27 



reluctance, and often of positive pain, that the fatal trigger is pressed, 

 and thus is brought to a premature end a life full of joy and beauty. 

 But yet for purposes of science or discussion a bird or an egg must 

 sometimes be procured to be laid in the cabinet. It is occasionally 

 impossible with the best glasses in the world for a naturalist to 

 thoroughly know a bird, to learn the trifling points of difference which 

 are often all that distinguish it from others of the same ' genus / to 

 understand its structure and other characteristics, unless he can handle 

 and dissect it, as well as see it in the ' bush.' And again it is not to 

 the one person alone, but to many, that; the dead bird or the curiously 

 marked egg brings the joy of the deeper knowledge of the Creator's 

 love and wisdom. Look, for instance, at the collections in public 

 places — at your own museum now forming here in Ottawa — to how 

 many do and will the sight of these bring brief relaxation and recrea- 

 tion, among the many vicissitudes of every day life. Many a country 

 lad and maiden will have their minds delighted by a visit to the collec- 

 tions, that individual effort, for the most part, is forming here. There- 

 fore, do not set down every naturalist, every collector, as a cruel 

 Avretch, who takes life regardless of its value, but believe that many 

 such feel from the heart the truth of the poet's words— 

 " He pray est best who lovest best 



All things both great and small. 

 For the dear Lord that loveth us, 



He made and loveth all." 

 And speaking of the elder among us, the collections we may look 

 at, when advancing years forbid us any longer to follow nature in her 

 haunts ; the cases our eyes still eagerly scan will recall memories of 

 some pleasant holiday, some glorious excursion in the days that are no 

 more. It is a sight which breaks in upon the monotony of many a 

 long hour of tedious work ; this case recalls to a past lover of nature 

 the white sands or the grassy marsh far away in the distant North ; 

 that case carries him back in thought to a long summer day spent on 

 some wild sea shore ; another one wakes up in him the thrilling excite- 

 ment in some long and successful stalk. Yes ! by these objects we 

 live once more in the happy past, and the soothing influence thus pro- 

 cured lingers with us through many a solitary hour. 



