EDITORIAL AND GENERAL 



163 



sign to keep off the grass for the ben- 

 efit of the tree; "Woodman, spare that 

 tree" is enforced by a "thou shalt not." 



Then conies the "Journal of the New- 

 York Botanical Garden," telling- of the 

 devastation of public parks, or the 

 passing- of the wild flowers — "the wild 

 flowers in the vicinity of New York are 

 doomed," and further telling of laws, 

 and signs, and teachings, and prize 

 awards, and a Fund for the Preserva- 

 tion of Native Plants. 



Next I pick up a bulging envelope 

 with circulars of similar portent from 

 the society for the protection of Native 

 Plants. 



"Our Dumb Animals" and "The 

 Humanitarian" tell of laws and their 

 work, and of legal castigations to make 

 people kind and merciful. 



"Bird-Lore," with its characteristic 

 enthusiasm and efficiency, tells of the 

 latest legislative achievements in pre- 

 venting women from becoming sav- 

 ages and wearing dead birds, entire or 

 halved or quartered, on their hats. 



The local evening paper tells of State 

 enactments regulating the extent of 

 the slaughter of our four-footed wild 

 animals called game. 



And yet this is the age of civilization, 

 the twentieth century is well under 

 way. but the savages are still yelling 

 in their war paint, tearing up shrubs 

 and ferns and other plants — roots and 

 all, scattering them thoughtlessly in 

 every direction. Men are chopping 

 down the trees as though the trees or 

 they are crazy, and without even the 

 sense of good economy. The fools and 

 the vicious are pounding dogs and 

 horses necessitating thousands of dol- 

 lars to stop them ; while women, even 

 mothers, are tearing off plumes from 

 feathered breasts and leaving the nest- 

 lings to starve, or shooting down birds 

 in their song, chopping them to pieces 

 and scattering the fragments around 

 their heads, then walking up and down 

 before the public to ask, "Do I not 

 look beautiful?" 



All honor to the pamphlets and peri- 

 odicals that are trying to stop this 

 demoniacal devastation and furious 

 frenzy, but succeeding perhaps in 

 obtaining only a momentary pause. 



The state of affairs shows the need 

 of "thou shalt not," and more and more 

 the need of our work that through edu- 

 cation and love of nature, yes, even 

 from the amateur's point of view, shall 

 not mandate but induce an "I have no 

 desire to participate in this carnage," 

 There seems to us more and more need 

 not to force but to free, not to legislate 

 but to love, not to spare but to share 

 in its life, not to be merciful but to be 

 merged into the same spirit of life. 



Rats! Rats! Rats! Rats! Rats! 



I have put a long row of rats as the 

 heading of this article because I want 

 not only to attract attention but espec- 

 ially to ascertain whether or not you 

 are willing to surmount an obstacle 

 to reach a valuable result, and, by so 

 doing, to read an article with a title in 

 which you are not at present especially 

 interested. 



Personally I have not been especi- 

 ally interested in rats, but. as a boy 

 recently sent me several and showed 

 by his letter that he was attracted by 

 them, and, as similar letters had been 

 received from other young people, I 

 determined to overcome the obstacle 

 of mv dislike for rats and to give them 

 some attention in order to help my 

 correspondents. I am therefore study- 

 ing how to care for rats, breed them, 

 feed them, etc. Of course I do not 

 mean ordinary barn rats, with their ill 

 smelling bodies and vicious qualities, 

 but the dainty little creatures known 

 as Japanese rats with only kindly dis- 

 positions and no ratty smell. 



But one of our members, miscon- 

 struing this personal interest for a gen- 

 eral AA work, stated that she would 

 have withheld her membership if she 

 had known that any part of her mem- 

 bership fee was to be used for the care 

 of these much disliked animals. She 

 apologized when she learned that the 

 rats were cared for at my own personal 

 expense. 



But I argue that, if the rats had been 

 the property and kept at the expense 

 of the AA for the good of those that 

 like them, then their care would be per- 

 fectlv legitimate. Let us bury Ptol- 



