Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-14

NDACK to Nature !" the prophet and the
ID pundt proclaim, but neither will sta!
the plodding haste of his own way thither to
reply to the idle query. What, sage sir, Is
and why 'return?"
UNIATURE? Well, let see; nature Is
~ something green something that isn't
town or kept too nicely" Some such answer
as this might expect from the man in the :
street, who usually has answer ready Tor
anything and who rule, is not so very
far wrong. For the man in the street. let
the Gownsman say. parenthetically, ne mas
the deepest possible respect: for he, at least
is not that awesome thing, specialist.
Besides, the man in the street speaks the
language of the moment. not some dead
tongue he is free from scientific Jargon and
not finding a word. invents one wherefore
he is always comprehensive. However, let
us see; nature is something green that
grows A flower, tree, cabbage, each Is
plainly nature ; but a man? Not all men are
green or ill-kempt and some, alas have long
since ceased to grow. Obviously man Is out
side of nature especially when he herds IN
towns. whence the saying: GOD maze the
country, man the town." and the devil the
suburbs commutabe.
TNHERE are persons who think Of the coun-
i try as a place in which to get good things
to eat. Such persons do not live in too close
a proximity to large city or they would long
since have learned the dHereHce Del"eeh d
farmer who lives on the land and sends his
surplus to market. and a trucker who lives
off the land" and on the leavings which ne
cannot SELL To some nature is the country
a land of the hearts DESIRE Inhabited Vis,oiy
by mere country folk. but potentially by shep-
herds and shepherdesses, all supernally
young, gay and fascinating, possibly even
dwelt in--who knows?-n deep recesses. by
elves who ha ant the shadows and by fairies
who swing in the sunshine. mo, sir said
the little boy from Boston, his eyes magnifed
to the size of those of an owl, as he stared
through his goggles. No, sir the pehet IN
fairies is a popular superstition, connived
in ill-advisedly by ignorant nurses and in
dulgent mothers. There are fairies in that
wood but | have personally observed eleven
varieties of edible mushrooms to say noth-
ing of deleterious fungi, and the disquisl-
ton wandered through fields. blazing IN
sunshine and glorious with autumn flowers,
| until the congenial asphalt brought the young
| pragmatist back to the proximities of life
TIME Gownsman is an admirer of science
| | not always Of the scientific. He once
| more or less scientifically, collected "ob-
served and studied" more than 5000 different
| kinds of insects, noxious and innoXious. But
that was In his homage, and he passed on TO
| other things noxious and innoNious Can
| scientific man really love nature? Does the
| designation Of a thistle Cirsium lanceo-
| latum induce even a Scottish botanist, such
| as our Professor MacFarlane at the UniSer-
| sity to love 1t the more? Can the habitual
| calling Of things by hard names possibly
| breed in the man addicted to such language
| a true love OF the creatures so maligned? II
| has been questioned whether Thoreau did not
| love nature too well to be a really good
| naturalist. And our ancient OF days, John
| Burroughs--may the sylvan gods spare him
| to many more years in the world he so
| loves does he mix his heart with his head.
| somewhat too much for the scientist de
| rigueur, in his loving observances of nature?
| II was Mr.. Burroughs who once argued con-
| yincingly in book how after all, no animal
| actually reaches in its instinct, the reason
| ing faculties of man. But he gave away his
| case in the end with the confession: But
| there is the dog-and the dog is different
| Was there ever a reasoning, analytic, scien-
| tiic loyer-except, perhaps, Goethe-who ex-
| amined the cardiac stimulation of bird
| while il was a-hutter in his hand? Science
| versus Love? Science with his spectacles
| anparatus appliances, charts and heavy vol
| umes; Love, a naked, defenseless child, ex-
| cent for that antiquated engine of war, a
| how, Science versus Love! The defendant
| has no standing in court Old he is, he is
| still a minor, and there is none who will
/ stand his "next-friend."
VF THERE are doubts about the scientist
as a lover of nature, there only cer'
tsinties about "the nature-faker," now hap
pily rather out of vogue: II was he who
studied zoology out of "Reynard the Fox
and folklore out Of Mother Goose" Peace
you fanciful poets. with your pathetic and
other faiiacies; silencs. you prossrs Of ths