Scout Naturalist Advises Exploration, Discovery

1920

Scout Naturalist Advises Boys Not to Limit Walks to Roads and Beaten Paths

"Do not limit your winter walks to the roads and the beaten paths," advises Edward F. Bigelow, the scout naturalist, in Boys' Life.

"That may be necessary in the marshland of the summer, but when the freezing weather has been prolonged take to the swamps. But be careful. Even the coldest weather sometimes leaves treacherous places in the underbrush and in other sheltered spots. Sometimes the frost is only superficial even when ice on the open ponds is thick. A little good, plain common sense will discover the riches and avoid the danger.

"One never can see the best parts of a brook bank from the opposite bank. They must be seen from the middle of the stream. I never thoroughly realized that until I started out with camera and rubber boots so that I could safely go into water about a foot and a half or two feet in depth. The ice fringes, the ornate palaces, the wonderful recesses, the strings of jewels, the fairyland caves are all beyond our most vivid dreams. I cannot sufficiently emphasize this, because I know that there are scouts who will not believe, no matter how often I reiterate. I did not believe it myself until I tried it, and the trial was almost by chance.

"But when I discover this foreign fairyland, I hold it in my possession and frequently explore it. There are many puzzles in that icy region. One cannot even imagine how some of those formations could have been made, but some of them may be puzzled out, and solving the problem is always entertaining and more so than finding the answer to word riddles. Things are more interesting than words."