1 88 The Ottawa Naturalist. [January 



it was. But wonderful to relate — providentially I deem it — as I 

 held the object in my hand, a butterfly slowly emerg-ed, then 

 fluttered in my fingers." "You were pleased with its beauty," 

 said a friend. "Oh, it was more than that. I do not know 

 whether I was or was not a child with an imagination, but sud- 

 denly the spiritual view of a new or of another life struck me. I 

 saw in this jewel born from an unadorned casket, some inkling of 

 immortality. Yes, that butterfly breaking from its chrysalis in my 

 hand shaped my future." And who can tell how many young 

 people may have received during excursions of this Club an 

 impetus or a spiritual insight into some of Nature's mysteries that 

 has given a permanent bent to the whole life ! 



One of the saddest sights of these closing days of the 19th 

 century, and particularly sad because it seems to be a picture that 

 must grow still darker during the coming century, is the sight of 

 hundreds of thousands of little children growing up in tenement 

 houses, shut away from Nature, denied access to wholesome and 

 pure sights, sounds and odours. "When one thinks of the Greeks," 

 says Ouida, "playing, praying, labouring, lecturing, dreaming, 

 sculpturing, training, living everlastingly in the free wind and 

 under the pure heavens, and then reflects that the chief issue of 

 civilization is to pack human beings like salt herrings in a barrel, 

 with never a sight of leaf or cloud, never a whisper of breeze or 

 bird. Oh, the blessed blind men who talk of progress '" 



Fortunately, as yet, our Canadian cities are comparatively free 

 and open and the difficulties of bringing the child into contact 

 with Nature are not great. 



I wish for a moment to direct attention to another phase of 

 Nature study and to emphasize another feature of the good work 

 that is done by every society such as this. We pride ourselves 

 upon our 19th century advancement in education and general in- 

 telligence. We quote with an air of satisfaction, figures to show 

 that illiteracy is almost unknown among us. This is well, and 

 perhaps there is some justification for our complacency, but I ask 

 you, does the mere ability to read and write necessarily make men 

 and women better ? It is true that the mastery of those elements 

 is an essential condition of turther progress. But, whether a man 

 is to be a better man because he can read, must in the end depend 



