224 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



all tend to show that his heart is right, al- 

 though he may not get time to extend his 

 interest over a large territory. In his in- 

 teresting book, Mr. Pellett publishes good 

 articles and attractive illustrations on red- 

 tailed hawks, screech owls, polecats, tur- 



and music of it, of shore and dune and pine 

 and mystifying lights upon the sunset wat- 

 ers and the windings of the river to meet 

 the waiting amplitude of horizonless waves. 

 God's perpetuated mercy is that beauty is 

 customary; but in some places beauties do 



^i 



"AS SOON AS AN EGG CRACKED OPEN, A LITTLE NOSE WOULD BE PUSHED OUT. AND 

 THERE BABY TURTLE WOLTLD SIT FOR HOURS." 

 From "Our Backdoor Neighbors." 



ties, cotton-tails, crows, caterpillars and 

 many other things to prove that he keep* 

 his eyes open when he goes afield, and to 

 emphasize the old saying, "Everything is 

 fish that comes to the net of a naturalist." 

 We hope the book will have an extensive 

 sale. It has the right spirit.. 



Beside Lake Beautiful. By William A. 

 Quayle. Xew York City : The Abingdon 

 Press. 



The naturalist and the minister combined 

 in one person have produced this book. 

 The author's most famous previous work is 

 perhaps "In God's Out-of-doors." In the 

 present book he has revealed his heart from 

 a cottage "somewhere on a lake," but just 

 what lake it is he does not tell us. All we 

 are to know about it is: 



"On the east shore of one of America's 

 inland seas (which one is not material ) 1 

 have spent sundry summers, and if I set a- 

 talking and grow garrulous, set it down not 

 to age, but to love; for love and age are 

 alike garrulous. Good things bear talking 

 of, and that right often." 



The religious element is conspicuous. He 

 tells us: 



"I speak now of the lake with tilt of wave 



as stars do in certain spaces of the skies — 

 they cluster. Beside Lake Beautiful is such 

 a spot. 



* * % :|: t- 



''My pages of memory are sown to pic- 

 tures which I humbly hope and pray my 

 God will let me have when I have come to 

 stay with Him in heaven: and I think He 

 will." 



The publishers have done their part well. 

 The book in itself is admirable. Not only 

 a good thing to hold in the hand but it 

 looks well on the table. It makes us see 

 what the author sought at his lakeside and 

 shows us much more of his inner self and 

 what he was thinking as he wanders 

 around the lake or rows on the water. He 

 has read the hymn and is ready for the 

 people to sing. 



"We come and look at the river or the 

 lake, and the winds are fresh and glad and 

 the landscape seems like a picture God had 

 just painted, and we say grace and partake, 

 and laugh when there is no joke and giggle 

 when we are most solemn. Out in God's 

 dining-room with those we love the very 

 most in this world is pure delight. This is 

 the land of pure delight whereof we wist- 

 fully sang in winter days, and we are its 

 inhabitants. Lift the song." 



