12 
THE GUIDE TO NATURE 
Era’ for lending us these cuts and are 
glad to call attention to Mr. Wilfred A. 
French’s efforts in publishing a photo- 
graphic magazine which has become the 
most successful this country has ever 
known. The paper, printing, good 
judgment displayed in the selection of 
articles, the co-operation of the best 
photographers unite to make a combina- 
tion that should be appreciated by every 
user of the camera. 
Of What Use is a Fly? 
The Greenwich Academy, 
Greenwich, Conn. 
To the Editor : 
I should much like to have your 
answer to this question. Of what use 
is a fly ? I should like to know how so 
small an insect can help in so large a 
world. 
Mary C. Chester. 
I am glad to have your inquiry re- 
garding the fly. In one way it is use- 
ful, just as you and I are useful, in 
being itself and in performing well the 
activities of its own life as designed by 
the Creator. Many persons are con- 
stantly asking of what use are such 
things, meaning in what do those 
things serve us. We human beings 
cannot well avoid being selfish, su- 
premely selfish. We want to construe, 
or rather I should say misconstrue, the 
Creator’s plans as centering in the hu- 
man individual. To a certain extent 
that belief is correct. I accept the teach- 
ing that a human being has been made 
but a little lower than the angels and 
crowned with glory and honor, but 
there are times when certain indi- 
viduals seem not fittingly to wear the 
crown nor to appreciate the honor. I 
believe there are many forms of life 
created simply for that form itself ; that 
is. they are endowed by the Creator 
with certain inalienable rights of life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
I would put the fly in that list. As a 
mature insect it is of no use to man- 
kind. As a maggot, or larva, it is of 
great use. In its larval form it is a 
valuable scavenger. By reason of the 
carelessness and perhaps the laziness 
of the average human being, fly mag- 
gots are needed to make innocuous the 
filth that the general citizen must nec- 
essarily neglect. Aside from this the 
HAYING A SWING. 
THE OLD SWIMMING-HOLE. 
