380 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Philosophy and Photographs in a Store 



Interest and Beauty Systematically 

 Arranged. 



T§3 HESE are qualities pre- 

 eminently desired by the 

 student or lover of nature 

 who searches for the things 

 that appeal to him, who 

 admires their beauty and 

 then seeks to arrange 

 them conveniently for the inspection of 

 others. These principles well prac- 

 ticed not only produce an efficient nat- 

 uralist but an effective business, for, 

 after all, a part of a naturalist's work 

 is to seek out things that will interest 

 and benefit others, and the secret of 

 success in business is, first of all, to 

 find the things that interest human be- 

 ings, and then to arrange them in a 

 manner that will make them most effi- 

 ciently available. You may remember 

 the story of Frank Stockton's queen 

 and her museum. The queen meant 

 well, but her museum was not suc- 

 cessful. She travelled far and near, 

 and at great expense of time and 

 money equipped an elaborate exhibi- 

 tion. But the people would not go to 

 it. They would take no interest in it, 

 not even after she had issued an edict 

 that for that lack of interest they 

 should be put in jail. Soon the whole 

 town was in jail. Then came a strangei 

 who advised the queen, and made her 

 museum successful in just two moves. 

 First he found out what the people 

 wanted, and second, he gave it to them. 

 It is this stranger's principle that 

 has made so successful the great store 

 of the C. O. Miller Company in Stam- 

 ford. The managers have learned the 

 secret of getting what the people want. 

 They have the goods in quantity and 

 they are so arranged that they are 

 easily accessible to the people. 



No one lives to himself. We have 

 heard of olden times, and it is as true 

 to-day as it was of yore, that if one 

 would live successfully he must have 

 regard for all his fellow beings, he 

 must accept their point of view and 

 consult their washes. When one fails 



to do this it is time to go off to some 

 lonely place and die, and in matters 

 of business it is time to quit. Life, 

 after all and in all its varied ramifica- 

 tions, comes down to the one principle 

 of leaving self and helping others. 

 This is true whether it is a matter of 

 scholarship, religion, scientific inves- 

 tigation or selling cloth. The greater 

 the helpfulness and the greater the 

 feeling for human needs, the greater 

 the success and the greater the satis- 

 factions when success arrives. 



From time to time I have read 

 newspaper eulogies of the C. O. Miller 

 Company's store and have recognized 

 their fitness, but while visiting that 

 store these bits of fundamental philo- 

 sophy came into my mind, and I de- 

 termined that instead of retaining them 

 there I would give myself the pleasure 

 of sharing them with others. So in the 

 spirit of a naturalist, I shouldered my 

 camera and visited the store. We 

 human beings form a unit with many 

 and varied activities. I have many 

 times expressed profound pity for a 

 brain so besotted by commercialism 

 that it can find no use for the natural- 

 ist, and the naturalist would be a fool 

 if he could not see and occasionally 

 take delight in telling of the beauties 

 and of the interesting concomitants of 

 well conducted commercialism. Let us 

 hammer the iron, let us search through 

 scholarly lore persistently, let us roam 

 the woods and fields with enthusiasm, 

 but amidst it all let us not forget to ap- 

 preciate the labors of others in other 

 pursuits. All are working, or should 

 be working, for the good of humanity. 

 I have kept my eyes open in the Miller 

 store as in the woods and fields, and 

 I have come to this conclusion that the 

 reason why everybody — proprietors, 

 clerks and customers — is hanpy in this 

 store is because the proprietors and 

 their assistants have a kindly feeling 

 for others and serve them in that kindly 

 spirit. It is a two-sided prosperity — a 

 store and its customers. 



Stockton's queen had no pleasure in 

 her museum until her people rejoiced 

 in it ; then both were happy. 



