A NATURALIST WHO CONSIDERS MANY SUBJECTS ii 



backward after the game was over. 

 There is no sport in that. There is 

 great sport in playing the game of life 

 if one plays fair. 



"There is, to be sure, such a thing as 

 luck, btit man does not call it by that 

 name unless it is going against him," 



"Which pays best, goodness or bad- 

 ness? Anyone who is bound to put the 

 question upon a payment basis is him- 

 self bad. I can answer the question, 

 however, having made observations for 

 more than half a hundred years. It is 

 my conviction that goodness and bad- 

 ness pay about equally well so far as 

 material gains are concerned. Good 

 people, on the whole are-more comfort- 

 able. That is the only difiference." 



"I would rather have dogs and babies 

 run to me instinctively, than to have a 

 press agent succeed in working into 

 'the society columns' an impression 

 that I was really on the inside with the 

 exclusives." 



^ ^ ^ ^ ^ * 



"This is October the 5th, 1912. A 

 perfect autumn day, and mine the luck 

 to have traded temporarily a fine old 

 shopworn city in exchange for my 

 beautiful clean Merribrooke at Stam- 

 ford. What would I not give to return 

 to the farm house for one whole day 

 an hundred years from now on Octo- 

 ber the 5th, 2012. Not in spiritual form 

 with pure white wings and a golden 

 harp, but just in my old duds. A felt 

 hat torn at the top, hob nail shoes, and 

 my canvas shooting coat minus a but- 

 ton or two, but with its treasury of 

 capacious pockets all intact. The early 

 gunners walked this morning through 

 glinting frosty grass that was still 

 being lighted by the crescent of a wan- 

 ing moon, long after signal lights had 

 come from the east bidding the j^lanet 

 Neptune to retire. There will be no 

 change in that particular morning order 

 of the heavens for October 5th, 2012." 



"It is difificult to live one's happiest 

 life among surroundings of the city. It 

 is only while at my old farmhouse in 

 vacation time that these notes can be 

 written, — near the pleasant sound of 

 rushing water, where vireos are sing- 

 ing, and a chattering squirrel in the 

 hickory tree tries to attract my atten- 

 tion. Here is where one can watch 

 sunset clouds and smell ripening fruit. 



These must be my joyful surroundings, 

 for in the city one is engaged in making 

 adaptation to duties of the day as one 

 cog wheel fits into another cog wheel, 

 rotating with the rest of town machin- 

 ery. We may call it "life" in town, but 

 "soul" is in the country. W'ho cares 

 if soul and life were once synonymous 

 terms away back in the dark begin- 

 ning, so long as- now the course of life, 

 like the Nautilus of Dr. Holmes, estab- 

 lishes grander mansions' as it pro- 

 gresses. Eyes brighten most when 

 men speak of the country." 



"A family is often proud when a 

 genius appears in their midst. They 

 should be sad, rather, because it indi- 

 cates beginning disintegration of the 

 family." 



^ TfC ^ ^ ^ 



"One reason why science does not 

 have so many advocates as general 

 literature is because its reasons are not 

 turned into feeling and the public is 

 thankful to anybody who will serve as 

 proxy for its thinking." 



^ 2(: ;{: ^ ^ 



"In the good old days of my youth, 

 there was a distinction in small vices 

 of the different sexes. W^here men 

 swore, women shed tears and had a 

 headache. Where men drank rum, 

 women drank tea. Tea and tears were 

 the equivalents of rum and swearing." 



^ ;{; ^ ^ ^ 



"A bright thought let us say is nothing 

 but a potato expressed in another form 

 of energy, just as the whistle of the 

 locomotive is a piece of coal expressed 

 in another form of energy." 



^ 5{C 5}C 5{C Jjc 



"People understand each other very 

 well on the whole. I have watched a 

 bear for half an hour at a time feeding 

 or playing right near me in the woods. 

 I have watched a beaver at his work, 

 often but a few yards away. They did 

 not know they were being watched, or 

 they would not have stopped long 

 enough for two grunts. It is the same 

 way with people. Their intimate habits 

 are watched and understood by other 

 ])eo])le, just as T watched the bear and 

 the beaver." 



:^ ^z ^ :^ ^ 



"A\"hen al)out to make a sarcastic re- 

 niarl<. sto]:> to think if you would do it 

 beside a man's cof^n when his hands 

 are folded on his breast, and the white 

 face can make no reply. If you would 



