XVIII 



TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 



I 



rpO teach young people or old people how to ob- 

 -^- serve 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 observ- 

 ing nature, unless you have the appetite, the love, 

 the spontaneous desire, you will get little satisfac- 

 tion. 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 cattle; 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 bonnets and the new cloaks upon the street ? 

 We all see and observe easily in the line of our busi- 

 ness, our tasks, our desires. 



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



