NEAR NATURE’S HEART

A VOLUME OF VERSE

BY
CRAWFORD JACKSON

ATLANTA, GA.
and
GUILFORD, N. C.

FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY, PRINTERS, ATLANTA
GULBENK ENGRAVING COMPANY, ENGRAVERS, ATLANTA

DEDICATED
TO
EVERY CHILD

“Philosophy, to an attentive ear,

Clearly points out, not in one part alone,

How Imitative Nature takes her course

From the celestial mind, and from its art;

And when her laws the Stagirite[1] unfolds,

Not many leaves scann’d o’er, observing well

Thou shalt discover, that thy art on her

Obsequious follows, as the learner treads

In his instructor’s steps; so that your art

Deserves the name of second in descent

From God.”

Dante Alighieri.