90 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



THE WEST END OF THE HALL AT NIRVANA. 



vain show and an empty display as 

 well as the other. The possessions of 

 one are expressed by a deed and of the 

 other by a diploma. 



The vital question is, does that deed 

 or diploma express a life — a thing worth 

 living' for? Fortunate is the worker 

 in either great or small if he has his 

 heart in the work and is not harnessed 

 to it. But more fortunate is the mem- 

 ber of a third class who can extract 

 joys from both, for then he rises the 

 highest in divine privilege, or, as Cole- 

 ridge put it in the oft quoted couplet : 

 "He prayeth best, who loveth best 

 All things both great and small." 



It has been my good privilege to 

 know a naturalist of this third class — 

 one with a love of the greater things 

 of nature, and possessing facilities to 

 gratify this love, as shown in the ac- 

 companying photographs. 



But Mrs. Alexandre, of Nirvana, 

 Stamford, Connecticut, is more than a 

 lover of a fine estate. She belongs to 

 the third class because she combines 



the great and the small, and gets as 

 much enjoyment from a tiny bird as 

 from more conspicuous things. Be- 

 cause she does this so well, and be- 

 cause we are a Guide, we have asked 

 her to give guidance and suggestions 

 to our readers. She complies with that 

 request in the following letter: 



Dear Mr. Editor: 



Nirvana, Stamford, Conn. 



I fear that I have been an uncon- 

 scious fraud and without meaning to 

 do so, have given you the impression 

 that I have studied in many of nature's 

 different departments : but I must con- 

 fess to being ignorant about many 

 things that you have admired here in 

 my home, and tell you frankly that 

 such time and study as I have given 

 to natural history has been entirely in 

 connection with our wild birds. 



Most of the beauties of this place 

 are due to its situation and environ- 

 ment ; such embellishment as I have 

 added has resulted from mv innate love 



