THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



in breeding and in ideal is matched 

 against another's in a friendly and stim- 

 ulating- rivalry. A place at or near the 

 top will put you in a position to be envied 

 by other breeders who will want some of 

 your stock, with which, in the future, to 

 surpass your results, if they may. 



These advantages are by no means 

 confined to rabbits. The little cavy so 

 often referred to as "only a guinea pig," 

 is of just as much use from the aesthetic 

 point of view. These little animals are 

 not so wonderfully prolific as one might 

 gather from "just stories," as naturalists 

 of the real sort term some published 

 writings with cavies for the subjects. 

 Thev are as clean as a canarv bird and 



ation, and even of "pocket money."" 

 Were more of them kept, were a greater 

 number of boys and girls interested by 

 their parents in some of the varieties, 

 and encouraged to keep them, childrens' 

 courts would be fewer, and fewer, too,, 

 would be the adults with nothing awak- 

 ened with them in sympathy with na- 

 ture and with the Creator. 



NOVICES IX NATURE STUDY. 



BY II. I.. Wool), M. D., GROTON, CONNECTI- 

 CUT. 



Xature study is the skillful interpre- 

 tation of those signs by which is record- 

 ed the ancient as well as the modern his- 



IT WAS THEIR FIRST ACQUAINTANCE. 

 But whether of pleasure or surprise, it would be hard to say. They eyed each other perfectly still 



as if hypnotized. 



can be kept in a similar way. They ex- 

 hibit definite standards of excellence for 

 each (if the three varieties and many of 

 the sub-varieties 

 The 



innocent little mouse, despised 

 and feared by women and elephants, is a 

 favorite pet among those who become its 

 devotees, and who perhaps, are at first 

 attracted by the ease with which it may 

 be kept, and by the fixed and definite ex- 

 cellence of its color varieties, which arc- 

 greatly diversified. 



Be they what they may, pets are an 

 essential part of our civilization, a source 

 of profitable study and delightful recre- 



tory of animate and inanimate nature. 

 As fancy leads, perchance we read this 

 history written in rough lines upon 

 the rugged surface of some rock of the 

 glacial epoch ; or observe it at the present 

 day in the life cycle of the plant from 

 seed to bloom, and back once more to 

 seed. 



Again we may read history in the 

 course of the planets, in Mars, for in- 

 stance, as she periodically approaches so 

 distantly near, leading scientist and lav- 

 man alike to speculate over the probabil- 

 ity of this sister planet's being an abode 

 of kindred souls. 



