NATURE STUDY HANDBOOK - ANNA BOTSFORD COMSTOCK

2015-23   Nature Study Handbook - Anna Botsford Comstock

Anna Botsford Comstock [1854-1930]

Anna Botsford Comstock [1854-1930], was an American artist, educator, conservationist, and a leader of the nature study movement. She both wrote and illustrated several books, including Ways of the Six-Footed [1903], How to Keep Bees [1905], The Handbook of Nature Study [1911], The Pet Book [1914], and Trees at Leisure [1916]. The Handbook of Nature Study became a standard textbook for teachers and was later translated into several languages. Comstock is most famous for being one of the first to bring her students and other teachers out-of-doors to study nature. Here are some excerpts from The Handbook of Nature Study.

Nature Study

Nature-study is a study of nature; it consists of simple, truthful observations that may, like beads on a string, finally be threaded upon the understanding and thus held together as a harmonious whole. The object of the nature-study teacher should be to cultivate in children powers of accurate observation and understanding.

WHAT NATURE-STUDY SHOULD DO FOR THE CHILD

First, nature study gives the child practical and helpful knowledge. It makes him familiar with nature's ways and forces. Nature-study cultivates the child's imagination, since there are so many wonderful and true stories that he may read with his own eyes, which affect his imagination as much as does fairy lore; at the same time nature-study cultivates in him a perception and a regard for what is true, and the power to express it. 

All things seem possible in nature; yet this seeming is always guarded by the eager quest of what is true. Perhaps half the falsehood in the world is due to lack of power to detect the truth and to express it. Nature-study aids both in discernment and in expression of things as they are. 

Nature-study cultivates in the child a love of the beautiful; it brings to him early a perception of color, form, and music. He sees whatever there is in his environment, whether it be the thunder-head piled up in the western sky, or the golden flash of the oriole in the elm; whether it be the purple of the shadows on the snow, or the azure glint on the wing of the little butterfly. 

Also, what there is of sound, a nature hike hears; he reads the music score of the bird orchestra, separating each part and knowing which bird sings it. And the patter of the rain, the gurgle of the brook, the sighing of the wind in the pine, he notes and loves and becomes enriched thereby.

But, more than all, nature-study gives the child a sense of companionship with life out-of-doors and an abiding love of nature. Let this latter be the teacher's criterion for judging his or her work. If nature-study as taught does not make the child love nature and the out-of-doors, then it should cease. 

Perhaps the most valuable practical lesson the child gets from nature-study is a personal knowledge that nature's laws are not to be evaded. Wherever he looks, he discovers that attempts at such evasion result in suffering and death. A knowledge thus naturally attained of the immutability of nature's "must" and "shall not" is in itself a moral education. 

The realization that the fool as well as the transgressor fares ill in breaking natural laws makes for wisdom in morals as well as in hygiene. Out-of-door life takes the child afield and keeps him in the open air, which not only helps him physically and occupies his mind with sane subjects, but keeps him out of mischief. It is not only during childhood that this is true, for love of nature counts much for sanity in later life.

This is an age of nerve tension, and the relaxation which comes from the comforting companionship found in woods and fields is, without doubt, the best remedy for this condition. Through properly training the child, the man shall be enabled to enjoy nature through seeing how creatures live rather than watching them die. 

It is the sacred privilege of nature-study to do this for future generations and for him thus trained, shall the words of Longfellow's poem to Agassiz apply:

And he wandered away and away, with Nature the dear old nurse,

Who sang to him night and day, the rhymes of the universe.

And when the way seemed long, and his heart began to fail,

She sang a more wonderful song, or told a more wonderful tale.

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Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock pdf:  [Click Here]

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Parables from Nature by Mrs Margaret Gatty: [Click Here]

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O.S.MARDEN: "SUPERIORITY THE BEST TRADEMARK"

2015-22 O.S.Marden: "Superiority the Best Trademark"

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                                        Superiority the best Trademark

                                       [Chapter XVI in The Optimistic Life]

Men spend large sums of money and a great deal of thought, nowadays, in protecting the products of their brains and their hands by copyrights and patents. Even then their ideas are appropriated and imitated by others. There is one safe way, however, by which we can protect the works of brains and muscles, and that is by Superiority -- doing things a little better than anybody else can do them. 

Stradivarius Violin

Stradivarius did not need any patent on his violins. For, nobody else was willing to take such pains to put the stamp of superiority upon his instruments.

Graham Clock

The name of Graham on a chronometer was protection enough, because nobody else at that time could make such a perfect time-piece.

Tiffany Silverware

The name of Tiffany on a piece of silverware or jewelry has been all the protection it has needed for half a century.

Such names which are synonymous with honesty, are equal to any trade-mark or patent whenever and wherever they are found. 

These names stand for character, which is the consummate protector and best advertisement, and they are mentioned with respect.

If you resolutely determine at the very outset of your career that you will let no work go out of your hands until it is done just as well as you can do it; that you will put your character into your work, and set upon it your personal nobility you will need no other protection, no patent or copyright.

Your work and you will be in demand. Better still, your conscience will be clear, your self-respect firm, and your mind serene and happy.
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Full Text of O.S.Marden's "Optimistic Life" : [Click Here]

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O.S.MARDEN: "LOVE'S WAY"

2015-21  O.S.Marden: "Love's Way"

   

Dr. Orison Swett Marden (1848–1924) was an American inspirational author who wrote on success in life and how to achieve it. His writings discuss common-sense principles and virtues that make for a well-rounded, successful life. Many of his ideas are based on New Thought philosophy.

His first book, Pushing to the Front (1894), became an instant best-seller and remains a classic in the genre of self-help. Marden later published fifty or more books and booklets.

                                                            Love's Way

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Is not that a personal invitation from the divine physician, Love? And if you accept it, with all that it means, you will realize that peace which "passeth all understanding." Your cares and difficulties will melt and dissolve as snow melts and dissolves under the sun's rays.

Love is the great leveling up force of the world. Nothing else has ever made such a tremendous appeal to those who have botched their lives and thrown away their chances, those whose lives have been blasted by ignorance, by sin or other unfortunate conditions.

Love does not condemn, does not criticize, does not judge, does not punish, does not ostracize, does not exclude. This is not love's way. To the worst criminal, to the most degraded sinner, it simply says "Go and sin no more." This is its only condemnation.

Love's way is Christ's way. It says, "Love your enemies, bless those that curse you;" "Let him that is without sin cast the first stone"; and on this condition no one can cast a stone because there is no one without sin, no one without some weakness as unfortunate as his neighbor's.

Love is the only force in the universe that can say:

 “I am that power which causes human beings of the most diverse temperaments to live together in peace and harmony; which makes home so beautiful, a heaven on earth.”

“My mission on earth is to help, to heal, to uplift, to bring cheer and comfort, happiness to every one of God's children. I am the good Samaritan who heals -the wounds which the selfish, the hard-hearted pass by with indifference. I am the spirit behind the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and all other organizations of mercy. I am the power back of all movements which are for the betterment of the world, the upliftment of man.”

“I am that which takes the sting out of sorrow and the bitterness out of disappointment; that which heals the broken heart, breathes hope to the discouraged, and good cheer to

the despondent.”

“I am the voice of God, crying to his children — Come unto me all ye that are downcast, discouraged, despairing, who think your ambitions are thwarted, and that there is no more hope for you, come unto me and I will renew your lives.”

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One who has tried love's way in working out life's problems says, "I find it a charm. It is a preventive against sin, disease, unhappiness, and brings with it health and prosperity."

Whatever your business, whatever your trials and difficulties, love will ease the jolts of life and smooth your way miraculously.

Love's way includes everything that is beautiful, everything that is kind and good and clean and true, everything that is worth having. It carries no regrets, it never leaves us sorry. It is pure as the life of a little child. There is always an Amen of the soul to all its acts. Love's way always leads us aright, because it is the God way.

In three words, the Bible gives us all its limitless meaning: "God is love."

                                                     Story of the Sunbeam

A sunbeam heard there were places on the earth so dark, dismal and gloomy that it was impossible to describe them. The sunbeam resolved to find these places, and started on its journey with lightning speed. It visited the caverns of the earth. It glided into sunless homes, into dark alleys, into underground cellars; it wandered everywhere in its quest to see what the darkness was like, but the sunbeam never found the darkness because wherever it went it carried its own light with it. Every spot it visited, no matter how dark and dismal before its entry, was brightened and cheered by its presence.

Like the sun love irradiates and warms into life all that it touches. It is to the human heart what the sun is to the rose. It brings out all the fragrance and beauty, all the color and richness, all the possibilities infolded in it. Love brings out all that is best in us, because it appeals to the no'blest sentiments, the loftiest ideals. True love elevates, purifies, and strengthens every heart it touches. It lifts us above ourselves because it sees only the best in us.

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Full Text of O.S.Marden's "LOVE'S WAY' in pdf: [Click Here]

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ROBERT BROWNING: PIPPA PASSES - "ALL'S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD"

2015-20 Robert Browning: Pippa Passes - "All's right with the world"

Robert Browning [1812-1889] Pippa's Song

Pippa Passes is a verse drama by Robert Browning. It was published in 1841 as the first volume of his Bells and Pomegranates series. The author described the work as "the first of a series of dramatic pieces."  Charmed by the character of Pippa, Alfred Noyes pronounced Pippa Passes to be Browning's best.

Pippa, an innocent silk-winding girl rises on New Year's Day, her only day off for the whole year! Passing through the environs of Asolo, she radiates kindness and virtue all around. She sings as she goes, her song influencing others to act for the good, reminding them of the existence of a moral order. 

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Pippa Passes begins with a wondrous description of  daybreak --

DAY!

Faster and more fast,
O’er night’s brim, day boils at last;

Boils, pure gold, o’er the cloud-cup’s brim
Where spurting and supprest it lay—

For not a froth-flake touched the rim
Of yonder gap in the solid gray
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away;
But forth one wavelet, then another, curled,

Till the whole sunrise, not to be supprest,
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast

Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed the world.

Oh, Day, if I squander a wavelet of thee,
A mite of my twelve-hours’ treasure,
The least of thy gazes or glances,
(Be they grants thou art bound to, or gifts above measure)
One of thy choices, or one of thy chances,

(Be they tasks God imposed thee, or freaks at thy pleasure)
—My Day, if I squander such labour or leisure,
Then shame fall on Asolo, mischief on me!
Thy long blue solemn hours serenely flowing,

Whence earth, we feel, gets steady help and good—
Thy fitful sunshine-minutes, coming, going,
As if earth turned from work in gamesome mood—
All shall be mine! But thou must treat me not

As the prosperous are treated, these who live
At hand here, and enjoy the higher lot,
In readiness to take what thou wilt give,
And free to let alone what thou refusest;

For, Day, my holiday, if thou ill-usest
Me, who am only Pippa,—old-year’s sorrow,
Cast off last night, will come again to-morrow—
Whereas, if thou prove gentle, I shall borrow
Sufficient strength of thee for new-year’s sorrow.
All other men and women that this earth

Belongs to, who all days alike possess,
Make general plenty cure particular dearth,
Get more joy, one way, if another, less:
Thou art my single day, God lends to leaven
What were all earth else, with a feel of heaven,—
Sole light that helps me through the year thy sun’s!

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Now Wait!—even I already seem to share

In God’s love: what does New-year’s hymn declare?
What other meaning do these verses bear?

All service ranks the same with God: If now, as formerly He trod Paradise, His presence fills Our earth, each only as God wills Can work—God’s puppets, best and worst, Are we; there is no last nor first. Say not ‘a small event!’ Why ‘small?’ Costs it more pain than this, ye call A ‘great event,’ should come to pass, Than that? Untwine me from the mass Of deeds which make up life, one deed Power shall fall short in, or exceed!

And more of it, and more of it!—oh, yes—
I will pass by, and see their happiness,
And envy none—being just as great, no doubt,
Useful to men, and dear to God, as they!

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Pippa's song appears in the middle of Part I of Pippa Passes:

          
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Full Text of Pippa Passes PG:[Click Here]

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ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING - "EARTH'S CRAMMED WITH HEAVEN!"

2015-19  Elizabeth Barrett Browning - "Earth's crammed with heaven!"

Elizabeth Barrett Browning [1806-1861]

Elizabeth Barrett Browning [1806 – 1861] was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. She began writing poetry at the age of four and at twelve wrote an epic poem The Battle of Marathon, in Homeric style. Her poetry was widely popular in both Britain and the United States during her lifetime.   

The courtship and marriage between Robert Browning and Elizabeth were carried out secretly as she and her siblings were convinced that their father would disapprove. Six years his elder and an invalid, she could not believe that the vigorous and worldly Robert Browning really loved her as much as he professed. After a private marriage at St. Marylebone Parish Church, they honeymooned in Paris. Browning then imitated his hero Shelley by spiriting his wife off to Italy, which became their home almost continuously until her death.

Her humane and liberal point of view manifests itself in her poems aimed at redressing many forms of social injustice, such as the slave trade in America and the labor of children in the mines and the mills of England. Among her most popular works may be mentioned "The Cry of the Children" [1843], "How Do I Love Thee?" ["Sonnet 43 in the "Sonnets from the Portugese"] [1845] and Aurora Leigh, a verse-novel [wherein occurs the "Earth's crammed with heaven" [1856]. 

From ‘Aurora Leigh’

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

And truly, I reiterate, nothing’s small!

No lily-muffled hum of a summer-bee,

But finds some coupling with the spinning stars;

No pebble at your foot, but proves a sphere;

No chaffinch, but implies the cherubim;

And (glancing on my own thin, veinèd wrist),

In such a little tremor of the blood

The whole strong clamour of a vehement soul

Doth utter itself distinct. Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,

And daub their natural faces unaware

More and more from the first similitude. Earth's crammed with Heaven

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From ‘The Cry of Children’

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers,

      Ere the sorrow comes with years ?

They are leaning their young heads against their mothers, —

      And that cannot stop their tears.

The young lambs are bleating in the meadows ;

   The young birds are chirping in the nest ;

The young fawns are playing with the shadows ;

   The young flowers are blowing toward the west—

But the young, young children, O my brothers,

      They are weeping bitterly !

They are weeping in the playtime of the others,

      In the country of the free.

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How do I love thee from ‘The Sonnets from the Portugese'

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Sonnet 43: "How do I love thee?" EBB [Click Here] 4:32 min

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YouTube Audio: The Cry of the Children EBB [Click Here] 9:22 min

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Popular Quotes: [Click Here]

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Poetical Works Vol 1 [Click Here]

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NAPOLEON HILL'S LAW OF SUCCESS -- "UNEDUCATED MILLIONAIRE?"

2015-18 Napoleon Hill's Law of Success -- "Uneducated Millionaire?"

What is "education"? Dr. Napoleon Hill defines  it as "organized knowledge". In his masterpiece "The Law of Success", in first lesson "The Master Mind", we come across the true life story of an "uneducated millionaire?" complimenting the "junk man millionaire!", we saw earlier.

        WHAT IS "EDUCATION"?  OR  “UNEDUCATED MILLIONAIRE?"

The president of a well known college inherited a large tract of very poor land. This land had no timber of commercial value, no minerals or other valuable appurtenances, therefore it was nothing but a source of expense to him, for he had to pay taxes on it.

The State built a highway through the land. An "uneducated[?]" man who was driving his automobile over this road observed that this poor land was on top of a mountain which commanded a wonderful view for many miles in all directions. He [the ignorant one] also observed that the land was covered with a growth of small pines and other saplings.

He bought fifty acres of the land for $10.00 an acre. Near the public highway he built a unique log house to which he attached a large dining room. Near the house he put in a gasoline filling station. He built a dozen single room log houses along the road, these he rented out to tourists at $3.00 a night, each. The dining room, gasoline filling station and log houses brought him a net income of $15,000.00 the first year.

The next year he extended his plan by adding fifty more log houses, of three rooms each, which he now rents out as summer country homes to people in a near-by city, at a rental of $150.00 each for the season. The building material cost him nothing, for it grew on his land in abundance (that same land which the college president believed to be worthless).

Moreover, the unique and unusual appearance of the log bungalows served as an advertisement of the plan, whereas many would have considered it a real calamity had they been compelled to build out of such crude materials.

Less than five miles from the location of these log houses this same man purchased an old worked-out farm of 150 acres, for $25.00 an acre, a price which the seller believed to be extremely high.

By building a dam, one hundred feet in length, the purchaser of this old farm turned a stream of water into a lake that covered fifteen acres of the land, stocked the lake with fish, then sold the farm off in building lots to people who wanted summering places around the lake. The total profit realized from this simple transaction was more than $25,000.00, and the time required for its consummation was one summer. Yet this man of vision and imagination was not "educated" in the orthodox meaning of that term.

Let us keep in mind the fact that it is through these simple illustrations of the use of organized knowledge that one may become educated and powerful.

In speaking of the transaction here related, the college president who sold the fifty acres of worthless (?) land for $500.00 said: "Just think of it! That man, whom most of us might call ignorant, mixed his ignorance with fifty acres of worthless land and made the combination yield more yearly than I earn from five years of application of so-called education."

For the full text of Napoleon Hill's Law of Success [Click Here]

YouTube Video: Napoleon Hill's Law of Success [Click Here] 126 min

YouTube Audio: Napoleon Hill's Law of Success Vol 1 Lesson 1
Mastermind - Get Your Mindset RIGHT : [Click Here] 69 min

NAPOLEON HILL'S THINK AND GROW RICH: "THREE FEET FROM GOLD"

2015-17 Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich : "Three Feet From Gold" 

Napoleon Hill [1883-1970]

In his all-time classic book, "Think and Grow Rich", [p.18] Dr. Napoleon Hill tells the story of  R.U. Darby, a lesson in Persistence.

"THREE FEET FROM GOLD" 
OR
"JUNK MAN MILLIONAIRE"

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another. An uncle of Darby was caught by the "gold fever" in the gold-rush days, and went west to DIG AND GROW RICH. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men than has ever been taken from the earth.

He staked a claim and went to work with pick and shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite. After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, told his relatives and a few neighbors of the "strike."

They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine. The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits.

Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again— all to no avail. Finally, they decided to QUIT. They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home.

Some "junk" men are dumb, but not this one! He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the owners were not familiar with "fault lines." His calculations showed that the vein would be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found!

The "Junk" man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up. Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.

Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over, when he made the discovery that DESIRE can be transmuted into gold. The discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance. Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, because he STOPPED three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself, "I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say 'no' when I ask them to buy insurance."

Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty men who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his "stickability" to the lesson he learned from his "quitability" in the gold mining business. Before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach. 

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YouTube Audio: Napoleon Hill's 3 Feet from Gold [Click Here] 5 min

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YouTube Video: Napoleon Hill's "Three Feet From Gold": [Click Here] 60 min

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"Think and Grow Rich": Full Audio Book from YouTube [Click Here] 122 min

3 Feet from Gold - Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities: [Click Here]