EARLY DAY STORIES. 89 



every school district had at least one book that describes 

 accurately all of our most common and useful birds, and 

 if during the spring and fall terms this book was consulted 

 two or three times a week, or even every day, and the chil- 

 dren taught to name the different kinds of birds at sight 

 from the description given in the reference book, and at 

 the same time were taught the use these birds are to the 

 farmers, it would create an interest in the subject, and we 

 would soon have a county full of bird lovers, and it would 

 result in a great increase in the number of these friends 

 of the farmer. The county superintendent should see to it 

 that some such book as ''Bird Neighbors," by Neltje Blan- 

 chan, is used in every school district in the county. 



In early days Antelope county was a poor man's par- 

 adise. I doubt if the Garden of Eden was more beautiful 

 than was Antelope county before it was desecrated by man. 

 I do not see how the Garden of Eden could have surpassed 

 Antelope county in beauty, for God created both, and no 

 doubt pronounced them both good. The results were dif- 

 ferent — in the first case God drove man out of the garden 

 — in the second case man drove out or marred many of the 

 beautiful things that were found in Antelope county. He 

 has driven out the elk, the deer, the antelope, the wild tur- 

 key, the curlew, the otter and the beaver. He has ruined 

 the prairie grass and all the most beautiful of the wild 

 flowers ; but let him be given credit for what he has done 

 by way of compensation. He has planted orchards and has 

 dotted the county all over with thousands of acres of planted 

 groves, which has partly changed the face of the country 

 from that of native prairie to one of diversified prairie and 

 timber, and by his railroads, telephones and telegraphs has 

 made communication easy with all the rest of the world. 

 If a strike occurs in the morning in the coal mines of Wales, 

 or if the emperor of China abdicates his throne, or if there 

 is an earthquake in Italy, we read of it in the evening papers. 



