EDITORIAL AND GENERAL. 



io* 



if this isn't the limit ! Do you think I 

 would be so foolish as to leave my 

 business in the evening- to go out and 

 look at the stars? "Why, I don't be- 

 lieve that I ever looked up at the 

 stars in all my life. I am too busy 

 for such foolishness." 



I started to preach a little sermon 

 on that text, but I believe there is 

 no need of doing so, because to the 

 readers of The Guide; to Nature the 

 sermon that I would preach permeates 

 every word and embraces his remark 

 around, above and below. With ever- 

 increasing amazement, I can only re- 

 peat my text, "Why, I don't believe 

 I ever looked up at the stars in all 

 my life." 



Poor man ! and yet, he is regarded 

 as a rich man, a very rich man. But 

 from ever becoming rich at such a 

 sacrifice, please, O stars, deliver me. 



Getting Our Money Back. 



Last autumn nearly a car load of 

 nursery stock, worth about two hun- 

 dred and fifty dollars, was set out in 

 Arcadia. There are no two shrubs or 

 trees alike, the purpose being not alto- 

 gether for ornament but more partic- 

 ularly for the instruction and con- 

 venience of visitors who may thus be 

 inspired to set out for themselves one 

 or more that may take their fancy. A 

 rustic fence has been run around the 

 experimental garden, cold frames have 

 been built and the grounds laid out. 

 All has been donated for the good of 

 The Agassiz Association and the build- 

 ing up of this Nature Institution. 



But by at least one resident it ap- 

 pears that Arcadia is regarded as some 

 sort of mysterious business venture, 

 for here is the manner in which we 

 were one morning interrogated by a 

 passerby. 



"Now, I've been by here a good 

 man}' times and have seen you at work. 

 It all looks very nice but I've been 

 wondering how you make it pay. If 

 you won't consider me impertinent I'd 

 like to ask how you get your money 

 back." 



"Pay?" Why bless you, dear sir, 

 we are overpaid. We are guilty, con- 

 science stricken, in having so much 

 more than some others. We have all 



the universe; our property is so ex- 

 tensive that we have time to examine 

 but little of it — from stars to diatoms— 

 the days go round so rapidlv. 



"Pay?" Why the wealth comes 

 rolling in so fast that we have no time 

 to make records nor to store away 

 even a little of it. 



"Pay?" It is true the actual money 

 for those shrubs and trees may never 

 come back but we shall be well paid 

 in our consciousness of having done 

 the best possible for every friend of 

 Arcadia, for every student of the Agas- 

 siz Association, for every reader of 

 The Guide to Nature. 



"Pay?" Wouldn't you like to join 

 us and get some of the real pay of this 

 world — not of course in exchange for 

 the superfluities and luxuries of life, 

 but the wealth that is real, the opu- 

 lence that makes life actually worth 

 living? And as you gather this har- 

 vest, you will remember that "Nature 

 never did betray the heart that loved 

 her." 



Contributions to Arcadia. 



A liberal supply of plate glass, for 

 special, original, photographic appara- 

 tus for certain scientific experiments, 

 has been contributed by Mr. W. W. 

 Heroy of Stamford, Connecticut. 



It will be remembered that Mr. 

 Heroy, a few weeks ago, contributed 

 some specially made mirrors for an- 

 other department of experimental work. 



Our Zoo department has received a 

 contribution of a Connecticut oppos- 

 sum from Mr. Paul Lockwood, Stam- 

 ford, Connecticut; a pair of sparrow 

 hawks from Mr. Benjamin Davis, 

 Sound Beach, and Japanese rats from 

 Mr. John H. Isbell, Union City, Con- 

 necticut. 



Brady & Chadeayne of Stamford, 

 Connecticut, have kindly completed the 

 laboratory equipment of working 

 tables. 



Mr. Benjamin F. Palmer, Sound 

 Beach, has contributed marine speci- 

 mens. Among these is a starfish of 

 peculiar formation. 



Captain Hezekiah P. Newman has 

 donated to. the laboratory remarkable 

 specimens of kelp which he recently 

 found in Loner Island Sound. 



