Don't forget what the great naturalist, Agassiz, said about the pencil being "the best eye"; that is to say, you can get a more accurate knowledge of things and come nearer to seeing them as they really are, by drawing them. Drawing, in the best schools, is a part of Nature Study, and when you get so that you can draw fairly well--as everybody can with practice--you will find there is even more of a thrill in thus _creating_ forms--out of nothing, as you might say--than there is in taking photographs. The pencil is a magician's wand! As an example and inspiration for taking your pencil and sketch-book into the fields, get "Eye Spy," by Gibson, and, of course, Seton's animal books. I do believe Seton drew his pictures with those simple, expressive outlines so that young folks could redraw them. The difference between redrawing a drawing and simply looking at it, is a lot like the difference between _reading_ a book and merely glancing at the print. You are sure to be interested in Sir John Lubbock's book on "Ants, Bees and Wasps," and you will find a world of interesting things about the earlier animal days of man in his "Origin of Civilization" and "Pre-Historic Times." And who do you suppose had most to do with teaching men they were really brothers, and so bringing them up to the civilized life we know to-day? Mother! (See Drummond's "Ascent of Man," or Chapter XII of "The Strange Adventures of a Pebble," where the whole marvellous story of evolution is told in simple form.) If Nature Study proves half as delightful and profitable to you as I am sure it will, the following list of books will be very useful in building up your library on the subject, and in selecting books from the public library: "Among the Farmyard People," by Clara D. Pierson, deals with various things you probably never noticed about chickens and pigs, and other domestic animals. "Among the Meadow People," by the same author, tells about birds and insects. You can see what her "Among the Pond People" tells about--tadpoles, frogs, and so on. Really, it's a perfect fairy-land, an old pond is! "Among the Moths and Butterflies," by Julia P. Ballard, is about fairies, too, as the title shows. For children of the seventh to eighth grades, and up, Hornaday's "American Natural History" will be a delight, and it has loads of pictures which, as in all well-illustrated scientific books, are as valuable as the text. You know who Hornaday is, don't you? He is the man at the head of the great Zoo in New York City.