GULiCK] WHERE SHOULD NATURE-STUDY COME 151 



The second rank is that of Walker. This name also has an inner 

 significance. We want to make walking an art. 



We are constantly adding to and taking away from our require- 

 ments as we get more and more experience and notice how the 

 girls respond to them. The object being always to make them love 

 what they are getting. 



Special occasions are always coming, as when we hiked around 

 the lake (forty-five miles and a half) . Instead of a mob of thirty 

 going together they were divided into units of six each. Each unit 

 had a captain and special things were assigned to each unit to 

 observe and report when the trip was over. A record was kept 

 of birds heard and seen, of flowers, trees, cloud formations, con- 

 stellations seen at night, etc. Beautiful artistic "counts" were 

 presented to the assembled camp soon after the trip, and a prize 

 was given the unit giving the best report. Another year a pair 

 of cedar-waxwings nested so near that we could easily see all that 

 was going on. A record was kept of the number of feedings 

 and what they consisted of from early dawn until dark. Last 

 year a porcupine came at night and gnawed at one of the under- 

 pinnings of a bungalow to which we objected. It was shot and next 

 day dissected. The quills were interesting but not nearly so 

 interesting as when our nature teacher showed the lungs filled with 

 air, which she did by connecting a glass tube to the air passages 

 and blowing into it. It was a beautiful sight. Every one was 

 fascinated. Then the taming of chipmunks has always interested 

 our girls. Every morning their little visitors come and if the girl 

 has not been too greedy herself she will have saved some peanuts 

 and have tucked them under her pillow for such an occasion. 



So when I am asked "when does nature study come on my 

 program" I cannot answer it. I wish that every director and 

 councilor could go to the nature study conference in June. It 

 seems as if all of us should have this great love so inbred in us 

 that children may catch it just as they catch measles or chickenpox. 

 One child can give measles to many and I believe that any one of 

 us may become the radiating center from which this precious 

 inheritance may begin. It cannot be scheduled . It begins at early 

 dawn and goes through the day and into the night. It must be 

 lived, it is a spirit, one either has it or hasn't it. 



What we are trying to give our girls in eight weeks is what Henry 

 Turner Bailey says is the birthright of every child. 



