THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



DEVOTED PRIMARILY TO ALL SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF NATURE IN- 

 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



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 age 10 cents extra; foreign postage, 25 cents extra. 



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 to the Editor. 



Editorial 



VACATION*. WAR, AND NATURE-STUDY 



The question uppermost in the minds of many of us is, "How 

 can we have a real vacation when deep in our inner consciousness 

 is the harrowing fact that our boys are fighting in France!" 

 Many of us, it is true, will take no vacation but devote that time 

 to needed work for a world that seems to demand our utmost 

 efforts. However, there are many who, in order to do the hard 

 work of the year, must have the physical and mental benefit 

 of a real vacation; and while it is true that in these perturbing 

 days anything that does not contribute to the right solution of 

 the great struggle in which the world is engaged, seems trivial 

 yet if we are to do our part we must keep ourselves fit both physi- 

 cally and mentally. 



Now of all times, when cares and anxieties weigh heavily upon 

 us we have greater need for the rest wiaich comes only from a 

 complete change in the course of our thoughts; and this diversion 

 is often attained most easily by going to the fields and woods; 

 and the more intelligently we view the things which we see there, 

 the more complete will be our recuperation. As was said long 

 ago, "There is a great difference between the person who in the 

 fields sees many flowers and the ones who sees many a flower." 



For all these reasons we feel like urging all of those who can, to 

 take up some special study out of doors this summer. Begin with 

 and master as far as possible a study of the birds, or the trees, 

 or the butteflies, or the ferns, or the flowers of the woodlands, 

 or fields of the locality in which you are staying; or make a 

 thorough survey of a brook or a pond with their surrounding 



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