45^ Bird -Lore 



nothing whicli the child may not gaze upon unabashed, except for wonder at 

 the multitude of objects and variety of motion he sees. 



If we are fair in our estimate of the value of youthful attributes, we must 

 concede that the normal boy or girl, given a normal opportunity, sees more and 

 enjoys more than the average adult when turned loose in natural surround- 

 ings. Buoyant spirit, keen imagination, and a love of discovery are all char- 

 acteristic of youth, and in perfect harmony with Nature. We of an older 

 generation may well turn our attention to the methods that boys and girls 

 employ out-of-doors, romping on the chilly days when we hover over a fire, 

 book in hand, or look wistfully at more courageous pedestrians than ourselves. 



Winter, snow, Jack Frost and all his icy accoutrements are the delight of 

 healthy boys and girls; Spring is a wondertime; Summer a long holiday, and 

 Autumn a season of storing up treasures for less fortunate days to come. 

 Who that has ever trod the crust or felt the glareness of an ice-bound pond, 

 that has strung wild strawberries on a long and slender grass or has fashioned 

 melodious pipes out of the yielding poplar, who that has hunted for the first 

 bloodroot of the season along some bush-edged meadow or scuffed through the 

 crackling carpet of withered leaves in a sugar-grove, upturning the fragile spring 

 beauty, the delicate Dutchman's breeches or more rarely, about some mossy 

 stump, a hidden clumj) of hepatica, who that has experienced these and a 

 hundred other joys can fail to respond to the elation of youth in the open! 

 Fortunate indeed are those who have such memories of childhood, to whom 

 an apartment-house is unknown, to whom the sweet-scented byways and 

 hedges of the country are familiar haunts for recreation, to whose nostrils the 

 stale air of city streets has never penetrated! 



We owe a duty to ourselves in becoming better acquainted with the child- 

 life about us. We owe a greater duty to those children who are born and reared 

 outside the pale of Nature. We owe perhaps the greatest duty to the coming 

 generation in making nature-study a reality. It will cost us something to do 

 this. We must slough oft" some conservatism, some prejudice, some disin- 

 clination to get out of the beaten routine. When once we awaken to the oppor- 

 tunity and grasp the meaning of this subject, when we gain confidence in 

 Nature herself, then we shall be ready to meet our children halfway and, 

 dropping cares and staid demeanor, to go gaily hand-in-hand with them on 

 their venturesome journeys of discovery. 



The birds will be our guides, for they know the points of the compass, 

 the seasons, the woodland, marsh, and sea. What more beautiful bond of kin- 

 ship could there be than for expectant youth and alert age to make the wanged 

 feathered folk their comrades in a search for Nature's treasures! 



This is not a pretty fancy or a mere ramble of words. Many times the 

 greatest Teacher of wisdom and joy referred to the trees, the flowers, and birds, 

 emphasizing our need of acquaintance and sympathy with nature ; and are call- 

 ing to the mature the prophecy: "A little child shall lead them." — A. H. W. 



