TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 
might fear that the bees might not be 
entirely tractable. To be pursued to 
the edge of the roof might not be agree- 
able to his guests. 
When Mr. Schroeder was only thir- 
teen years of age he had for several 
years previously been reading the 
standard works on astronomy and 
geology. In “The Youth’s Companion” 
he read an article, “How to Make a 
Telescope.” A curtain pole about forty 
inches long and two inches in diameter, 
he wound with heavy packing paper to 
a thickness of about a quarter of an 
inch, liberally brushing glue between 
the layers. It is not necessary for us to 
go into details, because we think he will 
send a reprint of the article in “Popular 
Astronomy” of February, 1921, to those 
who are interested. 
The telescope in his observatory is 
an Alvan Clark of five and one-half inch 
objective. The revolving dome is of 
steel made by the Globe factory 
mechanics. 
Mr. Schroeder sets a good example 
to other mechanics who have not been 
able greatly to advance their school 
education. He has demonstrated the 
fact that the grand and beautiful things 
of the universe may be enjoyed with 
comparative ease and much pleasure. 
He is a good missionary. He is friendly 
among his employees, kind and com- 
panionable. The library of his club- 
room in the factory contains about forty 
books on astronomical subjects in 
which the employees are encouraged to 
interest themselves. Those who as a 
result manifest some advance in knowl- 
edge or even in curiosity are invited to 
use the observatorv. 
God’s Out-of-Doors. 
The cool green woods are beckoning, 
The hills are calling too, 
A challenge are the mountain tops 
That loom into the blue. 
Each little brook a welcome sings, 
The fields invite to roam. 
The breezes and the flower scents 
Are luring us from home. 
The ocean, sparkling in the sun, 
Is more insistent still, 
And every little dancing wave 
Doth summon with a will. 
In all this generous, gracious land, 
E’en to its farthest shores, 
There is no place in Summer time 
Quite like God’s Out-of-Doors. 
— Emma Peirce. 
I I 
Prohibition Benefits Natural History! 
A new weapon has been placed in 
the hands of the “drys.” Before the 
adoption of national prohibition one of 
the only two skulls of the mammoth, 
Elephas primigenius, adorned a Cincin- 
nati barroom, the proprietor of which 
refused all offers for it. Now that his 
business has been legislated out of ex- 
istence, the skull has been acquired at 
a modest price by the U. S. National 
Museum. — “Scientific American.” 
Of course prohibition should bene- 
fit natural history, not merely in the 
semijocose manner set forth in this 
item, but in a variety of ways. We have 
in mind that not merely the money for- 
merly spent in drink should now go to 
education but that the efforts and 
money of prohibition workers who 
claimed they were w'orking in behalf 
of the betterment of humanity, espe- 
cially of the children, should now go to 
institutions like The Agassiz Associa- 
tion and others. 
Prohibition is a fact, whether we like 
it or not, and whether we agree that it 
is working out well or not. It is prob- 
able that there are yet a few little de- 
tails to be attended to but in the main 
it is perfectly safe for those who wish 
to say civilization advances through the 
channels of education. But turn from 
education to institutions that dissemi- 
nate knowledge. 
Then there is another class of work- 
ers. Those who have labored so faith- 
fully in behalf of equal suffrage for the 
woman as for the man. The work is 
over and we cordially invite the woman 
to turn her attention to our educational 
work. There are good many phases of 
child welfare that do not come within 
the strict scope of the naturalist’s insti- 
tutions, but in the main one may say 
that the more the attention of children 
and of parents is turned to the great 
out of doors the better it will be for the 
sane and safe democracy of America. 
Naturalists interested in locusts, 
grasshoppers, crickets and their allies, 
will welcome Albert P. Morse’s “Man- 
ual of the Orthoptera of New 
England.” The volume contains some 
360 pages, with nineteen plates, and is 
Volume 35, Number 6, of the Proceed- 
ings of the Boston Society of Natural 
History. 
