4io 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



about catchy things to please the mo- 

 dern audience and to arouse their in- 

 terest in novelties. 



Possibly I didn't understand; per- 

 haps she didn't 



:;: * * * -■'■ 



But I hope you, my lover of "com- 

 monplace nature with uncommon in- 

 terest/' will sympathize with the seri- 

 ous undercurrent that flows steadily 

 and continuously beneath this little 

 nonsense talk and which means that, 

 to a true lover of nature, it is distaste- 

 ful to exhibit any phase of nature as a 

 "freak" or as a specimen suitable only 

 for a dime museum or to degrade any 

 aspect of nature into a scientific 

 "stunt" in mental acrobatics to aston- 

 ish the groundlings. Photography 

 through a cat's eye has a certain inter- 

 est as a scientific experiment and 

 credit is due to those who in the right 

 spirit have done it successfully, but 

 my objections are to the arranging of 

 a lot of "such things" for the special 

 purpose of making eyes dilate and 

 mouths fly open to exclaim, "Isn't that 

 wonderful !" 



It is wonderful ; anything, every- 

 thing in nature is wonderful. Even a 

 mouse, just an ordinary, cheese nib- 

 bling mouse (not one with six legs 

 nor with a tail a yard long!), is, as 

 Thoreau insisted, a miracle great 

 enough to stagger sextillions of infidels, 

 although I think that even Thoreau 

 was guilty of a numerical "stunt" 

 when he made that statement. It 

 would have been as impressive if he 

 had put the number in comprehensible 

 figures. If it would stagger one infidel 

 it would stagger an unlimited number 

 of others in a similar frame of mind. 

 Nowadays there is plenty of the as- 

 tounding in business, finance, travel, 

 mechanics, art ; and in science there 

 is an abundance of opportunity for 

 surprising yet truthful reports of 

 actual occurrences. The true lover of 

 nature seeks not the rush nor the 

 turmoil nor the bewildering perfor- 

 mances of semi-imaginary creatures, 

 but the calm, restful phase — the tonic, 

 not the temporary stimulant ; the spirit 

 ■of truth and of sanity, never the spirit 

 of the sensational. 



NATURE STUDY VERSUS AVORRY. 



The human mind does not work to 

 its full capacity in all directions at 

 once. It always economizes gray mat- 

 ter — if we may use the expression — 

 by specializing. That which is not of 

 immediate interest is apt to be dis- 

 regarded by the mind. 



There are thousands of noises which 

 strike the ear-drum that make no per- 

 ceptible effect on the consciousness. 

 For instance, we may be in a room for 

 hours and not notice the tick of the 

 clock. If it stops, we notice it imme- 

 diately. 



There are thousands of impressions 

 made upon the retina which leave no 

 visible mark upon the consciousness. 

 As I sit writing, there are in view a 

 large number of objects which make as 

 vivid an impression on the retina as 

 the pencil I am using, yet they do not 

 come into consciousness because the 

 attention is not fixed on them. 



The ability to feel is not fully devel- 

 oped in any one who sees. The sight- 

 less, being' under the necessity of de- 

 pending more upon touch sensations, 

 develop a keenness of touch entirely 

 foreign to those who see. No matter 

 how much one who sees may attempt 

 to develop the sense of touch, it is 

 still inferior to this sense in the blind. 

 This great principle of the mind is 

 one that can be utilized to banish 

 worry. Good thoughts may be made 

 to crowd out worry, right mental activ- 

 ities to supplant those that are wrong. 

 One who is busily engaged, giving 

 attention to the messages that go to 

 the brain through the eye and ear, has 

 comparatively little time to worry. Io 

 worry is to have eyes and see not, 

 to have ears and hear not, because the 

 mind is centered inside, on woes, sup- 

 posed or real. No man, while he has 

 a real interest in nature, can have 

 much time for worry. 



For this reason, nature study is a 

 sovereign cure for the blues. Let one 

 form the habit, when walking, of see- 

 in- things, of catching the myriads of 

 messages nature is sending inward— 

 or as many of them as possible— and 

 my word for it. he will have no time 

 for worry, and once the habit of ob- 



