THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



251 



hailed it with joy. But the joy was 

 premature, for, without warning-, the 

 assistance suddenly ceased. 



But now, thanks to the tugging" and 

 pushing of many friends, we are back 

 on the main road, though far from the 

 top of the hill. What is up there at 

 the top for the AA? It is to travel ef- 

 fectively over a good road and to draw 

 the burden well and to reach at last 

 a permanent, effective Institution, well 

 equipped for doing good work in all 

 its various branches. The cause is 

 worth the expenditure of much time 

 and of many dollars. 



Nature Near at Hand. 



BY FREEMAN FOSTER BURR, WHITE PLAINS, 

 NEW YORK. 



There is one thing in connection 

 with nature study that can never be 

 made too emphatic ; indeed, it has never 

 been sufficiently emphasized. This is 

 that nature is not necessarily a matter 

 of distant fields and unknown forests ; 

 of expense either in time or in money; 

 of fine equipment, or of profound learn- 

 ing. The great special value of nature 

 study as a factor in education lies in 

 the fact that Nature, yes, spelt with a 

 capital of the largest size, is here at our 

 door in a multitude of interesting 

 forms. There are far more wonderful 

 things in a single back yard than you 

 and I will ever discover. 



Not that I would say anything to 

 discourage those that have time to 

 spare, or money to spend, in exploring 

 the world that lies beyond, for they 

 will in some measure take care of them- 

 selves. I would apply my text to the 

 majority of people, who do not under- 

 stand that the world inclosed within 

 their narrow circle is a teeming world, 

 and who consequently never look nor 

 listen. These need to be taught that 

 the study of nature is not a question of 

 extended travel and long leisure, but of 

 those things with which God has en- 

 dowed us all, eyes to see, ears to hear, 

 and minds to comprehend. On my 

 way to the train, early this spring, I 

 happened to remark to an acquaint- 

 ance that the red maple buds were 

 swelling beautifully. His answer was 

 characteristic, "I hadn't noticed." Not 

 that there was nothing there to see, but 

 that the eyes were not used. If I were 

 not at the present moment writing to 

 people already interested in nature, 



this would be an appropriate place in 

 which to stop, and to argue the matter 

 of outdoor observation as a factor of 

 value in the life of anybody, and every- 

 body. You and I are in accord, how- 

 ever, on this point, and no such argu- 

 ment is needed. With regard to the 

 other matter, there is always plenty 

 to be said, and the time is always ripe 

 for saying it. Every day I catch myself 

 longing for new fields, wishing that I 

 could go where nature has something 

 really interesting to show me. How 

 full would I fill my mind with things 

 worth thinking about, and how my pen 

 would fly in the effort to share my 

 wonderful thoughts. I suppose there 

 have been few nature teachers that 

 have not, for a good part of the time, 

 felt in the same way. Such feelings are 

 sure to be reflected in our teaching, and 

 I think most of us will have to con- 

 fess that it has been at the expense of 

 a mental struggle, if we have suc- 

 ceeded in teaching what I, for one, 

 have always most earnestly desired to 

 teach ; namely, that one need not go 

 beyond his own doorstep to find more 

 natural history than he will ever suc- 

 ceed in comprehending with all the 

 books and teachers in the world to 

 help him. 



There have, of course, been teachers 

 to whom this was a prime working prin- 

 ciple — Gilbert White of Selborne, for 

 instance, but he hardly knew that he 

 was teaching; and Louis Agassiz, who 

 certainly knew how to lay his hands at 

 any moment upon something incalcu- 

 lably worth while. It seems to me, how- 

 ever, that most of us, pardon the im- 

 modesty of including myself in a com- 

 parison with these men, are far too 

 prone to lay the emphasis upon the 

 other thing, and thus miss the one 

 great point that should make the teach- 

 ing of observation, through our schools 

 and our publications, a matter of pre- 

 eminent worth. 



The majority of everyday people 

 will never get beyond a circumference 

 of exceedingly small radius. A large 

 majority of this majority have not the 

 slightest notion that, within the nar- 

 row limits of their daily movements, 

 there is a single thing worth the cost 

 of a moment's attention. And it is to 

 reach the thousands of such people in 

 existence that the nature study 

 teacher's efforts may most profitably 



