252 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



should be the most interesting part of 

 the magazine. This is an age in which 

 everybody believes that if a thing is 

 worth doing at all it is worth doing 

 well. The Guide to Nature is there- 

 fore very, very far from an end, but one 

 of many aids to a great Cause. This 

 magazine might even be discontinued 

 or it might be quadrupled in efficiency, 

 and other aids may come in or other 

 aids may go, yet The Agassiz Associa- 

 tion will go on for all time for those 

 who having eyes can see, having brains 

 can think, and having a heart can love. 



Wherein It Is Bad. 



In a friendly letter, Mr. Frank B. 

 Hopkins, of North Salem, Indiana, uses 

 this expression, "As Dean Coulter of 

 Purdue said to Dean Black of I. U. it 

 is all very well to be a specialist, but it 

 is bad to be nothing but a specialist." 

 These words of wisdom and Dean 

 Coulter's laconic and euphonious state- 

 ment should be spread world-wide. It 

 is a good thing to be a specialist but 

 it is not well to be restricted within a 

 shell. This magazine stands for sym- 

 pathetic interest in all phases of nature. 

 To the specialist it brings messages 

 and news of the inspirations and in- 

 terests in other departments. 



To make sure that Mr. Hopkins had 

 quoted Dean Coulter correctly I wrote 

 to the Dean. He replies as follows : 



'T think it is substantially correct 

 and as nearly as I can remember any 

 of my casual conversations is literally 

 correct. The expression was used in 

 discussion with Dean Black, of the 

 Indiana University, School of Educa- 

 tion, concerning the training of teach- 

 ers, especially of teachers in univer- 

 sities. My contention was that the 

 eagerness of the universities to secure 

 specialists had led to the filling of fac- 

 ulities with a very unfit lot of men. 

 My belief is, of course, that a teacher 

 should have very many points of con- 

 tact with life if he is suf^ciently en- 

 riched intellectually to be a leader of 

 the young. The expression was used 

 in an informal discussion and not as a 

 part of a regular address. I was com- 

 bating, as I suggested, the tendencies 

 of universities and even high schools 

 in looking for specialists in some nar- 



row field, instead of men who had in- 

 tellectual vision enough and strength 

 enough to make themselves more than 

 specialists. From my standpoint true 

 specialism is the result of cumulative 

 processes and under no circumstances 

 the result of eliminative processes." 



This is worth reading again and 

 again, especially that one sentence in 

 which he says, "My contention was 

 that the eagerness of the universities 

 to secure specialists had led to the fill- 

 ing of faculties with a very unfit lot 

 of men." 



But a university is only a parallel 

 of human life in other things. If the 

 man in the store knows nothing but 

 his goods, the minister nothing but his 

 theology, the lawyer nothing but his 

 sheepskin books, he exists within a 

 very limited shell. Let your interests 

 range from the infinitely great to the 

 infinitely small, including every phase 

 of mankind ; if not, the result is, as 

 Coulter says, an unfit lot of men, and 

 Coulter is right. The result of intense 

 specialization and the withdrawing of 

 sympathies from other interests may 

 produce a great specialist but it does 

 not produce a man. 



When Leaves Grow Old. 



BY EGBERT T. BUSH, STOCKTON NEW JERSEY. 



By permission of the publishers, Sherman, 

 French & Companj^, Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts. 

 When leaves grow old, a glorious change 

 From green to tints of flaming red, 

 Of gold and purple, — passing strange, 

 When all will soon be brown and dead. 

 They lend to earth and air and sky 

 A softer touch, a kindlier cheer, 

 And scatter joy as days go by, 

 Though death and nothingness are near. 



'Tis written so, old men grow gray; 

 But why should age be dark or sad? 

 By the same law old leaves look gay, 

 And closing days are doubly glad. 

 Let man so learn; dispensing cheer 

 From gathered joys of days long past, 

 May he grow happier year by year, 

 Like theirs, his brightest days his last. 



Devotion. 



Alice — "Why are you taking up 

 botany?" 



Kitty — "Because my fiance is interest- 

 ed in a plant of some kind and I want to 

 be able to converse intelligently with him 

 about his business." — Brooklyn Citizen. 



