THE LAY OF THE LAND 141 
drained—a place, preferably near the school, where the native 
life of the land may be found—a sanctuary for the wild birds 
and all the other wild things, plants and animals, to which 
the youth of the rising generations may go in order to see 
what the native life of his native land was like. The wild 
things are rapidly vanishing. Where would one find even 
now a bit of the rich unaltered wild prairie that once over- 
spread the interior of this continent, with its tall, waving 
grasses and all its wealth of wild flowers? 
The landscape belongs to all. Its smiling slopes, or their 
forlorn tatters, affect the public weal. It is good to dwell 
in a place where the environment breeds contentment; 
where peace and plenty grow out of the right use of 
nature’s resources; where smiling fields yield golden har- 
vests, and where well kept home-steads nestle amid em- 
bowering trees; where both the beauty and the bounty 
of nature are acknowledged, and wise measures are taken 
to improve her gifts, and to leave them unimpaired for the 
nurture of coming generations. Men have attained to 
profitable co-operation in many lines of enterprise. May 
the time come when they will be able to co-operate in 
organizing for their best use all features of the larger units 
of their environment; when they will preserve for public 
use the things that meet the common social needs; when 
they will begin to correct the ills that grow out of arbitrary 
and artificial boundaries, by following the lines of nature; 
when they will learn to put all fields to their best use, securing 
productiveness, convenience and beauty. 
