4oG 



THE^GUIDE TO NATURE 



ger of institutionalism — breaking 

 up of family! — our work for all 

 ages — family interests and activi- 

 ties. 



3. In the Woodcraft Work we em- 

 phasize the heart and mind as well 

 as the body in daily life. Romance 

 — picturesqueness — the poetic 

 beauty — histrionic, — the arts. 



4. We insist on boys and girls shar- 



ing in the discipline and govern- 

 ment — under adult guidance which 

 results in everyone taking part as 

 subordinate and leader alternately. 

 Not fewer than 3,000 in definitely 

 Woodcraft Camps last summer. 



The rubbing stick fire now used 

 country wide 



For Universal Association. 



Lower Lake, Lake County, California. 

 To the Editor : 



I heartily endorse the motto expressed 

 on page 340 of the March issue of The 

 Guide to Nature under the headline, 

 "The Highest Ideals," in the words, "Live 

 and 'help live .... All the world should 

 be an Association." 



Is not this huge ball under our feet one 

 great home of Man? Is not our life on 

 this cosmical body our true "state" (de- 

 rived from the Latin "stare," which 

 means "to stand on") ? 



Is there a stronger organization than 

 the physical union of all nations and races 

 of men by the gravitational pull of one 

 and the same planet, by the chemical 

 action of the irihaled oxygen of one and 

 the same atmosphere, by the dependence 

 upon one and the same sun as the only 

 source of human energy. 



How artificial and superficial are all 

 those petty boundary lines and fences 

 that an exaggerated nationalism, with a 

 one day's life, has created in the realm of 

 human feeling, if seen against the back- 

 ground of those powerful cosmical con- 

 ditions that have evolved in countless 

 millions of years and will last through 

 other millions of years. 



Dear Old Mother Earth seems to me 

 to be our natural, God given Empirfe ; and 

 harmony, justice and freedom for all men. 

 not hegemony or undue privileges for any 

 special groups of men, appear as the de- 

 sirable political ideals. 



I can imagine no greater tragedy that 

 tbe present European War at a time when 

 our technical achievements showed an 

 irresistible tendencv to organize the whole 



human population of our planet into one 

 great unit. Whilst railroads, steamships, 

 telegraphs, wireless communication, air- 

 ships, etc., have practically changed our 

 earth into one village with common inter- 

 ests, the peoples living in the dififerent 

 houses of this village have cherished in- 

 cendiary and hostile feelings for one 

 another, missing the proper mental 

 change adapted to the changed technical 

 "milieu" and thus becoming more and 

 more unfit for further coexistence. 



The principles of the "survival of the 

 fittest" seems categorically to demand an 

 essential correction in modern nation- 

 alism. 



Differentiation and harmony must wed 

 each other to secure a happy life. 



Yours very truly, 



L.SciiwiERS. 



Death of an Esteemed Member. 



Word reaches us of the death of our 

 Member, Mr. A. Ramsay, 15 Lawn 

 Crescent, Kew Gardens, Surrey, Eng- 

 land, on March 3rd. Mr. Ramsay was 

 a Sustaining Member of The Agassiz 

 Association and took active interest in 

 all phases of nature. He was one of 

 the many real nature lovers who have 

 ideally cooperated in the development 

 of this Association, helping it to help 

 others and being helped by it. 



The Association extends heartfelt 

 sympathy to the bereaved members of 

 the family. 



A Candy Sale for The Agassiz Asso- 

 ciation. 



The Rogers School Chapter (Stam- 

 ford, Connecticut) of The Agassiz As- 

 sociation recently held a candy sale to 

 obtain money with which to buy a 

 frame for their Charter. This sale was 

 so successful that two dollars and a 

 half more than was required for the 

 direct purposes of the sale were obtain- 

 ed. That amount was contributed to 

 the general work at ArcAoiA in fur- 

 thering the purposes of The Agassiz 

 xA^ssociation. 



Parts of China which in the past have 

 suffered severely from forest fires are 

 adopting an effective scheme for the 

 government reservations. The cleared 

 fire lines, thirty to one hundred feet in 

 width, are let to farmers and cultivated. 

 Thus the fire lines are kept always bare 

 ground or green crops too wet to burn. 



