io8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



VVIIKRK \ ISITCJUS CO FKOM THE WEr.COME RECEPTION ROOM TO THE AGASSIZ GROVE. 



zines and institutions, for example, that 

 tell one how he may go to nature and live 

 there comfortably, have a picturesque 

 modern home, a flower garden and a veg- 

 etable garden, and how he may make 

 these profitable, there is danger that the 

 real essentials may be overlooked. Theo- 

 logical seminaries and churches as social 

 organizations do not produce the inner 

 religious life which is the most import- 

 ant of all. Neither do elaborate maga- 

 zines that tell how to plan and furnish a 

 home in the country, tell us how really 

 to live on a farm, but rather how to care 

 for a garden or to have the best cow or 

 pig in the community. Biological labora- 

 tories, however well equipped for re- 

 search work in life forms, do not neces- 

 sarily tell humanity how to live. Nor do 

 huge observatories and gigantic tele- 

 scopes tell one how to obtain the real in- 

 fluences and the real joy from the 

 heavens. All these so-called practical 

 concomitants of life are useful and ha\'e 

 their place, but they are useful only as a 

 means to an end. One may study any 

 aspect of nature all his life and never 

 make it really his own. It is in spirit an 



actual entering into the realms of nature 

 for personal uplift and joy that The Ag- 

 assiz Association was established at 

 Lenox, ^Massachusetts, forty-one years 

 ago this summer. It has had a varied 

 experience not only in itself but in noting 

 the multiplicity of organizations that owe 

 their origin to The Agassiz Association 

 and under its influence have branched 

 out into a wide range, all of them con- 

 sidering nature. There are organizations 

 that forbid one to whip a horse or to pull 

 a cat's tail. There are others that forbid 

 the wearing of birds on the hat and the 

 shooting of them for pies. There are 

 others that promulgate athletic activites 

 and outdoor life and the building of bon- 

 fires in the woods, with long ceremonies 

 that seem to share the customs of the un- 

 tamed savage in his propitiatory worship 

 of nature. There are others that believe 

 in pulling fish from the ponds and streams 

 for pleasure, and in various forms of 

 killing wild life known as hunting. Some 

 societies take their members afield to 

 name and classify the plants, to gather 

 mushrooms for food : still others walk 

 abroad and feel satisfied when thev re- 



