LOOKING OVER THE EIELDS 



21 



The Education Which We Receive 

 From Nature. 



BY .MRS. EDITH W. MITCHELL, LECTURER 

 FAIRFIELD COUNTY (CONN.), 

 PA MO N A GRANGE. 



Contemplation of the majesty and 

 power of nature cultivates that chief of 

 Christian virtues, humility. Who can 

 gaze upon some lofty mountain as it 

 towers away into the heavens with 

 such wondrous majesty; who can listen 

 to the thunders of a Niagara as it leaps 

 down into the depths with a mighty 

 roar and sends up its blinding cloud 

 of spray ; who can gaze upon the starry 

 worlds above us which for centuries 

 have been whirling on through space 

 at a lightning rapidity, and not feel 

 with the wise man of old, when he ex- 

 claims, "man is but vanity." Even the 

 lords of creation can but feel humbled 

 before the marvelous works of crea- 

 tion's God. 



By contact with nature we come to 

 love the simple every-day things of life. 

 We are brought into harmony with 

 our immediate surroundings and are 

 made content with the lot in life to 

 which we have been called, however 

 humble it may be. For the greatest 

 feast which this world has to offer to 

 the eye or the ear of man is spread out 

 lavishly before us and is ours to use and 

 to enjoy "without money and without 

 price." We live in an age of unrest and 

 discontent. We demand continual 

 change and variety of amusement and 

 recreation to keep us sane and happy. 

 We must each have a hobby to ride, if 

 it is nothing more novel or out of the 

 ordinary than an automobile or an 

 aeroplane. Don't misunderstand me to 

 belittle the value of a hobby. We all 

 need one. But let me recommend one 

 which shall bring us in touch with 

 nature, a friendship with the birds, a 

 botanical collection, a study of min- 

 erals or a flower garden. Such pleas- 

 ures never grow blase and benefit our 

 health and ennoble our life into the 

 bargain. 



Need I mention the wonderful train- 

 ing and developing of the powers of 

 the mind and the senses which any 

 phase of nature study (it seems like a 

 misnomer to call it study), may bring 



about? Talk with a wide-awake 

 country boy who wanders at will over 

 hill and dale and you will marvel at his 

 power of observation, at the acuteness 

 of his senses, at the depth of his rea- 

 soning, and the amount of information 

 he has picked up. Surely we may say 

 of nature that "to know her is a liberal 

 education." All the great minds of the 

 world have been lovers of nature and 

 have found their joy and their inspira- 

 tion in communion with her. 



Research in Place of Directorship. 



Dr. William Trelease, for twenty-two 

 years the Director of Shaw's Garden, 

 otherwise known as the Missouri Bo- 

 tanical Garden, at St. Louis, has re- 

 signed his position, and intends in the 

 future to devote his time more largely 

 to scientific research work with less 

 interruption from administrative du- 

 ties. Dr. Trelease is well-known and 

 is a skilled botanist of good executive 

 ability, and has held the position for 

 almost a quarter of a century with 

 credit to himself and to the garden. 

 By his excellent ability and faithful 

 work he has brought the garden to a 

 high standard of efficiency. 



The garden was established in 1889, 

 upon the death of Mr. Shaw by whose 

 will there was left a large sum of 

 money to carry on the work, so broadly 

 conceived as to include beautiful gar- 

 dening, instructive labeling of plants, 

 education in gardening and botany, and 

 investigation in pure and applied bot- 

 any and in allied sciences. 



What has nature study to do with 

 this agricultural renaissance? Very 

 much. It was the foundation of it. 

 Nature study's greatest exponent, the 

 man who upset the old order of teach- 

 ing natural sciences, was Louis Agas- 

 siz. The men who were his students 

 learned to use their eyes, to observe 

 accurately, to assemble facts, and to 

 draw proper conclusions. All this 

 quite independent of books. The "lab- 

 oratory method" of studying natural 

 science was established in our colleges 

 by Agassiz and his disciples. — Tenth 

 Anniversary Number of "Country Life 

 in America/' April 15th, igi2. 



