EDITORIAL 



375 



ther I agree with a statement or not I 

 am willing to receive it, to consider it, 

 and to hear every argument in its be- 

 half. We have in this Association 

 many minds and many points of view, 

 and we get our best value by compar- 

 ing ideas with the other fellow. Be 

 ready fully to consider aiiT honest state- 

 ment of a careful observation, whether 

 or not it coincides with what you have 

 seen in your own garden. Always ask 

 yourself, "x'Vm I trying to correct an 

 error, or am I rejecting valuable know- 

 ledge?" 



"It is Good for the Children!" 



A remark often made by visitors at 

 ArcAdiA is that nature study is good 

 for the children. Why? Why, as dis- 

 tinctive from the good of the adult? 

 Nature study if it is good for any one 

 it is good for every one and the older 

 the recipient, and the larger his brain 

 and heart the better is he able to profit 

 by the study and the love of nature. 

 Can it be possible that this great uni- 

 verse has become fully comprehended 

 in the kindergarten or even in the high 

 school? If so, does the pupil imme- 

 diately afterward lose his ability to un- 

 derstand the glories and beauties of 

 this world ? Nature is good for every- 

 body but it is best for the one who has 

 lived the longest and knows the most. 

 Would I for one moment go back to 

 my boyhood and the frog pond near 

 the old home and think that that is the 

 place in which nature study can be 

 best pursued and is best adapted to 

 my needs? Those were days of intense 

 greenness when I had only a trivial un- 

 derstanding of the wonderful expanse 

 of this world. No, a thousand times 

 no. I hope to enjoy nature study 

 twenty years hence more than I enjoy 

 it at present, because I shall then have 

 acquired the experience of twenty 

 more years and the knowledge attend- 

 ant on twenty more years of studv. 

 The remark that nature study is good 

 for the children is, I believe, a good indi- 

 cation that the person that made the 

 remark is in need of a whole lot of mis- 

 sionary work to teach him what nature 

 study is. It is noticeable that such a 

 remark is never made by any one who 

 has spent years in close study and com- 

 munion with Mother Nature. The 

 veteran naturalist or scientist does not 



sa}' that nature is go(Kl fcjr the children 

 l)ut that it makes him a child. Said 

 Sir Isaac Newton, "I know not what 

 others may think of my intellectual at- 

 tainments but for myself I feel like a 

 child wandering on the beach picking 

 up here and there a pebble, perhaps one 

 more brightly colored or more interest- 

 ing than another, while the great ocean 

 of truth rolls unexplored beyond." 

 Fancy his stating that the exploration 

 of the "ocean of truth" should be rele- 

 gated to the child! No, he felt that 

 even his colossial intellect was too 

 puny to be adequate to the situation. It 

 is also noticeable that the great nature 

 study Teacher of nineteen hundred 

 years ago was not talking to children 

 when He drew his ilkistrations from 

 nature, but to adults ; He realized that 

 the greatest lessons that the human 

 mind can grasp are best conveyed by 

 the simple observations and direct 

 teaching of nature. 



One of the most encouraging signs 

 of modern times is the growth of na- 

 ture study among adults. There was 

 a tin-iC, a few centuries ago, when na- 

 ture study was limited to the recluse, 

 to the one who did uncanny things 

 and made mysterious collections of un- 

 familiar objects. That put nature 

 study somewhat in bad repute. Then 

 came, in more recent years, a recvirrent 

 wave of object teaching in the schools, 

 followed by the so-called nature 

 study, usually limited in its scope to 

 the germinating of a few seeds,, the ex- 

 amination of a few butterflies and 

 moths, with casual glances at a few 

 tadpoles and a few common birds. 

 Then has come the modern era with 

 nature as a resource of life, wdien the 

 professional or the business man of the 

 city hies away from his laborious tasks 

 to seek relief in the suburbs or the 

 country. It is this renaissance of na- 

 ture study that has made possible such 

 magazines as "Country Life in Amer- 

 ica," "The Countryside," "House and 

 Garden," "The Guide to Nature" and 

 others. Herein lie the great hope, joy 

 and inspiration of nature study for the 

 future. No longer a matter limited to 

 the kindergarten or the uncanny re- 

 cluse, but for the whole-souled man or 

 woman who, tired of empty fashion 

 and purposeless days, seeks rest and 

 recreation in real things. It is worth 



