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1905 | GENERAL EXCURSION TO CHELSEA. 89 
the Teachers’ Convention, which was being held in Ottawa during 
the same week, and at the Royal Society’s meeting, were noticed : 
Prof. A. H. MacKay, Superintendant of Education for Nova 
Scotia, Halifax ; Dr. G. U. Hay, Supt. of Education for the pro- 
vince of New Brunswick, St. John, N.B.; Dr. C. F. Hodge, of 
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts ; Mr. E. R. Howes, 
of Bowesville ; Mr. J. W. Gibson, etc. 
The weather was all that could be desired and the woods were 
very green and fresh, filled with treasures from which many a 
lesson might be learned. At this time of the year the world of 
Nature seems to unfold its wonders to the eye of the observer in 
a manner which it cannot do in the more advanced season of sum- 
mer and later when the fruition comes with its varied stores. 
There is no time when Nature studies ought to be carried on with 
more interest and profit than when the buds burst forth and the 
birds arrive, when there is a revival of life and activity in both the 
vegetable and animal worlds. Ina country like ours, where the 
seasons. are so well marked, there is a special attractiveness to all 
studies of life in the woods, and in the open glade and mead. 
The pool with its myriads of forms of animal life, each of 
which would form a life-study of special interest; the tree with its 
unfolding leaf and flower buds; the humbler plants and shrubs, 
the mosses, and liverworts, the spreading lichens and mystic fungus 
life, all yield to the student of Nature their own distinct and spe- 
cial secrets that open the heart and lead to paths of pleasantness. 
Even the rocks, those hard and cruel things which seem so lifeless 
and ‘‘dour”, afford a theme which tells the tale of long ago, when 
molten lavas, boiling magmas were cooled and formed the crust 
of Earth upon which now we tread and give to plant and animal 
life the food and the place upon which both subsist. 
The excursion traia left the Union Station at IgOop sams, 
carrying some 300 students of Nature; and, on arriving at the 
grove, Dr. S. B. Sinclair, the President of the Club, gave out 
the announcements for the day, pointing out to the members and 
their friends who the Leaders of the Club were in the different 
branches of work. Rendezvous was given for 4.30 p.m., when 
brief addresses were given on the principal objects seen during 
the day and lessons learned. 
