g it, and you
will find that there is such a thing as making friends with the trees.
They will come to have a sort of personality for you.

No doubt this is all in your mind. No matter, it is good for you. It
makes you more natural; that means that you are more simple, kindly,
and truthful. What is more soothing and restorative than to stand
quite still in field or forest and listen to the thousand mingled
sounds that make up that wondrous melody which Nature is always
playing on the numberless strings of her golden harp. Learn the peace
which that music brings to you.

In short, cultivate Nature, get close to Nature. Try to get Nature to
give you what she has for you as earnestly as you try to get what you
want in business; and your days and nights will be glorified with a
beauty and strength the existence of which you would have denied
before you experienced their blessings.

But, of course, you must work for the benefits you get from Nature,
just as you must work for everything worth having. You cannot quit
your office and say, "Now I shall take a ten-minutes' walk in the park
and commune with Nature." Nature is not to be courted in any such way.
She does not fling her favors at your feet--not until you have won her
utterly. Then all of the wealth and power which Nature has for those
who love her are yours in a profuse and exhaustless opulence.

There is nothing so important for a young man, especially a young
American, as to resolve not to wear himself out nervously and
physically. Take stated vacations, therefore. I should advise every
young man who expects to run a long race to resolve, _after he has
established himself_, that he will take one, and, if possible, two
months' period of absolute vacation every year. Let him make this a
part of his business, just as he makes sleeping a part of his business
every day.

What matter if another lawyer gets the case that would have come to
you, or another real-estate dealer secures the corner lot on which you
have had your eye, or another operator makes the profitable deal which
would have given you fame and fortune?

_You_ have obtained and preserved that which they most probably have
lost. _You_ have made an investment in Youth. You have purchased
power. You have taken stock in length of years. You have equipped
yourself with new nerves, a rested heart, a refreshed brain, a hearty
stomach, and a sane mind in a sound body.

And you have done more than all this: Y