Men, in disobedience of this law, may achieve triumph in the world of
science, education and art; but how unsatisfying are the rewards thus
gained if they hasten the night when no man can work, and if the later
hours of life are haunted by futile regrets for what is still left
undone, that might have been done if there had been closer communion
with nature's visible forms!
In addition to the delight which outdoor recreations afford to those
instinctively in harmony with their enjoyment, and after a recognition
of the fact that a knowledge of their nerve- and muscle-saving
ministrations may be sensibly cultivated, there still remains another
large item that should be placed to their credit. Every individual, as a
unit in the scheme of civilized social life, owes to every man, woman
and child within such relationship an uninterrupted contribution to the
fund of enlivening and pleasurable social intercourse. None of us can
deny this obligation; and none of us can discharge it as we ought, if
our contributions are made in the questionable coin of sordidness and
nature's perversion. Our experience and observation supply abundant
proof that those who contribute most generously to the exhilaration and
charm of social intercourse will be found among the disciples of outdoor
recreation, who are in touch with nature and have thus kept fresh and
unperverted a simple love of humanity's best environment.