HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 167 



Nor hev a feelin', ef it doosn't smack 



C wut sbme critter chose to feel 'way back ; 



This makes 'em talk o' daisies, larks, an' things, 



Ez though we'd nothin' here that blows and sings,— 



(Why, I'd give more for one live bobolink 



Than a square mile o' larks in printer's ink)." 



Books and Nature are antagonistic and yet they 

 are co-operative. As Hamilton Mabie says : 



" Since I turned the key on my study I have 

 almost forgotten the familiar titles on which my 

 eyes rested whenever I took a survey of my 

 book-shelves. Those friends staunch and true, 

 with whom I have held such royal fellowship 

 when skies were chill and winds were cold, will 

 not forget me, nor shall I become unfaithful to 

 them. I have gone abroad that I may return 

 later with renewed zest and deeper insight to my 

 old companionships. Books and nature are never 

 inimical ; they mutually speak for and interpret 

 each other ; and only he who stands where their 

 double light falls sees things in true perspective 

 and in right relations." 



I like that expression, " stands where the 

 double light falls." There is a difference between 

 the compound light and the extreme colors of 

 the spectrum. One needs to know the details ; to 

 live and see, in the combination. The poet needs 



