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THE  SPIRIT  OF  CONSERVATION  IN  THE  HOME. 
By  Mary  Dillingham  Frear. 
The  opening  lines  of  Bryant’s  Thanatopsis  become  familiar 
to  us  as  children : “To  him  who  in  the  love  of  nature  holds 
communion  with  her  visible  forms,  she  speaks  a various 
language” ; but  it  is  not  until  we  reach  mature  years  that  we 
realize  how  subtly  the  variousness  of  her  language  depends 
upon  individual  interpretation.  To  the  superstitious,  and  to 
the  scientific  mind,  nature’s  voice  in  the  thunder  storm  brings 
an  entirely  different  message.  To  the  one  the  tones  of  an 
angry  god,  heard  in  terror,  must  be  answered  by  the  ringing 
of  bells  to  propitiate  the  spirit  of  punishment ; to  the  other, 
this  evidence  of  an  electric  storm  has,  in  nine  times  out  of 
ten,  been  looked  for  and  the  time  of  its  coming  measured 
with  nice  calculation.  So,  too,  any  appreciation  of  Nature’s 
economy  is  dependent  upon  the  understanding  mind.  We  speak 
of  the  ruthlessness  of  nature,  of  the  destructiveness  of  nature, 
of  the  warring  forces  of  nature,  and  often  fail  to  see  law  and 
order  in  what  seems  elemental  chaos.  But  coming  into  a 
knowledge  of  nature’s  method  of  housekeeping,  observing  the 
fact  that  nothing  is  wasted,  that  the  prodigality  of  the  oak  as 
it  strews  the  hillside,  or  the  lake  it  overhangs,  with  seemingly 
wasted  pollen  thus  furnishes  nourishment  to  a horde  of  in- 
sects, or  adds  to  the  forest  loam  or  the  silt  of  the  lake ; that  the 
rivers  flow  into  the  sea  whence  rise  the  clouds  that  let  fall  the 
rain ; that  denuded  forest  and  rain-ravaged  hill  ultimately  be- 
come star-dust  of  which  new  worlds  are  made — coming  into 
such  a knowledge  we  may  well  cry  out  “it  is  too  wonderful 
for  me,  I can  not  attain  unto  it.”  Let  Nature  alone  and  man’s 
existence  on  this  little  planet  seems  of  slight  import  in  the 
building  of  worlds  upon  worlds. 
But  we  come  in  from  under  the  dome  of  the  universe,  in 
under  the  roof  that  man  has  built  and  face  the  fact  that  man 
as  a mental  and  moral  force  has  entered  the  cosmos  and,  to 
be  himself,  must  play  his  part  with  the  titanic  elements.  Fire, 
earth  and  water  become  a part  of  his  life  scheme.  Moral  life 
demands  self-preservation,  preservation  of  the  race,  and  so 
long  as  he  exists  nature  must  reckon  with  man. 
Recent  study  and  investigation  have  shown  us  how  nature, 
both  by  the  inter-play  of  her  elements  and  by  the  constant 
demand  upon  her  by  man,  is  being  depleted  as  respects  her 
lasting  value  to  the  race.  In  answer  to  the  hue  and  cry  raised 
concerning  this  discovery  comes  the  word  Conservation.  It  is 
indeed  the  word  of  the  hour.  When  the  ship  is  found  to  be 
ieaking  all  hands  turn  to  to  find  and  stop  the  leak.  When  the 
exchequer  is  low  economy  must  be  observed. 
Now,  if  conservation  is  to  mean  anything  at  all  it  must  imply 
concerted  action.  To  have  concerted  action  there  must  be 
