Chapter V: To the Teacher

The real point of this story (but first of all it is a story and
should not be spoiled with any moral) is the thought in the
lines:--

“There were thousands of persons who could have gold eggs if
they cared. But eagles’ eggs! Money could not buy such a sight
as this.” Which means, that the simple joys of the out of
doors, and the possession of youth and health, are better than
any joys that money can create, and more precious possessions
than all the money in the world can buy. One can get all the
thrilling sensations of height by standing up in a quaking
eagle’s nest sixty feet from the ground, that one can possibly
get from the top of the Eiffel Tower or on the peak of Mount
Washington, or from a flying-machine among the clouds. And then
who among the rich of the world ever saw eagles’ eggs in a
nest, or had eagles dig him with their talons? To be alive to
all the wonder of the life, to all the beauty of the world
about us, is the very secret of living. An eagle’s nest to
climb into is as good as a flying-machine.

Take occasion, too, at the end of the story to say how much
better, how much more interesting, an act it was to leave the
eggs to hatch than to rob the nest and thus destroy two young
eagles. Some years later, for instance, two young eagles were
taken from a neighboring nest and were sent to the Zoölogical
Gardens at Philadelphia, where they may still be living for
thousands of visitors each year to see. Who knows but that one
of the parents of these two captive birds may have been in the
eggs laid back by the boy in that nest?

FOR THE PUPIL

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_Maurice River Cove_: Where is Maurice River Cove? What is the
Cove famous for?

_great eagle’s nest_: Look up the habits of the bald eagle in
some natural history. Is he a very great enemy to man? If a
pair of the noble birds lived in your neighborhood would you
want their nest destroyed and the birds shot? Do you know the
story of “Old Abe”? Look that up also.

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_scream of a wild cat_: The wild cat is still to be found
throughout the United States wherever the country is very wild
and wooded. Its cry or scream is an indescribable thrill that
shoots cold all over you, freezing fast in the roots of your
hair.

_mud-hens_: The mud-hen or American coot, a dark bluish
slate-colored bird of the marshes about the size of a large
bantam, with an ivory-white bill and peculiar lobed toes,
instead of webbed like a duck’s.

_eyrie_: What does the word mean? Are there any other ways of
spelling it?

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_size of a small haystack_: This is no exaggeration. From one
nest of a fish hawk (and this nest was probably built first by a
fish hawk) that blew down from the top of an old house chimney
in the Maurice River Marshes, the author knew six one-horse
cartloads of loose sticks to be taken.

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_such a sight as this_: Have you ever seen a sunset more
gorgeous than any artist could paint and any rich man could buy?
Ever had a smell of trailing arbutus that no perfumer could
equal, that all the money in the world could not create? Old
Midas had a golden touch and turned his daughter into gold. Was
he not more than willing to be the poorest man in his kingdom if
only he might be rid of the fatal touch, be a natural man again
and have his loving little daughter a natural child again? To be
your natural selves, and to enjoy your beautiful natural world
is better than to be anything else, or to have anything else, in
the world.