arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work, which belongs to open-eyed
youth. The child blasé with moral precepts and irregular conjugations
turns with fresh delight to the unrolling of ferns or the song of
birds.

Nature must be questioned in earnest, or she will not reply. But to
every serious question she will return a serious answer. "Simple,
natural, and true," she tends to create simplicity and truth. Truth
and virtue are but opposite sides of the same shield. As leaves pass
over into flowers, and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, virtue, and
happiness inseparably related.

This little volume is a contribution to the subject matter of Nature
Study. It is the work of students of nature, and their work is
"simple, natural, and true," in so far as it is represented here.

[Illustration: (Signature) David Starr Jordan]

LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY,
CALIFORNIA, _April_ 22, 1902.




A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY




THE WONDER OF LIFE