2s6 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



Recent museum groups embody the spirit of 

 nature guiding — giving the manners and customs, 

 the friends and enemies of wild Hfe. 



"The Nature Study Idea," by Liberty H. Bailey, 

 is the most comprehensive and complete discus- 

 sion concerning the helpfulness of nature that I 

 have seen. His attitude is stated from a number 

 of angles and he strongly commends the poetic 

 interpretation of nature. 



He says: "The subject (nature study) is not a 

 formal part of the curriculum; and thereby it is 

 not perfunctory. And herein lies much of its 

 value — in the fact that it cannot be reduced to a 

 system, is not cut and dried, and cannot become a 

 part of rigid school methods. . . . Whatever 

 the method, the final result of nature teaching is 

 the development of a keen personal interest in 

 every natural object and phenomenon. . . . 

 Fundamentally, nature study is seeing what one 

 looks at and drawing proper conclusions from what 

 one sees. . . . Nature study is not the teach- 

 ing of facts for the sake of facts. It is not giving 

 information merely. . . . The artist and the 

 poet know this world, and they do not know it by 

 mere knowledge or by analysis. It appeals to them 

 in moods, not in details." 



