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THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



THE COKBELATION OF INTEREST AM) 

 OBSERVATION. 



I have somewhere read of a lady who 

 on calling at the studio of a famous 

 painter (Turner, T think) thought to 

 criticise a great painting of a sunset on 

 which the master was at work. 



She said, somewhat superciliously, "I 

 never see all those colors in nature." 



The reply was, "No, madam, you 

 don't; hut don't you wish you could? 



To those who are not naturalists, it 

 seems strange that we, who are, can be- 

 come enthusiastic over "commonplace na- 

 ture with uncommon interest" and revel 

 in it. 



John Burroughs, in The "Century 

 Magazine," writes as follows of this art 

 of seeing things : 



"I once spent a summer day at the 

 mountain home of a well-known literary 

 woman and editor. She lamented the 

 absence of birds about her hou-e. 1 

 named a half-dozen or more I had heard 

 or seen in her trees within an hour- -the 

 indigo-bird, the purple finch, the yellow 

 bird, the veery thrush, the red-eyed 

 vireo, the song sparrow, etc. 



'Do you mean to say you have seen 

 or heard all these birds while sitting hen- 

 on my porch?' She inquired. 



" '1 really have.' I said. 

 'I do not see them or hear them,' she 

 replied, 'and yet I want to very much.' 



"'No/ said I; 'you only want to want 

 to see and hear them.' 



"You must have the b<'rd in your heart 

 before you can hiui it in the bush." 



Every naturalist, I suppose, has fre- 

 quently impressed upon him how many 

 interests in this world go to waste with 

 most people. Strange, isn't it, how many 

 trivial and artificial things gain suore- 

 macy in popularity? With what feeling 

 of pity or of kindly toleration the great 

 mass of mankind looks at the pursuits 

 of real students and lovers of nature! 

 They seem to regard such thing? as a 

 species of harmless lunacy. 



I once saw a sign hanging out o/er 

 the street in front of a saloon. It bore 

 this legend which was supposed to invite 

 passers by to conviviality: "As we jour- 

 ney through life let us live by the way." 

 How true but how much better applied 

 to living in touch with nature than to 

 carousal and debauch with one of na- 

 ture's by-products. 



Lack of interest causes most persons 

 to miss many of the best things of this 

 life, to fail of most satisfactory living 

 by the way. To many this life is a dreary 

 valley of Raca, of which the Psalmist, 

 said that he, passing through, was able to 

 make it a well. 



Recently one of my neighbor's be- 

 came interested in honeybees. Every- 

 thing then centered in honevbees. When 

 he took a walk it was to examine flowers 

 and see what kinds the bees visited for 

 nectar. Likewise to members of his 

 family ever) thing pertaining to bees 

 had immediate attention. 



In the latter part of October he called 

 excitedly to say that all the bloom of the 

 asters and the golden-rod on a certain 



