4 
BY TUB WAYSIDE 
BY. .THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except 
J uly and August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin, Illinois and 
Michigan Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year Single copies 5 cents 
Contributions to By the Wayside are invitee 
from all lovers ot JNature mid lnenus of tho 
birds. All communications should be sent t 
Poland tO. Kremers, BiZU Vilas bt., Madison 
Wis. 
Organize a Bird Cluo in Your School 
We have always maintained and 
still maintain that one of the very best 
ways for a teacher to get a hold on his 
or her pupils is to get them interested 
in bird-study and nature study in gen¬ 
eral. Bird-study is perhaps the best 
to attempt for the reason that children 
seem more ready to observe bird-life 
than any other form. This is only 
natural, for birds show very consider¬ 
able variations in brilliancy of both 
plumage and song and hence appeal to 
man’s sense of the beautiful. 
We therefore urge you to organize 
a bird club in your school because we 
believe with Mr. Trafton that “in this 
way a feeling of responsibility will be 
developed and the children may be 
changed from indifferent friends, or 
even persecutors of birds, to their ar¬ 
dent protectors.” This alone would 
be worth the effort, but there are 
other results which more completely 
justify the expenditure of a portion of 
the teacher’s energy in the further¬ 
ance of bird-study. It is very gener¬ 
ally the case that pupils will not dis¬ 
like their written exercises so much if 
they have interesting topics to write 
about. Nature study furnishes these 
topics. Read the extract from one of 
our greatest authors, Washington Irv¬ 
ing, and then read the letter from the 
little schoolgirl in Illinois. The mas¬ 
ter and the beginner alike have found 
an attractive theme in the realm of na¬ 
ture. We merely ask, “Is it not worth 
a teacher’s while to try to interest her 
pupils in bird-study?’’ 
If you will try to interest your pu¬ 
pils in bird-study, we will help you. 
We leave it to you whether or not it 
is feasible to try to organize a club in 
your particular school, but you can al¬ 
ways liv to at least introduce it 
through the medium of the required 
composition work. We urge you to 
subscribe to By the Wayside, for we 
shall include in it much material inter¬ 
esting and useful to teachers; for ex¬ 
ample the “Bird of the Month,” illus¬ 
trations, articles on various phases of 
bird life and protection, letters from 
other clubs and the like. Next month 
we shall include an outline for study. 
To any teacher who will subscribe to 
By the Wayside, we will send gratis 
six illustrated leaflets which will he of 
use to her in her work. 
Now is the time to organize a bird 
club. A suggestive circular will be 
sent on application to Roland E. 
Kremers, 1720 Vilas St., Madison, Wis. 
_ 
With the school year opens the fis¬ 
cal year of the Wisconsin Audubon So¬ 
ciety. Whether this point of time 
really marks a new epoch is a ques¬ 
tion, hut we look forward to it as a 
time when we can begin again with a 
clean slate and with new courage and 
vigor. We are still far from the ideal 
which we have set and which we have 
striven, let us hope not altogether in 
vain, to attain. We cannot, however, 
continually make progress alone. We 
must have others to support us; will 
. 
you not help us? 
