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THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



two men who were, externally, the 

 toughest of the degraded. They were 

 true friends. They knew what it was 

 to be alone, friendless and sick, and 

 they treated me like a brother. I 

 learned to know them — their better 

 selves. Don't you imagine they loved 

 their river, the sunrises, the forests? 

 Yes, sir ! They loved them and with 

 a sense as refined as ours who call 

 ourselves cultured gentlemen. 



If that "sunrise party" had slapped 

 the old man on the back, given him a 

 smoke and talked with him, not try- 

 ing to point out to him the things he 

 knew better than they did, they would 

 have found a man better versed in the 

 ways of nature than they were, and 

 with a spirit as loving and appreciative 

 as theirs. 



Sincerely yours, 



Philip W. Wolle. 



I am "lad this good word has been 

 said for "the man with the hoe ; it is 

 well to weigh carefully both sides of 

 a question. I, too, have known inti- 

 mately — not only for a few days but 

 for years — those who are "externally 

 the toughest of the degraded," and yet 

 who loved rivers and sunrises and for- 

 ests "with a sense as refined as ours 

 who call ourselves cultured gentlemen." 

 There are thousands who live near to 

 nature, as claimed by Mr. Wolle, who 

 possess in a high degree refined feel- 

 ings, strong sturdy love and lofty in- 

 spirations. But I believe that Mr. Wolle 

 strengthens Professor Nolan's point. It 

 is not in the individual but in the par- 

 ticular class typified by "the man with 

 the hoe" that lies the trouble. It is 

 not the occupation, not the country, but 

 what the man represents. The members 

 of the "sunrise party" had no oppor- 

 tunity to apply the jovial slapping nor 

 to give the convivial smoke before the 

 hell manifested itself. The trouble was 

 not with the occupation, as Mr. AYolle 

 proceeds to prove by the two men 

 whom he knew, and who were "ex- 

 ternally the toughest of the degraded." 

 Yes, I like Mr. Wolle's kindness of 

 heart that prompts him to speak a good 

 word for the representative man with 

 the hoe, but the more the matter is con- 

 sidered from his point of view, the 



stronger Professor Nolan's point seems 

 to be!— E. F. B. 



A Snake-Eating Frog. 



Brooklyn, New York. 

 To the Editor : 



The student of nature, meeting as 

 he does, many strange and curious 

 things in his daily tramps, becomes 

 accustomed to anomalies. I must con- 

 fess, however, that when my small 

 boy told me that a wood frog in his 

 vivarium, was devouring a snake, I 

 was rather incredulous. I hastened 



THE SXAKE-EATING FROG. 



to the scene of action to see for my- 

 self this startling phenomenon. The 

 beautiful little wood frog, Rana syfra- 

 tica, had been in the vivarium for some 

 time. The evening before the boy had 

 put a lively little garter snake in with 

 the batrachians. The wood frog seemed 

 to forget entirely his atavic dread of 

 the reptile kind and promptly attempt- 

 ed to make a meal of the little snake. 

 The accompanying photograph shows 

 the frog struggling with a morsel far 

 beyond his capacity. He worked for 

 an' entire day with a zeal worthy of 

 a better cause but never succeeded in 

 swallowing the last three inches of 

 the snake. At the end of twenty-four 

 hours he was obliged to give up the 

 attempt altogether and to restore the 

 snake to his native element. 



John. J. Schoonhoven. 



My First Sight of a Northern Shrike. 

 234 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

 To the Editor: 



Late in January, the twenty-seventh 



