INTRODUCTION. 



Knowledge is power, as the world well knows. 

 It is happiness, likewise, and no form of it is more 

 productive of healthful pleasure than a knowledge 

 of Nature. 



Every rock, tree, insect, bird, and mammal speaks 

 to us when we meet it ; yet, how generally we hurry 

 by, without even so much as a nod of recognition ! 

 This is an error that no young person should make ; 

 but rather let him make friends with Nature. 



Every object of the woods and fields offers to 

 tell its story, and a wondrous one it is, telling it in 

 its own way, but never speaking in a strange tongue. 



Few there are, I imagine, who pass along a 

 street and see nothing in the shop-windows ; yet 

 thousands can pass over miles of open country and 

 admit that they have seen nothing! This sad fact 

 can best be obviated by cultivating the powers of 

 observation when young ; and this training, in after- 

 years, will prove of inestimable value in whatever 

 station of life one may find himself. Man is too 



