126 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
Mr. T. F. Wakefield moved the election en bloc of the officers 
and Council for the ensuing year. 
Mrs. Brightwen, in rising to second the re-election of the 
officers and Council, said she was always glad to remember that 
she was living in the beautiful world of nature, and she would 
confine her remarks to the practical suggestion that it was 
possible to lead those to it who had not originally the taste for 
nature. She believed she was born with an intense love of 
nature. It may have been something in the air, as she was a 
native of the same place as the naturalist, Thomas Edward, 
alluded to by the chairman. She would not go into the vexed 
question of killing, but she had no doubt that learning more 
about how various creatures lived was the first step towards 
loving them, and with regard to that instinct in boys to throw 
stones at living things, she was sure that when they knew more 
of their lives they would have less desire to destroy. She had 
a little robin at home, he was constantly at her right hand ; she 
knew where the nest was ; it had brought in its little mate to see 
her, and if she gave him a worm he would feed his mate with it, 
and it was perfectly delightful to observe all the little incidents 
of the life of this little fellow. 
It Avas needful to cultivate a love for plants and floAvers 
while young, and the first thing Avas to teach children to observe 
the things of interest, even in the commonest plants, say, for 
instance, the dandelion. First in the spring the bright green leaf 
and its shape, so suggestive of its name, dent-dc-lion, Avith its 
tooth-like notches, then the rising up of the flower-stem straight 
from the root and the unfolding of the bright yelloAV mass of 
bloom, and how, when fertilised by the bees the stem droops, to 
rise again a little later with the round ball of fluffy seed on the 
top to be bloAvn out by the summer breeze and carried aAvay. 
This may be made very interesting while you are Avalking Avith 
young people, but yet more is needed. You need to make them 
retain what they learn, and a good plan to attain this is to carry 
a natural history note book, and to get them to gather a few 
specimens as they walk, and to Avrite doAvn any particulars, and 
to make a drawing of them afterAvards ; of course A’ery crude 
at first, but they Avill improve as they learn to notice more 
accurately the various details. A most delightful book could be 
made in this Avay by gathering specimen leaA^es of the various 
English forest trees, the leaA'es pressed out on the page and 
notes made of the character of the bark, the method of seeding, 
the uses the timber is applied to, &c., and only consider the 
many delightful walks it Avould take to complete such a book as 
that from day to day, and hoAV it Avould set their (the children’s) 
busy eyes to Avork to notice and find out fresh trees from time to 
time. From trees the study could easily pass to ferns and other 
things, and so would be created a taste for the beautiful in 
nature and a desire on the part of each to have the most perfect 
and complete collection. The draAving of the specimens may be 
