1 62 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



discovered what a source of annoyance it 

 became to their elders. The psychology 

 of this scheme was perfect, for the first 

 retailer who tried it was besieged on the 

 following day by, youngsters from the 

 neighboring school, clamoring for more 

 gum. In sheer self-defense, the parents 

 took to chewing it also, and the habit 

 was on. 



It needs but a glance at current statis- 

 tics to show to what tremendous heights 

 it has risen. We have it on otherwise 

 unimpeachable, authority that if all the 

 energy expended in chewing gum were 

 to be converted into calories we would 

 have a force sufficient to propel a ferry- 

 boat from Peck Slip, East River, east- 

 w^ard to Pier 19, North River, via Lisbon 

 and Hongkong, or, in electrical terms, a 

 current powerful enough to lift a weight 

 of 43,305,000 tons 34,000 miles per min- 

 ute per second per kilowatt-hour. This 

 sounds staggering. It is,. But it is a 

 development of the gum-chewing habit 

 that we must face without flinching and 

 without pussyfooting. 



The beneficial effects of this national 

 pastime must not be overlooked. Chew- 

 ing-gum came into a nation of tobacco- 

 chewers and refined it and elevated its 

 tone until Charles Dickens, the author, 

 wouldn't recognize the old places were 

 he to pay a visit to this country to-day. 



It has contributed greatly to the neat- 

 ness of the personal appearance of the 

 nation, as it is estimated that in the 

 mirrors on gum-machines there are 345,- 

 659,256 cravats and 756,586,589 wisps of 

 hair adjusted during the calendar year. 



And one need only look at the car- 

 cards to see that the use of chewing-gum, 

 especially when brought home in a box, 

 has been the means of keeping the home 

 life of the nation in a state of preserva- 

 tion. Were it not for chewing-gum what 

 would there be for the little ones to run 

 prattling to their daddy for as he appears 

 at the gate? What would Christmas be 

 without a crate of chewing-gum peeping 

 from the top of each stocking? What 

 would any dinner-party resolve itself in- 

 to had not the hostess sufficient savoir 

 faire to place a stick of gum at each place 

 as a delicate reminder to her guests that 

 one can never be sure just what goes on 

 in the kitchen, and that it is better to be 

 safe than sorry? — Literary Digest. 



Which Was Artistic? 



Here is a paraljle in which the reader 

 is respectfuU}- requested to point out the 

 lesson. 



Brown said, "I am a lover of the for- 

 est. I will dwell therein." He straight- 

 way gathered together his gun, axe and 

 fishing equipment, w^ent into the forest, 

 built a log cabin and made everything as 

 rustic as possible ; but the forest said, 

 "You cannot thus imitate me. You have 

 desecrated the trees. You show neither 

 civilization nor wald nature." 



Smith went into the forest, built a 

 little gem of a marble palace and carried 

 to it every luxury that modern civiliza- 

 tion knows. He did not mar the sur- 

 rounding forest and the forest said, "You 

 have honored me by thinking I am 

 worthy of the highest arts of civilization. 

 You have neither lost your dignity as a 

 human being, nor have you desecrated 

 me by feeble imitation. W^e like things 

 that are unlike ourselves, but weak imi- 

 tation of the real thing is pitiable." 



"What is the editor aiming at?" the 

 reader inquires. "What now is his phi- 

 losophy ; what lesson is he trying to drive 

 home?" Perhaps he is merely stating a 

 fact. Perhaps you will evolve a lesson 

 that is not in his mind. Perhaps it is a 

 joke in that it fulfills the definition of a 

 joke, a juxtaposition of incongruous con- 

 cepts. 



Did the log cabin insult the forest and 

 lower the dignity of civilization ? Per- 

 haps the reader will decide that question. 



The great number of people who study birds 

 in the parks of the large cities of the East, 

 and of the Pacific Coast, will be interested 

 in the comparison afiforded them by an article 

 on the birds of a park in Colorado Springs, 

 in the August issue of Bird-Lore. 



There are other articles of general inter- 

 est, photographs of wild birds, and two full- 

 page plates in colors. Also, the Audubon 

 Societies, whose official organ Bird-Lore is, 

 run a large department of reports, etc., in- 

 cluding a section for teachers and school- 

 children ; with a timely article on bird-study 

 in Shakespeare's day. 



At the Grand Canyon. 



Down sw'ept the mist, and hid our glowing 

 vision. 

 But onlj' for a fleeting moment's space; 

 And then in graceful spirals, it upward 

 wound to Heaven, 

 Like incense rising in a holy place. 



— Emma Peirce. 



