FERNS AS A HOBBY 



Two days later, at Glacier, I had another pleas- 

 ure from the same source in the discovery of great 

 beds of nodding golden lilies, the western species 

 of adder's tongue, growing close to white fields of 

 snow. 



" Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

 Tossing their heads in sprightly dance." 



The enjoyment of the entire trip to the Pacific 

 coast, of the voyage among the islands and glaciers 

 of Alaska, and of the journey home through the 

 Yellowstone and across our Western prairies, was 

 increased indescribably by the new plants I learned 

 to know. 



The pleasure we take in literature, as in travel, is 

 enhanced by a knowledge of nature. Not only are 

 we able better to appreciate writers on nature so 

 original and inspiring as Thoreau, or so charming as 

 John Burroughs, but such nature-loving poets as 

 Wordsworth, Lowell, Bryant, and countless others, 

 mean infinitely more to the man or woman who with 

 a love of poetry combines a knowledge of the plants 

 and birds mentioned in the poems. 



Books of travel are usually far more interesting if 

 we have some knowledge of botany and zoology. 

 This is also true of biographies which deal with men 

 or women who find either their work or their recre- 

 ation — and how many men and women who have 

 been powers for good may be counted in one class 

 or the other— in some department of natural science. 



One fascinating department of nature-study, that 



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