EDITORIAL AND GENERAL 



5i 



and poison ivy, but what if they are- 

 that is merely a mistake. The thing 

 that puzzles him is not that they have 

 made a mistake in identification, even 

 if they have, but that they should be 

 interested at all in any "such things." 

 To him, the only uses of nature are to 

 develop squirrels that he may shout, or 

 fish that he may jerk out of the pond. 

 The only beauty of the cow is in her 

 productions, and the only use of the 

 pasture is a place in which she may eat 

 grass. The only use of planting any- 

 thing is to raise something that you 

 can put into your stomach, and the 

 ideal that toadstools, or poison ivy, 01 

 allied things have any esthetic value, 

 stamps all city people, in his estima- 

 tion, as "just like all the rest of the 

 city folks" — a lot of lunatics. If I go 

 into any section of the country with 

 which I am not familiar, to ascertain 

 all the variety of birds or butterflies 

 that are in that vicinity, or the dif- 

 ferent varieties of ferns and mosses, I 

 feel sure that I should never consult 

 a native. I would hunt up some "city 

 folks," who had moved there with an 

 affectionate and intellectual interest in 

 nature. Country people have good, 

 sound, practical knowledge of the 

 things that help them to earn a living, 

 They know the trees so far as lumber 

 and firewood are concerned. They 

 know the weeds of the garden by their 

 common names. They know the 

 crows and the hawks, and possibly a 

 few other birds that are either enemies 

 or assistants in the struggle for exis- 

 tence. But go to any country boy, or 

 a farmer or his wife, and inquire what 

 warblers are found in the vicinity, and 

 what is their date of arrival and depar- 

 ture, wdiat birds stop in their migra- 

 tions northward, wdiat ferns are found 

 in that vicinity, and see how much 

 definite information you will get. Ask 

 the country boy how r many varieties 

 of snakes or frogs there are, and if the 

 farmer and his wife and the boy are 

 not the exceptionally "queer ones" — 

 that is, those interested in "such 

 things" — you will not get much definite 

 information. But go to some city peo- 

 ple, and vou will find that they have 

 definite notebooks of their observa- 

 tions. They have the latest nature 

 study books and are regular subscri- 

 bers to The Guide to Nature. Of 



course, there are exceptions to all gen- 

 eralities. There are many country peo- 

 ple who are good observers. 1 once 

 knew a hard-working farmer who could 

 tell the scientific name of every moss 

 found on his farm, but he is an excep- 

 tion. There are undoubtedly city folks 

 that are "just like all the rest that 

 move out here"- -that is, they bring in- 

 difference to the real beauties and in- 

 terests of the country, merely taking 

 with them a little section of the city 

 and transplanting it into the woods 

 but they never break through the shell 

 to get into the woods themselves. But 

 these also are somewdiat exceptional. 



I believe, therefore, that the boy in 

 this illustration represents the "don't 

 know" point of routine of his daily life, 

 and wdiat is worse, he does not want 

 to know, but believes it sort of sissyism 

 or laughable lunacy to be interested in 

 "such "things." I believe also that the 

 woman on her knees and the man as- 

 sisting her, may represent ignorance 

 of some particular plant, or even a mis- 

 take, but they do represent a love of 

 nature and a thorough desire to know 

 more about her. Give them time and a 

 few books and a year's subscription to 

 The Guide to Nature and I have hope 

 for them. 



For the boy, well, even on older faces 

 I have seen the smile that won't come 

 off, wdien they look at an enthusiastic 

 lover of nature. 



"A city man and woman are in a 

 country barnyard with the farmer's 

 daughter. The city woman : 'Yes, a 

 pleasant idace. but how do you employ 

 your evenings?' Girl: 'Oh, we go to 

 bed with the chickens.' Woman : 

 'Good gracious! How unsanitary.'' 



Nature-study is a Dursuit wdiich calls 

 all our faculties into action; it makes 

 ns observe, remember, reason, and 

 think; it takes us out of stuffy rooms 

 into the open air ; it makes us walk, 

 wade, row, and even swim; it develops 

 inventive genius, gives us eyes to see 

 interesting things everywhere ; it ap- 

 peals to the sense of beauty, form, and 

 colour, and, above all. makes us 

 reverent bv leading us to look up from 

 Nature to Nature's God.— Reverend 

 Charles A. Hall, in "The Open Book of 

 A atiire. 



