208 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Was there ever such an autobiograph}^ as is presented in these 

 letters ! So lucid, so honest, so graphic with all the little nooks and 

 crannies illuminated as by sunlight flashed from a reflector I It is 

 a wonderful record of life in a farm home in New York during the 

 first half of last century. It is interesting to note that although as 

 a boy, sugar making in "the sapbush in the groin of the hill" was 

 the only part of farm work that appealed to him, yet he has always 

 from choice been a farmer. His child life on the farm gave Mr. 

 Burroughs his background as a naturalist; he writes "When I 

 began in my twenty-fifth or twent^^-sixth year, to write about 

 birds, I found that I had only to unpack the memories of the farm 

 boy within me to get at the main things about the common ones. 

 I had unconsciously absorbed the knowledge that gave the life 

 and warmth to my page." What a pity that the farm home of 

 to-day is not preparing more naturalists in this natural way ! The 

 farm child of this age seems to us to be always facing the road made 

 smooth for the whirring wheels of "the Ford", and has turned his 

 back to the woods and fields, but maybe this is undue pessimism. 



Cheerfulness and Efficiency 

 Is it true that efficient people are always cheerful ? This opinion 

 has been forced upon us many times; but the converse is not 

 necessarily true, for the happy-go-lucky person is usually far from 

 efficient. However, to be able to do things well is in itself a 

 cause for gratification which stimulates a cheerful attitude toward 

 the world. These reflections were stirred in the editorial mind 

 through watching the chickadee open sunflower seeds at the feeding 

 table. The chickadee is cheerfulness epitomized and vitalized, 

 and perhaps he has gained this quality because he is always able 

 to cope with his own special problems. He pounces down upon 

 the feeding board, selects his sunflower seed with celerity and the 

 skill of a connoiseur, takes it over to the rim of the feeding table 

 and holding it flat side against the side of the rim with his two 

 feet, he hfts his head high to gain force, and drives blow after 

 blow into the tough shell until it is pierced and broken; he still 

 holds the seed by the ends with his capable toes while he extracts 

 the meat. The whole proceeding is characterized by alertness, 

 self-confidence and skill, which certainly combines to form chicka- 

 dee efficiency; and what a glorious cheerfulness it is, thus founded 

 on conscious power of achievement ! 



