THE DESECRATION OF NATURE. tTo THE EDITOR OP TEE "
SPECTATOR.") SIR,- -I desire to draw your attention to the following letter and memo- randum issued by the Education Department of the county of Cumber- land to the masters and mistresses of the primary sehooLs in the county.
" Dsin SIR (or MADAM),—The attention of the Education Authority has been called by a considerable correspondence in the Press to the di serration of Nature in various parts of the country by the thoughtless conduct of those who misuse their liberty to visit the beauty spots' of our land by damaging flowering trees and shrubs, uprooting flowers, and leaving unsightly litter about. It is believed that tr,rth your co-operation a good deal of this may be prevented in future by calling the attention of the scholars in both secondary and elementary schools to the growing nu isance. It is suggested that you should read the enclosed paper to the children in your school, amplifying it here and there with local instances, and that some time before the summer holidays you should set this subject as an essay for the elder children.—Yours faithfully,
" THE DESECRATION OF NATURE.
The beauty of Nature is a gift of God. The purpose of this gift is to make us happy and to lift up our thoughts to higher things. The greatest works of Art and the greatest writings in both prose and poetry have been inspired by this gift of beauty. All God's gifts to us carry responsibility ; we are bound to use them as Ho intends us to do or we go against His good will. His good will is that all of us shall enjoy the beauty of Nature, not some of us ; therefore, we must not only enjoy the gift ourselves, but we must protect it from being spoiled for other people. For instance, if we break down branches of flowering trees or root up flowering plants we are spoiling for other people what wo have enjoyed ourselves. This is selfish. Again, if we destroy birds' nests, especially if they are rare kinds, we are preventing other people from enjoying the sight of these birds. This is selfish. If we throw rubbish of any kind, broken bottles, crockery, tins, paper, &o., into clear water, either stream, lake, or pond, we are destroying the beauty of the water for other people. This again is selfish. One of the ways in which many beautiful places are spoiled is by the leaving about of waste paper, bottles, orange peel, banana skins, egg shells, cigarette boxes, eze., &e. All these things arc very ugly in themselves, and the ugliness and untidiness of leaving them about prevents the beauty of the place, which is God's gift, from making us happy and lifting up our thoughts to higher things. For how can we be happy if we are surrounded by signs of thoughtlessness and selfishness, and how then can our thoughts be lifted up to higher things ? There are many places of great beauty in this country which people can only visit perhaps once in a year, or perhaps even once in a lifetime. Is it not the height of unkindness to them to spoil in any way their enjoyment of such places ? We are proud of our native land, and if we do anything to destroy its beauty or injure it• in any way we are not true patriots, for the true patriot thinks lirat of his country and then of himself. Make it a rule never to leave waste-paper about ; either bring it away or bury it and all remains of food such as orange peel, egg shells, &c., &o. In New York if any one is seen to throw away a scrap of waste-paper in the street he is at once spoken to by the police and made to pick it up. Never cut your name or initials on anything—turf, wood, or stone—or deface anything by writing on it. Many beautiful places and grounds hitherto left open have been closed because of the bad behaviour in these ways of a few persons. Take care you are never among these few. There are many places open to the public, such as the properties of the National Trust, mountains, lakes, parks, and commons. You as one of the public should help to protect them. Boys and girls can do this as well as grown-up people. '
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