54 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



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THE MINERAL COLLECTOR 



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Marvelous Collection of Stones. 



BY H. E. ZIMMERMAN, MT. MORRIS, ILL. 



A few miles from Oregon, 111., there 

 resides an old soldier by the name of 

 Virgil Reed. As a result of his army 

 experience he is totally deaf, as a con- 

 sequence of which he is quite lonesome. 

 Some years ago when he found that 

 his affliction prevented him from en- 



specimen stones from every state in 

 the United States, and also from every 

 capital in the country. These speci- 

 mens range in size from a mere pebble 

 to large rocks, some of them weighing 

 several tons. He has gone to much ex- 

 pense and considerable labor in pro- 

 curing some of these larger rocks, and 

 the manner in which he has handled 

 them, almost alone, forms an interest- 



A PRIVATE MINERAL COLLECTION ON A HUGE SCALE! 



joying the companionship of his 

 friends, in order to pass away the time, 

 he began to make excursions over the 

 country in his vicinity, picking up here 

 and there curiously shaped rocks and 

 stones that attracted his attention, and 

 began to study them. These were car- 

 ried back to his home and carefully 

 laid away. Up to that time Mr. Reed 

 never felt any interest in geology, but 

 as his collection grew raj^idly, he be- 

 gan to take an interest in this study, 

 though he lays no claim to any great 

 knowled<^e of this science. He has 



ing story. He has literally rods of 

 stone fence around his yard, every 

 stone having its own history which he 

 enthusiastically narrates to his visit- 

 ors. Only half of his collection can be 

 shown in the picture. Mr. Reed is 

 the old gentleman with the canvas 

 gloves, to the left. He has been col- 

 lecting these stones for over thirry 

 years, and his place is visited b}' hun- 

 dreds of people, some of them scientific 

 men, to examine these boulders. Some 

 of these stones are arranged in flower- 

 beds, which, in summer, lend an addi- 



