74 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Members and Chapters have done zeal- 

 ous work. From ever) member we ask 

 for scientific, educational and financial 

 co-operation. 



For these threefold points we want: 

 i. That you resolve in this early 

 part of nineteen hundred and ten to 

 learn more of nature either by experi- 

 ment or observation, and that you plan 

 to do something positive and definite. 

 "Seeing things" in general and enjoy- 

 ing rides on country roads is not 

 enough . Plan now to do better work 

 in your garden, the fields, with your 

 pets, or to make more systematic ob- 

 servations among your favorite plants, 

 among the special animals that in- 

 terest or attract you, or with any form 

 of inanimate creation that may come 

 within your purview, however limited 

 that may at first appear to be. The 

 round of the seasons has begun for 

 you. Do not let the months go by un- 

 improved. You will not live them again. 



2. Benefit not only yourself but oth- 

 ers. Do not be selfish in your interest. 

 The joy is not divided by giving joy 

 to some one else. It is multiplied. If 

 you know some fact of nature that 

 interests or uplifts you, tell it to the 

 rest of us. Remember that our primary 

 object is the promotion of scientific 

 education. "To see something," says 

 Ruskin, "and tell wdiat it was in a plain 

 way, is the greatest thing a human 

 soul ever does in this world." Note 

 that he says "in a plain way," and re- 

 sist all temptation to imitate the famous 

 definition of the word "change" : — 

 perichoretical synechy of pamparallag- 

 matic and porroteroporeumatical dif- 

 ferentiations and integrations." We 

 want nothing of that kind. "In a plain 

 way." 



3. To be a Clearing House for ob- 

 servations costs money for engraving, 

 printing and correspondence. Increase 

 the income by contributions, new mem- 

 berships, formation of Chapters or sub- 

 scriptions to our official magazine, The; 



Guide to Nature. 



***** 



This is the critical year for great 

 things. We are settled in Arcadia : 

 the work is now before us. The Guide 

 to Nature is becoming established and 

 widely known. We want to extend its 



influence. We want it to be better. 

 ***** 



\Yc want your Report. We want to 

 know what you have been doing and 

 what we can depend upon you to do, 

 for yourself, for others, for nature, for 

 humanity, through our beloved AA. 

 Fraternally yours, 



Edward F. Bigelow. 



The Work of the AA. 

 The Agassiz Association is the 

 oldest, most extensive and most ef- 

 fective organization in existence for 

 introducing young and old tc the 

 works of Nature. 



We live so rapidly, even the children 

 are so affected by a similar zeal for 

 haste, that the candle is burned at both 

 ends, and we die before we need. There 

 is nothing, unless it be music, especi- 

 ally when pursued by the performer 

 himself, that is so restful, so inspir- 

 ing, as even a superficial study of Na- 

 ture. It is not alone the physical ex- 

 ercise that is beneficial, nor the ex- 

 posure to the sunlight and the fresh 

 air; it is the change from the hurry, 

 the noise and the bustle, the constant 

 struggle and contention, to the calm 

 contemplation of a weed, a stone, a 

 bit of moss from the side of the "foot- 

 path way," while the blue sky bends 

 over, the white clouds float lazily be- 

 neath, and the sun and the breezes 

 make innocuous the microbes of strife 

 and selfishness. 



No human being is educated un- 

 til he knows somewhat of Nature, 

 though it be ever so little ; and no 

 child's education is well begun until 

 he knows at least as some do not 

 know, that there is such a thing as 

 Nature. 



The well-educated man, with even 

 a slight knowledge of Nature, is not 

 only good company to himself, but 

 he is never lonely. Without some simi- 

 lar interest aside from the daily strug- 

 gle for bread, each human being is 

 the loneliest, the weariest and the 

 most unhappy of unfortunate crea- 

 tures. We have no ability to reveal 

 ourselves to one another; we are al- 

 ways alone, even when in the presence 

 of the most beloved. There is an in- 

 explicable influence in the apprecia- 



