333 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



fORRESPONDENCE 

 V ^^ and Inform/ 



Information 



Nature in Education and Recreation. 



Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 

 Ti i the Editor: 



On page 262 of the October issue of 

 Tin- Guide ro Nature, I notice " ! 'Prac- 

 tical' Suggestions," and 1 desire to re- 

 mark that it is perfectly delightful to 

 spend one's time with nature, drinking 

 in the perfume from the flowers, and 

 watching the birds and bees and all 

 other grand and glorious scenes which 

 God has given us "out in the open."' 

 These things are all very nice, but if 

 you could combine a little "bread and 

 butter" with them, I think it would 

 do no harm. In other words, show 

 what has been done, or what can be 

 done, and what might be done by the 

 lover of nature to turn to practical use, 

 and to convert into dollars and cents 

 the knowledge we might acquire in the 

 "Garden of Nature." It might do good 

 and could do no harm to show your 

 readers how they might earn an "hon- 

 est penny" by keeping bees, or growing 

 violets, or raising chickens, or watch- 

 ing the early lettuce grow, or doing 

 some other thing which, while it might 

 arouse within us a love for the beauti- 

 ful, would at the same time not obscure 

 the practical part of our lives. 



I think your magazine with its read- 

 ing and all its beautiful pictures is 

 just b^utiful. 



Yours truly, 

 Frederick W. Watkins. 



This magazine, and The Agassiz 

 Association that publishes it, stand for 

 guidance in the study and love of na- 

 ture for their own sakes, in education 

 and recreation, but not in money get- 

 ting. 



A man may enjoy his business and 

 love it ; he should do both ; he may 

 likewise derive some pecuniary income 

 from his recreational pursuits. 



Have somp work in life that you can 

 perform with all your power, and let 

 that work be what you can do the best. 

 By that business or profession, serve 

 humanity to the best of your ability, 

 and earn a living for yourself and those 

 dependent on you. Have some recrea- 

 tions that constantly re-create you, 

 that develop and enlarge your mind, 

 that refresh you and keep you on a 

 high plane of thought. Do not waste 

 your life in play, and do not continu- 

 ally scheme and plan for money. There 

 are many things in the world that 

 are more valuable than money. 



There have sprung into existence 

 within a few years several prominent 

 and beautifully illustrated magazines 

 professing, by their titles and an- 

 nouncements, to take people out of the 

 crowded cities and out of their high- 

 pressure selves into the charms of sub- 

 urbs and country. The theory has been 

 inviting and good but the practice has 

 sometimes been pernicious. These 

 magazines have for the most part done 

 incalculable good, but in many in- 

 stances much harm. They have gone 

 too far in specifying "what can be done, 

 and what might be done by the lover 

 of nature to turn to practical use, and 

 to convert into dollars and cents the 

 knowledge which we might acquire in 

 the "Garden of Nature." They have 

 portrayed with all the art of words, 

 tabulated figures and illustrations, how 

 any one can move to the suburbs or 

 the country and pay rent, the mortgage 

 or even the entire cost of the home, by 

 keeping a few bees, raising mushrooms, 

 chickens, violets or pigs. Some have 

 even advocated bullfrogs in a neigh- 

 boring marsh, and in a "runway" 

 skunks for their furs. Articles on pets 

 and plants for their own sake have 

 been returned to the editor of this 

 magazine, with the subject matter 



