Nature, — The Supreme Provider 



Mary King Sherman 



President of Conservation Department of General Federation of Women's 



Clubs, Longs Peak, Estes Park, Colorado 



It is strange to see how little the average man concerns himself 

 about the natural world around him. With eyes only for the works 

 of man and the conventional, he sees little or nothing of Nature — 

 Nature as including the natural resources of the earth. And as for 

 feeling any relation to these elemental things of life, such a thing 

 does not occur to him. To many. Nature suggests something 

 external and entirely unrelated to themselves ; something suitable 

 for children and elderly maidens to sentimentalize about. Not 

 for a moment does such a person recognize his utter dependence 

 upon Nature, nor does he comprehend that without natural 

 resources neither nations nor individuals could exist. There are 

 others who appreciate the economic importance of natural re- 

 sources, but whose attitude toward them is that of superiority. 

 Such as these feel quite sufficient unto themselves, and when they 

 consider Nature at all they apparently believe that now, in this 

 twentieth century, they have her under complete^ subjection. 

 Nature evidently appreciates the value of tact, for she carefully 

 refrains from disabusing man of his opinions, and quietly and 

 incessantly works out her own laws that he unconsciousl}^ obeys. 

 For man is an inseparable part of Nature. His body is as much a 

 part of the material universe as the soil itself. He is now and 

 always has been wholly dependent on Nature and the natural 

 resources for his physical existence. 



Without the earth, man as we know him could not have come 

 into being. The physical and mental development of man pro- 

 ceeds according to Nature's plan. She has taught him to adjust 

 himself to his earth-environment ; she fashions him for the life he 

 leads. She has made it difficult for him at times in order that the 

 reasoning faculties with which he is endowed may be developed. 

 She has filled the earth with treasures for him, but they are not at 

 his command until he has learned the secrets of their keeper — 

 Nature herself. 



It is a far cry from the business man sitting at his desk in some 

 man-built skyscraper to his ancestors of ages ago who made their 

 homes in trees. There was nothing but Nature in those days, yet 



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