354 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Forty Years Past; Forever in Future. 



The Agassiz Association was organ- 

 ized forty years ago on the grandest 

 principle that ever associated boys ana 

 girls, men and women. It regards 

 every individual as supreme, and has 

 as common subject the Universe and 

 its Maker. "Per naturam ad Deum" 

 is its motto to-day as it has been for 



MR. HARLAN H. BALLARD, PITTSFIELD, 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 

 He established The Agassiz Association forty years 



ago. 



four decades. The university, not the 

 kindergarten, has always been the point 

 of view. No one lines up a class and 

 says, "Here is the game ; I will show 

 you how to play it;" No one tells you 

 what clothes you shall wear, nor what 

 thoughts you shall think. The young- 

 est child is as free to see and to tell as 

 is the eldest member of the Association, 

 or the veteran technical scientist in his 

 learned monograph, whose joy of see- 

 ing and telling in his way is no great- 

 er for him than is that of the beginner. 

 In fact the veteran realizes better than 

 the novice that he is only a beginner, 

 that there is yet before him much for 

 him to learn. 



The Agassiz Association expresses 



itself in terms of peace, civilization, 

 equality, and dignified self-respect. It 

 regards no one as a "tough'' and treats 

 no one as needing reformation. It as- 

 sumes that human nature is not bad 

 but good. It exalts no one on account 

 of his wealth, knowledge or station. 

 'I he greatest thing to do is faithfully 

 to serve others. There is no exalta- 

 tion of office. No chiefs have charge 

 of inferiors. Every one is a chief when 

 he unselfishly gives of the greatest 

 thing in the world, his ability "to see 

 and to tell," for the benefit of others, 

 not to confer a favor in the seeing and 

 the telling, but for the privilege of do- 

 ing it. 



The Agassiz Association regards 

 every member as innately kind. The 

 Agassiz Association embodies the law 

 of love, not the love of law. Its kind- 

 ness to man begins when he is a boy. 

 To have him to love a horse, is bet- 

 ter than to punish him in court for hav- 

 ing pounded a horse. 



The Agassiz Association requires 

 no course of study because every mem- 

 ber is a teacher. Even the youngest 

 member goes directly to Nature's 

 storehouse of knowledge, and helps 

 himself to his own joy, telling some 

 one else for additional joy. The child 

 as well as the man can play in the 

 ocean's edge, and each shall be the 

 teacher of the other, and the joy of 

 each shall inspire the other. 



No one outgrows The Agassiz As- 

 sociation. In old age it is not remem- 

 bered as a thing for boys or girls, but 

 the enthusiasm of youth grows strong- 

 er with age. As Dr. Van Dyke has 

 truly said : 



Let me but live my life from year to year, 

 With forward face and nnreluctant soul, 

 Not hastening to nor turning from the goal ; 



Not mourning for the things that disappear 



In the dim past, nor holding back in fear 

 From what the future veils, but with a 



whole 

 And happy heart, that pays' its toll 



To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer. 



So let the way wind up the hill or down, 

 Through rough or smooth, the journey wih 



be joy: 

 Still seeking what I sought when but a boy, 



Xew friendship, high adventure, and a crown. 



T shall grow old, but never lose life's zest, 



Because the road's last turn will be the best. 



The Agassiz Association means mu- 

 tual helpfulness. An individual mem- 

 ber and an organized Chapter of mem- 



