48 ARBOR DAY 



study of plant life as never before. The inherent 

 power of all growing plants, even the smallest and 

 humblest, has been brought to our notice and we 

 have had our attention turned from books to plants, 

 as equally the genuine sources of truth and inspira- 

 tion. Now is the time in which we should profit 

 by all this instruction in the past. 



The countless lessons that may be learned from 

 every plant that grows invite you all to a genuine 

 feast of good things. I am sure that no longer 

 is the study of plant or bird life in any of its marvel- 

 ous forms accounted as foreign to the real work 

 of the schoolroom, only it must have results and be 

 based upon actual conditions. In such a way alone 

 will it justify itself. Every school must be guided 

 by itself, and in the same way each pupil must 

 follow his own bent. There is no royal road by 

 which all can penetrate to the secrets of Nature. 

 She loves all who seek to know them, and she reveals 

 the choicest and most wonderful to those who are 

 most truly interested and who are inspired by the 

 most genuine love for her. 



The most difficult, and yet the most attractive, 

 branch of nature study is that of birds, with their 

 exquisite coloring which affords so much pleasure 

 to the eye, their songs, so new and yet ever old, 

 which ravish the ear, and yet elude the great 

 majority of us. In no one respect does one's 

 culture and training show itself as in the real 



