68 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



And the musician? Now, for a single 

 moment think about him. Have you 

 ever heard Beethoven's "Moonlight 

 Sonata?" Have you ever heard of the 

 circumstances in which Beethoven 

 improvised that magnificent thing? 



Forestry is that branch of nature 

 study most recently brought before the 

 public. When the instruction was first 

 started in the colleges it was thought 

 that it could differ but little from that 

 required for horticulture and botany. 

 However, the character of such teach- 

 ing has been changed during the last 

 few years and at present opportunity 

 for education in professional forestry 

 is not wanting in the United States, 

 where there is a great field ready for 

 the work. 



The trees, especially in the United 

 States, have been felled to such an ex- 

 tent that it has been feared that the 

 result would soon be serious. Per- 

 haps with the assistance of the fores- 

 ters, new plots may be set out to re- 

 place the old ones and still others to 

 supply the great demands of the peo- 

 ple. 



As Hamilton Mabie says these are 

 great and real resources but they are, 

 in a sense, strange to say, the resources 

 of only a limited number of people. 

 But when we stop to consider, every 

 business can be traced back to nature 

 and why? In the beginning, nature 

 was the only inspirer, teacher and 

 source of material and from her 

 through man everything has developed. 



The more closely we study man's re- 

 lation to nature the more intimate that 

 relation is seen to be and the more dis- 

 tinct becomes the fact that nature not 

 only educates him in the arts and 

 sciences but also furnishes him with il- 

 lustrations of their inward life by 

 analogy and symbol. 



The influence of nature even appears 

 in our language — for the words which 

 are borrowed from natural pheno- 

 mena or processes are numberless. The 

 wolf is everywhere the synonym for 

 hunger, the fox for cunning, the ox for 

 patience, the eagle for self-reliance ; the 

 snow is always the symbol of purity, 

 the sky of vastness, the sea of restless- 

 ness ; the mountain of solidity ; light 



and darkness of good and evil. These 

 figures are so generally and so con- 

 stantly used that they form an element 

 in most languages and the more we 

 study them the more clearly do we 

 perceive that nature has furnished man 

 with a complete commentary on him- 

 self and that language is the registry 

 of this intimacy. 



Our education does not stop with 

 the training of the senses and the 

 awakening of the imagination. It may 

 penetrate our moral being and bear 

 the fruit of character, yet this is not 

 always true for many persons in close 

 touch with nature are perhaps open 

 to criticism. This means only that 

 thev have studied nature in the wrong: 

 way — that they have not had the right 

 ideals and thoughts. For every serious 

 contact with nature leaves its impress 

 in character and the moral nature long 

 preserves the record of the educational 

 process. In the end we will receive a 

 great moral return for our work if it is 

 carefully guided by nature. 



When we try to imagine what the 

 relation between nature and man has 

 been and how much each of us owes to 

 it, we should feel not only a sense of 

 awe and w r onder but of intimacy and 

 tenderness. Through many forgotten 

 channels our minds have been nour- 

 ished and expanded by a ministry 

 which, beginning with the first man, 

 is still untiring. This ministry has still 

 its special and peculiar teaching for 

 every member of the human race. He 

 has only to show himself willing to 

 receive, and nature will lay open her 

 exhaustless treasures for his pleasure 

 and endless benefit. 



The education imparted by contact 

 with nature is so inclusive, so deep and 

 so vital that it seems to exist for man's 

 development. 



When a new country is being settled 

 the people must give their entire at- 

 tention to the ways and means of life. 

 They must fell the trees, build houses, 

 raise crops and give all their attention 

 to the material affairs of life. Their 

 whole nature study is a matter of car- 

 ing for the physical man. But when 

 the work becomes more fruitful there 

 is more leisure and thev have a little 



