HOMES NEAR TO NATURE. 



349 



CAREFULLY STUDYING THE WOLF TRAIL 



fact so matter-of-factly stated as to be 

 devoid of all interest, and a skilled 

 writer like Dr. Long" may so cull, so 

 select, so charmingly portray the in- 

 terests of nature as to cause one to 

 exclaim, "Can these be facts" ! The 

 interesting fact need not be misrepre- 

 sented but may be so attractively 

 dressed as to seem no longer a prosaic 

 fact. And it is not prosaic, and it 

 should not be; the interest should be 

 uppermost. 



Undoubtedly this naturalist puts in- 

 to his play the same painstaking care- 



fulness that the scholar does into 

 literature or theology. As every 

 little sera]) of paper may contain the 

 word Allah, so every form and action 

 of the wild creatures mav throw light 

 on the work of the Maker. He 

 searches in both fields intensely. 



Dr. Long's interest in nature began, 

 he thinks, the first time he crept out 

 of doors into the sunshine. One of 

 his earliest recollections is of trying 

 to share his bread and molasses with a 

 toad that lived under the doorstep. 

 Finding his good food rejected, he 



WHERE THE DOG DOES MOST OF THE WORK. 

 In the far north on the way to the trout lake for fishing through the ice. 



