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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



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PRINTS OF LEAVES. 



Simplicity and Truth. 



Nat iire-studies have long" been valued 

 as a "means of grace," because they 

 arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work 

 vhich belongs to open-eyed youth. The 

 child blase with moral precepts and 

 irregular conjugations turns with de- 

 light to the unrolling of ferns and the 

 song of birds. There is a moral training 

 in clearness and tangibility. An occult 

 impulse to vice is hidden in all vague- 

 ness and in all teachings meant to be 

 heard but not to be understood. Nature 



is ne. er obscure, never occult, never 

 esoteric. She must be questioned in 

 earnest, else she will not reply. But 

 to every serious question she returns a 

 serious answer. "Simple, natural, and 

 true" should make the impression of 

 simplicity and truth. Truth and virtue 

 arc but opposite sides of the same 

 shield. As leaves pass over into flowers, 

 and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, 

 virtue, and happiness inseparably re- 

 lated. — Nature-Study and Moral Cul- 

 ture, by Pres. David Starr Jordan. 



