The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-04-09

atopsis became familiar 10 bel a. chill
dfcui "To him who In thc love II mn
tutc holds communion with her visible
forms, she speaks various Language p;
bot b b. not until We reach mature
ydars that We realize how suhtly the
yanousness Of her language depends
upon individual Interpretation 10 the
superstitious, and to the scientific mind,
natures voice in the thunder storm
brings an entirely different message. TO
the one. the tones of an angry god. heard
in terror, must be answered by the ring.
ing Of bells TO propitiate the spirit Of
punishment; to the other. this evidence
of an electric storm has, In nine times
out of ten, been looked for aud the time
of its coming measured with nice calcu.
lation. So, too, any appreciation OF
nature s economy is dependent upon the
understanding mind. We speak of the
ruthlessness of nature, of the destruct.
iveness of nature, of the warning forces
of nature, and often fail to see law
and order in what seems elemental
chaos. But coming into knowledge
! of nature S method of housekeeping,
observing the fact that nothing is vast
ed, that the prodigalty of the oak as
I
overhangs, with seemingly wasted pol
len thus furnishes nourshment to
horde of insects. or adds to the forest
loan or the silt of the lake; that the
rivers How into the sea whence rise the
| clouds that let fall the rain; that de.
nuded forest and rain-ravaged hill ulti-
mately become star.dust of which new
worlds are made-coming into such a
knowledge we may well cry out "it is
| too wonderful for me, ] can not attain
unto it, Let nature alone and man s
existence on this little planet seems of
slight import in the building of worlds
| upon worlds.
| But we come in from under the dome
of the universe, in under the roof that
man has built and face the fact that
man as a mental and moral force has
entered the cosmos and, to be himself,
must play his part with the titanic ele
ments. Fire, earth and water become a
part of his life scheme. Moral life
demands self-preservation, preservation
of the race, and so long as he exists
nature must reckon with man.
| Recent study and investigation have
shown us how nature, both by the inter
| play of her elements and by the con
slant demand upon her by man, is be-
| ing depleted as respects her lasting
value to the race. In answer to the
| hue and cry raised concerning this dis
| covery comes he word Conservation.
| 1t is indeed the word of the hour.
When the ship is found to be leaking
all hands turn to, to find and stop the
leak. When the eXchequer is low econ
omy must be observed.
| Nou if conservation is To mean any,
thing at all it must imply concerted ac-
ton. To have concerted action there
must be concerted thought or that mag
ic power known as public opinion. But
public opinion does not spring from
the head of god in full armor as did
| Athena, it is rather a giant that is
first Graded as a helpless infant-the
right idea in the minds of few. Where
is this infant to be born but in the
homes of each and all of us, to be nour-
| ished as we nourish our children and
to grow with them to full power9 Final
| ly we come to the conviction that the
woman in the household, the mother of
the family, is 70 do or is to shirk a
great duty in the development of pub
lie poiniOn. Moreover, did she but
realize it she holds in her hands won
derful possibilities as an actual con
server of natural resources.
Let us turn our attention to the
duties and the opportunities of the
mother of family in this regard See
her, by studying the drafts in the stove,
make each stick of fuel give its full
value of heat; break off the faded rose
and plant the stem; carefully guard the
eggs for a setting; prune or bud the
orange tree; shield one plant from wind
and another from overdoses of water,
another from drought; trim the tree
of too dense growth that the sun may
sweeten the pasture beneath it; gather
the fallen pods of the saman as fer
tilizer for flowers and the beans of the
algaroba as fodder for animals; as
| carefully prevent water from run
ming to waste as she would prevent
destructive fire. If water, replenished
| soil, and forests are natural resources,
of how much greater value, she reasons,
is the vital force of the sentient being.
Hand in hand with the moral valne of
Kindness, she discovers, is the efficacy
of protecting animal life. Proper feed
ing and care of domestic animals bring
their reward in prolonged and effective
service.
But in all these directions the mother
of family is performing small task
when we consider her work as a
guardian and promoter of health. Com
pared with the conservation of river
and forest, the maintenance of public
health is of intellectually greater value.
This in substance has been the reiter-
ated statement of Theodore Roosevelt
echoed over the country by public
speaker and public press. To how great
degree the public health is in the
hands of the mothers of families it il
impossible to say, but if there were
general intelligence and wisdom IN
dealing with daily and hourly condi
tions of children from birth to adult
years how vastly different would be
this world of ours. Let no woman be
little the details of her task. 1t is sc
easy to grow ''weary in well doing
in the supervision of the teeth, the
skin and the eyes, the proper diet, anC
manner of eating (ask Chittenden ans
Horace Fetcher), the method of breath
, | ig and the supply of pure air, baths