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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



that the magazine is The Guide to 

 Nature not The Guide Post to 

 Nature. A guide is a person; a post 

 is a thing; and we like to illustrate 

 general principles in relation to nature 

 by personality. If I were to tell the 

 story of the interesting traits that I 

 had observed in a robin, a squirrel, or a 

 cyclops, it would be as interesting from 

 the naturalist's point of view, if read 

 in the heart of Africa, though that par- 

 ticular variety of life might not be 

 found there. The same principle is 

 true regarding the articles that The 

 Guide to Nature has been publishing. 

 If we had said, "The observation of 

 nature is a relief from the cares of an 

 office," or, "It is a very excellent re- 

 creation after the duties of a profes- 

 sional life," no one could call it a local 

 statement. I regret to note that when 

 we make that precept concrete as in 

 the lives of Commodore E. C. Benedict 

 and Dr. Robert T. Morris, some one 

 says, "You are localizing the mag- 

 azine," seeing only the fact that these 

 gentlemen live in this vicinity. The 

 example that Mr. William L. Marks 

 has set to the entire world is, to my 

 mind, far more important than to say 

 that I saw a robin enter her nest at 

 the northeast corner, or that I had ob- 

 served a snake coiled with his head 

 toward the south. I am a naturalist 

 and thoroughly believe in the value of 

 accurate observation, but I also believe 

 that many observations are as useless 

 as some photographs. The world is 

 too full of beauty to make it worth 

 any camerist's while to start in to take 

 promiscuous snap shots simply because 

 the scene is beautiful. This magazine 

 stands for things that mean something, 

 and it stands for lives in nature that 

 have not lived in vain. 



When Mr. William L. Marks at 

 great expense maintains a private es- 

 tate and cordially invites the public to 

 use it, here is a display of a phase of 

 nature and a trait of human nature 

 that the gods, and the angeis too, 

 might well observe, admire and put on 

 record. 



When one sees monuments shrewdly 

 erected by paying only a part of the 

 expense and saddling the rest upon a 



heavily taxed and overburdened com- 

 munity ; when one sees money spent 

 idly in a vain display that will mean 

 nothing to posterity, then I say, herald 

 to the remotest part of the earth the 

 altruistic self-abnegation portrayed in 

 the article on Judge John Clason. 

 That example is not a local "write- 

 up ;" it is history that reaches to the 

 heavens and if you, still living far on 

 this side of that locality, can see in 

 such an example nothing but a local 

 "write-up" I can quote only the reply 

 of the artist who, when a supercilious 

 woman said, "I never saw a sunset like 

 that," replied, "Madam, don't you wish 

 you could ?" 



I am not so much trying to help 

 people to see something in nature as I 

 am trying to induce them to be some- 

 thing as the outcome of their observa- 

 tions of the lives of men who are cor- 

 rectly blazing the way. This is a mag- 

 azine of helpfulness. Hundreds of ar- 

 ticles, and thousands of photographs, 

 have gone back to the author or to the 

 photographer, for the reason that their 

 publication would not help anybody. 

 Science for its own sake, the measur- 

 ing of the angles of crystals, the length 

 and diameter of the hairs of guinea 

 pigs ; the recording of the spots on a 

 potato bug, the ascertaining of the 

 color preferences of newly hatched 

 turtles, all have their place, but that 

 place is not in The Guide to Nature. 



This magazine and The Agassiz As- 

 sociation literally stand for "The ap- 

 plication of a naturalist's knowledge 

 to the good of humanity." If a boy or 

 girl can be made better or helped to 

 become a good man or woman through 

 the influence of a turtle or a frog, then 

 let us have the turtle and the frog; but 

 at the very moment when that turtle 

 or frog ceases to help the boy or girl, 

 let away with it, and get something 

 else that will renew the effect or pro- 

 duce the desired result. 



If there is any one thing above 

 another about a selfish naturalist or 

 any other egoistic crank that I dislike, 

 it is an attitude implying, "You must 

 be interested in my pursuits." 



Professor L. H. Bailey has clearly 

 defined the difference between science 



