THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



Several people that i met argued thus : 

 — "Well, do you think it does any harm 

 to consult them? Don't you think that 

 possibly there is something in it ? I should 

 not like to run the risk of operating on a 

 valuable animal without some reference 

 to these signs," remarked one farmer; 

 "surely such reference can do no harm." 

 It would not harm the animal but it does 

 harm the hicinaii being zuho cherishes such 

 foolish notions. 



"Don't you know that a board laid on 

 grass in the light of the moon is held up 

 more lightly and that the grass grows 

 under it better than it will grow in the 

 dark of the moon ?" Several persons had 

 tried it, notwithstanding the fact that the 

 w^ord "light" in this connection has two 

 different meanings and is used as a pun. 

 Light in reference to the moon and light 

 in reference to gravitation are as distinct 

 as if separate words were used. Accord- 

 ing to that point of view, dancers could 

 not perform the "light fantastic" in dark- 

 ness. 



But when one investigates he finds that 

 many minds are filled with this absurd be- 

 lief about the moon's control of the 

 weather. He also finds all sorts of other 

 absurd things. One person was discov- 

 ered who said that it is generally believed 

 in the country that a swarm of bees must 

 not be taken from a dead limb of a tree 

 because, if it should be done, there would 

 be a death in the beekeeper's family. How 

 full is the human mind of the evil result 

 of seeing the moon over the left shoulder, 

 in looking in a mirror, in spilling salt, in 

 the number thirteen, and in an unlimited 

 number of other preposterous notions. 

 When will the human mind be redeemed 

 from error and obev the divine command : 

 - — -"Whatsoever things are true, whatso- 

 ever thines are honest, whatsoever things 

 are just, whatsoever things are pure, 



whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever 

 things are of good report ; if there be any 

 virtue and if there be any praise, think on 

 these things." It surely should be a large 

 part of the work of those who search for 

 truth to labor faithfully in ringing out the 

 false and ringing in the true. 



Life after Forty. 



The best half of life is in front of the 

 man of forty, if he be anything of a 

 man. 



The work he will do will be done 

 with the hands of a master and not of 

 a raw apprentice. 



The trained intellect does not see 

 "men as trees walking," but sees every- 

 thing clearly and in just measure. 



The trained temper does not rush at 

 work like a blind bull at a haj^stack, but 

 advances with the calm and ordered 

 pace of conscious power and deliberate 

 determination. 



To no man is the world so new and 

 the future so fresh as to him who has 

 spent the early years of his manhood 

 in striving to understand the deeper 

 problems of science and life, and who 

 has made some headway toward com- 

 prehending them. 



To him the commonest things are 

 rare and beautiful, both in themselves 

 and as parts of a beautiful and intel- 

 ligent wdiole. Such a thing as staleness 

 in life and its duration he cannot under- 

 stand. 



Knowledge is always opening out 

 before him in wider expanses and more 

 commanding heights. The pleasure of 

 growing knowledge and increasing 

 power makes each year of his life hap- 

 pier and more hopeful than the last. — 

 Standard Sunshine. 



The American Museum now has a 

 collecting partv at work in China. 



Please remember this educational uplifting work in making your will. 

 Jfinrm nf Irqitrst tn titp Asanrtattmt 



/ hereby give and bequeath to The Agassis Association, an incorporated 

 association, having its principal executive office at ArcAdiA, in Sound Beach, 

 in the toivn of Greenwich. Connecticut, the sum of dollars. 



