3 68 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



NO. 3. FROM THE TOP OF THE DAM. 



NO. 4. THE ROAD AND THE BRIDGE AT THE UPPER END OF THE LAKE. 



The Japanese Love of Nature. 



The Japanese love nature, and as a 

 consequence have studied nature as 

 probably no other people of the world 

 have studied it. Even the common 

 people travel far to see natural scenery, 

 and generally have trained themselves 

 to a keen appreciation of all that is 

 beautiful in nature. This is shown even 

 in their method of floral arrangement. 

 Western people endeavor to empha- 

 size the beauty of flowers by arranging 



them in a vase by themselves without 

 cither leaves or branches, while the 

 Japanese invariably add the branches 

 and leaves, arranging them in such a 

 natural way as to make them appear 

 most naturaUv beautiful from their ar- 

 tistic stand])' int. It is not the mere 

 Towers alone, but the ideas they ex- 

 press ; and the Japanese wish to show 

 their conception of what is beautiful 

 in the form and position of flowers and 

 leaves and branches together. — "The 

 ( Jriental Review," New York Citv. 



