534 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



hand says that she chartered a special train, hired 

 two maids and a surgeon to take a pet dog across 

 the continent, and when the dog died, placed it in 

 a white velvet-covered coffin, lined with white satin 

 and decorated with solid gold handles. Such ex- 

 hibitions of extreme affection are nothing but a 

 form of hysteria, and do a great deal of harm by 

 disgusting many people with the whole band of 

 nature lovers. What I want to encourage in the 

 young reader is a sane, comprehensive love for the 

 world he lives in. Some of my friends have jok- 

 ingly suggested that in my enthusiasm for Nature 

 I am becoming a worshipper of Pan. While this 

 was not said seriously, I choose to take it so. You 

 know, boys, that Pan is the ancient god which 

 artists paint and draw when they wish to personify 

 Nature, but whose grotesque form indicates that 

 he was not originally intended for that purpose, 

 but really to represent what we know as "of the 

 earth, earthy." The great army of outdoor people 

 do not claim any divinity for Nature itself, but 

 we do claim that Nature is the handiwork of God. 

 Now, even if we were worshipers of Nature, we 

 would still hold a higher position than do those 

 people who pretend to worship a deity, whose 

 handiwork they spend their lives in mutilating and 

 destroying. 



NO MAN RESPECTS AN ARTIST 



and destroys his handiwork. Now, boys, let us 

 start a camp fire of nature lovers. Each of you 



