A great deal of my time
during the absence of the forester (when I was left quite to myself) I
devoted to making a sort of map of the neighbourhood I lived in; but
botany was my special occupation. My life as forester's apprentice was a
four-fold one: firstly, there was the homelier and more practical side
of life; then the life spent with Nature, especially forest-nature; then
also a life of the study, devoted to work at mathematics and languages;
and lastly, the time spent in gaining a knowledge of plants. My chosen
profession and the other circumstances of my position might have brought
me into contact with many kinds of men; but nevertheless my life
remained retired and solitary. My religious church life now changed to a
religious communion with Nature, and in the last half-year I lived
entirely amongst and with my plants, which drew me towards them with
fascination, notwithstanding that as yet I had no sense of the inner
life of the plant world. Collecting and drying specimens of plants was a
work I prosecuted with the greatest care. Altogether this time of my
life was devoted in many various ways to self-education,
self-instruction, and moral advancement.
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