Philadelphia Manual Training School - US Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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TI-IE OUTING CLUB. OON after the organization of the Natural History Society it Was decided that an Quting Club be started in connection with it. The object of this club was to combine the study of Natural History with pleasure. For this purpose a number of trips have bee-n taken about the environs of the city. Thus we study nature in the best Way. These trips have been a source of pleasure to all who have .taken part in them. The specimens collected have been very valuable, inasmuch as they have interested the collectors to such an extent that they will go to reference books to learn more about them. This is the way We become acquainted with all our cornmon minerals, trees, flowers, insects and birds, and at the same time gain a fair knowledge of the vicinity of Philadelphia. The specimens are the property of the collector, but it is cus- tomary for the members not only to collect for themselves, but also for the museum, that the Society may profit by the trips too. Most of us have particular branches in which We are interested. For instance, the club's musician-lVlr. Koch-is deeply inter- ested in Ornithology and Oology. He is always looking out for his friends, the birds and their eggs. Some others are more inter- ested in Entomology or Botany. Thus all branches are repre- resented, and the members pleased to study their favorite topics. A report of each trip is made, in which everything of interest concerning the journey is recorded, and a full description' of all specimens collected. This report is read before the Society at its regular meetings, so that one, although not a member of the club, may derive much beneht from the reports ofthe expedi- tions. Little or no expense is incurred, as We generally walk the whole trip throughout. In the tenitrips We have walked one 52

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aker and Schuenemann, the mineralogistsg Hays, the ornitholo- gist, who explored the lowland creeks and marshes of the Dela- ware in search of specimens, and Curtis, the younger, and Hetzel, Whose reputations as botanists need not be mentioned. An event, which will not soon be forgotten by the members of the N. H. S. and their Iiiends, was the reception given Febru- ary of 1888. The programme was varied, consisting of selec- tions by the M. T. S. orchestra, an address by the Rev. Charles G. Ames, the'Unitarian ministerg promenading, refreshments and dancing until the wee small hours. It is hoped that '90, ,QI and the coming classes will uphold the Society and its objects with the same zeal and energy which have characterized the efforts of '89, S!

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hundred and sixty-nine miles, and the expense of these ten trips has only amounted to one dollar and sixty-eight cents for each member. The trips at Hrst were somewhat short, as they were taken in the afternoon. But lately we have taken them on Saturdays, and average a walking distance of twenty miles. One or two of them have been over thirty. The club, as stated before, was to study nature in such a way as would be most pleasurable and beneficial-to combine recrea- tion and interest in that subject which is so often considered dry by those who study it from books. That the club has been suc- cessful in its aim can be readily proved by reading the reports, and by the reluctance with -which '89's members give it up to the succeeding classes. The best wishes we can give to it are that its history may repeat itself 53