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BY THE WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except July and 
August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois Audu¬ 
bon Societies. 
Twenty=five cents per year. Single Copies 3 cents 
All communications should be sent to Miss Edna Ed¬ 
wards, Appleton, Wis. 
The Benefits of Nature Study. 
“To add to the resources of one’s life.— 
Think how much that means \ To add 
to those things that make us more at 
home in the world; that help guard us 
against ennui and stagnation”—surely 
this is worth while, and worth while for 
us to seek for the children of the public 
schools. “To add to the resources of 
one’s life”—John Burrough touches the 
practical side of nature study, practical 
in the broadest sense of the word. Prac¬ 
tical nature study is not a sentimental 
fad; it has led to such practical results 
as an educated public sentiment which 
favors bird protection and enforcement 
of game laws. We may hope that it will 
train up a generation of young natural¬ 
ists who will find new plants for cultiva¬ 
tion, and discover how we may avoid the 
great yearly loss in such crops as the 
apple. This will mean dollars and cents 
to the commonwealth. “To make us 
more at home in the world,” continues the 
sage of Slabsides. What an astonishing 
amount of ignorance there is everywhere 
in regard to the commonest facts of 
nature, and this even among “educated” 
people,—children in the upper grades of 
the public schools who do not know 
that butterflies come from “worms,” and 
college students who do not know tad¬ 
poles when they see them ! Knowledge 
of even the common facts would "invest 
the country with new interest and entice¬ 
ment;” and “make every walk in the 
fields or woods an excursion into a land 
of unexhausted treasures.” 
Our “practical” educators often do 
much harm by their short-sightedness. 
Children are taught as the only import¬ 
ant things those subjects which will help 
them in the immediate future to main¬ 
tain their place in the community, and 
practically to help to make them self- 
supporting. This is necessary, but there 
is more. There comes a time, and it 
comes early to many, when mere getting 
on in the world does not satisfy. Other 
interests must come to rest the weary 
mind and body and correct the mental 
vision accustomed only to objects near 
at hand. Give children some interest 
which will endure beyond their school 
davs. The lover of nature will not suffer 
•j 
from ennui or stagnation. “The return¬ 
ing seasons will fill us with expectation 
and delight;” and this interest in nature 
will “help keep us fresh and sane and 
young, and make us immune to the strife 
and fever of the world.” R. M. 
A Robin Story. 
During the summer a Massachusetts 
woman keeps a shallow dish always filled 
with water, in her yard. This is enjoyed 
by all the birds, especially the robins. 
One day when a robin was taking his 
bath, splashing the water about in vigor¬ 
ous fashion, another robin flew down, 
took his stand a short distance from the 
dish and began scolding loudly. The 
bather was not to be frightened off in 
this way and he “answered back” at the 
top of his lungs; then, quite suddenly, 
jumping out of his bath, chastised the 
other so soundly that he was glad to 
hurry away. The impertinent intruder 
being disposed of, the first robin hopped 
hack to the dish and finished his bath at 
leisure. 
