TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 



To teach young people or old people how to 

 observe nature is a good deal like trying to teach 

 them how to eat their dinner. The first thing 

 necessary in the latter case is a good appetite; 

 this given, the rest follows very easily. And 

 in observing nature, unless you have the appe- 

 tite, the love, the spontaneous desire, you will 

 get little satisfaction. It is the heart that sees 

 more than the mind. To love nature is the first 

 step in observing her. If a boy had to learn 

 fishing as a task, what slow progress he would 

 make ;, but as his heart is in it, how soon he 

 becomes an adept. 



The eye sees quickly and easily those things 

 in which we are interested. A man interested 

 in horses sees every fine horse in the country 

 he passes through; the dairyman notes the cat- 

 tle; the bee culturist counts the skips of bees; 

 the sheep-grower notes the flocks, etc. Is it 

 any efi'ort for the ladies to note the new bon- 

 nets and the new cloaks upon the street? ^^ e 

 all see and observe easily in the line of our 

 business, our tasks, our desires. 



If one is a lover of the birds, he sees birds 

 everywhere, plenty of them. I think I seldom 



