Catching the Interests of Nature. 
As long ago as I can remember I 
heard that mythical story many times 
repeated of the cat harnessed to a 
merry-go-round or old-fashioned cider 
mill, with a mouse dangling in front of 
her. All day that cat to capture the 
mouse pulled and pushed the merry- 
go-round attached in some way to a 
machine as John Burroughs’s dog was 
fastened in a treadmill and did the 
churning. 
I have many times pictured that cat 
tugging at that windlass in pursuit of 
that mouse. I do not believe a cat ever 
did anything of the kind, although by 
my skepticism I am spoiling a good 
allegory that, like many other alle- 
gories, does not meet the test when ap- 
plied to the conditions of human life. 
We think the little story is delightful, 
and we sympathize with the cat be- 
cause so many of us are chasing the un- 
attainable or making water balls, those 
airy nothings that bubble to the sur- 
face when our emotional nature is 
touched. 
Many well-meaning schools and 
equally well-meaning households por- 
tray nature study to children as the 
dangling mouse or as the will-o’-the- 
wisp floating just out of reach under 
the trees in the orchard. The teacher 
says: “My dear little child, isn’t it de- 
lightful to think about? Isn’t it beau- 
tiful to look at? Wouldn’t you like to 
make air balls and run after the will-o’- 
the-wisp?” When I hear a song about 
the delights of the woods and fields, or 
a story about the wonderful antics of 
some animal or the peculiar maneu- 
vers of a bird, or that romance about 
the fish that never was caught, I think 
of the mouse, the cat, the bubbles and 
the will-o’-the-wisp. Let us throw away 
these pleasing little tales, these imag- 
inings, and seek the joyous light, and 
catch the elusive animals instead of 
dreaming about them. Go where they 
are and get into touch with them. 
Idle best part of a fish story for a 
young person is to play at being a fish. 
Get into the water where the fishes are 
and dive and swim as they dive and 
swim. In all the world there is no other 
fishing like that. 
What pastoral scenes have been de- 
picted by poets and artists of the de- 
lights with Uncle Josh and Aunt Sue 
on the old farm. Their life is idyllic. 
How pastoral it is to follow the cows 
from the pasture and around the barn. 
Isn’t it charming to ramble through the 
quiet meadows, by the rippling brooks, 
with the song of the meadow lark drop- 
ping from the sky? Pleasing little im- 
aginings, aren’t they? But the will-o’- 
the-wisp and the bubbles and the mouse 
keep their distance. Why read the 
beautifully illustrated magazines about 
country life; why read The Guide To 
Nature ; why not abandon the printed 
page and get the reality and make it 
your own ? 
That, parents, should be the modern 
realization of these dreams of the 
country in song and story for the child. 
Former generations dreamed about liv- 
ing in fairyland ; modern young folks in 
a well ordered camp are perfectly at 
home there. All that the musician has 
told us of ringing rocks, the poet of the 
charms of the daisy and “wee little 
mousey,” the sportsman of freedom 
from the cares of the city, the preacher 
in the pulpit of the glory of the firma- 
ment that sheweth His handywork, and 
of the satisfactions of living near to 
His works, are all realized when your 
boy or girl goes, to a first-class camp. 
Through the ages a few God inspired 
men and women thought this but left 
