278 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



or spider, or scratched by a cat ; perhaps one 

 in a million, and not one in a million bites are 

 poisonous. Too, if we were more disposed to 

 attend to Nature we would lessen our suscepti- 

 bility to blood-poisoning. Clear your brain 

 and your blood will take care of itself. 



"But Nature is so uninteresting," exclaims 

 some one in your hearing. When we meet 

 with uninteresting people, we generally remem- 

 ber them as such and avoid frequent meetings 

 in the future ; but these uninteresting people 

 have some sense and do not force themselves 

 into your presence. Nature never intrudes, 

 please remember that, ye devotees of artifi- 

 ciality. Nature is all too often uninteresting, 

 and why? Because we are taught to turn 

 our backs upon her at the very outsets of 

 our careers. The curious child, attracted by a 

 gaudy caterpillar, stops in its play to admire the 

 creature creeping before him and is suddenly 

 and violently snatched away by the fool of a 

 nurse, who assures the disappointed and now 

 bewildered child that the caterpillar will bite or 

 sting. A lie is crammed down the child's throat, 

 and it will be years before the mischief done in 



