"What authority have you?" he asks. "You are not scientific. You are
merely a dreaming, fooling hanger-on to the fields and woods; one of those
who are forever hearing more than they hear, and seeing more than they
see. We scientists hear with our ears, see with our eyes, feel with our
fingers, and understand with our brains--"

"Just so, just so," I interrupt, "and you are a worthy but often a pretty
stupid set. Little Hyla in February, August, and December cries _Peep,
peep, peep!_ to you. But his cry to me in February is _Spring, spring,
spring!_ And in December--it depends; for I cannot see with my eyes alone,
nor hear with my ears, nor feel with my fingers only. You can, and so
could Peter Bell. To-day I saw and heard and felt the world all gray and
hushed and shrouded; and little Hyla, speaking out of the silence and
death, called _Cheer, cheer, cheer!_"


II

It is not because the gate is strait and the way narrow that so few get
into the kingdom of the Out-of-Doors. The gate is wide and the way is
broad. The difficulty is that most persons go in too fast.

If I were asked what virtue, above all others, one must possess in order
to be shown the mysteries of the kingdom of earth and sky, I should say,
there are several; I should not know which to name first. There are,
however, two virtues very essential and very hard to acquire, namely, the
ability to keep quiet and to stand still.

Last summer a fox in two days took fifteen of my chickens. I saw the