128 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



The Art of Observation. 



Our ArcAdiA is a miniature of na- 

 ture. It affords a good field in which 

 to cultivate one's power of observation. 

 The ability to "see things," like every 

 other talent, is a gift, and, like every 

 other providential gift, it may be en- 

 larged, developed and made useful, or 

 it may be allowed to dwindle and final- 

 ly to disappear. We are glad of the 

 opportunity to help friendly visitors in 

 any serious effort to cultivate their 

 natural power of observation, by point- 

 ing out some of the best and most de- 

 sirable methods of doing the work. It 

 pains the writer to observe that in the 

 larger world of nature so few people 

 are able to "see things," and he often 

 wonders why. Why do so few go to 

 nature for their entertainment and in- 

 struction ? I more and more firmly be- 

 lieve that the reason why only a small 

 percentage of people "see things" is 

 because they do not know how. Per- 

 haps they do not know how to get any- 

 thing out of a visit to nature.- I have 

 reached this conclusion by observing 

 the various characteristics of Ar- 

 cAdiA's visitors. Recently two young 

 ladies walked into the office, and as an 

 assistant arose to greet them, one 

 young woman said, with a giggle, "Oh, 

 sit still. You needn't get up. We 

 will take only a minute or two and 

 walk through to see the animals." 



She is a type of person that does 

 not want to look at nature, one that 

 seems unwilling to take advantage of 

 kind assistance that would try to 

 arouse her interest. We have seen, in 

 a more extensive Arcadia, people that 

 say, "Don't trouble yourself. We do 

 not need any assistance from you. We 

 will dash through the country at the 

 rate of a mile a minute, and we shall 

 see all there is to be seen in nature." 



There is another type. She arrived 

 at ArcAdiA an intelligent, cultured, 

 cheerful example of self-confidence, 

 and of the absence of any desire for 

 help. She said. "I will take but a few 

 minutes of your time. I have been fa- 

 miliar with the things of the country 

 all my life and I do not suppose you 

 have anything new to show me." I 

 thought of the things to which I had 

 devoted much time and laborious 

 study, and said, "Come out and see 

 the honeybees." I showed her the ap- 



pliances of a well equipped apiarian 

 laboratory, and began to direct atten- 

 tion to thermometers and scales and 

 observation hives, when she interrupt- 

 ed. "I do not believe," she said, "that 

 you need to tell me all that. I want 

 merely to ask why you are doing this." 



"I am trying to learn something 

 about the honeybee." 



"Why, don't you know all there is 

 to know about them?" 



"No. On the contrary, I feel, after 

 some fifteen years of careful study, 

 that I have learned only the extent of 

 the unknown in the subject, and 

 gained a little practice in learning how 

 best to study these marvelous insects." 



With a wave of her hand, and a little 

 smile of self-complacency and perhaps 

 of contempt, She said, "O poor man, I 

 am sorry for you. Why, I was born 

 and brought up in the country, and 

 w r hen I was six years old I knew all 

 there is to know about honeybees." 



How many people there are who 

 might well say, "Poor man. Why 

 study nature? When I was a baby and 

 first opened my eyes, I saw the sky 

 and the trees and all there is to be 

 seen, and since then I have not found 

 it necessary to study anything." For- 

 tunate creature. I have hitherto be- 

 lieved that there is only one Omniscient 

 Person in the universe, but there seem 

 to be two. 



There is a third type that affords an 

 impressive lesson. This is the person 

 of fiz, and froth and over-enthusiasm. 

 She and her friend recently called here. 

 She said, "I have been longing and 

 longing for years to visit ArcAdiA, 

 and to have a time of delight among 

 the wonderful and interesting things 

 that I know you have here. I have 

 been so wanting to come that I cannot 

 tell you how I have really wanted to 

 get here. I have read about the place 

 in the papers, and I have seen some of 

 it in that delightful magazine, and I 

 know it is an ideal place in which to 

 see all sorts of interesting things. 

 There is nothing in the world that I 

 like so well as nature and all that be- 

 longs to her." 



"Why is this your first visit? 

 ArcAdiA has been in existence for 

 four years, and you live only about 

 two miles away. If you regard it as a 

 place of such supreme interest why have 

 you not come early and often?" 



