16 



Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles 



him with the beetle problem and there was no one 

 except his good mother with whom he could share 

 his triumph because nobody else in those days 

 seemed to care whether beetles were born ready- 

 made or lived a baby's life as grub-worms. There 

 was no one but his mother to sympathize with him, 

 everybody else looked upon the studies of a country 

 boy simply as a sign of his being queer and uncanny ; 



it seemed strange to them that a child should take 

 any interest in grub-worms! But this did not cool 

 his enthusiasm because he did not love nature for 

 the personal glory the knowledge of it would bring 

 him, and he did not study it to gain the approval 

 of the other boys ; he loved nature because he could 

 not help it, the love was born in him and it is there 

 yet, and he is writing this book because he thinks 

 it is born in all children! Young people all pos- 



