A NATURALIST WHO CONSIDERS MANY SUBJECTS 117 



group. Imagine how a country would 

 progress if all these minds were to be 

 engaged in any department of natural 

 science whatsoever." 



'T know an elderly couple who lost all 

 their money. They formerly entertained 

 extensively, and carried all of the com- 

 plicated responsibilities of social form. 

 Now they sing' all day long since the 

 money is gone, and say they were never 

 so happy in their lives previously. They 

 are on a tiny salary, keeping chickens 

 and enjoying life. Their former butler 

 came to call upon them one day when I 

 was present. He looked very grand. 

 Why is this couple happy? One reason 

 is because a former butler would call 

 respectfully when their money was 

 gone." 



"Happiness is said to consist in not 

 wanting wdiat we cannot get. Satisfac- 

 tion is really better than happiness, the 

 satisfaction of getting things in the end 

 which one was not cjuite sure he would 

 obtain. 



"Contentment is to be deprecated if 

 it leads to inaction. The man who is 

 most contented wdien he is hardest at 

 work has the right sort of content- 

 ment. 



"Contentment is not altogether pleas- 

 ing to nature and she sees to it that it 

 does not last long unless one is con- 

 tented when at hard work. 



"Most people are well off, but they 

 do not know it. Often when hunting 

 I have been cold, wet and hungry, and 

 have thought how^ well off people were 

 with their warm clothes on. in some 

 distant house in which I saw" the light 

 shining from a window. Perhaps the 

 people there were uncomfortable also 

 but in a different way, bothering them- 

 selves with some financial or social 

 question or disturbed about their 

 neighbors. They were well oft' but did 

 not know it." 



^ ^ :^ ^ ^ 



"Among all bird songs appropriate 

 to the environment what can be more 

 delightful than the song of the wood- 

 cock? It is the song of the tenderest 

 of lovers, and it strikes the very note 

 that poets have sought in their ideals 

 of love in a cottage, or of a secluded 

 spot in some far wilderness. The song 

 of a woodcock is the dearest song in 

 the world. "Would that some one would 



sing to me such a lullaby ! All is quiet 

 in the valley. Moonlight is transmut- 

 ing spring mist into gold. The jingle 

 of silver bells of the Hyla chorus comes 

 faintly from some distant marsh. Then 

 it is that the woodcock looks into the 

 dreamy eyes of his beautiful bride and 

 springing aloft with twittering wing, — 

 stills the wing note when high in the 

 air, and warbles so softly and sweetly 

 to his true love that it seems almost 

 sacrilege to listen. It is not to the mul- 

 titude that he sings. Oh, no, indeed ! 

 Tt is just for you and me, Betty! Not 

 for the w^orld w'ould we disturb any- 

 one with our affection, but we love each 

 other and our happiness is complete.' " 



^ ^ ^ ^ sic 



"We love people who bring out our 

 best qualities, and avoid those who. 

 bring out our worst equalities." 



^ ^ ;{< jjc ^ 



"Anger and emotional stress of any 

 sort places an undue burden upon the 

 liver, with bad reciprocal consequences, 

 and may give one gall stones." 

 ***** 



"]\Ien of large affairs are knocked 

 down on favorite propositions every 

 year of their lives and they enjoy it as 

 much as hearty players enjoy the bangs 

 in a football game." 



"'Had I twenty-five millions of dollars 

 to give away at the present time, I 

 would give ten millions of dollars to a 

 certain medical school wdiich teaches 

 graduate doctors to be of greater ser- 

 vice to humanity in modern ways. Ten- 

 millions of dollars would go to the na- 

 tural history departments of my former 

 alma mater and five millions of dollars 

 would be devoted to my experimental 

 work in developing nut trees for fur- 

 nishing a great food supply for the 

 masses of the future." 



***** 



"I find the only way for obtaining 

 mental relief is to emulate the guinea 

 hen, and she is now my pet symbol. A 

 guinea hen will find a choice corner in 

 the brush lot and soon has forty eggs 

 in her nest. Then she sits in the mid- 

 dle of the nest. She cannot hatch all 

 of the eggs, but hatches out all that she 

 can, and lets the rest go. The lesson 

 taught by the guinea hen came to me as 

 a srreat coiufort." 



