i6 4 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



blossoms of peculiar and pungent odour, is called 

 skunkweed. The children were blindfolded and 

 asked to find an interesting flower, blooming about 

 twenty-five feet from them, which was sending 

 wireless signals for the nose. Merry times they had 

 seeking for it. In all succeeding trips that we made 

 there was increased and enjoyable use of the sense 

 of smell. 



We tasted and smelled of the bark and needles 

 of the balsam fir tree as an important preliminary 

 to searching for it that night with our noses. Any 

 one who desired was allowed to supplement taste 

 and touch also. A little girl who was the first to 

 find it was not certain until she had touched the 

 tree to which her nose led her. 



One windy day we were exploring a dense prime- 

 val forest when the sound of a cascading brook 

 reached our ears. We stopped to listen and to 

 separate the flowing tones of the water from simi- 

 lar sounds the wind made in the pines. Then we 

 tried to determine the direction to the brook, and 

 also the distance, by the sounds of the water. 



In a comparatively open level place we walked 

 round and noted the boulders and the trees. One 

 at a time was then blindfolded and asked to find a 

 particular tree or boulder. 



One of the incidents I sometimes tell to heighten 

 the interest when we are training our senses is of 

 several blind men in Wheeling, W. Va., who walked 

 more than a mile one winter night to hear me 



