The Eyes of the World

To Benjamin H. Pearson``Student, Artist, Gentlemanin appreciation of the friendship that began on the "Pipe-Line Trail," at the camp in the sycamores back of the old orchard, and among the higher peaks of the San Bernardinos; and because this story will always mean more to him than to any one else,--this book, with all good wishes, isDedicated.H. B. W."Tecolote Rancho,"April 13, 1914."I have learnedTo look on Nature not as in the hourOf thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimesThe sad, still music of humanity,Not harsh or grating, though of ample powerTo chasten and subdue.

And I have felt,A presence that disturbs me with the joyOf elevated thoughts; a sense sublimeOf something far more deeply interfused,Whose dwelling is in the lights of setting suns,And the round ocean and the living air,And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.A motion and a spirit that impelsAll thinking things, all objects of all thoughts,And rolls through all things.Therefore am I stillA lover of the meadows and the woodsAnd mountains................ And this prayer I make,Knowing that Nature never did betrayThe heart that loved her. 'Tis her privilegeThrough all the years of this one life, to leadFrom joy to joy; for she can so informThe mind that is within us--so impressWith quietness and beauty, and so feedWith lofty thoughts--that neither evil tongues,Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor allThe dreary intercourse of daily life,Shalt e'er prevail against us, or disturbOur cheerful faith."William Wordsworth.