The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-07

garden alonei The stately robin is
again parading over the grass the
blue-birds are building their nests in
the chimney crannieS, the little house
wrens are trilling in the early morn
ings from the Wood-hOuSeS and out
buildings of city homes. To those
who work or lie awake at night, the
pure notes of our native nightingale
are no longer a source of special
wonder. There is a revival among the
birds!
Now. what is the cause of the new
condition? If it is the effect of the
admirable Audubon Society alone
there is cause for complete and entire
qualifications But, if the cause lies
deeper, if it means that the youth Is
coming to stick closer to the towns
and care less for the country ana the
woods. the blessing is mixed one
The school-room can't compete with
the things learned in the first crack
lings and stretchings of the damp
woods at the moment before dawn,
any more than the swimming pool can
compete with the hole at the creek
as Il place to learn to SWIM. 1nefe Is
no lesson in self-control that EQUALS
that which the last boy out learns
when he sits down naked in the sand
to unite the knots in his trousers ana
pick the rocks out his shirt sleeves
and the tnOrnS from his ShoeS-lI ne
has any-the while his fellows pelt
him back to the water with handouts
of black mudi Nor is there any edu-
cation that makes more for the future
of the man than the things learned In
these early ramblingS in the woods,
based as they are on animal impulse.
which, incidentally, is always more or
less cruel. There come Self-reliance,
the quick ear, the seeing eye, the
guard against surprise the knowledge
of danger, the calculated acceptance
of risk. These things dig down 70
the man in boy. and they are worth
more even than the birds he unTor
tunately persecutes. It is the working
knowledge of nature in the rough that
is accountable for the fact that most
great men grew up on farms, and
swan in the muddy creek, and dug
muskrats out of the banks. and
slaughtered innocent song birds. The
quality of courage itself is a kind of
innate cruelty suppressed. The two
things are closely akin; and it is the
woods, in the end. which best enable
the one to grow, through the breadth
Of a wide understanding Of things that
live wild, into the sympathy with ma
ture that begets the other.
The trouble with the youngster OF
the towns today is that he learns to
play pool instead OF base bali, 10
dance instead of hunt and fish, and
that he wears both collar anC tie
in the summer time. In addition 80
all this he carefully parts his E2aiT,
pares his nails, looks at himself fifty
times a day in n drugstore mirror
and gets him Il sweetheart by the
time he is ten years old! In the name
of American citizenship, what business
has a long-necked, spindly shanked
boy of twelve years Of age got with
a sweetheart that takes uD any OF
his time! Let them have their sweet
hearts for the. sake of a clean neck
once a week, but for heavens sake
don't let them commence to spoon
away their time in the drug-stores and
the park, when they ought to be in
the woods with a giggling chit OF a,
girl who ought to be mothering doll
babies at home. The practice is good
for neither sex. IT makes of the boy
Il dreamy Weakling with the soil Of
his being ready prepared for vice;
and it excites the damphOol tendencies
of the girl and prepares her to marry
at first sight the first sock drummer