One had walked with his eyes
intellectually closed; the other had opened his eyes wide to all the
charms of nature. In some respects we are all, at different times, like
each of these boys: we shut our eyes to the enjoyments of nature, or we
open them. But we are capable of improving ourselves, even in the use of
our eyes--we see most when we are most determined to see. The _will_ has
a wonderful effect upon the perceptive faculties. When we first look up
at the myriads of stars seen in a moonless evening, all is confusion to
us; we admire their brilliancy, but we scarcely recognize their
grouping. We do not feel the need of knowing much about them.
"A traveller, lost on a desert plain, feels that the recognition of one
star, the Pole star, is of itself a great acquisition; and all persons
who, like mariners and soldiers, are left much with the companionship of
the stars, only learn to know the prominent clusters, even if they do
not know the names given to them in books.
"The daily wants of the body do not require that we should say
"'Give me the ways of wandering stars to know
The depths of heaven above and earth below.'
But we have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around
us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the
more are we capable of seeing.
"Besides learning to see, there is another art to be learned,--_not to
see_ what is not.
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