i^ATURE Study. 167 



and rapid observation, which will be of infinite value in any posi- 

 tion in life. 



For instance, take it on the farm. It is not the big burly boy 

 or man who can perform prodigious feats of strength, breaks all 

 the handles in your pitchforks and smashes things generally, 

 breaking more implements than he's worth, who is in greatest 

 demand and receives the highest wages. Rather, who does not 

 prefer the one who works intelligently with his brain, eyes and 

 hands in harmony; who does not have to be told twice how to 

 do a thing, but comprehends immediately and does it; nor stopi 

 five minutes to think before he can see what he is doing; who, 

 when sent to the garden to hoe the weeds out will not also root 

 up all the vegetable plantlets, never having noticed the differenoe 

 between vegetable plants and weeds in their first stages of 

 growth? Yes, we've all seen just such help. Intelligent help on 

 the farm is getting scarcer every year, yet what men we are 

 obliged to hire demand the same wages a skilled laborer is en- 

 titled to. In nature study we have a remedy. 



Not only on the farm, but in any position, be it messenger boy 

 or bank clerk, the one with a quick observant eye is better 

 equipped for positions of advancement, and the one not so en- 

 dowed must cultivate the habit if he wins success in life. The 

 Indian who roamed through these trackless forests before the 

 advent of the white men had so trained the eye for generations, 

 that they were able to tell from an indistinct footprint how many 

 hours had elapsed since the foot had pressed the ground, and 

 could follow the trail for miles, which to a white man's eye 

 showed not the faintest trace. You have heard of the man travel- 

 ing in the Orient who lost his camel. In his search for the ani- 

 mal he met an Arab of whom he made inquiries for the missing 

 beast, but he said he had not seen the camel. After further con- 

 versation the Arab asked the traveler if his camel was lame on 

 its left hind foot, blind in its right eye, and carried meal in its 

 pannier. The traveler answered yes, then you have seen my 

 camel and can tell me where he may be found. The Arab said 



