Article October 4, 1913 Issue

An Appreciation

CHARLES K. MILLER

The writer has always been an ardent lover of the "great out-of-doors," the mountains and lakes, forests and streams, and all the activities that have come to be associated with them. From early boyhood he has looked forward to every opportunity which he might have to don rough clothing and get away to some "near to nature" spot; and while it always seemed as though love for nature was the moving thought, the zest was always sharpened by the so-called sportsman's desire to "bring down something," whether it were birds, animals, or fish. Fishing, however, was his favorite sport, and as he grew into manhood he took great pride in being considered an ardent and successful follower of Izaak Walton, and few were the vacations planned that had not trout fishing as the first consideration.

Well does he remember that on many an occasion the better man within him came to the front and questioned his motive and desire, showing him the possibility of a better, higher kind of sportsmanship; but this was brushed aside with the thought that so many of the people he admired for their ideals were indulging in the same kind of recreation. Then Christian Science was taken up as a study, and the first season thereafter he went as usual to his favorite spot in the mountains to enjoy a fishing trip. But the clearer thought awakened by this teaching was making it impossible for him to proceed without questioning his motive and analyzing for the rightness of the thing being done, and he came home convinced that the only conquest rightly to be desired is the conquest of evil, and the only necessary struggle is the seeming struggle between good and evil, truth and error. He did not believe that a fish was evil or error, and he saw in some degree the illusory nature of what he believed was a gratification of his desire for conquest,—desire to outwit and get the better of some form of life less intelligent than himself but with determination not to let go without a struggle.

Not long afterward he met a deer in the woods, and through his growing understanding of the harmony existing in God's creation, had the pleasure of seeing the beautiful animal browse for some minutes within a hundred yards and in plain sight, with little fear of molestation. Through this experience and others, thought avenues were opened, and continued study of the Bible and the writings of Mrs. Eddy replaced the old beliefs of pleasure and recreation with more healthful ideas. His recent vacation in the usual spot, amid what had formerly been such tantalizing invitations to "cast the seductive fly," found him with a larger thought of love for all God's creation and little desire to lure a happy creature away from its accustomed haunt. He saw the unworthiness, the absence of every thought of helpfulness or kindness, in thus cruelly entrapping an innocent creature just to be amused. Then there came the joy of a great freedom from the bondage of a false sense of sport.

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