The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-07

! boy Is really interested III a subject HS
is not a bit afraid of technical terms; he
likes them.
We'll, that was the beginning. l gave
Robert a piece of sheet cork to glue on
the bottom of cigar box, and few in
| sect pins; and he carried off his first
named specimen in triumph He was l5
years old, just an ordinary. bright school
| boy. Before he was 16 he had the finest
local collection of beetles in that part
| of the state; any museum in the world
| would have been proud to own IT. And
| he had done 1t every bit himself while
keeping up his school studies and stand
| ing yearly at the head of his class.
only advised a little just at first. Rob
ert is a professor in Harvard university
now, but not, as you may imagine,
professor of entomology or any other
branch of natural history; he is teaching
| social science. He has the collection
| yet; it Is his best recreation.
Robert had friend, Ellis, who also
| formed a beetle collection; If not quite
| as large and fine as the other 1t was
| very nearly as good, and both the boys
| enjoyed their friendly rivalry. Ellis Is
a physician now, but he has kept up his
old interest, too.
Collection of Shells
"One day the boys brought school
mate, Lewis, who had found some snail
| shells. In exactly the same way ne
/
a study, but as pastime, play if you call
it so. Three months after, Lewis hap
pened to be in my room when some
teachers came in. / had rather a wicked
idea of showing Off the boy; so pulled
| out drawer full of sea shells, several
hundred of them, all mixed up and with
out any names. Lewis I said, I want
you to separate that lot into the fight
families and genera
''The teachers gasped-not one of them
could have done it. But Lewis took the
| thing quite as a matter of course and
began to separate the shells into little
piles These he said, ARE cypraeas;
these are olives; these are purpuras and
so on. There were a few that he hesi-
tated over Finally he said, L don't
know what these are To my mind that
was the best part of the performance;
when a naturalist or anybody else ac
| knowledges that he doesn't know some
things you may be sure that he does
| know a great many other things. I
| called on Lewis one evening and he
showed me a capital aquarium which he
had made in an ordinary candy jar. He
was learning more from the aquarium
than all the books could teach him, but
he only said it was fine fun The last
I heard of him he was teaching music in
| a German university, but would be will
ing to wager that he is collecting Ger
man shells.
| "Other boys came After a while I
got them together ard proposed that they
| should form a natural history society.
They caught on gloriously. I had writ
ten a little constitutions; but it didn't
| take me long to find out that those boys
were quite capable of making their own
constitution. They did, indeed, take mine
for a basis but they debated it graveIy,
article by article, accepting some, reject
| ing or changing Others 1t was pro-
posed and seconded that / should be a
| member; but one of the boys put in an
amendment-that l should not have the
| right to vote-and the motion was car
ried with the amendment. / grinned the
| joke was on me, but the amendment was
| so thoroughly American! In this coun-
try we don't want people to run things
| for us; We run 'em ourselves.
Started With Ten Boys
| "The society was called the Andrew
Carnegie Naturalsts club, in honor CT
the founder of the museum. 1t started
| with 10 boys; in three months there were
| 30 members and an auxiliary club OF
girls. | never saw such a set of ELL
| thusiasts, and everyone was making a
collection of some kind. Every Saturday
during the summer and. fall We went on
| excursions, some getting insects, others
| shells. fossils rock specimens, snakes,
| plants. whatever could be preserved.
| Parents caught the infection and worked
| with their boys and girls; little children
| caught it. The newspapers-always alive
| to public movement-sent reporters to our
meetings and printed long articles I
| wrote an article on the club for the Pitts
| brug Dispatch; it copied by a New
| York paper and a San Francisco one and
| so went all over the country. The letters
1 received showed how much people were
| Interested: and they showed, too, that
| other school pupils We're working on the
limo II Nd fAr. i've
| Wisconsin school that had regular camp-
| ing and collecting excursions and was
| building up a museum in that way
| "Pittsburg teachers came to thank me.
| How did you do it?' they asked; we
| have been trying vainly to get pupils
| interested in nature study, and now they
| are wild about it l had only one an
| swer: 4 didn't do it, the boys and girls
did it themselves
| 1.-THE Andrew Carnegie club is still in
| existence, as enthusiastic as ever, with 250
| members; it is a recognized branch of
the museum and always has a page in
| the directors report The teachers are
| proud of it; they say that the club men,
| bers are their brightest pupils because
| they get plenty of exercise in the open
air. All sorts of people come to the club
meetings; lawyers, physicians. merchants,
| distinguished naturalists Annual meet
ings are held in the great concert hall
enough. to hold the crowds that attend.
Cash Prizes Offered
| zone year trustee offered cash prizes
| to the members who most distinguished
| themselves in certain branches. The
prizes were awarded at the annual meet
ing, and 5000 people filled the hall to
| overflowing; the governor Of the state
| was there with two other governors, his
| guests. Mr.. Andrew Carnegie was there;
distinguished men from all over the coun-
try. l was in South America then, but
those who were present have told me of
| that meeting and, indeed reports of it
| were published in all parts of the United
| States, for it was q notable event
| zone of the prizes was to be given to
| the club member who should name, on
| sight, the largest number of native birds
THAT Is. those found around Pittsburg.
| There was one little fellow, Albert, who
| had set his heart carrying off this
| prize. He one of the youngest men,
| bers, but an enthusiastic ornithologist.
| Not that he collected birds, for he never
| killed one in his life, but he did better;
shot them with a camera, and splendid
collection of bird photographs he had.
He worked hard for that prize. Before
| sunrise every morning he was in the
| woods or by the riverside with his
| camera Key to American Birds and
| a notebook; he returned in time for
| school, but was out again before sunset,
| and the weekly holiday gave him oppor-
| tunty for longer excursions.
"In the various contests all the menu