EDITORIAL 



127 



For years his gates were open to the 

 public. His grounds were a pubHc 

 ])ark maintained at private expense, 

 but consider the ingratitude of a few 

 who should be taught a lesson. Arm- 

 fuls, wagonfuls, of his flowers and 

 plants were carried ofif. Trees were 

 broken down and fences overturned. 

 The damage was appalling. That the 

 rascals were few while those who prop- 

 erly used and appreciated the premises 

 were many, is the only bright point in 

 ihe whole of this awful spoliation. 

 Mr. Marks was obliged to close the 

 gates for at least a part of the time. 

 He tried to do well, but was thwarted 

 hy the few who seem to have more 

 power for evil than the rest of us have 

 for good. 



The Agassiz Association consists 

 wholly of members who desire to dis- 

 seminate good things in information 

 and interests of Nature. That Asso- 

 ciation is established at ArcAdiA, 

 where information is given freely and 

 the beautiful premises may be enjoyed 

 "by everybody. It exemplifies the mis- 

 sionary spirit of doing good to others, 

 and yet how astonishing have been 

 the obstacles placed in the way of these 

 missionary efiforts. There has been 

 the wealth of knowledge or the wealth 

 of money for such dissemination and 

 both efiforts have been discouraged. 

 Few people seem to realize that the 

 whole thing is free from all commer- 

 cialism. They believe that some one 

 "has an axe to grind and that somebody 

 is making money out of ArcAdiA. For 

 two years that opinion was prevalent. 

 A catastrophe to old ArcAdiA was 

 needed to set things in the right light. 

 There are a few that like to sneer ; they 

 laugh, and cry, "Crazy." Perhaps it 

 is crazy to attempt to teach others they 

 too may enjoy the knowledge, but, for- 

 tunately, those who think it crazy are 

 in the minority. The ambition of The 

 Agassiz Association and the manage- 

 ment of its equpiment at ArcAdiA 

 are missionaries laboring in the mis- 

 sionary spirit, so free from all commer- 

 cialism, so open to inspection, both in 

 books and in grounds, that any one 

 who sneers at these efiforts as commer- 

 cialism, as a money-making scheme, is 

 guilty of an indignity not much dif- 

 ferent from that that destroys the 



shrubs and plants on the grounds of 

 a private estate. It is only another ex- 

 ample of the discouraging obstacles in 

 the way of commendable efiforts to- 

 ward the disseminating of good things. 



At first we thought that everybody 

 could come freely and enjoy the Ar- 

 cAdiA grounds, but if we adopted that 

 plan, the whole place would be annihi- 

 lated within a month. We have been 

 obliged to erect signs warning, not to 

 keep out, but inviting to come in, yet 

 stipulating that every visiting party 

 must be accompanied by an attendant 

 from the office. We desire to make the 

 grounds as useful as possible, but we 

 have so sufifered that we have become 

 suspicious of any one who tries to visit 

 the grounds without such an attendant. 

 It is those unattended visitors that 

 have shot our squirrels, have felled our 

 trees, have stripped the bark from 

 others, pulled up botanical specimens, 

 trampled the vegetation and destroyed 

 valuable flowers. We have learned the 

 lesson with others that there are a few 

 who will fling verbal and physical ob- 

 stacles in the way of every good deed, 

 but can say, "Blessed be the fact that 

 these few rascals are in the minority." 



Commodore E. C. Benedict has mag- 

 nificent premises, Indian Harbor. The 

 gates have for a long time been wide 

 open, and for the convenience of strol- 

 lers beautiful rustic settees and other 

 facilities have been provided, so that 

 even a casual visitor may enjoy, with- 

 out care or expense, the lake, the roads, 

 the trees as does the owner himself. 

 A visitor, in the right spirit, could en- 

 joy these even more than does the own- 

 er, but the result is that a few rascals 

 have stopped these efiforts for the plea- 

 sure of the public because they have 

 perpetrated all sorts of misdeeds. Af- 

 ter the rustic settees had been thrown 

 down, and pet fish that would take 

 food from the hand had been stolen, 

 but one thing remained to be done. The 

 gates were closed. Yet there are people 

 who say, "All men are free and equal 

 and everybody should have the same 

 amount of property." The ideal social 

 condition will never come through poli- 

 tics. It will come only wdien all people 

 shall be grateful to those w^ho try to 

 benefit others and when all have re- 

 spect for the rights of all. What would 



