260 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



Your plan seems to be the Chatauqua 

 Idea writ large. Adequate leadership, 

 able and devoted helpers, with the means 

 sufficient to bring- these into contact with 

 the masses of those that are hungering 

 after the food that is yet fairly within 

 their reach — these will mark and make 

 possible the realization of your plans. 



The dominant marks of our Age, in 

 the world's broader life, are vain ambi- 

 tion, feverish desire, shallow attainment, 

 Flippant smartness, insincerity, hypocrisy. 

 On the other hand, the mighty impulse of 

 the pendulum swing back to Nature, Sin- 

 cerity and Truth, are already too real to 

 be scoffed at ; and too strong to be dis- 

 regarded. The time is ripe. It is the 

 psychological hour. The question is, — 

 whether we shall let this powerful drift 

 and trend be swung by the fakirs and 

 the grafters ; or whether we shall see to 

 it that it be led, energized, directed, glori- 

 fied by the personalities of men and wo- 

 men to whom Nature, in many of her 

 manifestations, is the unspeakably attrac- 

 tive and blessed outward form of the Al- 

 mighty. That's just what it is. There 

 are some of us, — are there not? — that 

 have come to know it ; and to find a 

 large measure of our essential peace in 

 this knowledge ; and in its realization of 

 riches in our own hearts and lives. 



One feels utterly abashed, completely 

 overwhelmed with his own littleness 

 when such plans as yours are mooted and 

 discussed. Personally, I owe so very- 

 much to men and women that I have 

 never met that I have grown sure that 

 such contact, only, with the greater inti- 

 macies that are begotten of it, can lift 

 one above the shrinking lethargy that 

 comes with the sense of our own small- 

 ness and make the doing of great things 

 possible. The attainment of this is, I 

 confess, my one worldly ambition. The 

 moulding of other lives has become a 

 passion with me. And this as I under- 

 stand you. is the great underlying motif 

 of your plans. 



I <l(i hope that I have said, and not 

 been too late in the saying, even just 

 one or two little things that may help a 

 little in the realizing of your plans. It 

 seems presumption in me to suggest, 

 even, the possibility of my being able to 

 be helpful, in your outlined field. 



HEARTY APPROVAL OF AA METHODS. 



BY FREDERICK LEROY SARGENT, SHIRLEY, 



MASS. 



I wish to assure you of the admiration 

 1 feel for your work in behalf of The 

 Agassiz Association, and to express my 

 hearty approval of the methods you pro- 

 pose for extending its benefits. 



What you say of circular instruction 

 especially excites my interest. I believe 

 the method has great possibilities. 



When I was a beginner in the study of 

 Natural History I wasted much time, and 

 met with many disappointments, for lack 

 of such suggestions as your circulars 

 would doubtless offer. I have come to 

 the conclusion that inasmuch as the se- 

 cret of thorough and profitable observa- 

 tion lies in the habit of asking" oneself 

 appropriate questions regarding the ob- 

 jects observed, it follows that the best 

 training- in the art of observing may be 

 gained through the use of carefully pre- 

 pared schedules of questions which may 

 be answered by examining the objects to 

 which they refer. I trust that such sche- 

 dules, prepared by experts, will abound 

 in your circulars. 



APPROVES AA CLEARING HOUSE. 



BY RICHARD C. MCGREGOR, BUREAU OF 

 SCIENCE, MANILA, PHILIPPINES. 



Your idea of having working head- 

 quarters for the AA as outlined in the 

 second section under "Methods" in the 

 AA Manual appeals to me as possessing 

 great possibilities. The Home Office 

 might act as an efficient museum Clear- 

 ing House for the exchange and loan of 

 specimens among individuals. Chapters 

 and schools all over the world. 



Specimens which are common in one 

 locality are rare in others. The young 

 AA member who lives in the Rocky 

 Mountains has little chance to examine 

 the common animals of the seashore; the 

 sea urchin, the sand dollar and the her- 

 mit crab are as strange to him as are the 

 dodo and the saber-toothed tiger. But 

 he has petrified palm, galena, horned 

 toads and other treasures which would 

 be a delight to the member who lives 

 near the sea. Here is where the AA 

 can be of great service. 



Let the Home Office or Museum re- 



