132 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



JOHN C. UHRLAUB, A NEW YORK CITY 

 I'.' SINESS .MAX RESIDING IN GLl'.X- 

 BROOKj CONNECTICUT. 



(Published in The Stamford Advocate.) 

 I have seen in your paper that Ed- 

 ward F. Bigelow is obliged to quit the 

 Arcadia buildings in Sound Beach, and 

 would like to know whether something 

 cannot be done to retain so valu- 

 able a man as Air. Bigelow is, for 

 Stamford and its vicinity. I must 

 frankly confess, that when I first met 

 Air. Bigelow, I thought that his work 

 was merely a money-making proposi- 

 tion ,the more so, as I understood that 

 was behind the Arcadia proposi- 

 tion, and I thought that Air. Bigelow 

 was getting a good, big, fat salary out 

 of the thing. I afterwards found, by 

 personal investigation, that Bigelow 

 was absolutely sincere in his work and 

 and his undertakings, and know that he 

 not only got not a cent of money out 

 of the whole proposition, but sacri- 

 ficed his own services and his own 

 money, for benefit of his altruistic 

 ideas. Can it not be possibly arranged 

 that a collection be started, by which 

 a fund could be raised to secure the 

 work of Air. Bigelow to Stamford and 

 its vicinity? Incidentally, our public 

 schools do not make a specialty of 

 teaching natural history, and I think 

 that the love and knowledge of nature 

 is almost as essential to the bringing 

 up of a child as religion, and I believe 

 that our friend Bigelow has done as 

 much good missionary work as any 

 Alethodist minister that ever went out 

 to the Cannibal Islands, to preach the 

 gospel; and if charity begins at home, 

 I certainly feel that Mr. Bigelow's 

 missionary efforts have been of much 

 more lasting good to our neighborhood 

 than any Alethodist missionaries ever 

 could spread in some unknown part of 

 the world. I would like to hear from 

 you in this matter and if necessary 

 would be glad to make my contribution 

 towards such a fund as I have sug- 

 gested. 



Hope your magazine will grow and 

 blossom like a green bay tree and de- 

 light many thousands. — H. M. Brown, 

 Natick, Massachusetts. 



A Letter From an AA Member From 



Wisconsin who had Come to 



Arcadia to Study. 



[Published in The Stamford Advocate and 



The Greenwich News.] 



As a lay member of the AA I can- 

 not refrain from voicing a protest 

 against the position taken by Air. . 



The AA was led to suppose that Air. 



's generosity in the free lease of 



the Arcadia property was an expres- 

 sion of real interest in the work of the 

 A A, in sympathy with its standards 

 and traditions, and the result of a de- 

 sire to aid in the most direct and prac- 

 tical way by giving it a definite and 

 permanent home wherein to develop 

 and from which to extend its useful- 

 ness. Instead what do we find? If we 

 understand the English language, it 



must be this — that Air. 's free lease 



of the Arcadia property was designed 

 simply as an advertised bid to the pub- 

 lic for its patronage with the expecta- 

 tion that by this exploitation Dr. Bige- 

 low would be able to secure a comfort- 

 able salary for himself and family. 

 After two years' experiment (!) with 

 this astonishing project, he decides to 

 throw up the job, to speak in common 

 phrase, and invites Dr. Bigelow to va- 

 cate the premises and, in short, move 

 on to fresh fields and pastures new 

 and dismiss the AA with the pleasant 

 reminder that it has no assets and can 

 conduct its mission from any post of- 

 fice address. Oh ! indeed ! Can it ? 



What a simple solution. Mr. has 



evidently not yet discovered that the 

 AA was not founded for the purpose 

 of doing business. Still more astound- 

 ing is his entire failure to understand 

 the ideals and purpose of the Bigelows. 

 Has the faith in altruism passed from 

 the earth? Has the frenzy of commer- 

 cialism so besotted the brains of men 

 that a life devoted to the deepening of 

 human knowledge and human con- 

 sciousness makes no convincing ap- 

 peal? Has Air. nothing to offer 



this group of zealous educators and 

 missionaries but a business oppor- 

 tunity? 



As a student at Arcadia, it has been 

 my privilege to pass in and out of the 

 laboratory and editorial offices as a 



