstand Nature better than any other race. And by entering more\u003cbr\u003ereadily into communion with her we, better than others, should\u003cbr\u003erealise the Beauty she possesses.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am conscious of having myself made most inadequate use of the\u003cbr\u003esplendid opportunities my travels afforded me of seeing the Beauty\u003cbr\u003eof Nature. So I am all the more anxious that those following after\u003cbr\u003eme should not, by like omission, commit the same sin against\u003cbr\u003ethemselves and against our country. We owe it to ourselves and to\u003cbr\u003emankind to give full rein to our instinctive love of Natural Beauty,\u003cbr\u003eand to train and refine every inclination and capacity we have for\u003cbr\u003eappreciating it till we are able to see all those finer glories of which\u003cbr\u003ewe now discern only the first faint glow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd if any other country excel us in appreciation, then it behoves us\u003cbr\u003eto brace ourselves up to emulate and surpass that country, and learn\u003cbr\u003ehow to understand Nature better and see more Beauty. For in love of\u003cbr\u003eNatural Beauty, and in capacity for communicating that love,\u003cbr\u003eEngland ought to be preeminent. She above every other country\u003cbr\u003eshould come nearest to the Heart of Nature.","brand":"Andrew eBooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47074008957168,"sku":"2940014385077","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014385077_p0.jpg?v=1763607479","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014385077","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}