44 OUR PHYSICAL WORLD 



Saturday we ventured. Twisted strands of clothesline, purloined 

 for the occasion from our respective back yards, were fastened 

 securely to the root of an old but sturdy stump above the vug, 

 and by its aid we scrambled down. The wall curved at the spot 

 we wanted to reach, however, and we were forced to swing in, 

 dangling on the rope, until our feet caught a rocky shelf just 

 below the pocket. Precariously perched there, we dug out 

 handfuls of soft, slimy hematite, bushels of it, it seems to me as 

 I recall it now, until at last we began to feel in the lumps the loose 

 crystals. These went into the collecting bag until it was well 

 loaded. When the vug was emptied of all its treasure, the bag 

 was lowered to the bottom of the pit. We slid and climbed down, 

 then made our way with our load up the steep surface of a pile 

 of waste rock with which the abandoned old mine was being 

 filled. I still have the most perfect of these clear crystals and 

 cannot bear to part with it for recollection's sake. 



It is a splendid thing if some one of these enthusiasms of boy- 

 hood days carries over into adult life, an avocation to relieve the 

 strain of the serious life- vocation, if it does not lead, with added 

 years, to the vocation itself. A great lawyer of national reputa- 

 tion is known in scientific circles as an enthusiastic collector and 

 an authority on snails of the Middle West. A physician of my 

 acquaintance follows as his hobby, still, a boyhood delight in 

 collecting wasps, and' is a recognized specialist in this group. 

 A business man has camped during his vacations these many 

 years on the famous fossil-collecting grounds of many states, 

 adding each time to his splendid collection. 



If the work in elementary science could impart to every boy 

 and girl a sufficient interest in minerals and rocks so that they 

 would, for a while at least, collect with enthusiasm, it would be 

 eminently worth while; for the pupils might get, then, some 

 glimpse of the wonderful history of our earth and the marvelous 

 processes that have been at work to make the rock-ribbed hills, 

 some appreciation of the striking series of episodes in the history 

 of even the commonest pebble. 



