W. J. Stevens, An Appreciation 



L. M. Dougan 

 Principal Eugene Field School, St. Louis, Mo. 



With the falling of the leaves, his resistance gave way, and, on 

 October eighth, death came quietly to one of our beloved leaders, 

 Ass't. Supt. W. J. Stevens of the St. Louis public schools. From 

 the beginning of his service with us in 1901, he was a leader in the 

 promotion of nature-study, school gardens, and tree planting. 

 He was president of our St. Louis Section, in 1912 and 1914, one of 

 its moving spirits from the date of its organization, and a member 

 of the council of the National Society in 1918-1920. 



There is scarcely an excursion-route which we have developed 

 that is not fraught with pleasant memories of his helpfulness and 

 companionship. He had botanized with us in the Ozark hills, 

 when the red bud and the flowering dogwood were re-coloring the 

 still leafless woods with the first touches of spring. He had 

 cracked secrets out of the rocks for us with a geologist's hammer. 

 With us he had drawn inspiration from the rising of the sun over 

 the Mississippi and the scintillation of the stars so suggestive of 

 infinite power and perfect harmony. With us he had recon- 

 structed the .ancient history of some of our inland lakes and 

 speculated on the hoary past of our Indian mounds at Cahokia. 

 One memorable Christmas vacation he spent with us near Mo- 

 bile, Ala., making new friends among the southern plants and 

 gathering new energy from the ocean breezes. In each case his 

 winsome personality added a delightful human touch to nature. 



All phenomena interested him, but he was primarily a geog- 

 rapher. As such he was largely concerned with the interpreta- 

 tion of the earth as a home for human folks ; and, in pursuit of this 

 aim, he did notable work in enriching the teaching of geography 

 throughout our city. With the help of the children, he created 

 two school gardens, one for vegetables and one for flowers, on a 

 vacant lot adjoining the Engene Field school of which he was for 

 fifteen years the principal. These gardens, in spite of the in- 

 creasing noise and congestion of traffic on the adjacent streets, 

 still attract attention, and refresh the eyes of passing citizens — 

 a fitting testimonial of Mr. Stevens' interest in Nature and chil- 

 dren. 



389 



