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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



So, I, the writer, say the Bands of 

 Mercy or other Societies of Protection 

 are good only part way. An AA Chap- 

 ter is far better, in that it founds its 

 mercy not on our self-satisfaction but in 

 intelligent appreciation. 



It is a self-satisfaction merely to give 

 money to a poor man begging at the 

 door. Such "gifts" are but the pur- 

 chase of the absence of pain on the part 

 of the "giver." So money given merely 

 to stop our pain, to cater to our sense of 

 justice or pity when a man is pounding 

 his horse, is good ; but it isn't the high- 

 est ideal. That man plying his club on 

 the horse is manifesting his spirit, not 

 far different, perhaps, from the one 

 who plys money to officer or court to 

 pound him. It is but a little while 

 since we, humanity, came out of savage 

 fight and struggle, and perhaps in the 

 present stage of development the crude 

 methods of Humane Societies or Bands 

 of Mercy or Societies for Protection are 

 the best we can do. There are more 

 Humane Societies, more Bands of 

 Mercy, with pity and clubs of protec- 

 tion than there are Appreciators of 

 Life in all its varied forms, more to 

 pity the horse than the make-up of the 

 man that makes him want to pound the 

 horse, more societies with laws of re- 

 straint, catering to self-satisfaction, 

 than there are. Chapters of The Agassiz 

 Association with the higher ideals of 

 equality, merit, of equal regret for the 

 "pounding" of the man, or the "shoot- 

 ing" of the hunter, as well as for the 

 suffering of the horse or the death of 

 the white heron. 



It's coming yet for a' that and a' that, 

 when man and beast . and bird shall 

 brothers be for a' that and a' that. 



The AA is but a double emphasis on 

 the beginnings of the alphabet, of the 

 new era, when mankind shall lay aside 

 laws and then necessity, poundings and 

 their incentives, shootings and their 

 motives or selfishness. 



The AA has not a law for protection 

 or restraint, not a blow or shot at the 

 man any more than for beast or bird ; 

 it peers forward to the ideal man of the 

 future rather than backward to days of 

 savagery. 



Are you looking forward or back- 

 ward? Help us to "ring in the new." 



Nature Studies. 



BY MISS HARRIET E. WILSON, CORRESPOND- 

 ING MEMBER NO. 2101, STORMSTOWN 

 CENTRE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. 



Nature studies ! I have had nothing 

 but nature studies a lifetime. I was 

 born on a farm and lived there more 

 years than I expect to live. Only little 

 more than a year ago we moved to the 

 village and here we have nature too — 

 birds, birds, plenty of them. 



I have been interested in two robins. 

 Their nest is in a neighboring lot. They 

 seem to obtain most of their living from 

 my lot. I observed one eat three fish- 

 ing worms in less than a minute — three 

 fishing worms, my fishing worms that I 

 depend upon to unlock the fertility of 

 the soil. I am not begrudging the 

 robin the worms. The robins were at 

 the green strawberries for breakfast 

 and the last thing at night, leaving 

 very few for me, and now it is the cher- 

 ries, many of which are being des- 

 troyed with the help of the English 

 sparrow. 



We notice, too, that the bumblebees 

 are more numerous than they have 

 been for years. I deplored the scarcity 

 of the bumblebees, and the farmers 

 could not grow clover seed. Father 

 said it was the midge in the clover that 

 it would not seed. I know that flowers 

 depend largely upon insect fertilization 

 and the bumblebee visiting the clover 

 would carry pollen from one blossom 

 to another, and perhaps the bumblebee 

 is a foe to the midge. It is my opinion 

 that if it had been properly fertilized 

 the midge would not be there. The 

 bumblebee should be protected by law. 

 It visits the weigelia, mock orange, iris 

 and rose. 



This is one of the best places to 

 study nature. We have within sixteen 

 miles the rocks of the different geolog- 

 ical ages from lower strata Silurian to 

 the coal measures and, of course, the 

 different soils and flowers. 



This is the rich farm land of the 

 Silurian limestone of the Trenton 

 period. There is a fault about a half 

 mile from here where the under strata, 

 Canadian, comes to the surface and with 

 it the iron ore — limonite variety. There 

 are mines two miles from here in the 

 same fault in what we call the Barrens. 



