第 9 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:22      字数:9321
  till they fret    themselves in a chronic fever of the brain; which too often
  urge     them   on   to   plunge;   as   it   were;   to   cool   the   inward   fire;   into   the
  ever…restless seas of doubt or of superstition。           It is a sad    picture。     There
  are many who may read these pages whose hearts will                    tell them that it is
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  a true one。      What is wanted in these cases is             a methodic and scientific
  habit   of   mind;   and   a   class   of   objects   on which   to   exercise   that   habit;
  which   will   fever   neither   the    speculative   intellect   nor   the   moral   sense;
  and those physical        science will give; as nothing else can give it。
  Moreover; to revert to another point which we touched just now; man
  has a body as well as a mind; and with the vast majority there will                    be no
  MENS       SANA   unless       there   be  a  CORPUS        SANUM        for  it  to  inhabit。
  And what outdoor training to give our youths is; as we have already                     said;
  more     than    ever   puzzling。     This     difficulty   is  felt;  perhaps;      less   in
  Scotland than in England。            The Scotch climate compels             hardiness; the
  Scotch bodily strength makes it easy; and Scotland;                   with her mountain…
  tours   in   summer;   and   her   frozen   lochs   in   winter;   her   labyrinth   of   sea…
  shore;     and;   above     all;  that   priceless    boon      which     Providence       has
  bestowed   on   her;   in   the   contiguity   of   her   great   cities   to   the   loveliest
  scenery; and the hills where every             breeze is health; affords facilities for
  healthy physical   life      unknown   to   the  Englishman;  who   has   no Arthur's
  Seat towering above          his London; no Western Islands sporting the ocean
  firths beside his       Manchester。       Field sports; with the invaluable training
  which they       give; if not
  〃The reason firm;〃
  yet still
  〃The temperate will; Endurance; foresight; strength; and skill;〃
  have    become      impossible     for   the   greater    number:      and     athletic
  exercises      are   now;    in  England      at  least;   becoming      more     and    more
  artificialized and expensive; and are confined more and more … with                       the
  honourable   exception   of   the   football   games   in   Battersea   Park   …      to   our
  Public Schools and the two elder Universities。                All honour;      meanwhile;
  to the Volunteer movement; and its moral as well as its                  physical effects。
  But it is only a comparatively few of the very               sturdiest who are likely to
  become effective Volunteers; and so              really gain the benefits of learning
  to be soldiers。      And yet the        young man who has had no substitute for
  such   occupations   will   cut      but   a   sorry   figure   in   Australia;   Canada;   or
  India; and if he stays        at home; will spend many a pound in doctors' bills;
  which could        have been better employed elsewhere。                〃Taking a walk〃 …
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  as one      would take a pill or a draught … seems likely soon to become the
  only form of outdoor existence possible for too many inhabitants of                         the
  British Isles。      But a walk   without an object;  unless in the              most   lovely
  and novel of scenery; is a poor exercise; and as a                  recreation; utterly nil。
  I never knew two young lads go out for a                  〃constitutional;〃 who did not;
  if   they   were   commonplace   youths;         gossip   the   whole   way   about   things
  better   left   unspoken;   or;   if   they  were   clever   ones;   fall   on   arguing   and
  brainsbeating on politics or           metaphysics from the moment they left the
  door;   and   return   with     their   wits   even   more   heated   and   tired   than   they
  were   when   they   set      out。    I   cannot   help   fancying   that   Milton   made   a
  mistake in a       certain celebrated passage; and that it was not 〃sitting on a
  hill    apart;〃    but   tramping     four   miles    out   and   four    miles   in   along   a
  turnpike…road; that his hapless spirits discoursed
  〃Of   fate;   free…will;   foreknowledge   absolute;   And   found   no   end;   in
  wandering mazes lost。〃
  Seriously;   if   we   wish   rural   walks   to   do   our   children   any   good;   we
  must give them a love for rural sights; an object in every walk; we                       must
  teach   them   …   and   we   can   teach   them   …   to   find   wonder   in   every  insect;
  sublimity in every hedgerow; the records of past worlds in                     every pebble;
  and boundless fertility upon the barren shore; and                   so; by teaching them
  to make full use of that limited sphere in             which they now are; make them
  faithful in a few things; that they            may be fit hereafter to be rulers over
  much。
  I   may   seem   to   exaggerate   the   advantages   of   such   studies;   but   the
  question      after  all  is  one    of  experience:       and    I  have    had   experience
  enough and to spare that what I say is true。               I have seen the young          man
  of    fierce   passions;    and    uncontrollable      daring;    expend     healthily     that
  energy   which   threatened   daily   to   plunge   him   into   recklessness;          if   not
  into sin;   upon   hunting   out   and   collecting;   through   rock   and       bog;   snow
  and tempest; every bird and egg of the neighbouring                   forest。    I have seen
  the cultivated man; craving for travel and for                success in life; pent up in
  the    drudgery   of    London      work;    and   yet   keeping      his  spirit   calm;   and
  perhaps      his   morals     all  the   more      righteous;     by    spending     over    his
  microscope   evenings   which   would   too             probably   have   gradually   been
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  wasted at the theatre。        I have seen      the young London beauty; amid all
  the excitement and temptation of            luxury and flattery; with her heart pure
  and her mind occupied in a           boudoir full of shells and fossils; flowers and
  sea…weeds; keeping         herself unspotted from the world; by considering the
  lilies of the     field;  how they  grow。       And   therefore it is that   I hail   with
  thankfulness every fresh book of Natural History; as a fresh boon                    to the
  young; a fresh help to those who have to educate them。
  The greatest difficulty in the way of beginners is (as in most                things)
  how 〃to learn the art of learning。〃           They go out; search;         find less than
  they expected; and give the subject up in             disappointment。        It is good to
  begin;   therefore;   if   possible;   by   playing   the   part   of   〃jackal〃   to   some
  practised naturalist; who will         show the tyro where to look; what to look
  for; and; moreover; what          it is that he has found; often no easy matter to
  discover。      Forty     years    ago;   during    an  autumn's     work    of   dead…leaf…
  searching   in   the    Devon   woods   for   poor   old   Dr。   Turton;   while   he   was
  writing his book       on British land…shells; the present writer learnt more of
  the art    of observing than he would have learnt in three years' desultory
  hunting on his own account; and he has often regretted that no                  naturalist
  has established shore…lectures at some watering…place;                 like those up hill
  and down dale field…lectures which; in pleasant              bygone Cambridge days;
  Professor     Sedgwick      used   to  give   to  young     geologists;    and   Professor
  Henslow to young botanists。
  In   the   meanwhile;   to   show   you   something   of   what   may   be   seen   by
  those who care to see; let me take you; in imagination; to a shore                 where I
  was once at home; and for whose richness I can vouch; and                     choose our
  season     and   our   day   to  start  forth;   on   some    glorious     September      or
  October   morning;   to   see   what   last   night's   equinoctial      gale   has   swept
  from   the   populous   shallows   of   Torbay;   and   cast