27 
The JTaturalists’ Companion. 
counter, thinking of nothing but the 
profits of trade, and hoarding up his 
wages for the establishment of himself 
in business, or wjio contentedly follows 
the plow or wields the spade, with no 
other ambition than to sometime become 
himself the owner of a valuable estate, 
is a model of wisdom and prudence; the 
one who climbs out of the rut of com¬ 
mon pursuits, and gives reign to the 
better instindls of his nature, reveling 
in the luxury of communion with that 
i mmense and measureless colledfion of 
wonderful and beautiful things that 
constitutes the woild he lives in, is a 
crank or a fooL To get bread and 
money, is the only legitimate objedl for 
the employment of our faculties. The 
youth who is inclined to spend valuable 
time in a pradtical study of natural his¬ 
tory, in preference to mastering the de= 
tails of some manual labor pursuit, sub- 
jedts himself to parental reproof. He 
who goes about with a hammer knock¬ 
ing rocks to pieces, in search of some 
hidden record of creation, or dips .up 
from the muddy waters of the road-side 
ditch the tiny shell that testifies of the 
Creator’s art, is an object for the pitying 
sneer of the gaping multitude. 
Nor when we come to the public 
schools is the matter helped much. The 
idea of the popular educatois of the 
present day, is the formation of a so- 
called symmetrical, well-balanced char- 
actei. There must be just so much 
grammar and mathematics, just so much 
botany and zoology, and no more. The 
course of study in a given case is not 
arranged with reference to the natural 
ability and taste of the pupil, but his 
ability and taste must conform to the 
established, inflexible standard. He 
may be but a few grades removed from 
an idiot in his ability to master arith¬ 
metic, but especially capable in grammar; 
nevertheless he must not advance in 
grammar beyond the land-mark estab¬ 
lished for his class, till his’deficiencies 
in arithmetic have been made up. The 
youth with a mind which, with proper 
encouragement and cultivation would 
place him in an honored position as a 
student of some branch of natural his¬ 
tory, is persistently held back for lack 
of proficiency in some other branch of 
study for which he has neither ability 
nor iti^iclination. However, the signs of 
the times, as seen in the recent multipli¬ 
cation of schools in which special courses 
of study are allowed, point to a better- 
state of things.— Science Monthly. 
Subscribe at once, and don’t delay ! 
^^LOOK !—We will send the Nat¬ 
uralists’ Companion and Lattin’s Oo- 
LOGiST each one year for 50 cents—the 
price of the Oologist alone. 
The total number of species of flower¬ 
ing plants in the world is estimated by 
the botanists Bentham and Hooker to 
be 95,620. 
We are about to publish a monthly 
magazine devoted to the interest of Sons 
of Veterans, G. A. R., and Ladies Aid 
Societies. . Persons interested in either 
of the above should send for sample copy. 
Houston, Texas, Sept. 14th, 1886. 
Dear Sir :— 
The Companion to hand. I am well 
pleased with its appearance, and think 
the price very low. I pay more for 
magazines that cannot compare with it. 
I enclose you my subscription. With 
best wishes for future success of the Com¬ 
panion, I remain 
Yours truly, 
W. W. W es'i-ga'pe, 
Dealer in natural history specimens. 
