THE LAY OF THE LAND 141 



drained — a place, preferably near the school, where the native 

 life of the land may be found — a sanctuary for the wild birds 

 and all the other wild things, plants and animals, to which 

 the youth of the rising generations may go in order to see 

 what the native life of his native land was like. The wild 

 things are rapidly vanishing. Where would one find even 

 now a bit of the rich unaltered wild prairie that once over- 

 spread the interior of this continent, with its tall, waving 

 grasses and all its wealth of wild flowers? 



The landscape belongs to all. Its smiling slopes, or their 

 forlorn tatters, affect the public weal. It is good to dwell 

 in a place where the environment breeds contentment; 

 where peace and plenty grow out of the right use of 

 nature's resources; where smiling fields yield golden har- 

 vests, and where well kept home-steads nestle amid em- 

 bowering trees; where both the beauty and the bounty 

 of nature are acknowledged, and wise measures are taken 

 to improve her gifts, and to leave them unimpaired for the 

 nurture of coming generations. Men have attained to 

 profitable co-operation in many lines of enterprise. May 

 the time come when they will be able to co-operate in 

 organizing for their best use all features of the larger units 

 of their environment; when they will preser\^e for public 

 use the things that meet the common social needs; when 

 they will begin to correct the ills that grow out of arbitrary 

 and artificial boundaries, by following the lines of nature; 

 when they will learn to put all fields to their best use, securing 

 productiveness, convenience and beauty. 



