3

banks of the brooks flowing from my own native mountains
and for hours gazed at their summits resting as it seemed
on the clear blue vault of Heaven and revelled in the
thought that the angels gathered there & held converse as they
descended from Heaven or ascinded from this world. I know what
people mean when they talk about the language of flowers and
"the still small voice of the stars" and the whispers that come
{illegible struckthrough} to one from the deep waters or silent glens -- although the
matter of fact world around us say that all that is imagination
fancy and therefore worthless. Be it so. Will any one tell me
that the scenes which kindle up these flowing pictures in the mind
make no impression upon human character ? have nothing to do
with education{underlined}? They have almost every thing to do it. But I
find I am running away from the purpose I had in view. I got in
sight of it just now, & must go back. For twenty five years I have
been preaching on the Text that God has garnished this world with ob=
=jects of interest & beauty in order to attract the mind of childhood
& lead the young thoughts up to himself. This is one of your themes
It is this, in connection with parental -- if you choose -- maternal{underlined}
influences, that I wish you to enforce as I know you can so
powerfully & eloquently, upon public attention. Nature is an
Education -- never better is she be understood & her lessons learned
thoroughly. In every human being born into this world & endowed
with perfect senses & a rational soul, there is found an ele=
=mentally curiosity which is the foundation of all knowledge. When
we look around us we find that every where is the Heavens above
us -- in the Earth beneath & in the waters encompassing the world
God has hung or placed objects to catch the roving eye of
childhood -- The sun rising in glory, "& rejoicing as a giant to run
his course" -- the moon in all its phases ever beautiful, spreading
its mild radiance over land & sea -- mountain & plain like a man=
=tle of peace -- the firmament studded with stars -- the mountains
with their rocky battlements rising heavenward to catch the
morning sun-beams -- the flowers decked with a glory une=
=qualled & unapproachable by the act of man -- the rippling stream
-- the lightning blazing on the dark bosom of the gathering tempest
or wearing its chains of beauty on the evening sky -- the awful