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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



: *-...... ; I TIC ;•*-....•. — * ill 



AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



Established 1875 Incorporated, Massachusetts, 1892 Incorporated, Connecticut, 1910 



Effective Co-Operation by Past Presi- 

 dent Ballard. 



One of the most pleasing and en- 

 couraging phases of The Agassiz Asso- 

 ciation work by the present manage- 

 ment is the hearty co-operation of the 

 Past President and present Vice- 

 President, Harlan H. Ballard of Pitts- 

 field, Massachusetts. 



MR. HARLAN II. BALLARD, PITTSFIELD, 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



Here is an article recently written 

 by him and published by "Primary 

 Plans" of Danville, New York, in their 

 issue for November: 



THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. 



BY HARLAN II. BALLARD, 



Originator and for Thirty-three Years Presi- 

 dent of the AA, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 



It is not good to be alone. The sad- 

 dest word is loneliness. The happiest 

 place is home. The best thing in the 

 world is love. People are glad to get 

 together — sad when they have to part. 

 Union is strength and joy. The family, 

 the church, the school, the college, the 

 club, and fraternity, the society, the 

 city, the nation, are all the results of 

 the universal desire of fellowship. The 

 bond of union is a common interest. 

 Folks who like the same things like 

 each other. Those who do the same 

 things like to be together. A pleasure 

 shared is a pleasure doubled. When 

 children and parents stop working and 

 playing together the home goes to 

 pieces. When boys and girls go to 

 school only because they have to, edu- 

 cation is a failure. 



It follows, from this that a good way 

 to make people happy is to give them 

 something of sufficient interest to draw 

 them together in unselfish groups, and 

 keep them together by keeping that in- 

 terest alive. The higher and deeper 

 the common interest which unites us, 

 the grander is the society. The bond 

 of the family is love of kindred. The 

 bond of the church is love of God and 

 of humanity. The broader the common 

 interest, the larger will be the society. 

 The love of kindred is narrow, and the 

 family is small ; the love of humanity 

 is wide, and the church is universal. 



No merely human society can rival 

 either the family or the church, but 

 every society can do something toward 

 uniting its members in friendship, and 

 in working together for good. There ; s 



