Under the Maples

Оглавление

John Burroughs. Under the Maples

I. THE FALLING LEAVES

II. THE PLEASURES OF A NATURALIST

III. THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS

IV. BIRD INTIMACIES

V. A MIDSUMMER IDYL

VI. NEAR VIEWS OF WILD LIFE

VII. WITH ROOSEVELT AT PINE KNOT

VIII. A STRENUOUS HOLIDAY

IX. UNDER GENIAL SKIES

X. A SHEAF OF NATURE NOTES

XI. RUMINATIONS

XII. NEW GLEANINGS IN FIELD AND WOOD

Отрывок из книги

The time of the falling of leaves has come again. Once more in our morning walk we tread upon carpets of gold and crimson, of brown and bronze, woven by the winds or the rains out of these delicate textures while we slept.

How beautifully the leaves grow old! How full of light and color are their last days! There are exceptions, of course. The leaves of most of the fruit-trees fade and wither and fall ingloriously. They bequeath their heritage of color to their fruit. Upon it they lavish the hues which other trees lavish upon their leaves. The pear-tree is often an exception. I have seen pear orchards in October painting a hillside in hues of mingled bronze and gold. And well may the pear-tree do this, it is so chary of color upon its fruit.

.....

We say, "As fickle as the weather," but the meteorological laws are pretty well defined. All signs fail in a drought, and all signs fail in a wet season. At one time the south wind brings no rain, at another time the north and northwest winds do bring rain. The complex of conditions over a continental area of rivers and lakes and mountain-chains is too vast for us to decipher; it inheres in the nature of things. It is one of the potencies and possibilities which matter possesses. We can take no step beyond that.

There seems to me to be false reasoning in the argument from analogy which William James uses in his lectures on "Human Immortality." The brain, he admits, is the organ of the mind, but may only sustain the relation to it, he says, which the wire sustains to the electric current which it transmits, or which the pipe sustains to the water which it conveys.

.....