Chapter XVII
What is the odd power that earth holds over men? When one walks through the quietude of country roads, of forest and stream, of field and meadow-land, one is stirred by strange emotions. The trivialities of life seem of slight importance. They are dwarfed by far horizons. In its very simplicity new-plowed earth is sublime. There is majesty about it It outranks all other material things. All the mountains and valleys were made before man appeared upon the earth. They are eternal while man is but a transient thing. Nor has the earth improved much in beauty since man's advent. Collectively all the kings that ever existed have not produced one mountain, nor have they added one ounce to the earth's
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