1 64 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



tell you right here that a good observer holds, in any course in 

 life, the reins of success in his hands — as compared with the one 

 who is lacking in it — in a proportion that is truly remarkable. 

 With good powers of observation comes good judgment and the 

 ability to render correct decisions in many matters vital to suc- 

 cess, together with the ability to assist others. 



As for the one who has had no complete training in nature 

 study as a child, it is to be noted that such a person, upon arriving 

 at maturity, has no conception whatever as to his or her relation 

 to other living forms in nature; no appreciation as to his or her 

 place in the system and no knowledge of the factors constituting 

 environment; not a single correct idea as to man's evolution, 

 much less as to the origin in time, of any other living creature — 

 or extinct one for that matter. 



Again, nature-study soon leads to studious habits, and to the 

 reading of many books on many subjects — all of which is of great 

 advantage. Between this reading and out-door life, and the 

 contact with all that nature presents, is developed a character 

 possessed of charity for one's own kind, and the proper consider- 

 ation for all living forms below it — an attitude thoroughly incon- 

 sistent with such undesirable attributes as cruelty, narrowness 

 of mind, selfishness, and lack of refinement. With nature-study 

 comes, too, a training in drawing and the use of colors; the use 

 of certain instruments of precision — as the microscope and its 

 various adjuncts; the field glass; tools for measurements, and 

 various others having to do with skill in use and with practical 

 ends. 



An all-round nature student is usually a good swimmer, runner, 

 and climber, with trained hands and limbs for other purposes; 

 such students, too, generally stand high in manual training, in 

 the skilful use of tools, and in not a few of the mechanical de- 

 vices employed by the artisan and members of the various pro- 

 fessions in their several lines of work. In short, graudates in 

 nature-study, with an inclination to follow it through life, usu- 

 ally make good citizens and all-round, up-to-date Americans — 

 factors in a race that can, as a rule, be thoroughly depend- 

 ed upon in war, in peace, and in the various activities that 

 go to make up our lives and relations to our fellow beings, not 

 omitting the living forms in the balance of animated nature. 



