THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



259 



BETTEB CALCULATED TO ATTAIN THIS 



KM) THAN ANY OTHEE LARGE MOYE- 



3IENT. 



BY PROF. RALPH S. 'PARK, CORNELL 

 UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, X . Y. 



I am in entire sympathy with the ef- 

 forts that you have in hand, to extend 

 the influence of The Agassiz Association 

 along the lines which you mention, and 

 moreover, I am gratified over the results 

 that you have accomplished. To interest 

 the youth of the country in the study of 

 Natural Science is an important work, 

 provided it is sanely done. It seems to 

 me that the objects and methods of The 

 Agassiz Association are better calculated 

 to attain this end than any other large 

 movement that has been set on foot. I 

 wish von every success in vour work. 



SPECIAL APTITUDE FOB THE WORK. 



BY WI I.I.I AM TRELEASE, DIRECTOR THE MIS- 

 SOURI BOTANICAL GARDENS, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



I have no objection whatever to your 

 quoting me as being heartily in sympathy 

 with the type of nature work that you are 

 doing and the way in which you are do- 

 ing it. I do not know anyone else who 

 has just your type of aptitude for it, and 

 wish you all success. 



A HOME POINT OF VIEW. 



[From The Stamford Advocate, Stamford, 

 Conn.] 



The new president of The /Agassiz 

 Association brings to his important work 

 a large fund of experience, great en- 

 thusiasm and ideas which commend 

 themselves as sensible and practicable. 



There is no salary, and the only 



remuneration is the joy of doing good, 

 which must be regarded as ample. Every 

 cent is used for the furtherance of the 

 work it is trying to do, in stimulating, 

 encouraging and leading in the study of 

 nature. 



How Dr. Bigelow finds time, with his 

 experiments, his lectures, his writing and 

 teaching, to do the additonal work, is a 

 wonder to those who know him. It is 

 accounted for by the fact that he is an 

 indefatigable and enthusiastic worker, 

 and is doing the work he likes best. 



IT KEEPS 0\E IOUNG. 



BY THE REVEREND P. B. I'KAI'.onv, BLUE 

 RAPIDS, KANSAS. 



I could assure the comparatively ma- 

 ture people whom yon are trying to reach 

 that just this sort of study, indulged in 

 as an avocation, has made me, at fiftv, a 

 younger- feeling man than 1 was at thirty- 

 five. I could assure them that some of 

 the keenest delights that have ever come 

 to me have come through mere soul- 

 contact, by way of correspondence with 

 men and women whom I have never 

 seen ; while yet a bond indissoluble has 

 been created through the existence and 

 the mutual activity of this kindred spir- 

 it. 



The Correspondence System of Edu- 

 cation is a demonstrated success. The 

 entire plan of the AA, as 1 apprehend 

 it, is but an amplification of the same 

 idea. I am a firm believer in co-opera- 

 tion. It can accomplish wonders. It can 

 baffle the impossible. It requires onlv 

 money to make such plans as yours a 

 reality. With a wise conferential com- 

 bining of varied plans, all tending toward 

 the same end, all directed and intellioized 

 by a strong and wise unifying master- 

 hood, I am confident your ideas are capa- 

 able of realizing an American Academy 

 of Nature Study that will be at once com- 

 prehensive and exhaustive. 



One great desideratum, it seems to 

 me, in the practicalizing of your plans, 

 is to have the strong personalitv of each 

 instructor, lecturer and field director po- 

 tentialized by giving it the broadest pos- 

 sible content. The possible value of this 

 I often feel in my professional work. 

 Never ambitious, ever abhorring place- 

 seeking, my own work has ever lain in 

 by-ways. I have preached, all my life, 

 to small congregations. Yet I have, on 

 occasion, in some city church, or when 

 preaching to union congregations or 

 school commencements, before large au- 

 diences, felt most deeply the thrill, the 

 uplift, the energizing that come through 

 the reinforcement that is engendered by 

 the presence and the sympathetic activity 

 of kindred spirits. If only you can make 

 the field broad enough and man that field 

 with personalities of sufficient capacity 

 for inspiring others you will do a great 

 work. But this will require money. 



