cady] MOUNT SHASTA CAMP FOR NATURE LOVERS 211 



Do you glimpse the meaning of all this for the lovers of out-of- 

 doors? Vast, ever changing mountains rising above dark forests 

 of Shasta firs and mountain hemlocks — long levels of sunburned 

 chaparral, rich valley meadows, forests of cone-bearing trees, 

 lakes and icy streams, with flowers, flowers everywhere. What, 

 I ask, is wanting to make the Nature lovers' heart sing from dawn 

 till dark? 



Need I say more of what our nature study classes mean than 

 just this — we try to get better acquainted with our out-of-doors. 



Nature is all about us, entering at every threshold. At night 

 through the open tent or the cot beneath the trees with only God 

 and the stars above. At dawn when the great silence holds 

 the veiled mountain. In the pulsing sun-gold of mid-day, broken 

 only by the stinging song of the cicada or the icy splash of the 

 cascade. At the end of the busy day when we gather beneath 

 the dome of incense cedar boughs lifted on the shafts of ruddy- 

 purple to listen, perhaps, to the "Butterfly Lady" tell of her 

 wanderings through many lands net in hand and love in her heart 

 for the beautiful winged "blossoms of the air-" — or to listen to 

 music through the stillness and the sifting sunbeams. 



Here, we study, dream, and play, sometimes alone, if we will, 

 again together for the interchange of ideas and ideals. 



Slipping away from the heat of the lower Sacramento Valley, 

 the State Normal School at Chico decided there could be no 

 better place in northern California for its summer school than here 

 at the base of Mt. Shasta. Through the generous cooperation 

 of the citizens of Sisson a permanent camp has been estabished 

 and when June comes it is "hi, ho, for the mountains!" 



Regular courses, helpful to teachers, are offered and naturally 

 in such a setting nature study forms no small part of the joy of 

 camp life. 



The work itself is quite informal. Classes are held out in the 

 field wherever anything of interest attracts our attention. We 

 wander down to the spring, each gathering what is new and promis- 

 ing to him. In the shade of the willows, we sit and talk things 

 over together, each contributing something in the way of ques- 

 tions, information or suggestions for further investigation, the 

 teacher acting as guide or helper only. The spirit of nature study 

 and ways of presenting and developing the subject are brought out 

 in this actual work in the field. 



