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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



You say the bee "buzzed," which describes 

 the noise a bee makes to a "T," and I be- 

 lieve your statement that the little insect 

 was in search of the honey which nestles 

 in the heart of the flowers. Why do I be- 

 lieve this? I'll tell you: 



Nine times out of 10 when a bee crosses 

 one's pathway it is in search of honey — 

 honey in the heart of the flowers, because 

 there is where honey nestles. 



The Protection of Native Plants. 



The Society for the Protection of 

 Native Plants has printed on cotton 

 for outdoor use notices reading: 



SPARE THE FLOWERS 

 Thoughtless people are destroy- 

 ing the flowers by pulling them up 

 by the roots or by picking too 

 many of them. 



CUT what flowers you take, and 

 leave plenty to go to seed. 



These notices can be obtained from 

 the secretary of the society, Miss M. 

 E. Carter, Boston Society of Natural 

 History, Boston, Mass. We should 

 like to add to the above notice that 

 too many wild flowers are picked with- 

 out any special object. Many of our 

 wild flowers that are beautiful in their 

 own homes lose almost immediately 

 their freshness and charm when picked. 

 Why not leave them where they grow 

 for others to enjoy? Some people 

 when in the woods and fields have a 

 mania for picking every flower they 

 see, although often it is thrown away 

 without even being carried home. — Ex. 



TWO OBSERVERS. 



By Emma Pierce, New York City. 



My friend and I a-walking go, 



She fain would nature's secrets know, 



Enough for me her beauty's glow. 



We see a floweret in the grass, 



I praise its color as we pass, 



She stoops to pluck it; — then, alas! 



Are dainty petals torn apart, 



A cruel knife must pierce its heart, 



(I almost think I feel the smart) ; 



And leaf and stem and root must be 



Examined carefully to see 



If with the book they will agree. 



And soon the flower, that, ere we came, 



So sweetly bloomed, unknown to fame, 



Lies buried 'neath a Latin name. 



Which way soever we may go, 



My friend would nature's secrets know, 



Enough for me her beauty's glow. 



Nature Study as a Resource in Life. 



A GRADUATION ESSAY BY MISS MARION 



PACKER, (19H) THE CASTLE, TARRY- 



TOWN-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK. 



Among the most important ministers 

 to culture — religion, art, literature, 

 science, human relations and experi- 

 ence — nature holds the first place ; it 

 is, in fact, the foundation of all arts 

 and sciences. The intimacy between 

 nature and man began with his ap- 

 pearance on earth. Annually it grows 

 more rational and far-reaching. 



But man too frequently accepts na- 

 ture as a matter of course, and fails to 

 realize the full power of its marvelous 

 suggestions for the enrichment of his 

 life. Seldom does he receive from it 

 all the health, the mental stimulus or 

 even the physical exhilaration which it 

 constantly and freely offers. 



It is an important moment in a man's 

 experience when he awakes to the 

 natural wonders about him, for from 

 that instant he sees what miracles the 

 earth and the sky actually are and his 

 spirit is changed and hourly changes. 

 By a process of absorption he becomes 

 a part of nature and nature becomes 

 a part of him. They then live in an 

 unity so intimate that they become 

 practically inseparable until death 

 separates them. To prepare even a 

 superficial epitome of what men have 

 learned from nature would involve the 

 telling of the development of each 

 man's personality and the history of 

 his spiritual and cerebral growth. To 

 describe it accurately and in - detail 

 would involve not a recapitulation, not 

 an abstract of the natural sciences, but 

 an encyclopaedic rewriting of each . 



It is difficult to explain the simplicity 

 of our relationship with nature. Like 

 the unspoken intercourse between 

 mother and infant it is mysterious, but 

 the mother understands it, the baby 

 comprehends it. The naturalist com- 

 prehends his unspoken intercourse 

 with nature, but he finds difficulty in 

 explaining it to a fellow being who 

 shows no interest, and who seems to 

 feel no sympathy with the ground and 

 its herbage, with the firmament and the 

 birds which fly beneath its azure. The 

 lover of nature is too often uncom- 



