Yale High School - Bulldog Yearbook (Yale, MI)

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Nature’s Voice By Mabel Phillips “To him who in the love of nature holds com- munion with her visible forms, she speaks a var- ious language ’ Nature has a voice for each individual whether great or small. It is true that we do not all appreci- ate it to the same extent. Nature does not speak to all in the same language, but we would be little better than lumps of clay if we were entirely indif- ferent to her offerings — the birds with their joy- ous carols and the bright fresh flowers tossing their heads in welcome to us. Then what a dis- play of surpassing beauty is brought out in the varying colors of the landscape. Every tint seems to reflect a beautiful thought. And is this not of use to us. It cheers our spirits in our sorrowing moments; it lifts our minds to regions of higher thought and we feel less inclined to the common things of life while the deeper propensities of our souls are being wrought upon. Indeed, the genu- ine pleasure that can be drawn from the beauties in nature are enough to compensate us for all the trials and sorrows we have to bear. As God in his wisdom has created men of var- ious minds, so too, he has fashioned the forms of nature to suit these minds. The scientist studies nature in a systematic way. He experiments and seeks out her mysteries and gives them to man- kind. The astronomer, botanist, physicist and chemist have revealed to us worlds of wonders which we would never have received had they not given their entire life to this wonderful study. We ought to appreciate these inheritances more and more as we become intimate with and are able to read a little from nature’s infinite book of secrecy. Nature does not teach the scientist alone but also the poet. Although the poet does not study her laws and seek to explain her workings, he is none the less sensitive to the voice of nature. His poetic soul responds to every sound and scene of beauty. Wordsworth had an especially keen eye and ear for her charms, and the colors and sounds are vividly reproduced in his poetry. Tennyson’s love of na- ture was scarcely inferior to that of Wordsworth. He felt a rest in her steadfastness patient progress and hopefulness, and saw in it the glory and great- ness of God. Bryant, our own American poet, was a true apostle of nature. He loved to roam alone in the fields and woods listening — “To winds that brought into their silent depths The murmur of mountain waterfalls.” Truly nature spoke a “various language” to him for above three fourths of his poems are direct sug- gestions from her. Thus God has called the scien- tist. poet and philosopher to interpret the three- fold meaning of his works and as the voice of na- x ture speaks to them, they give it to the multitudes.

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friends a day, exceptionally happy, yet in some re- spects a sad one. Happy, that we have finished our school course; happy, to have reached the place for which we have so long yearned ; but sad ; sad be- cause it is the parting day of our school companion- ship; sad, because it completes the course wherein we have toiled with but few clouds to obscure the brightness and sunshine of life’s joyous morning. It is with an undefined feeling of regret, longing and sorrow, rising in our hearts as we bid farewell to the many golden school days, that we almost wish they were not yet finished. We hope that pleasant thoughts of this evening will come to you in after years as the poet express- ed it in the following thought, — The song I breath- ed into the air, fell to the earth I knew not where; but long, long afterwards, I found it again in the heart of a friend. Again we have come to the place where our path- ways diverge, when as teachers and pupils, we shall never be associated as in days gone by. Each one must now fill his place in the throng of humanity, striving for what is the highest and the best. But dear friends, let us not forget the happy days we have spent together, and let us always retain a warm interest in the welfare of one another al- though our ways be far apart. Again, dear friends, we say to all, — Welcome, thrice, Welcome.

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Far beneath these is the average person in Ii is un- derstanding and appreciation of nature. There is as much difference between these as the skilled me- chanic and the common workman. In spite of this fact the appreciation is not wanting and the man of the world still finds time to leave the buzz and excitement of business life and live near “nature’s heart.’ Perhaps without knowing it he is paying her a worthy tribute. Some have grown so indifferent to nature that only when it is attired in its most gorgeous apparel does it appeal to them yet, there cannot be a soul so dea d that the wonders of nature do not prove to him the supremacy of God. Since nature with her “various language” has an influence on each and every one of us and appeals to the best that is in us why not “go forth and list to nature’s teachings.” “Live thou in nature! Live with the stars and the wind P Take all that nature gives you. Take sweetness from the grass, strength from the storm, patience from the growing seeds, gentleness from the twi- light and every virtue from the wholesome day.