248 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



ACTIVITY VEESUS LLSTLESSXESS. 



Life is real (sometimes) ! Life is (or 

 should be) earnest! 



But whatever we are, although we are 

 lacking in many respects, the surround- 

 ings are right. For the artistic and the 

 studious spirit there is plenty of objec- 

 tivity — always plenty to do, to see or to 

 know. "Here," said Linnaeus to a pupil, 

 placing his hand on a bit of moss, "is 

 sufficient material for the study of a life- 

 time." Do not stand still within doors, 

 holding in motionless hand your palette 

 and brush ; do not keep in dormancy 

 within your heart that appreciation of 

 beauty which every human being posses- 

 ses in greater or lesser .degree. Let love 

 kindle that listless appreciation into ac- 

 tivity. Go forth into the realms of 

 beauty. Put yourself in touch with an 

 occupation which an eternity is not long 

 enough to exhaust. 



Get up, you student. Take your net, 

 your collecting apparatus, your scapel 

 and your books and use them in nature. 

 Flee from the trite and the conventional. 

 Get into new fields. There is nothing 

 you have "completed." In everything 

 yon are only a beginner. You have not 

 grown old in nature knowledge. Von 

 are only a child in the primary. Push 

 on and make yourself fitted to enter a 

 higher grade. 



Let the spirit of The; Guide to Na- 

 ture lead you forth into the enchanting 

 realms. They are over the hill "just a 

 little out of town." There dwell riches 



free to all, the health of nature's sanato- 

 rium, the education that surpasses that of 

 the schools and, best of all, there is the 



religion of the Infinite. 



NATURALISTS, NOT OKMTH0L0GISTS. 



Since the first announcement of The 

 Guide to Nature, we have had submit- 

 ted an unduly large proportion of articles 

 on birds. We have published only a few, 

 because there is no desire to make this 

 an ornithological magazine. That field 

 is already well cared for by "Bird-Lore" 

 and others. The Guide to Nature is 

 not to compete but to supplement and to 

 co-operate along general naturalists' lines. 

 Interesting as are birds, important as it 

 is to protect them, they are not the whole 

 of nature. "Everything is "fish' that 

 comes to the net of a naturalist." The 

 Guide to Nature is the naturalists' net, 

 to draw in and to make available to all 

 the observational "catches" of all. 



"Bird-Lore" is an efficient magazine— 

 ideally edited, illustrated and printed. 

 We cordially commend it and the science 

 it represents to all our readers. Love, 

 knowledge and sympathy with birds are 

 valuable attainments, but an attunement 

 in the interests of all nature is greater. 



Most bird students, even the special- 

 ists, have a cordial sympathy and lesser 

 interest in all nature. Most general na- 

 turalists recognize the many claims of 

 birds to our attention. For these reasons 

 The Guide to Nature is co-operating 

 with "Bird-Lore" and The Agassiz Asso- 



