A DAY WITH A NATURE GUIDE 193 



Dr. Liberty H. Bailey strikes the keynote, I 

 think, of nature guiding at a number of points 

 in his "The Nature-Study Idea." At one place 

 in this he says: "I like the man who has had an 

 incomplete course. A partial view, if truthful, is 

 worth more than a complete course, if lifeless. If 

 the man has acquired a power for work, a capability 

 for initiative and investigation, an enthusiasm for 

 the daily life, his incompleteness is his strength. 

 How much there is before him! How eager his 

 eye! How enthusiastic his temper! He is a man 

 with a point of view, not a man with mere facts. 

 This man will see first the large and significant 

 events; he will grasp relationships; he will corre- 

 late; later, he will consider the details." 



Timberline, what determines it, and the species 

 of trees that compose it; beavers, their part in con- 

 servation and their influence on the settlement and 

 exploration of America; parasitic plants; the story 

 of soil; the birth, life, and death of a lake; the home 

 territory of animals; wind, the great seed-sower — 

 are some of the many possible interests of the 

 trail. 



A few people for years have practised nature 

 guiding occasionally. It has made good and it 

 has a place in national life. It carries with it 

 health, mental stimulus, and inspiration. Recently 

 nature guiding was given a definite place in the 

 national parks by the Government licensing a 

 number of nature guides to conduct people 



