214 PUBLIC PARKS OF IOWA 



kids, ain't nature great? Jist look at them big trees over there. Say I 

 ain't never goin' to ruin nothin' more that God made. Are you?" 



Boys on a bright, warm sunshiny afternoon, all thoughts of play ban- 

 ished, no mischief in sight, inspired with love and understanding, 

 happy, eager to impart their knowledge to other boys and wanting to 

 come again! Was it worth the lady's effort? Would it be worth the 

 state's effort to provide places in the great out-doors for such as these? 



If an afternoon with glass encased specimens means so much to our 

 boys, how much more would a day in some forest reserve, along some 

 river or lake shore, in some park set aside for their use mean to them? 



Some place set aside where our boys and girls may learn to love, to pro- 

 tect, and to understand nature; a chance to gather knowledge to im- 

 part to others; the beginning of an endless chain of understanding, ap- 

 preciation and re-inforced efficiency; young minds, so busy with the 

 greater, sweeter things that they have no time or inclination for mis- 

 chief, no time for quarrels! 



Think you a young mind filled with love and understanding of nature 

 will ever become a case of juvenile delinquincy? Think you a man or 

 woman recognizing the beauty, the usefulness, the wonder and the 

 power of nature will ever go far astray in the journey through life ? 



In view of the great cataclysm of destruction just passed through, is 

 it not well worth the state's effort, time and money to banish from the 

 minds of our youth all cruelty, destructive tendencies and ignorance of 

 nature and natural laws and create in their stead a love, an understanding 

 and a constructive spirit? 



It is truly the state's duty and solemn obligation to her youth to set 

 aside the historical and natural beauty spots, the green carpeted forest, 

 the banks of streams and the shores of lakes, and to make of them 

 trysting places of man, with the birds, and beasts and finny tribes. 



May the day speedily come when we will cease to make of the minds of 

 our children mere cold storage warehouses for masses of information for 

 which they have no use as they journey along life's way and no sense 

 of their application if a use should develop. 



If we would truly conserve, it would be well to remember that 



"More servants wait on man 

 Than he'll take notice of." 



NATIONAL PARK AND FORESTRY RESERVE RESOLUTIONS OF 

 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



In view of the fact that there is now a petition before congress from 

 the people of Minnesota asking the setting aside of certain tracts of 

 timber land included in the Leech Lake Indian reservation in Minnesota, 

 except such lands as have been allotted to the Indians in severalty, as a 

 national park and forest reserve, for the purpose of conserving the tim- 

 ber and conserving the water supply of the Mississippi river, and in view 

 of the fact that other tracts of timber lands in the northern part of Min- 



