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HOW NATURE STUDY
SHOULD BE TAUGHT

INSPIRING TALKS TO TEACHERS

BY

EDWARD F. BIGELOW, A. M., Pu. D.

With an Introduction
BY

J. P. GORDY, Pu. D., L. L. D.
Professor of Pedagogy, New York University

AND
Suggestions as to the Proper Method of
introducing Nature Study
BY

H. A. SURFACE

Economic Zoologist of Pennsylvania and Professor of
Zoology in the Pennsylvania State College

HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE
31-33-35 WEST 15th STREET, New York City

COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION—By Dr. J. P. GORDY....0eeeeeeee vii

Ix, What is Naturp: Study ?...scsscccsexssesersos masa: Hk

II. “Vat For Ish Dat?”....... St neeatweee ees sewers 19
III. Winning Love for Nature Study......+sseeceeceee 35
IV. Correlating Nature Study............ccseeeeeeees 49
V. “Keeping Them Down”.........sccecccecccececs 69
VI. Why No Schedules for Nature Study............- 75
VII. What I Do Care For....... .eseeeeee dpbsainierymrareie 89
VIII. Love of Nature and the Love of Mother.......... 93
IX. Science Is Not All......ccccccececevevcereccccs + 99
X. * What Did You Get?” .......sceecneserencenes + 103
XI. Commonplace Nature...........- ais dia e'eareeiavaiaielanase 107
XII. Vice Versa.....cccsccaccsrscsereveres o sieis peieisiere 109
XIII. Plant Life............ceeeeeeeeee eteeeeee oeeeeee 115
XIV. School Gardens....... ccsseceececeseeceees veeee 123
XV. The Microscope in Nature Study...... a sidiaiaioe Saisie 129
XVI. Nature Study in the Autumn........ Unsiiesineeewte 137
XVII. A Plea for Walking.............- sees SeEM eMC T RS 141
XVITL, Outings. cc cc ieee esse se se eens este sesnescece 149
XIX. Give the Young Observers a Choice........ eecece 157

-s ut

aV

CHAPTER
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Progress by Avoiding Repetition.........- secceeee 159
Nature and Life...........eccceeeeeee ere +. 163
Books and Nature...........eeeeeee a epeiaietetsts wees 165
“Hush All the Classes and Hug Him”.........++ 169
Woven Into Child Nature............ccccscccces 177

Some Tests of Proficiency in Nature Study........ 181

Inspiration of Nature Study..........seceeeeeees 187

APPENDIX. How to Introduce Nature Study, by Professor

H. A. SURFACE... .secesceeccccevssecevees 197

FOREWORD.

THE author was, for eight years, the editor of
“The Observer,” a magazine for naturalists; for
three years editor of “ Popular Science,” and for
the past five years he has been the editor of the
department of Nature and Science in “ St. Nicho-
las,” a magazine for young folks, and as a lecturer
and teacher he is not without experience in the
department of study which this book aims to
treat. For these reasons, and for others which we
will allow the reader to discover, he has prepared
the book, hoping, like the author of every similar
work, to help, instruct, and perhaps inspire, the
earnest teacher, whose lot is always a laborious
one, whose leisure is always scanty, but whose
final reward is certain and great.

Many of the chapters that compose this book
were originally published in “ The Popular Edu-
cator,” Boston, Mass. ; others are reproduced from
“The Journal of Education,” Boston; “ The
School Journal,” New York: “ School Science,”

Chicago; “The Ohio Teacher,” Athens, Qhio.
Vv

vi FOREWORD

Thanks are due the editors for much kindness and
courtesy.

The writer gratefully acknowledges permission
from the author and the publisher, to reprint,
from the report of General Z. T. Sweeney, Fish
and Game Commissioner of Indiana, the valuable
paper, “ How to Introduce Nature Study,” by
Professor H. A. Surface, Supervisor of Nature
Study in Pennsylvania.

To Professor J. P. Gordy, Ph.D., LL.D., Pro-
fessor of Pedagogy of the New York University,
the writer thankfully acknowledges his obligation
for the favor that Dr. Gordy shows him and the
reader, by allowing the publication here of the
suggestive, helpful and inspiring Introduction.

Where our Mother Nature lives, there is our
Dulce Domum. The children of her home are
the little brothers of ours. Among all the teach-
ers she is the greatest, and she is ours. What she
tells us, “children of a larger growth,” shall we
not tell ours, of fewer years and more impression-
able minds, who cluster about us in the school-
room, and in our own particular Dulce Domum ?
To help the reader in this, is the purpose of this
book.

INTRODUCTION.

BY PROFESSOR J. P. GORDY, PH.D., LL.D.

EVERY revolution in the history of thought is
followed by a revolution in the history of educa-
tion. It wasso inthe fifth century before Christ,
when the Sophists discredited the idea that the
individual exists solely for the State; it was so in
Rome two hundred years later, when the old
Roman ideal of citizenship gave place to the
Greek ideal of individualism ; it was so at the be-
ginning of the Middle Ages, when the pagan ideal
of culture and enjoyment was supplanted by the
ideal of monasticism ; it was so at the beginning of
the Renaissance, when the ideal of asceticism and
self-denial gave place to the ideal of enjoyment
and self-culture ; it was so in the nineteenth cen-
tury, when the vast enlargement of our knowledge
of the physical universe and its varied application
to practical uses, transformed men’s attitude to-
wards nature, and made them realize that a serv-
ant of almost infinite power stood ready to obey

them, whenever they learned enough about the
vii

Viil INTRODUCTION

world to be able to speak the right word of com-
mand.

Spencer’s famous essay, on “ What Knowledge
is of most Worth?” may perhaps be said to mark
the beginning of the corresponding revolution
from the standpoint of theory. For though
Bacon and Comenius had insisted on the import-
ance of a knowledge of things, they were as voices
crying inthe wilderness. Whenso great a scholar
as Erasmus could urge no reason for studying
nature except that it would throw light on liter-
ature, it was out of the question for others to get
a hearing, who insisted, not only that nature was
worth investigating on its own account, but that
it was the most important subject of study. It
was not until the slow progress of discovery and
invention had gradually changed men’s attitude
towards the physical universe, that the appearance
of a brilliant and extravagant essay like Spencer’s,
which put forth the claim that science was the
only subject worth studying, could form an epoch
in the history of education.

It hardly needs to be pointed out that this
revolution in the history of thought has found its
practical expression in the history of education,
The elaborate and expensive laboratories for the

INTRODUCTION 1X

study of physics, chemistry and biology; the
organization and multiplication of scientific and
‘technical schools; the great variety of courses for
the study of science; the conferring of degrees
upon the completion of curricula in which science
is by far the largest element, are a few of the ex-
pressions of this revolution in the field of educa-
tion, as is the insistence upon nature study and
elementary science in our primary and grammar
schools.

But the stress which is being laid upon the
study of science is due, not only to the change in
our attitude toward nature, but also to a change
in our attitude toward education. Formerly, the
question was, What does a man need to know?
Now the question is being asked, What does he
need to be? It is the emphasis upon this ques-
tion, in the minds of the leaders of educational
thought, which is making it clearer and clearer
that we need a knowledge of nature, not only be-
cause we want to be able to talk with one another
across the ocean; to be able to tunnel our moun-
tains and to throw huge bridges across our rivers,
and to navigate the air; not only because we
want electricity and steam to do the mechanical
work of.the world, but because we want to be

x INTRODUCTION

men. We are beginning dimly to perceive that
the change produced by the study of science upon
the mind of man is hardly less great than the
change which that knowledge produces in his
power over nature.

There was a time when men crouched in abject
terror of nature; they trembled at the sound of
thunder; they fell on their knees in the presence
of an eclipse; a hurricane was the breath of an
evil spirit, and an epidemic the expression of the
wrath of an offended deity. Nature was an
enemy; her powers were wielded by demons, to
make the brief and wretched lives of men briefer
and more miserable still. Ignorance of nature and
the wildest and most fantastic superstitions went
hand in hand. The inability to use natural forces
involved the inability to think clearly. The in-
ability to command nature by obeying her, in-
volved the inability to understand man’s relation
to her. He who should stand erect in her pres-
ence, and, through penetration of her secrets, com-
mand her to do his bidding, crouches in terror
before her, and thinks of himself as her victim
and toy, and plaything, whenever he fails to under-
stand her. It is as though our beneficent teacher,
nature, would beguile us into getting the training

INTRODUCTION xi

which we need as men, by making it depend on
the knowledge which we need for the practical
purposes of life.

Is, then, the imparting of a knowledge of nature
the one purpose of nature study? To show that :
it is not is one of the chief purposes of Dr. Bige-
low’s book. He never tires of insisting upon the
difference between elementary science and nature
study, because the primary purpose of elementary
science is the imparting of scientific knowledge, and
the development of habits of scientific thinking,
while the primary purpose of nature study is the
development of a love of nature. Of course
knowing cannot take place apart from feeling, nor
feeling apart from knowing. But the cold love
of truth, the feeling that the teaching of science
seeks to awaken, is a vastly different experience
from the feeling of love or of admiration for an
animal, or an object,--which the teaching of na-
ture study seeks to awaken. And the concentra-
tion of the attention upon the universal aspects or
phases (the class relations) of objects, which the
teaching of science seeks to bring about, is an
entirely different thing from the concentration of
the attention upon an object as a whole,—upon
those characteristics which make it an individual,

xii INTRODUCTION

which the teaching of nature study seeks to bring
about. You may talk to a boy about the resem-
blances between a cat and a tiger, in the hope of
developing an interest in the relations of animals ;
if so, you are teaching elementary science, and are
trying to stimulate his love of truth. Or you may
try to get him to look at a cat as an object not to
be pelted with stones, but as a living thing, one
that responds to affectionate treatment with affec-
tion; if so, you are teaching nature study, and
are trying to develop a love of animals, You are
making a certain appeal to the intellect in both
cases, but in the former, you do not want the boy
to consider the cat as an individual at all, for one
cat will serve the purpose quite as well as another,
since it is the cat as a member of a class in which
you wish to interest him; in the latter, it is the
cat as an individual, a being with a capacity for
individual pleasures and pains, such as the boy
himself is conscious of, that you wish him to have
in mind. Succeed ideally in the former attempt,
and he will not only be perfectly ready to dissect
his cat when dead, but to vivisect it when alive,
if he can learn something about it that he wishes
to know; succeeded ideally in the latter, and he
becomes the friend of all living things, and will

INTRODUCTION xiii

quiver with indignation at the infliction of un-
necessary pain upon any animal.

Upon second thoughts, however, it is plain that
this illustration suggests more than the truth. It
is indeed true that elementary science aims to de-
velop an interest in types and classes, while nature
study seeks to awaken an interest in objects and
individuals. It is also true that the interest which
science seeks to arouse is the love of knowledge,
while that which nature study would stimulate
is some sort of appreciation of an object or an
animal. But it is not true that an intense love
of knowledge, unaccompanied by the proper de-
velopment of the emotional nature, has only bad
results, nor is it true that a development of the
emotional nature unaccompanied by a proper de-
velopment of the intellect, has only results that
aregood. Develop the intellect abnormally along
with the love of knowledge, which is its inevitable
accompaniment, and you have indeed trained a
being of the temper of Spinoza, who knows no
love nor hate, who responds to no enthusiasm ex-
cept that which results from the contemplation of
the reign of law, who is willing to eliminate all
individuality from the universe, to resolve it into
the expression of necessary and eternal laws,

XiV INTRODUCTION

because there is nothing in the nature of sucha
being which demands a world of individuals. But
it is equally true that to develop the emotions
abnormally, is to develop a being of the temper
of Rousseau, a “weltering mass of sensibility,”
impelled this way to-day and to-morrow that,
according as the wind of emotion blows north or
south, saved, if saved at all, from debasing
superstitions only because he passively accepts
the results of other men’s thinking. Succeed
ideally with your nature study, we said above in
commenting upon our cat illustration, and the boy
will quiver with indignation at the infliction of
unnecessary pain upon an animal. It is now
clear that such a boy will never see the necessity
for the infliction of pain, unless he has capacities
which have not been developed by any training
of his emotional nature. Manifestly what is
needed is not a training either of the head or the
heart by itself, but of the two in conjunction. As
Pestalozzi put it, “Let not [the child] attempt to
{climb the ladder leading up to Heaven] by the
cold calculation of the head or the mere impulses of
the heart; but let all these powers combine, and
the noble enterprise will be crowned with success.”

Nevertheless, the half of the truth upon which

INTRODUCTION XV

Dr. Bigelow insists is the one which most needs
to be emphasized. T have said that the question
which the leaders of educational thought are be-
ginning to ask is, What does a man need to be?
But it is not true that this question is uppermost
even in the minds of most educated men when they
are thinking of education ;as a rule, men continue
to think of themselves as means, not as ends. They
look upon their physical and mental powers and
capacities as tools for the accomplishment of work.
They care more for education than they used to
care, because they have learned that it increases
their power to do things. Even in this demo-
cratic age, we do not undersand the truth upon
which Sir William Hamilton used to insist, “On
earth there is nothing great but man; in man there
is nothing great but mind.” It is ignorance of this
truth which so often causes statesmen to confuse
social progress with growth of wealth, spread of
commerce, mere increase of population. Instead
of agreeing with Aristotle that the object of the
state is to promote good life, they are prone to
concentrate their attention on the mere tools of
life. They incline to plume themselves on their
promotion of the “ onward march of civilization,”
when they have merely promoted national devel-

xvi INTRODUCTION

opment, as though the increase of the mere means
of existence necessarily made the life of any man
better worth the living; as though such increase
might not be made through the sacrifice of the
best things in the world.

The same error lies at the bottom of our wor-
ship of success. Has the man done things? Has
he amassed a great fortune? Has he risen toa
high office? Has he made himself master of his
party? Has he changed the map of the world ?
We ask, in a word, not what he is, but what out-
ward success he has achieved, and if that success
be great enough, we are perfectly willing to ex-
cuse him for any violence, no matter how great,
which he has done to his own best self.

That is why we lay such undue stress on mere
cleverness, pure intellectual ability. Ifyou would
get music, or drawing, or painting, or any form of
art in the course of study in our schools and col-
leges, you must show that it develops the intel-
lect, and thereby increases the power to do things.
Say that the past generations of the race have be-
queathed to us a noble inheritance in music, paint-
ing, literature, and that it is our business to enter
upon that inheritance not simply because of any
use we can put it to, or any power it will develop

INTRODUCTION xvii

in us, but because it constitutes an important
part of the spiritual wealth of the world, and the
practical man will not listento you. Hedemands
results, deeds, achievements, and has no use for a
training which has anything else in view. He
does not realize that the cultivation of the capacity
for simple pleasures, for the pleasures of home, for
a love of animals and of nature, may be the most
practical thing in the world. He does not under-
stand that a system of education which, while it
seeks to enrich the student with the garnered
wealth of all the ages, lays stress on homely
joys and unassuming virtues, may still be as con-
ducive to national well-being, and have as marked
a tendency to promote what should be called
civilization, as the system that aims at nothing ex-
cept developing the capacity to do things, and
a determination to employ it. Ruskin doubtless
was guilty of a gross exaggeration when he said
that “All other efforts in education are futile till
you have taught your people to love fields, birds,
and flowers.” But if he had said that the develop-
ment of the love of such things, in those who havea
capacity for it, is second in importance to nothing
except the forming of character, who could have

questioned his statement ?
2

Xviii INTRODUCTION

Not only, then, is the emotional side of the
child a thing to be cultivated, but it is equally
true that this can be successfully done only
through the emotional nature of the teacher.
As the teacher reaches the intellect of his pupils
through his own intellect, so he touches their
emotions by means of his own emotions. That
is why the teacher must himself love nature, if
he is to succeed in influencing others with a love
for it. As Dr. Bigelow puts it, “Do not talk to
him [your pupil] about the lovableness of nature,
if you have not the genuine article in your own
heart, eart, not head.” That remarkable char-
acteristic of the human mind called by some psy-
chologists plastic imitation, in consequence of |
which we tend to believe and feel as the people
around us believe and feel, which explains the
tidal-wave spread of enthusiasm that manifested
itself in such great movements as the Crusades,
in the prevalence of belief in witchcraft at cer-
tain periods in the history of the world, in the
contagion-like communication of panic from man
to man in a theatre, when a cry of danger is
heard, and in the remarkable counteracting in-
fluence that may be exerted by a person who
keeps his presence of mind, this characteristic

INTRODUCTION xIX

makes it impossible for the feelings of a pupil to
be aroused by any purely intellectual activity on
the part of the teacher. And this is true, of
course, not only of nature study, but universally.
Ideas may be conveyed by the intellect. But
Ideals can be developed only by one who loves
and cherishes them for himself. Not long since,
the principal of a certain school was warmly prais-
ing his teacher of history. The originality of the
teacher, his love of research, his skill in unravel-
ling the tangled web of historical causation, were
warmly commended. “ Has he the philanthropic
impulse?” asked the listener. ‘“ Does he seek to
know the causes of what has happened, so that
he may learn how the errors of the past may be
avoided? Does his study of history present it-
self to him as the way in which he can best con-
tribute “his personal efforts as bricks and mortar
for building the walls of the free democratic city,
the supreme refuge of human dignity?” To
which was given the almost pathetic reply. “I
don’t know.” From such a teacher light can
come, but not that sort of stimulation that tends .
to transform the life.

Dr. Bigelow’s “ Tests of Proficiency in Nature-
Study” will doubtless seem very ridiculous to

XX INTRODUCTION

those teachers who are afflicted with the worst
of all pedagogical manias, the mania for informa-
tion. But they are perfectly sound, and we
might apply the same tests to the teaching of
history in a high school or a college. Has it
strengthened your determination to do your own
thinking in political matters, the pupil might be
asked? Has it made you resolve that, come
what will, you will never wear any party collar?
Has it made you feel the infinite pathos of the
situation, if it should eventually appear that after
many centuries of struggle, humanity succeeded
in throwing off the rule of an oligarchy of birth,
only to succumb to the tyrannical and self-seek-
ing rule of the oligarchy of a party organization ?
If the pupil can honestly answer such questions
in the affirmative, he has studied history to the
best possible purpose, even though he is con-
fused as to many of the dates upon which the
information-mad teacher is in the habit of laying
so much stress.

In general, the Pedagogy of this book is en-
tirely sound. The discipline of a school comes
, to seem an end in itself to the rigid disciplinarian.
Not so to Dr. Bigelow. From the average
teacher’s point of view, the preservation of his

INTRODUCTION xxi

dignity isa matter of so much importance, that
the child must be repressed whenever he does
anything that might seem to be a reflection upon
it. Not so from Dr. Bigelow’s point of view.
With him, discipline, teacher, subject, method,
must all stand in the background. The child,
and the child alone, has a right to the centre of
the stage.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD
BE TAUGHT

CHAPTER I
WHAT IS NATURE STUDY?

The school-boy begins witha definition. “We
will first define our subject. Webster says,” etc.
So, like the school-boy, I will begin with a defini-
tion, and thus impress upon my readers the fact
that, in one respect at least, this article will har-
monize with school-room experiences.

Speaking of Webster and definitions recalls an
experience of boyhood, in “the old red school-
house.”

It was “School Visitor,” day, the last Wednes-
day oftheterm. School closed on Friday, but we
were not expected to do much after the “ Visitor”
had been there. It wasa terrible misfortune when
the last day of the school term was “ Visitor” day,
for then we had no “after” ease!

Of course, on “ Visitor” day we wore our Sun-
I

2 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

day clothes. Ido not recollect all the events of the
occasion, but a few things stand out with vivid
prominence. First, there were my new shoes that
pinched my toes, and squeaked dismally as I
walked. My impression is that it wasa quarter of
a mile from the door to my desk, and what a row
of people I passed in that journey!

There were Mrs. Brocker, who beamed at me
over her spectacles in a sort of “ I-know-you-and-
guess-you-are-a-big-man to-day ” sort of way; and
Deacon Adams, with an indescribable twinkle in
his eye. I thought he was making fun of me on
account of my newshoes. Finally, I woke up the
Visitor. He opened his eyes, and looked at me
over his spectacles, and made my journey longer.
He had a learned way of leaning back in his arm-
chair, and “ going to sleep,” as we thought. Woe
to the luckless youth that woke him up! But
this time I escaped that disaster.

When the teacher had tapped on the desk, and
told Frank to shut the door and put the water-pail
in the corner, the Visitor said to her: “You may
call out the class in ‘Webster’s Speller and
Definer,’” and went to sleep again. He may have
waked up more than twice during the class, but I
do not remember that he did. Some ofthe parents

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 3

changed their seats, and we young folks lined
up against the wall, from the door to the black-
board.

On the final wake-up for ‘‘ Remarks,” the Visitor
said, “ Now, I like a complete, well-rounded
definition. You must know the thing, and then
express it concisely and clearly. When you can
do that with a common thing, it shows that you
think clearly and can express your thoughts
concisely. It’s a good thing, not only to get
acquainted with new words, but to define such a
common word as ‘boat,’ for instance.” And he
went on to talk encouragingly of other school
matters, but chiefly to tell what he did when he
was a boy, as I have since learned that many
mature men have the habit of doing. Impressions
made in childhood are lasting.

Then the teacher started in with, “And now,
pupils, I want to say a few words to you.” I donot
recollect what she said, except that she expressed
her appreciation of the Visitor’s encouragement,
but greatly regretted that he had not given us an
ideal definition of the word “ boat.”

That beat me and my new shoes; it woke the
Visitor clear up, away up on his. feet, and so
suddenly that Frank and I snickered, and he looked

4 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

at me again for fifteen minutes, I felt ; perhaps, it
was really only a second, but I was subdued.

“Why, certainly, Miss Carrier, with the greatest
of pleasure; it slipped my mind, when I got to
talking of boyhood matters.

“ Now, a boat is—of course, we must first know
what the thing is; that you already know. There
are lots of them just over the hill, on the Babcock
pond. Now, get the thing clearly in mind, and
then we are prepared to define it. A boat—such
as you see on that pond every day—is—a boat is
—such a boat as Frank has [that made me jump ;
it was a close shot, for Frank sat next to me]. I
saw him going down there the other day, with
another boy and three girls, a good boat-load ;
going out after some of those pond-lilies, I guess.
But, I forgot; that boat like Frank’s is—a boat—
then there’s another one, a beautiful boat, newly
painted, with the name‘ Lily ’ on it. I happened
to think of that, speaking of pond-lilies. I don’t
know whether a girl by the name of Lily owns it,
or whether some one of you roguish boys named
it after your favorite girl.”

We looked at the teacher; she smiled, and that
told us that it was a joke, at which we might laugh,
and we made the most of it. The boys all ya-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 5

ha-ed, the girls tittered, and even the Visitor
chuckled, and took off his glasses and wiped
them in a deliberate way. Then he continued:

“Well, you’re a happy lot, see; youth is the
time to be happy. I was just as happy as you
are, at your age—and—and—well, I don’t know but
I’ve had some pretty good times since then.” He
looked at the Deacon, and we boys noticed that
the Deacon's twinkle turned to a grin, and we young
folks laughed again, but not so loud ; we were not
quite sure that we could laugh on the Deacon’s
grin. The teacher’s dimple showed a little, then
she looked solemn, and the Visitor proceeded :

“ As I was saying, you must first see the thing—
and yet, one thing isn’t enough. Your definition
is apt to be one-sided, if you don’t take into con-
sideration many specimens of the class, For ex-
ample, there’s Frank’s boat. He keeps it for use;
always has a good string of fish when he comes
home; and I don’t suppose he cares so much
about the appearance of the boat as does the
owner of that one beautifully painted, with the
name ‘ Lily’ on it. But you young folks know
that these small boats are not all. A definition
that would apply to them might not apply to other
boats. There’s the mass of logs that the boys

6 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

have tied together, and go out swimming on, they
stand up and dive off into deep water from these.
I know how it was when I was a boy; couldn’t
dive very well, either. We call that a raft, but,
after all, it is a boat, of course differing from the
others. Then, you know, there’s Uncle Standish’s
big boat, plain, but serviceable; he uses it to take
fertilizer, and tools, and crops across the pond, to
what he calls his ‘westside lot.’ And, of course,
now you're all thinking about the great ships with
their white sails, and the swift steamers, with
their powerful engines, that are also boats. So,
you see, we have increased our knowledge of
boats by broader experiences. Now, we come
back home, to the path down through the huckle-
berry bushes, to the old oak, where so many boats
of all kinds that you best know are tied to the
shore.

“Now, for the definition. A boat is, such boats
as all these—I saw one tied by a rope to a maple
tree—but I am wandering [and, by the way, some
of the young folks, in spite of the absence of any
dimple, were venturing on the twinkle, and titter-
ing a little] ; yes, now let me get a definition all
around that will be clear cut and apply to any of
these boats. A boat is—a boat is—-is—a—why,

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 7

any of you young people know what a boat
is!”

Even the Visitor laughed at his own discom-
fiture, and the Deacon roared. Mrs. Brocker
laughed till she wiped her eyes as if she had been
crying, and the teacher, I did not know she could
laugh like that, laughed as we young folks did. I
do not believe she cared, then, whether she got
her certificate for next year or not, she just
laughed.

“ But,” seriously ask the teachers who are read-
ing this chapter with a desire to find out what
nature study is, ‘ what has all this to do with de-
fining nature study ?”

Now, please, gentle reader, be really gentle and
come with me, so that we may together survey
the regions occupied by some of the principal
workers in this department of our profession. I
have been trying for several years, in my love of
nature, to ascertain what is meant in pedagogics by
this term nature study. I will admit that it has
been somewhat of an embarrassing situation. But
let us first get the thing in mind, and when we know
what nature study is, we shall be ready to formu-
late a concise definition.

I take up a prominent manual by Professor

8 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Jackman, that bears on its cover the words,
“ Nature Study.” Topen to the preface, and read
as follows:

In the preparation of this book, it has been the aim to
furnish a guide for teachers in the common schools who
wish their pupils to pursue an adequate and symmetrical
course in Natural Science. Science teaching, for a few
years past, has been gradually working itself downward
from the colleges and high schools into those of lower
grades, but, in most cases, the plans followed, while fairly

well adapted to the demands of advanced pupils, have been
poorly fitted to the needs of the beginners.

I look carefully, eagerly, through that preface,
and find no reference to nature study, but con-
siderable about “ Zoology and botany, one lesson
a week; physics, meteorology, astronomy, geog-
raphy, and geology, one lesson each two weeks,”
and so on, with bracketing of schedules in which
these and other sciences appear.

I look farther and find the words, “ Nature
Study for Common Schools,” above the introduc-
tory chapter, the first sentence of which reads:

It is of primary importance that the teacher who seeks to
introduce elementary science into the common schools
should make earnest study for the motive of doing such

work, and, at the same time, formulate intelligent methods
for conducting.

And so on. In that chapter and the next, and

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 9

the next, nothing but ‘elementary science.”
There are chapters on astronomy, meteorology,
physics, but no nature study, except in the run-
ning titles at the top of the pages. What is the
trouble with this excellent guide in elementary
science? Has the author misnamed it, or does
“elementary science” mean exactly the same as
nature study ?

I am forced to that belief, and having become
grounded thus farin that faith, I take up the next
book at hand, one by that master teacher and
student of nature study, Professor L. H. Bailey,
of Cornell, and read what shatters that conclusion.
He says:

What is Nature Study? It is seeing the thing which one
looks at, and the drawing the proper conclusions from what
one sees. ature Study 1s not the study of science, as of
botany, entomology, geology, and the like.

Diverse and antagonistic opinions of the same
thing. Which of these excellent teachersis right ?

I take up Wilson’s “ Nature Study in Elemen-
tary Schools,” and find such expressions as:

Can I teach this subject without scientific training? This
course does not presuppose special training . . . only
an earnest effort to become better acquainted with the famil-
jar, yet, to most of us, unknown face of Nature.

10 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT
And again :

Perhaps nine out of ten teachers, if asked what is the
advantage of Nature Study to the child, would say that it
consists in the training of the observation through the senses.

This book refers to success with children in the
field ; but again, a writer in POPULAR EDUCATOR
concludes an extended article on “ Field Work in
Nature Study,” with these startling words: “On
the whole, we have found that more real good
can come from taking Nature in to the pupils
than from taking pupils out to Nature.”

I look at Lange’s “Handbook of Nature
Study,” and read the first paragraph of the intro-
duction:

The study of Nature with a view to understand the rela-
tions of plant and animal life to the welfare and happiness
of man, needs no justification in this age of scientific agri-
culture and applied science.

I wonder what astronomy, grandest of all
sciences, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and
geology have done, to be left out in the cold, and
attention restricted ‘to plant and animal life!
And is “ scientific agriculture ”’ and applied science
our sole justification for a knowledge of nature?
But read the next sentence:

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT It

All our most progressive teachers agree that Elementary
Science, or Nature Study, should have a place on the pro-
gramme of every graded and ungraded school of the land.

Oh, the force of that little word, “or”! Have
we two things, or have we one thing under two
names ?

Surely, we need not delve long amid the books
and periodicals before we are ready to extend a
sympathetic hand to Professor Surface, when he
says:

However, were we forced to define the term, we should
say that Nature Study is a subject in which the teaching is
for the purpose of developing certain mental faculties, such
as observation, comparison, reflection, reasoning, judgment,
memory, intellect, and even the conscience, and in which
the material used to secure this development consists of the
objects and phenomena of Nature. Many persons think they
have tritely defined and disposed of the matter in saying:
“Nature Study is the study of Nature.” If this be true,
how does it differ from object lessons in which natural ob-
jects form the basis of work? If identical, why introduce
the new synonyms and consequently confusing term? Or
is it equivalent to elementary science? If so, why not call
it science work, or elementary science? Or again, is it some
branch of science or natural history, such as entomology,
botany, or ornithology, as we must infer from the writings
and teachings of some specialists, who have been recently
devoting more or less time to something they call Nature
Study ?

Let us get outside of the circle of professional

12 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

instructors in nature study, and try to see our-
selves as others see us.

John Burroughs’ writings have been so read,
memorized, and recited in the schoolroom, that
he must surely have a good opinion of our nature-
study work. Listen to the glowing terms in
which he commends the labors of those who use
his writings :

Not long since, in a high school in one of our large cities,
I saw a class of boys and girls studying Nature after this
cold-blooded and analytic fashion : They were fingering and
dissecting some of the lower sea forms, and appeared to find
it uninteresting business, as I am sure I should have done.
If there was a country boy among them, I am sure the
knowledge of Nature he had gathered on the farm was
worth a hundred-fold for human purposes, or the larger
purposes of science, all this biological chaff. Of the books
upon Nature Study that are now issuing from the press, to
meet this fancied want in the schools, very few of them, ac-
cording to my thinking, are worth the paper they are printed
upon. They are dead, dead, and neither excite curiosity nor
stimulate observation.

John Burroughs has written this to me:

I should have said in my Oudlook paper that I would, by
all means teach the young people the elements of the great
sciences—geology, astronomy, and chemistry. They are
broadening and freeing, especially the two former. They
enlarge the whole mental horizon. I would also inculcate
the scientific habit of mind, accuracy of observation, care in
reading conclusions, etc. Darwin is full of good lessons in
this direction. But I would not encourage the young people

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 13

to think they can dissect their way into the mystery of Na-
ture, or reach her through the laboratory.

While it is but common-sense opinion, and one
almost universally admitted, that nature should
be studied in her own domain, as well as in the
laboratory, few nature-study or science teachers
seem to admit this in a practical way.

Again says John Borroughs: “The purely edu-
cational value of nature-study is in its power to
add to our capacity of appreciation, our love and
enjoyment of all open-air objects.”

So we have wandered, from nature study to
nature study, and we find that, according to these
authorities, it is science and it isnot science; it is
not to be studied in the fields and it is; it is to
be pursued in the schoolroom and it is the biggest
piece of nonsense that was ever seen in the school-
room. Weare progressing. Let us keep on,and
we shall at some time get a clear idea, so as to be
able to formulate a model definition.

Charles B. Scott, in his “‘ Nature Study and the
Child,” thus attempts to define the subject :

It seems wise, at the very beginning, to determine just
what we mean by elementary science, or Nature Study.
This will prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding in later

discussions. The terms ‘‘ elementary science ’’ and ‘‘ Nature
Study,” are both widely used. Elementary science is, per-

14 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

haps, more exact, and, therefore, more scientific. Nature
Study has a less formidable sound, and better expresses the
spirit in which the work should be undertaken. It seems
much the better term, at least, for the work in the first four
or five years of the school course. The former term includes
two ideas. First, it is elementary, as distinguished from
advanced. In the aim or purpose of the work, in the ma-
terial selected, in the methods pursued, it is elementary :
planned for, and adapted to the needs and capacities of the
pupils of elementary schools. In the second place, it is
science, classified knowledge.

Here is offered the choice of another term for
“elementary science.” That surely is liberal, and
nobody can find fault with the permission to use
a term that has a “less formidable sound!”’

Let us get a few more examples, and we shall
then have the thing clearly inmind. Perhapsone
of the best, surely the most “ taking,” concise,
and euphonious, is that by Professor Clifton F.
Hodge:

Nature Study is learning those things in Nature that are
best worth knowing, to the end of doing those things that
make life most worth the living.

This is excellent as a definition of his own idea,
and that of many others. We will note, paren-
thetically, that what I have had in mind is not a
matter of learning nature, but of loving her. It
is not wholly a means to an end, it is an end in

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I5

itself. The child loves his parents for some end ?
No; the loving is an end in itself. But never
mind that, now. Hodge gives us a commendable
expression of his idea of nature study.

Even John Burroughs in his famous statement
(previously quoted) : “The purely educational
value of Nature Study is in its power to add to
our capacity of appreciation—our love and enjoy-
ment ofall open-air objects,” fails to tell us what the
thingis. Hespeaks ofits resultant values. So he
might have told us what the poetical, esthetic, and
other values are, and yet not have defined them.
When I consider it seriously, I am really forced to
ask, if anyone has ever defined it? Nature study,
in the popular pedagogical sense, is science—no,
it is not; nature study is a matter of the school-
room—no, of outdoors; nature study is learning
——no, that is natural science; but they are one
and the same——no, they are not; nature study is
—is—I mean such nature study as you see in the
teachers’ papers, in the books on the tables at
teachers’ institutes, such as you hear talked about ;
it is in the air, like evolution, or wireless teleg-
raphy ; nature study, in its ordinary, school sense,
is—is—Why, any teacher knows what nature study

is!

16 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

And, after all, perhaps these excellent nature-
study writers and workers are in the same “ boat,”
only they will not admit it. Perhaps the thing is
not definable. It seems to me to beas intangible
as electricity, or gravitation or life or love. We
may tell much about it, what it will do, and will
not do; we can go all about, and teach it here
and there, and watch for results, but without
knowing what it is. Wearein as great a difficulty
as was Walt Whitman in defining the purport of
his own poems, “ My final merits I refuse you.”

John Burroughs, in “ Whitman, a Study,” at-
tempts to clear up a difficulty that he thus form-
ulates: “A great many readers, perhaps three-
fourths of the readers of current poetry, and not a
few of the writers thereof, cannot stand Whitman
at all, or see any reason for his being.” And in his
great love for Whitman, two hundred and sixty-
two pages are devoted to an attempt to clear up
this difficulty. On the two hundred and sixty-
third he thus summarizes his success: “ After all
I have written about Whitman, I feel, at times,
that the main thing I wanted to say about him I
have not said, cannot say; the best about him
cannot be told about him anyway.”

So it is with the spirit of nature study. Words

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 17

cannot convey the thing. You must see it, or it
is not there. Lightis uselessto a blind man. So
I say as to the popular pedagogical conception of
nature study, anybody knows what it is. And it
may well be added, that every “anybody’s” is
different from every other anybody’s. I cannot
even adequately convey in words my own idea of
it. I can feel it, and see it, and live it, but I have
difficulty in defining it. Here is an attempt to
convey some suggestion of what I have in mind
for ideal nature study :

Nature study is the examination of natural ob-
jects for your own gratification, to satisfy your
own curiosity, to give you something to make your
walks for exercise and fresh air more attractive; to
free your mind of its work-a-day thoughts, and to
supply their place with thoughts of God’s work ; to
lead your attention from the ugliness and the evil
that are in the world, to the beauty and goodness
that are also in the world; to forget self and the
troubles of life, and to sit in the sun, and look at
the sky; to wonder if you really understand why
it is blue, and why the clouds are white. It is
nothing less nor more than taking an intelligent
interest in the earth and its products. When you

have taught the child to do this, you will have
¢

18 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

taught nature study. And when you have taught
nature study, you will have taught your pupil to
be interested in the objects on the earth in his
own vicinage. The result is worth its cost.

Or to express the same thing a little more con-
cisely :

Nature study is the creating and the increasing
of a loving acquaintance with nature. This shall
begin and continue so informally in love, that,
sooner or later, it shall welcome the accompani-
ment of formal knowledge. Both together, both
head and heart, and both in earnest, shall increase
our enjoyment of life, and our capacity to en-
joy it.

In either case the definition is rather long and
entirely superfluous. If you know what the thing
is, you do not need the definition; if you do not
know, or rather, if you do not feel, it is beyond
the power of words to convey the thought.

CHAPTER II

“VAT FOR ISH DAT?”

According to one of the New York daily
papers, the principal of a large grade-school in
that city had a decidedly inquisitive visitor a few
days ago.

He was sitting in his office intently poring over
reports and excuses, when the janitor swung open
the door and announced:

“A lady to see you, sir.”

A German woman of ponderous size and wad-
dling gait strode into the room. Both sleeves
were rolled up to her elbows. In her right hand,
by her side, she carried a huge lobster, just touch-
ing the floor, and swinging in accompaniment with
her every pacing step. Her appearance indicated
that it was indignation which had separated her
from the wash-tub.

She swung the lobster over her head, and
slapped it down on the table near the desk witha
bang that made the absorbed mind of the princi-

pal leap from mental to physical matters.
19

20 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

“Vat ish dat ?”’ shouted the belligerent visitor.

”

“ Why-wh-y, that, madam, is a lobster, but
“ How many leegz has it?”
“Strictly speaking there are ten, but only eight

are

“ How many claws has it?
“The first pair of the ten legs have large claws,
the next pair have small claws, and the other two

”

have only

“How many eyeez has it?”

ym

“The lobster has two eyes

“Vat color is a

“ But wait, madam; before I answer any more
questions, please explain why——”

“ Dat’s vat Ivant to know—vat for ish dat your
teacher ask my Shonny all dese fool questions.
I vork so hard at mine vash-tub all the day long,
send my boy Shonny here to larn, and your
teacher tell him all dat shtuff, and ax him all dese

fool questions. Vat for tsh dat?”

The reporter who described this interview in
his daily paper saw only the humor of the situ-
ation. He did not record the principal’s expla-
nation, nor the further interrogations of the ex-
cited parent. For him it was enough to show the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 2I

ludicrousness of the situation. He may not have
repeated the words of the conversation verbatim,
as a court stenographer would have done, but it
is evident to anyone interested in nature in the
school-room, that he has portrayed a phase of
parenthood in absolute fidelity to fact.

That this is truth, plain truth without an ele-
ment of humor, can be vouched for by everyone
who has had even a limited knowledge of what
often results from the consideration of natural
objects in the school-room. To use a current
phrase, “ This is a practical age.” Parents form
a jury before which the educator must prove the
cut bono, He must show results worth the time
consumed. The Why? stares him in the face;
he must be ready for each parent who has a
“Vat for ish dat?” And if the results are not
worth while, there will follow a denunciation, as
surely as the effect follows the cause. There
is more than one Edward Bok, and more than
one anonymous editor to voice the opinion of
thousands of mothers, and denounce the over-
crowding of the child’s mind. There are voters
to reject school officers if time consumed is worth
more than results. There are superintendents
like the one whom I met in Massachusetts,

22 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

to say, “We didn’t have any room for that
kind.”

But editors, parents, voters, and school officers
are not all who ask, “ Vat for ish dat ?”

Listen to Thoreau for a moment:

“We study botany and zoology and geology,
lean and dry as they are, and it is rare that we
get a new suggestion. It is ebb tide with the
scientific reports, Professor ———— in the chair.
How little I know of that arbor vite when I have
heard only what science can tell me. It is buta
word, it is not a tree of life.”

This is as true of the dilute as of the con-
densed, of the kindergarten as of the university.

Regarding those sciences, Thoreau is asking,
“Vat ish dat?”

Then we have our own John Burroughs, in an
Outlook on educational affairs, asking the same
question in another form, as he denounces worth-
less results and lack of vitality:

In our time, it seems to me, too much stress is laid upon
the letter. We approach nature in an exact, calculating,
tabulating, mercantile spirit. We seek to make an inven-
tory of her storehouse. Our relations with her take on the
air of business, not of love and friendship. The clerk of
the fields and woods goes forth with his block of printed

tablets upon which, and under various heads, he puts down
what he sees, and I suppose foots it all up and gets at the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 23

exact sum of the knowledge when he gets back home. He
is so intent upon the bare fact that he does not see the spirit
or meaning of the whole. He does not see the bird, he sees
an ornithological specimen ; he does not see the wild flower,
he sees a new acquisition to his herbarium; in the bird’s
nest he sees only another prize for his collection. Of that
sympathetic and emotional intercourse with nature which
soothes and enriches the soul, he experiences little or none.

Professor Hodge had evidently heard of or
met the German washerwoman, or other like
minded folk with a “Vat for ish dat?” for he
writes in “Nature Study and Life”:

But, the teacher says, the parents make all sorts of ob-
jections to nature study, call it a ‘‘fad,’’ ‘‘ nonsense,’’ com-
plain of ‘‘ waste of time on new-fangled notions,’’ say that
“they never had to learn such stuff.”” These objections of
the home are for the most part right as to what often goes
by the name of nature study, and nothing could be more
helpful for development of ideal courses adapted to local
conditions, than to invite their freest possible expression.
If we cannot find a nature study worth while, a nature study
so full of human good that it will meet and overcome all
such objections, then we should devote the time to other
subjects. But from several years’ experience, the writer is
confident that all reasonable objections can be met, and
that we can find a nature study so good that this attitude of
parents can be completely reversed and their interest and
enthusiasm so thoroughly aroused that they will say : ‘‘ We
had no chance to learn these things, but we wish our chil-
dren might be given the opportunity and teach us.”

The trouble is, as has been so often reiterated,
that few teachers swing themselves around to

24 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

the child’s standpoint. In some studies, the
teacher must be a teacher, above the child, tell-
ing the child. To overcome the onesidedness of
a school limited to mere instruction, nature study
has been introduced as the most available field in
which to let the child do the telling. But, sim-
ple as this is, it seems an exceedingly difficult
thing for some teachers to understand. Hence
the opposition which it meets in some commu-
nities, and the amusing paragraphs so frequently
seen in print. One of these (shall we call them
sad but literal statements of certain real condi-
tions ?) is the following from the Youth’s Compan-
zon. Itis a fair example:

A small girl who has just begun to attend school brought
home a pumpkin seed and told her mother that the teacher
said that, although the seed was white, the pumpkin would
be yellow. .

‘And what will the color of the vines be?” asked the
mother.

The little girl replied that the teacher had not taught he:
that. 4

“But,’’ said her mother, ‘‘ you know, dear, for we have
pumpkin vines in our garden.”’

-©Of course I do, but we ain’t expected to know anything
until we are taught.”

It is the parents of those children who are the
victims of such nature-study instruction that will

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 25

inquire, with frowning brow and threatening tone,
“Vat for ish dat?”

The reverse of this lobster-pumpkin teaching
is the true doctrine.

C. B. Scott, in his “ Nature Study and the
Child” occupies the correct standpoint.

More than is the case with most other studies, probably,
science, or nature study, deals with the individual child,
and aims to develop each child as an individual. It places
the material in the hands of each child, and expects him to
see and think and tell for himself. Nature is many-sided ;
and when pupils observe for themselves, each will have a
different point of view, will see a different side. The teacher
will thereby be helped to realize the difficulty, the impossi-
bility, and, finally, the viciousness, of teaching ex masse, of
teaching classes rather than individuals, and will recognize,
respect, and at length encourage and develop, the individ- |
uality and self-reliance of the pupil... .

We are more and more endeavoring in our schools, from
university to kindergarten, to have our students get more
than facts; we are striving to develop their intellectual |
powers—of seeing or apprehending for themselves, of think-
ing or combining ideas in their relations, of expressing or
conveying these ideas to others, and of doing or making |
their ideas active or effective.

And it may well be added that this original
seeing and telling by the child are not to be con-
fined to nature study. What a glorious thing it
would be if education could take the place of in-

struction, if the nature-study point of view could

26 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

be added to all studies. Elbert Howard says,
“The kindergarten is the best school ever estab-
lished for educating—parents.” And I add, for
educating teachers.

Nature pedagogy is the true pedagogy ; let
the spirit of it permeate and give vitality to every
feature of the schoolroom so strongly, that it will
accompany the child through his life.

Dr. J. E. Taylor, late editor of “ Science Gos-

sip,” and a writer of scientific books, says:

Is there anything more delightful than the fatigue of an
afternoon’s long ramble after objects one loves? Youare not
tired of them but with them. It is a delicious fatigue.
Subsequent years of trouble cannot obliterate the charmed
impressions. They are the sunniest spots in one’s memory.
Their recollections come, like angels’ visits, to unconsciously
relieve us in after years of many a sad trouble and trial.
They should be laid up in store when you are young, so that
they can be drawn upon when you are old. Then the sun-
shine of youth is stored to gild the troubled days of matured
manhood and the darker shadows of old age.

That is “vat it ish for.” That is what we
teachers shall not need to explain, if we act so
that the question need not be asked. We shall
arouse the child, and make that waking so notice-
able by the parent that he will fail to observe the
lobster.

We would not make the child’s mind a dump-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 27

ing ground for fad-zeal facts, nor a target for
volleys fired according to schedule. We would
put him and his mind into an atmosphere of
things good, true, and beautiful. Even his un-
cultured parents will appreciate that and say,
“Dat ish goot. Mine Shonny hab ein goot
teacher.”’

And of this environment, this atmosphere of
out-door life, there come words of commendation
from cultured writers and thinkers. Takea prom-
inent representative. Hear the words of Ham-
ilton Wright Mabie:

There, are, however, habits and qualities which are char-
acteristic of those who succeed in establishing this relation-
ship with nature.

They are, in the first place, very constantly in the pres-
ence and company of Nature. They not only seize, they
make opportunities for getting into the woods, for loitering
in the fields, for exploring the streams, for walking across
the country. ...

These persons form the habit, in the second place, of
leaving their cares, work, interests, and self-consciousness
behind them when they go out under the clear sky, along
the country road, or into deep woods. They go with an
open mind ; they are alert to observe, but they are above all
things else ready to receive whatever truth, power, or spirit
Nature has to impart.

It is worth while to have all children in such
intimate relations with Mother Nature. Her

28 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Dulce Domum will then be dulce domum not
only in the desire of the teacher, who has the
child’s welfare at heart, but dulce domum in fact.

Perhaps your son cannot be rich in money or gee-
gaws, but he can be wealthy in his ownership of
the world. As Bunyan said, “ I have known many
laboring men that have got good estates in this
valley,” and Bradford Torrey tells us, that, ‘‘ His
private opinion is that the world belongs to those
who enjoy it; and taking this view of the matter
he cannot help thinking that some of his more
prosperous neighbors would do well in legal
phrase, to perfect their titles. He would gladly be
of service to them in this regard.”

I hope that all teachers may be of service to
our boys and girls, in this regard. Rightly
viewed that “ish vat it ish for.” Many persons
“ want the earth ;’’so do we, but we want it with
no “ fence around it.” Let old and young break
through the palings, and take possession of their
birthright, with all its multitudinous resources of
enjoyment, and be at home there.

Thoreau thought that the holder of the deed
was not really the best owner:

How when a man purchases a thing, he is determined to
get and get hold of it, using how many expletives and how

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 29

long a string of synonymous or similar terms signifying pos-
session in the legal process. What’s mine’smy own. An
old deed of a small piece of swamp land, which I have lately
surveyed at the risk of being mired past recovery, says that
“the said Spaulding, his heirs and assigns, shall and may
from this (?) time, and at all times forever hereafter, by
force and virtue of these presents, lawfully, peaceably, and
quietly have, hold, use, occupy, possess, and enjoy the said
swamp,”’ etc,

Tlike that kind of socialism. Ihope the teacher
will help your son to get it. We believe in uni-
versal ownership here. We want to be rich and
noble. Our philosopher Emerson tells us how to
do it, and we are trying to tell your boys.

He who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground,
the waters, the plants, the heavens, and how to come at
these enchantments is the rich and royal man.

I think you will agree with me that it is worth
while for your son to be rich and royal. If we
are not on the right road to riches and royalty
with that lobster, we will get something else, and
another teacher with it.

“Nature is loved by what is best in us,” further
says Emerson. We want to bring out the best in
your boy; we believe that exercise strengthens
and develops. We are going to strengthen and
develop that “best ” by the persistent exercise of

30 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

the nature love, which we sometimes call nature
study.

Do not be in haste to go; sit still for a mo-
ment, your son is worth more than those clothes
inthe tub. Let me explain further. You want
him to do great deeds, I suppose? Did you ever
hear of Ruskin? He was a wise man, who got
below the surface of things. He said:

The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is
to see something, and tell what itsaw ina plain way. Hun-
dreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thou-
sands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is
poetry, prophecy, and religion, all in one.

We want to develop your boy’s originality, not
to pack his head with useless facts. We want to
help him'to see things and to tell what hesees. To
see them in their right relations; to wake up and
realize that life is worth living, and worth living,
too, in its fullest capacity, and in the best man-
ner. We want to put him under the influence of
Mother Nature, because we can find no other
power of development so beneficent.

Your boy may never be rich or great or influ-
ential, except in the way that I have indicated.
Let him have that at lea—no, at most. He may
never be a famous writer, nor a poet, but he may

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 31

live a famous and poetical life, about which per-
haps he only will ever know, and while he may
never be able to express himself with Words.
worth’s skill, yet he may live his poetry in all the
fullness with which Wordsworth lived it as a
boy:

There was a Boy ; ye knew him well, ye Cliffs
And islands of Winander |—many a time,

At evening, when the earliest stars began

To move along the edges of the hills,

Rising or setting, would he stand alone,
Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake ;
And then, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,

Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls,

That they might answer him.—And they would shout
Across the watery vale, and shout again,
Responsive to his call—with quivering peals,
And long halloos, and screams, and echoes wild
Of mirth and jocund din! And, when it chanced
That pauses of deep silence mocked his skill,
Then, sometimes, in that silence, while he hung
Listening, a gentle shock of mild surprise

Has carried far into his heart the voice

Of mountain torrents ; or the visible scene
Would enter unawares into his mind,

With all its solemn imagery, its rocks,

Its woods, and that uncertain heaven, received
Into the bosom of the steady lake.

Many young folks do live in this way, until
they are given too much lobster!

32 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

The Point of View.

The prime necessity for good nature-study
“teaching” is the point of view, what the thing
is from your own appreciation of it, and then the
purpose in transferring that appreciation to each
child. I say, “your own appreciation,” because
we get, in this world, what we prepare for, and
what we give. If you want to develop the in-
dividuality and love of the child, first develop
and make sure of your own individuality and
love, and then give generously to the child.
Establish a comradeship with every pupil.

I fancy that some one may object to the reply
which the principal made to the German washer-
woman, when he tried to explain the purposes of
nature study, and that some one may claim that
he expected too much, because the woman’s son
may not have the ability to be a Wordsworth
boy. And if you do say that, it is right there
that you make a mistake. He loves something
exactly as Wordsworth loved. It probably is
not “ye cliffs and islands of Winander.” But it
is something else with an equal love. Your duty
is to find out that love. If it is worthy, then de-
velop it. If it is not worthy, then guide it to

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 33

something that is. Therein is your mission as a
nature-study teacher, to find out, develop, guide,
a love for natural objects. Few can write as
Wordsworth wrote of his boyhood. But where is
the boy that cannot, that does not live it in all
the fullness of spirit that Wordsworth lived it as
a boy. Few can write good poetry, but every one
can and does live it to a greater or lesser extent.
Every man, woman, and child isa poet-naturalist.
The child’s play, the woman’s hopes, the man’s
ambitions, the philosopher’s hypotheses are all
poetry, though we may call them fancies or the
building of air-castles. They are all true poetry,
the charm that makes life worth living, the illu-
mination of life by the light that was never on
sea or land.

And every one is a naturalist. No one is so
senseless as not to appreciate sunshine, flowing.
water, the ocean, trees, flowers, something. Find
out that poetry, that something, then develop it.
It is a high calling that comes to you, nature-
study teacher. It is for you to develop your
poet-naturalists, and you are responsible for just
as many as there are pupils in your school. ,

3

‘“‘Nature Study trains us to keep our eyes open to the
living things about us and to an earnest inquiry into the
meaning of what we see.”—A. C. BOYDEN.

“It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind:
anxious for the acquisition of knowledge, that the com-
monest things by which we are surrounded are deserving
of minute and careful attention.” —RENNIE.

I wrote a sober, scientific account of all its parts, with-
out a spark of life in it—but I threw itaway. I know now
that there is something better than the botany of the
Horse Chestnut tree, and that is the poetry of it.

There is poetry and beauty all around us in every common
thing, and we, who have had health and eyes, have not
seen it. Let us wake up and look about us and get the
most out of life every day that we live! Happiest are
they who can still look out upon Nature with the eyes of
childhood! . . . The first thing is to open the heart. The
next thing is to open the eyes.

JULIA ELLEN ROGERS, in ‘‘ Among Green Trees.”

“As a rule, children observe well; but a false method
_ of teaching especially that which reduces all school work
to a study of books, often destroys this natural tendency.
When we reflect what an important factor in mental
growth the habit of close and accurate observation is, we
can but deplore that so much of our school work tends to
diminish rather than to increase this power. Nature study
if so taught as to awaken interest, rather than fatigue the
pupil, can be made an important aid in the development
of this power.”—Education through Nature Study, JoHN
P. Munson, Ph. D.
34

CHAPTER III

WINNING LOVE FOR NATURE STUDY

‘‘Nature study is never a task, but a tonic. It recreates.”
Dr. C. C. ABBOTT.

There often comes to my mind a paradoxical
story heard in my boyhood days, of an Irishman
(for the Irishman is proverbially and everywhere
a wit), who at a country store was endeavoring to
secure a proper-sized pair of cowhide boots.

He maintained that No. 1o was the required
size, but the storekeeper insisted that No. 14 would
be a better fit. It seemed evident that the mer-
chant was right, for Pat could not draw on the
No. to’s. Still, as he tugged at the straps he
declared that 10 was the number, and that his in-
ability to get them on was due only to the stiff-
ness of the leather. Suddenly his flushed and
perspiring face lit up with a mingling of smiles
and inspiration. The problem was solved. Yet
there was a shade of disgust apparent because
his bright idea had not come sooner, to save him

some hard and futile work.
35

36 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

“Shure,” he said, “and why didn’t I think of
it before? All the trouble is I’ve got to wear
thim boots a few days to limber thim up, an’ thin
they'll go on aisy.”

My interest in the story, and hence my vivid
recollection, is not due so much to the absurdity
of the situation, as to my sympathy with Pat!
The remembrance of the amusing phases of the
tale are mingled with my attempt to reconcile
with boyish logic, the two facts, that, while Pat
in the main was wholly wrong, yet, from acertain
standpoint, he was more than half right.

The Irishman’s logic hasa host of sympathizers
among those who attempt to do certain things.
As the architect’s plans precede the building, so
in most cases, the object must be completed in
spirit, before it is even begun in reality. This is
emphatically true in winning love for the study of
nature; the germ must exist before the love can
be developed. Something can seldom be made
out of nothing.

As Wordsworth says of his poet,—

‘You must love him, ere to you
He will seem worthy of your love.”

There must be an inherent love for nature before

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 37

nature will seem to be lovable. We may talk about
the lovableness of nature, but we must inspire an
interest, and arouse a curiosity, before we exhibit
nature’s wonders and beauties. At first thought
and in the first attempt, this would not seem to be
the correct method. The non-lover might reason-
ably argue, that if nature is so instructive and so
lovable, then the best method must be to collate
her interesting and winning points, and by their
graceful and attractive presentation, win the af-
fection that we are seeking. That process applied
where there is no inherent and dormant love, may
obtain a transient result, but it will be illusive
and hypocritical. Do not mistake open-mouthed

wonder and open-eyed exclamations of surprise |

for love of nature. Such dime-museum interest
is worse than none. It is repellant and ludicrous.
How well Mark Twain has presented this method
of viewing interesting things. You will recall his
experience with the European guide:

“All their lives long, they are employed in
showing strange things and listening to bursts of
admiration. It is human nature to take delight
in exciting admiration.

“ After we discovered this, we never went into
ecstasies any more, we never admired anything,

38 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

we never showed any but impassible faces and
stupid indifference, in the presence of the sub-
limest wonders a guide has to display. We found
their weak point. We have made good use of it
ever since.

“*Come wis me, gentlemen! come! I show
you ze letter writing Christopher Colombo! write
it himself! write it with his own hand! come!’

“He took us to the municipal palace. After
much impressive fumbling of keys and opening of
lock, the stained and aged document was spread
before us. The guide’s eyes sparkled. He
danced about us and tapped the parchment with
his finger:

“¢What I tell you, gentlemen! Is it not so?
See! Handwriting Christopher Colombo! Write
it himself!’

“We looked indifferent, unconcerned. The
doctor examined the document very deliberately,
during a painful pause. Then he said, without
any show of interest: ‘Ah, Ferguson, what did
you say was the name of the party who wrote
this ?’

“« Christopher Colombo! ze great Christopher
Colombo!’

“ Another deliberate examination,

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 39

“¢ Ah, did he write it himself, or—or how?’

“*He write it himself! Christopher Colombo!
He’s own handwriting; write it by himself.’

“Then the doctor laid down the document and
said:

“«Why, I have seen boys in America only
fourteen years old that could write better than
that.’

“«But zis is ze great Christo

“¢T don’t care who it is! It’s the worst writ-

» >>

ing I ever saw. Now you mustn’t think you can
impose on us because we are strangers. We are
not fools by a good deal. If you have got any
specimens of penmanship of real merit, trot them
out! If you haven’t drive on!’ We drove on.”

You will recall the conversation (with a touch
of sympathy perhaps for the guide), as he shows
a bust of Columbus and an Egyptian mummy.

As the humorist was apparently impressed by
his frantic efforts to present his wonders so as to
win exclamations of admiration, and to arouse
the traveler’s interest in those antiquarian affairs,
so in reality many a boy or girl is impressed, and
often likewise those of older growth, but the im-
pression vanishes with the Oh, and Ah, and Oh
my, which the efforts excite.

40 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Therein partly lies the explanation of the quiz-
zical, semi-amused sentiment so commonly felt
for the naturalist, by his ignorant aquaintances.
For the learned and loving naturalist to attempt
to win for nature the love of such unimpression-
able persons, is like an attempt to talk with the
inhabitants of another planet, or as some one has
humorously expressed the same principle, like a
young man trying to throw kisses at a pretty girl
across a dark room.

It is as paradoxical with us as it was with Pat,
if we try to win a love for the study of nature
where it does not originally exist. The result of
that will always be failure, and a waste of nerve
force. The adage, “You can never make a silk
purse out of a sow’s ear,” is ugly. Yet, it is
beautiful because it is true. Watch an enthu-
siastic herpetologist, entomologist, or botanist, at
his studies, and hear him tell of their delights,
and observe how much love for his pursuits he
will arouse where there is no dormant love to be
excited. ‘ Poor man, you may be all right in
the main, but there is a‘ brick’ loose somewhere.”
Is not that the poorly concealed opinion? Such
futile efforts are made in many a school-room,
partly from a lack of true understanding of the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 4I

situation, and partly, perhaps largely, from very
force of circumstances. Jvstruction may be im-
parted, but the real educational value to be
had in learning of some detail of nature, is about
as valuable as to learn the population of some
little village a thousand miles distant. Neither
fact will be the child’s own. The instruction has
been given, but the value of the educational prop-
erty is not appreciated and is lost.

There may be a large love of nature, yet wholly
unknown because dormant. To suggest a method
for the winning of this love is the purpose of this
chapter. A love for nature must be won and in-
creased by a corresponding love on the part of
the teacher, expressed freely and practiced fully.
As Barnet Phillips in the preface to “ Eye Spy”
has it:

“What I want to discover is the precise time,
in the lives of certain boys and girls, when the
steel first struck the flint, the spark flew, and out
streamed that jet of fire which never afterwards
was extinguished.”

William Hamilton Gibson tells us how this was
in his boyhood days:

“Twas very young and playing in the woods.
J tossed over the fallen leaves, when I came across

42 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

a chrysalis. There was nothing remarkable in
that, for I knew what it was. But wonderful to
relate, providentially I deem it—as I held the ob-
ject in my hand a butterfly slowly emerged, then
fluttered in my fingers. I was more than pleased
with its beauty. I do not know whether I was
or was not a youngster with an imagination, but
suddenly the spiritual view of a new or of another
life struck me. I saw in this jewel born from an
unadorned casket some inkling of immortality.
Yes, that butterfly breaking from its chrysalis in
my hand shaped my future career.”

As the child never truly makes such instruction
his own if it does not find response in his heart, so
pitiable asit is, many older “children in the kinder-
garten of God” never utilize their most valuable
inheritance, because it does not reach the heart.

The deed to such possession of the world is love
of nature, the love that you must win by love and
by the telling of it. You must have a love for
nature before you can win it for her from others.
Then “both head avd heart and both in earnest.”
You must wear the boots for the child first ; you
must get him into your world and to understand the
language of nature, for indeed “ Nature speaks a
varied language.” She may have her surprises, but

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 43

it is to be doubted whether she has loveliness and
beauty, except as reflected from the human heart.
The pathway to this is not through the sur-
prises, but through us, and our heartfelt apprecia-
tion. More than that, it is ourselves. .Or, as
Bryant tells us,
‘* Vet these sweet sounds of the early season,
And these fair sights of its sunny days,

Are only sweet as we fondly listen,
And only fair as we fondly gaze.

There is no glory in star or blossom,

Till looked upon by a loving eye ;

There is no fragrance in April breezes

Till breathed with joy as they wander by.”

You must wear the boots before you can put
them on. The youthful David felt this, for, of
the new armor which Saul gave him, he said, “I
cannot go with these for I have not proved them.
And David put them off.’ Practically, he could
not wear them until he had previously worn them.

There must be the stock before the graft ; the
seed before the plant can develop. Therefore,
talk about the attractions of nature and of her
beauties, especially of the beauties. It was the
Christ himself that exclaimed at the beauty of
the lilies of Palestine. It is the Eternal God
himself that looked at his completed work and

44 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

said, “It is good.” And he put the first man in
a garden, with the perfect beauty of nature sur-
rounding and embracing him.

Show the child the beauty surrounding him,
provided youare sufficiently skillful and sufficiently
in love with that beauty to find it. But it is every-
where. You can teach the pupil to appreciate it,
although he may have no inherent love for so
called Natural History. The greatest artists are
rarely naturalists. The sculptor studies human
anatomy, not because he wants to be an anatomist,
but to make his work more nearly perfect. Ex-
patiate to your pupils on the beauty of nature.
Then show them some, and keep on showing them
if you want to do good work. We all crave the
beautiful. Even the paper on our wall is now
what we call artistic; even the iron register
through which the demon in the cellar dashes his
hot blasts, are made graceful and alluring to the
eye. We all crave beauty, when we have been
taught that there is such a thing outside of
heaven.

Life, progress, and growth are always interest-
ing. We all liketo watch a train leave the station,
men digging a cellar, carpenters building a house,
or a plant or an animal in its development. This

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 45

fact can be utilized, and is successfully utilized
in the school-room and in out-of-door work
in sense training. Notice the changes in foliage
color ina landscape; recognize the changes that
take place in the prevailing hue of flowers as sea-
son follows season, from the white of the earliest
to the dark purple of the autumn Asters. Seeing
the actual changes awakens interest, and when
awakened, it will branch out in other directions,
Then your battle is won.

A healthy child is an animated interrogation
point. When he learns that many of his ques-
tions can be answered by keeping his sense alert,
he will find his appetite in this direction wonder-
fully and joyously growing. He will need help
and guidance. But the desire and determination
to dig a thing out for himself, is of inestimable
value for increasing his happiness, and should
never be repressed.

Nature study in its present pedagogical mean-
ing, is not systematic study of nature, for that is
science. Nature study is emotional, as science is
intellectual. Anna Botsford Comstock has well
expressed this opinion.

“When the idea of nature study first dawned
in the educational world, it was inevitably con-

46 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

fused with the sciences on which it is based. To.
day nature study and science, while they may
deal with the same objects, view them from op-
posite standpoints. Nature study is not syn-
thetic ; it takes for its central thought the child,
and for its field work the child’s natural environ-
ment.”

But some one may still insist, if nature is so
interesting and lovable, it is sufficient to allow her
interests and attractions to speak for themselves.
Yes, but they never will. They need an inter-
preter. When the young man goes a-wooing,
does he constantly talk only of his own excel-
lences and possessions? or when a man is seeking
his wife’s happiness, does he depend on his inten-
tion to furnish her with a good home and plenty
of money? Does not something come in ahead
of temporal considerations. The expression of
love, is it not?

Yet mere oral expression is not enough. A
child can detect a hypocrite quicker than you can
detect a misspelled word or a grammatical error.
He can do it unerringly, and he will. If your
pupil brands you as a fraud, your fate is sealed.
You can never teach him anything good. Do
not talk to him about the lovableness of nature

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 47

if you have none of the genuine article in your
own heart ; heart, not head.

We who would teach and inspire the young
folks, must learn our own lesson before we try to
instruct them. Otherwise the child will find our
teaching as interesting and impressive as Frank
Stockton’s bookseller found the “ Logarithm of
the Diapason.”

Let me quote again from John Burroughs:

“A great many people admire nature; they
write admiring things about her; they apostro-
phize her beauties ; they describe minutely pretty
scenes here and there; they climb mountains to
see the sun set, or the sun rise, or make long
journeys to find waterfalls, but nature's real lover
listens to their enthusiasm with coolness and in-
difference. Nature is not to be praised or patron-
ized. You cannot go to her and describe her;
she must speak through your heart. The woods
and fields must melt into your mind, dissolved by
your love of them.

“The passion for nature is by no means a mere
curiosity about her, or an itching to portray cer-
tain of her features; it lies deeper and is probably
a form of, or closely related to, our religious

instincts.”

48 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

And from Bradford Torrey:

“T hope Iam not lacking in a wholesome dis-
respect for sentimentality and affectation; for
artificial ecstasies over sunsets and landscapes,
birds, and flowers ; the fashionable cant of nature
worship, which is enough to seal a true worship-
er’s lips under a vow of everlasting silence. But
such repugnances belong to the library and the
parlor, and are left behind when a man goes
abroad, either by himself or in any other really
good company. For my own part the first lisp
of a chickadee out of a wayside thicket disperses
with a breath all such unhappy and unhallowed
recollections. Here is a voice sincere and the
response is instantaneous and irresistible.”

CHAPTER IV
CORRELATING NATURE STUDY

“ Oh, yes, we know all about correlation; we
have had full instructions, read topical outlines
and schedules in our teachers’ journals; had it
reiterated to us at the Institutes; seen it advo-
cated in the schedules of nature study for each
month, and, therefore we know all about it. Of
course we correlate nature study. We correlate
it with drawing, language lessons, writing, and
even with arithmetic and geography, so we are all
right on that, and we need no further instruction.”

If you really have correlated nature study in
all those ways, and insisted upon it in all cases,
you have done exactly what you should not have
done. You have shaken water and oil together
and made a compound, good neither for lubri-
cation nor for quenching thirst. Or, to use an-
other simile, you have flavored a dose of castor
oil with wintergreen, and made a mess. You
may have helped the oil, but you have made it
mighty bad for the wintergreen!

Have you really been using nature study,
4 49

50 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

that is, original investigation on the part of the
child? Have you not simply used a few natural
objects in the various kinds of work that you
have mentioned? If so, and, I really hope it is
so, you are after all not guilty of spoiling the
wintergreen.

Not long ago I attended, in a high school
assembly-room, an exhibition of the work of the
grade schools in the town. As I entered the hall,
a supervising teacher came forward and said, “I
am glad you came; I know you will be interested
in everything, but I want especially to show you
what we have done in nature study. I know you
are interested in ‘such things.’”

Indeed, I was interested and proud too, of the
good results attained by the schools, for the ex-
hibition showed lines of work that were truly
remarkable.

“ There,” said my fair guide, as we approached
a particularly attractive table, “I know you'll
like this. Isn’t that beautiful? How well our
children do it! Isn’t it surprising? Don’t you
think they’ve done well?”

Truly it was a beautiful exhibit; the children
had done well. I said so frankly, and expressed
surprise that so excellent work should have been

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 51

accomplished by children who were so young, as
shown by their ages marked on the specimens.

“ Aren’t you glad that our schools are doing so
good nature work?”’ exclaimed the enthusiastic
teacher.

“Nature work! Where is it?”

I was not diplomatic, I know, with such an in-
terlocutor and after so cordial a greeting. The
words slipped out without a thought.

“Here, here; what are you thinking about?
This nature work; isn’t it beautiful ?”

“Yes, it is beautiful drawing, neat writing,
correct capitalization and punctuation,” I hesita-
tingly equivocated, as I picked up a prose para-
phrase of Bryant’s “ Fringed Gentian,” decorated
with “ original” drawings. There was at the end
a little angel with wings, and an anchor with a
chain gracefully twined around it.

‘Hope blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart.”

Then came Emerson’s beautiful fable of “ The
Mountain and the Squirrel.”

‘‘The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel ;
And the former called the latter ‘‘ Little Prig ;”
Bun replied
You are doubtless very big.”

52 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

I read no further, but Iam sure the mountain
backed out of the fight, if I may judge from the
squirrel’s attitude and expression. It was artis-
tic, and certainly artistically realistic from the
child’s standpoint.

Then appeared “ Seaside and Wayside” stories
retold with drawings, almost as good as the orig-
inals.

Perhaps the most attractive was the work in
water-color. A bouquet of roses painted by a
child eight years of age was indeed remarkable,
and so I went over the drawings of daisies, maple
keys, wild geraniums, dogs, and horses. I felt a
tinge of disappointment when I saw that the
flowers had been drawn in the winter term, some
with the aid of outlines on the sheets, and had
been colored ad libitum, or by the direction of
the teacher.

Yet it was all good work in drawing and lan-
guage, most of it having been made from outlines
and books, while only afew samples had been
made directly from nature.

The trouble was that I was talking to the nature
supervisor and not to the teacher of drawing or of
language, and my questioner was persistent. She

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 53

repeated, “ Don’t you think this nature work is
good ?”

And so I was forced to say, as I do to you, that
it seems to me that the mere drawing of natural
objects and writing about them, even if from the
objects themselves is not necessarily nature study.
A talent for original seeing, a love of natural objects
may be stunted by the requirements of drawing
and writing. The wintergreen seemed to be pretty
nearly all castor oil, judging by the taste. You can
correlate nature study in this manner till there is
no nature study left.

Professor Hodge in his “ Nature Study and
Life” (I like especially that word // in the title)
tells us regarding the experience of the children
in rearing plants:

“No skilled gardener can even tell, much less
write down, a hundredth part of what he knows
about plants. ... It was thought at first that
the children might be induced to keep diaries or
records of their plants, giving just what they did
and just how fast the plants grew; but it was
found that their writings were of little value, and
were even thought to act as a chill to the spontane-
ous interests of some of the children. Some chil-
dren have a passion to write, while in others the very

54 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

thought of writing seems to benumb every impulse.”
The author’s italics are expressive.

But if you must correlate nature study and lan-
guage exercises—and there are some teachers who
will persist in doing it—never lose sight of the
original-seeing nature study.

Then, again, be sure that you know which is
nature study, and which is the drawing and lan-
guage, and just wherein is the correlation.

Not long ago I had occasion to examine several
hundred letters from children engaged ina contest
of nature-study writing and drawing. Please note
that it was nature-study writing and drawing, not
a contest on writing and drawing nature study.

Among the many letters was a particularly at-
tractive package of eighty, all from one school.
“ Here is the prize,” I thought, as I cut the pink
string and opened the neat foldings of firm manila
and delicate tissue paper within. The letters were
written on only one side of the sheet and not folded
which alone was enough to make them attrac-
tive to an editor. What beautiful vertical writing
(not that I am especially an advocate of that sys-
tem) but beautiful because it was so perfectly
legible. It was a pleasure to read. And the
capitalization and punctuation? All perfect.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 55

Then, too, what beautiful drawings. I envied the
child whose letter I first picked up. So neat and
pretty. After my hard work over nearly a thou-
sand others, this instalment was indeed refreshing.
But when I had thus enjoyed about a half dozen,
there began to creep over me a feeling that I had
somewhere previously read that last one, and not
so long ago, either. Then I studied them with
keener interest and with growing amazement.
How could so many children have ascertained
certain facts with a clearness so uniform, and have
described them in expressions so similar? It was
bewildering. Eighty of them, and all cut on the
same bias. But that bias was really bright and
fresh. I could not gainsay that.

After I had read about two dozen, my mind re-
called a visit to a factory in Waterbury, where I
saw a coil of wire fedinto a machine and reappear
asa stream of glittering pins that were rolled
around ina “hopper,” and shot out of a spout
neatly arranged in rows on paper. Some enthu-
siastic teacher had correlated a coil of a “ nature-
study”’ story into a school machine, and the
hopper had evolved attractive language-pins beau-
tifully arranged on eighty papers, and then, alas
and alack! she sent them tome. The thing I

56 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

wanted was not there. In sadness I laid them
aside.

Next I picked up an unattractive letter written
on the leaves of a pocket note-book. The drawing
that accompanied it was crude and the paper was
soiled by finger marks. With difficulty I read it,
but was fascinated as I deciphered the story of a
boy’s seaside investigation of the fiddler crab. He
wanted to know how they lived underground;
what they did; what food they ate; what kind of
quarters they occupied. He made inquiries of the
fishermen. No one knew. He said, “I'll find
out if it takesa week.” He borrowed pick, shovel,
and crowbar. He went to work and he found out.
Then he wrote the story, as he sat beside the
hole that he had dug after several hours’ hard
work. He made the drawing after careful watching
of the living object. He wrote the article on the
field of battle, where the weapon was a spade,
the enemy acrab. I was sorry that I had not a
basketful of prizes to give that boy, because he
wrote his letter for the love of it, and not for a
reward, of which he knew nothing.

The story of a little girl’s watching the sexton
beetles burying a dead snake “hour after hour,
with her little rocking-chair and parasol, in the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 57

broiling hot sun,” as her mother expressed it in
a letter written without the child’s knowledge,
showed nearly as much determination to find out
things, and the description was good enough for
second prize. The drawing like a huge letter S was
explained to be “the snake ;” two little rings like
miniature pennies, were explained to be “the
beetles.” It was charming.

I found some others nearly as good, which lost
high rating by only a slight deficiency of the right
spirit ; such letters were a prize in themselves,
but I regret that in numbers they were small.
The greater part showed too much correlation of
language-work and drawing. The nature study,
if indeed there had been any, had been buried out
of sight. Yet many accompanying letters from
parents and teachers showed that the importance
of nature study was appreciated.

There is danger of correlating nature study until
it is annihilated,
~ There is danger too of thinking that you have
some nature study and some drawing when you
really have none.

“But do you mean to say, that we shall not
correlate nature study with language-work and
drawing?”

58 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Yes and no. It all depends upon where you
stand and what you do and how you do it. You
may find natural objects useful in your language
teaching and in your drawing lessons, but do not
let it end there. Have some nature study some-
times uppermost in your mind, with or without
language lessons, according to circumstances and
the preferences of the pupils. ‘‘ These ought ye to
have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

All these things are from the negative, that is,
from the prohibitive or cautioning point of view.
The positive also exists, but with it there is no
danger of correlating too much.

Incidentally and to such limited extent as may
be found necessary, there is manual training.
Instead of having the pupils in that department
wholly occupied in making patent boot-jacks,
wooden nutmegs, or in engraving Chinese hiero-
glyphics on blocks, good as all these things may
be from an artistic point of view, let some of the
most active and practical boys make things to be
used in nature study. There is the doing before
the seeing, and spontaneous activity and original
observation are the prime essentials of true nature
study.

For plant life we want the germinating case, the

\

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 59

boxes for indoor and outdoor gardens, the minia-
ture hot-house with roof of window-frame and
shingles of glass, the fernery, and plant presses.

For insects, there are the net, the breeding-
cages in great variety of designs, the tanks for
aquatic insects, amphibia, and fish. There are
the vivaria for the turtles or snakes. And speak-
ing of snakes reminds me that the same vivaria
covered with wire netting may have the bottom
turfed over and used as a cage, in which to
watch grasshoppers shed their coats from time
to time.

As we go higher in animal life, there is even
greater scope for the manual training correlation,
and that is in the development of the artistic
talent. What scope is here given for the design-
ing and building of bird-houses! What a variety
of grades and styles of workmanship are possible!
For our four-footed animals we need a cage, one
box-like section lined with sheet-tin, the other an
open framework on which wire netting is neatly
tacked. Let the boys make these.

Would you develop originality ? Then increase
ingenuity, quicken powers of observation, correlate
manual training with nature-study interests and
see how the whole child-life wakesup. You wake

60 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

him up to one thing and he is awake to all. “I
take a deeper interest in my geometry and Latin
since I became interested in nature study. I’m
going to be somebody,” is an extract from aletter
from a high-school boy. And then he goes on to
tell of his “air castles,” about being a scientist
and making some great discovery. That boy
woke up. He came to himself, and the life
developed by nature study will be useful and
efficient in any occupation,

Nature study is a valuable correlation in teach-
ing true democracy, the American idea. There
is no aristocracy or oligarchy in nature. Even
the queen of the communal Hymenoptera is not
an aristocrat, but the most prodigious worker of
them all. She is even “ elected” from among the
plebeian worker-eggs, and held to her position by
the most perfect democracy in the world, an
absolutely universal approbation.

The naturalist who sees things in their true
relation sees no high nor low, but universal
co-operation and mutual interdependence. The
scarlet tanager is attractive, but it is easy to show
the young folks that the earthworm has a mission
quite as important. Nature study impresses one
with respect for high and low, large and small,

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 61

and binds all together in universal sympathy and
brotherhood.
‘He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small ;

For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”

Nature study impresses one with the import-
ance of the so-called lowly things. The balance
may at many a point be easily upset. In the
natural world as well as in the spiritual this is
true. ‘ For God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things that are mighty; and base things of
the world, and things which are despised, hath
God chosen, to bring to naught things which
are.”

How often is this exemplified in the study of
nature. A world all lilies, butterflies, goldfinches,
peacocks, generals, lawyers, or policemen would
not be a well balanced world. You must have corn
and potatoes and chickens, and men with the
hoe. Such truths of the balance of nature and of
civic life should be correlated with nature study.
There is a mighty lot of such truth expressed in
this statement by Richard Jeffries:

62 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD B TEAUGHT

“Could imperial Rome have only grown suffi-
cient wheat in Italy to have fed her legions,
Czsar would still be master of three-fourths of the
earth. Rome thought more in her latter days of
grapes and oysters and mullets that change color
as they die, and singing girls and flute-playing,
and cynic verse of Horace—anything rather than
corn. Rome is no more, and the lords of the
world are they who have mastership of wheat.”

In an interesting account of searchings for the
wild mouse, Dr. C. C. Abbott interpolates this
statement :

“The whole world is thick with fools who have
lost all because of their insane desire to better
their conditions. Early in life we reach our pro-
per level, and he is blessed who has no ambition
to soar above it.”

Then he goes on to tell us about his mouse.
At first reading this seems incongruous. It is
merely nature study illumined by a flashlight of
true democracy.

Correlate nature study in large quantity and
persistently with patriotism, that important part
of a child’s education which is somehow erro-
neously supposed to have its root in fighting and
in political intrigues. It is not cévzl history but

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 63

natural history that should primarily be correlated
with patriotism.

What is patriotism ? Love of country, is it
not ? the country including the little congestions
which we call villages and cities, the country it-
self, not mere pride in victories of warfare, ability
to fight, nor in political intrigues past or present,
but

“T love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills ;
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.

‘* Tet music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees.

From every macinttan side ;
Let freedom ring.”

That is patriotism ; that is love of country, our
beautiful lovable country. Is not a great deal of
what we call patriotism missing the main thing,
mere machinery of patriotism? Is not much of
our so-called patriotic teaching the mere mechan-
ics of warfare and politics-—so much so that the
real love of our country is lost sight of ? Let us
talk less about our savage fighting and “the men
behind the guns,” and more of the real thing that
we have been seeking to establish-—love of our
beautiful country. So correlate nature study with

64 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

patriotism and let patriotism grow out of our love
of nature study. For nature study, rightly under.
stood, is not a matter of bugs and snakes, but of
the highest and best patriotism. It is a matter
of the trees, the roads, the sunsets, the clouds, the
old homestead, the city home and its surround.
ings, although in the city there may not be much
that is attractive except the blue sky and the
stars. And here comes in the fighting part but
only secondarily. The naturalist—using the term
in its broadest sense—is your true patriot. The
naturalist so loves the hills, the valleys, the fields
that he would lay down his life for them, and his
brothers and sisters of dear Mother Nature.

The native land azd God. That sums it all.
Love of native land—nature study—brings our
thoughts and our life to a higher plane.

And right here is another important part of a
child’s education, his moral training, to be thor-
oughly correlated with and produced by nature
study.

“ The sunset is unlike anything underneath it;
it wants men.” You canneverimprove that child
by preaching words alone. Influence by example
and association. The story of the naughty boy
that came to some bad end, and of the goody-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 65

goody boy that became a millionaire and played
golf and drove an automobile is not effective be-
cause it is not true to life, and the child soon de-
tects the sham. But the flower is ever beautiful,
the bird is ever joyous, and nature zs always true.
More than stories with a moral do I value nature
for morality.

“Nor hev a feelin’ if it doesn’t smack,
O’ wut some critter chose to feel ’way back ;
(Why, I’d give more for one live bobolink
Than a square mile o’ larks in printer’s ink.)”’

Would you have the child pure? Let him as-
sociate with purity. Says Thoreau:

“ Exquisitely beautiful and unlike anything we
have is the first water-lily just expanded in some
shallow lagoon where the water is leaving it, per-
fectly fresh and pure before the insects have dis-
covered it. How admirable is its purity... . It
is the emblem of purity and 7ts scent suggests it.”

Would you have the child beautiful—real beauty
permeating every fiber? Says Burroughs:

“Nature does nothing merely for beauty;
beauty follows as the inevitable result... . In-
deed, when I go to the woods or fields, or ascend
to the hilltop, I do not seem to be gazing upon

beauty at all, but to be breathing it like air... .
5

66 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

It rises from every tangle and chasm. ... Iam
not a spectator of, but a participator in it.”

Would you have the child joyous? Says the
Rev. Dallas Lore Sharp:

“The joy in wild things is the joy of being wild
with them—vacation joy.”

And so we can go to nature for all excellencies,
and she is constantly trying to win us. Or, as
Walter Savage Landor has expressed it :

‘* We are what suns and winds and waters make us ;
The mountains are our sponsors, and the rills
Fashion and win their nurslings with their smiles.”

Correlate the child’s moral training with the
truth, beauty, and loveliness of nature. With
nature study may be correlated the minor matters
which you are so accustomed to associate with it.
With your nature study must be correlated these
higher matters if you would rightly teach. What
a suggestion has Walt Whitman given us for cor-
relation :

““There was a child went forth every day,
And the first object he looked upon, that object he be-
came ; ,
And that object became part of him for the day, or a cer-
tain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching
cycles of years.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 67

The early lilacs became part of this child,

And grass, and white and red morning-glories, and white
and red clover, and the song of the phcebe-bird.

And the fish suspending themselves so curiously below
there, and the beautiful curious liquid,

And the water-plants with their graceful flat heads—all
became part of him.”

But your nature study must be correlated with
something even higher than all this. It must
reach the highest spiritual faculties, reaching out,
aye, taking hold of the Great Infinity. Your na-
ture study must be correlated with a religious
life. If youare doing that, you are doing the best
correlating. You are realizing what nature study
means! You are agreeing with Emerson:

“Every earnest glance we give to the realities
around us, with intent to learn, proceeds from a
holy impulse, and is really a song of praise. What
difference can it make whether it take the shape
of exhortation, or of passionate exclamation, or
of scientific statement? These are forms merely.
Through them we express, at last, the fact that
God has done thus or thus.”

“To lead a little child into this beautiful world and open
his eyes to the marvels which await him, is a most pre-
cious privilege. He could stumble along without leader-
ship, and he would see many things. But how much a
guide is worth! Parents may well put themselves to great
pains for the sake of introducing their children to Nature.
No effort will bring any greater reward. They may open
these young eyes to the color of the birds, to the varieties
of the trees, to the delicate beauty of the commonest way-
side flower, to the intricate traceries of a butterfly’s wing,
or the grace of a clinging vine, to the glory of the sunset
and the grandeur of the lightning. Children may be taught
to distinguish bird notes and name the common birds.
Their eyes may be trained to the harmonies of color and
the marvellous detail in the frost and the snowflake. No
child will be cruel to birds or insects or animals of any
sort, if he is properly introduced to them and learns their
true place in God’s marvellous universe. A sensitiveness
to the beauty of the world and the infinite love manifested
in its wonderful resources, means much to develop the
mature character. This is wanting in many a man and
woman because there was no one to guide their early
years.”—REV. EDWARD HERRICK CHANDLER.

CHAPTER V
“KEEPING THEM DOWN ”

“Well, I suppose that is all right, but please
tell me how Iam going to get them down again?”
she said in a low tone to the superintendent, as I
went out of the room. The words were not in-
tended for my ears, but I caught them, and they
touched me, every bit of me.

She was a teacher who thoroughly believed in
discipline. Every action in the school favored of
militarism. She was famous throughout the town
for her good government. When the superinten-
dent and I entered the room she came forward
very primly, and I thought grimly, but perhaps
that was imagination, the result of the superin-
tendent’s casual remark, “‘ You will have to bea
little careful with this teacher. She is great on
discipline and routine, and says that she doesn’t
believe in modern fads.” The good old methods
of the days when Webster’s blue-covered spellin’
book was paramount, were good enough for her.

After acknowledging the introduction, she
turned and said:

69

7O HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

“Now, children, thisis Mr. Bigelow. He knows
everything about the trees, and flowers, and birds,
and bugs, and such things, and he has come here
to tell you all about them. [A large contract, I
thought.] Lay aside your books and papers;
now sit up and fold your arms and pay strict at-
tention. You must be very still. He is going to
talk for three-quarters of an hour, and he will tell
us a great many interesting things, I am sure.”

After a minute or two made noisy by the put-
ting of books into desks, one could almost pain-
fully hear the ¢zck-tock of the clock. The teacher
turned to me, and, as she nodded her head, said:

“Now, Mr. Bigelow.”

Then she went to the opposite corner and stood
there, with eagle eye wide expanded to detect
the earliest sign of disorder. In the meantime
she had sent an assistant to the rear of the room.
I paused fora moment to enjoy the air of ex-
pectancy and the almost breathless stillness I
noted the glistening eyes of a few, and the soldier-
like indifference of most of the pupils. Three or
four big boys in the rear seats had especially
attracted my attention, by the look, half of dis-
gust, half of protest, with which they had swung
books out of sight, and stuffed their hands into

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 71

their pockets. I had seen that look before! I
knew how to translate it into, ‘‘ Oh, this is going
to be a goody-goody talk to tell us how we ought
to enjoy this. beautiful world and be very grateful.
to the One that has given it all to us.” With an
air of resignation they leaned back, and I remem-
bered the factory that we had just passed, and
what the superintendent had told me of the dull
work, the long hours and the low pay of the
operatives.

Then I said:

“T am trying to find out how young folks feed
their pet animals. Will some one please tell me
what he thinks is the best for his special pets?
A friend of animals has written to me that bread
and milk should not be fed to any pet animal,
and I am trying to learn about the experience of
others. Will some one please speak and tell
me?”

Simple as this inquiry was, it had the effect of
abomb-shell. The mental attitude was completely
upset and I had to wait a minute for it to settle.
Here was every one, other than myself, expecting
a sermon on the wonders and beauties of nature
about which the young folks had from earliest
childhood been told and told again. And I felt

72 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

almost culpable as I thus jerked their minds “ the
other end to.” They to give information and I
to be thelearner! Impossible! Ittooka minute
for the idea to penetrate, for the hands to come
out of the pockets and the legs to be drawn up,
while looks of astonishment passed from one to
another. Faces brightened, eyes began to sparkle,
a hand here and there came up hesitatingly. I
had touched the known ina place dear to the
hearts of those young people. The matter of
food was soon explained. Then what stories of
dogs, cats, parrots, canaries, hens, rabbits, and
even of a pet crow. The story of this crow’s
capture led to an experience, related by one of
the big boys about his dog and a woodchuck
killed in the stone wall, and how the little wood-
chucks were brought home. I was delighted ;
the superintendent’s countenance beamed with
pleasure, I saw that he was convinced, and later
I was not surprised to have him write to me,
“We have room for the kind of nature study
which you exemplified.”” But the teachers were
alarmed, almost excited. The eagerness of some
of the children to tell experiences actually pushed
them out of the seat and several steps forward,
with outstretched hand. Oh, the joy of telling!

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 73

the joy of being appreciated, of being recognized
as actually knowing something worth listening
to! Every mind woke up, because each was
appealed to individually, and every one was
eager to respond. The assistant expressed vol-
umes when she whispered to me, as I shook her
hand in parting, that she “Didn't think those
children knew so much.”

But the principal apologetically said, “I never
saw them act so badly. I’m afraid you'll think
we don’t have any order. I was ashamed to have
two or three talking at once.”

To her I said, that they had been only a little
over-eager in telling me their experiences. But
to you I say that I commend the young folks. I
regretted that there was only one opportunity of
telling; that there must be a condensation of
what should have been extended.

The principal then made the remark to the
superintendent, as quoted at the beginning of the
chapter.

Discipline, and instruction are for your school,
asawhole. Nature study is for the pupil—this
one, that one—a recognition and development
of individuality. Restrain and develop. Not
one, but both. Not everlastingly keeping them

74. HOW NATURE STUDY SIIOULD BE TAUGHT

down, but sometimes letting, helping, encourag-
ing, to spring up. That is why I appeal to you
for informal nature study, for the very young

folks, not instruction in science, however elemen-
“tary, or however dilute and interesting you may
be able to make it. Think and act sometimes
from the child’s standpoint. That in relation to
natural objects is nature study.

CHAPTER VI

WHY NO SCHEDULES FOR NATURE STUDY

What is nature study? Itisa point ofview. It is the ac-
quirement of sympathy with nature, which means sympathy
with what is.

As a pedagogical ideal, nature study is teaching the youth
to see and to know the thing nearest at hand, to the end
that his life may be fuller and richer. Primarily, nature
study, as the writer conceives it, is not knowledge. He
would avoid the leaflet that gives nothing but information.
Nature study is not method. Of necessity each teacher will
develop a method; but this method is the need of the
teacher, not of the subject.

Nature study is not to be taught for the purpose of mak-
ing the youth a specialist or a scientist. Now and then a
pupil will desire to pursue a science for the sake of the
science, and he should beencouraged. But every pupil may
be taught to be interested in plants and birds and insects and
running brooks, and thereby his life will be the stronger.
The crop of scientists will take care of itself.—Professor L.
H. Bailey, Professor of Horticulture at Cornell university.

Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty sched-
ules, or inventories of God's property, by some clerk. They
do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the
popular view, or rather the popular method of studying
nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil
only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.—
Henry D. THOREAU, the sage of Walden.

Professor Bailey is a prominent scientist of the

present day, whose writings are chiefly scientific.
75

76 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT
He occasionally views nature informally, as in
his famous article on nature study from which the
foregoing is quoted.

Henry D. Thoreau was the first and is generally
accredited to be the greatest of American natural-
ists. He occasionally looks at nature from the
scientific point of view, as is evinced by his
assistance to Agassiz. Thoreau is a naturalist;
Professor Bailey a scientist. These are two dif-
ferent points of view, although there is no opposi-
tion nor hard and fast lines. The most successful
scientist must have much of the naturalist (“ Na-
ture Study’) in him, and the naturalist’s love
leads him to more and more of scientific knowl-
edge. It is not a question as to whether one has
a naturalist’s love, and his ability to see things, or
whether he has a scientist’s knowledge. Each
man must have both qualities. The question is,
of which quality has he the most? and the
answer decides whether he is a scientist or a
naturalist. I take these two men as typical of the
two classes, notwithstanding the fact that each
has much of the spirit of the other. Both Bailey
and Thoreau have recognized that there is a dif-
ference between nature study and science. Here
is Bailey’s way of making the distinction;

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 77

Nature study is not the study of a science, as of botany,
entomology, geology, and the like. That is, it takes the
things at hand and endeavors to understand them, without
reference to the systematic order or relationships of the ob-
jects. It is wholly informal and unsystematic, the same as
the objects are which one sees. It is entirely divorced from
definitions, or from explanations in books. It is therefore
supremely natural. It simply trains the eye and the mind

to see and to comprehend the things of life ; and the ‘result ;

is not directly the acquirement of science, but the establish-

ing | of a living sympathy with everything that is.

Thoreau in “Spring” draws the distinction in
his characteristic style as follows :—

As it is important to consider nature from the point of
view of science, remembering the nomenclature and systems
of men, and so, if possible, go a step further in that direc-
tion, so it is equally important often to ignore or forget all
that men presume that they know, and take an original and
unprejudiced view of Nature, letting her make what impres-
sion she will on you, as the first men, and all children, and
natural men do. For our science, so called, is always more
barren and mixed with error than our sympathies are.

It has been seen in the two introductory par-
agraphs of this chapter, that both denounce
schedules or definite method. ‘“ Why is this?”
asks many ateacher. ‘“Isn’t it a good thing to
have your work assigned in advance?” Yes, but
nature study is not your work. Jt ws from the
standpoint of the loves and interests of the child,
not from that of yourknowledge. You will make

78 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

schedules of assignments in advance, when you
can predict in advance what each child will find of
interest or will desire to tell you. Bailey and
Thoreau denounced schedules in nature study be-
cause they recognized this distinction. And the
trouble with you who clamor for machine-made
schedules, is that you fail to recognize the two
points of view. If you did not, you would not
ask for schedules.

Schedules are useful in science, even the most
elementary. It is right that you assign the con-
sideration of the stem the day after that of the
root, or vice versa, if you so please. You may
assign newts after the fishes in zoological work.
You are instructing in that; that is zz struere,
building in, to the child’s mind, but in nature
study you have the true education, e ducere, lead-
ing forth the child’s ideas.

The pernicious custom of ignoring the child’s
individuality in agsigning the same thing to all,
and of having a definite assignment for each day,
without regard to the excellent and unusual avail-
able things that may come to hand, reminds me
of a farce, entitled ‘““The Railroad Restaurant,”
that I once saw acted by the young men of a
literary society. I do not mean to assert that

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 79

nature study in definite assignment for each day,
and uniform to each pupil, is a farce. By no
means, for the farce pleases, even if there is
no definite instruction. On the other hand a
scheduled assignment may do positive harm by
stunting growth of interest.

The “ Railroad Restaurant ” farce was extremely
simpleand ridiculously funny. The waiter pounded
the gong, the passengers rushed in and took seats
at the bare tables. The waiter threw the gong
into the corner, and hurried from one to another
of the would-be diners, hastily inquiring, “ What
will you have?” but ignored all the answers.
From an armful of huge soup plates he slammed
one oneach table. Then herushed to the pantry,
tugged forth a pail of soup and set it in the
middle of the room.

Filling a Brobdignagian squirt-gun with the
entire contents of the pail at one tremendous pull
of the plunger, he rushed from diner to diner,
shouting as he filled the plates to overflowing,
“You've only five minutes before the train goes,
and we've only soup ready to-day ; you'll have to
make out on soup.” Hastily returning the squirt
gun to its place, he sounded the gong; the
locomotive bell rang; the conductor shouted

80 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

through the half opened door, “ All aboard!” and
there was a rush for the train.

Perhaps the audience saw only a burlesque on
the methods in vogue at railroad restaurants, but
into the mind of at least one who was present
there floated a remembrance of a certain school-
room. Flushed and eager from outdoor exercise
and interests, a crowd of happy children walked
briskly into the room and took their seats.

“What have you, there, John, that is attract-
ing so much attention?” sharply inquired the
teacher.

“ A little spotted turtle ; we found it down by

”

the spring and
“Carry it right outdoors and leave it there.
You ought to know better than to bring such a

”

thing into the schoolroom—of all
“ But please, ma’am, J thought you might want

,

it in nature study,” replied the boy, as a few in
his immediate vicinity pressed forward to see it,
and in various parts of the room adozen or more
hands came up from excited children, who had
evidently participated in the capture of the
turtle, or who wanted to see it. “No, we don’t
want it to-day. Don’t you know that we com-

mence the study of the local amphibia on the 15th

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 81

of April? To-day our schedule says we are to
have buds. I have an armful of specimens here
on my desk, as you can all see. I was out hunt-
ing for them before some of you children were
out of bed.”

John, rather crestfallen, in a mystifying guilt
as to his “amphibia”’ stumped along in the manner
that only a boy of repulsed interests can do, and
carried the turtle out of doors. The other chil-
dren wilted in their eagerness, and slumped into
their seats. The hand-bell rang snappishly, the
children stiffened, with rigidly folded arms, and
perfect order reigned in that schoolroom. Nog
/a carte in that mind restaurant, but a public in-
stitution of diet changed only after long routine
and per schedule.

And yet as I day-dreamed there, I thought what
an ideal teacher she is. What a good discipli-
narian, how perfect in her manner, how conscien-
tious and thorough, in everything that she does.
Her principal has required “ Fifteen minutes a day
for nature study, preferably after the opening ex-
ercises.” (Get it off your hands as early in the
day as possible, so that you will be ready to do
something—this was not in the schedule, but I
felt - ; perhaps I was wrong, perhaps not.) The

82 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

teacher congratulated herself because she could
not do a thing half way. She must have a time
for everything and everything for a time. She
had therefore met a few other teachers in the
building, and they had prepared this schedule,
which had met with the heartiest approval of the
principal.

“ That teacher is so thorough,” said he with em-
phasis and with pride, as he exhibited the schedule,
“she does everything thoroughly.”

Do you not know that you have systematized
and scheduled zz elementary or dilute science and
out every particle of nature study? I saw the boy
carry it out in his heart, face, and hand.

Again I visited that school. IknewSam. He
lived not far from my home, and we had had many
an enjoyable walk together in the great outdoor
world. He had a general interest in all natural
objects, but he dreamed of pet mice. That boy
was an enthusiast, and consequently an authority
on pet mice. I heard the teacher read a part of
the interesting chapter, “ Wild Mice,” in Ernest
Ingersoll’s book on “ Wild Life of Orchard and
Field.” Sam and the other children listened
attentively as the teacher read :

These jumping mice are the prettiest of all the Eastern

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 83

wild species. If you should look at a kangaroo through the
wrong end of a telescope you would have a very fair idea of
our little friend’s form, with hind legs and feet very long and
slender, and forelegs very short; so that when he sits up
they seem like little paws held before him in a coquettish
way. His tail is often twice the length of his body, and is
tipped with a brush of long hairs. He has a knowing look
in his face, with its upright furry ears and bright eyes.

Then the teacher took down her new copy
of Witmer & Stone’s “ American Animals,” and
let the children enjoy those two plates of photo-
graphs of the skins of various mice and shrews.

I watched Sam. And Sam looked at me occa-
sionally in an eager way. He reminded me of
my old dog Daisy, when I held her trembling in
eagerness, with the woodchuck only two feet from
her nose, and plainly visible under the boulder at
the bottom of the dilapidated wall.

The teacher read on, about the meadow mice
that “are the homeliest of their tribe,” and about
the deer mice and the white-footed. And again
the photographs of the skins were passed around.

Sam, I thought, I know that you would like to
get right into this, right up here with the mouse
that you caught in the meadow day before yester-
day, and bring in that wood mouse, and a few of
those “fancy” pet mice, the waltzing ones in
particular, and tell us morethan the books and we

84 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

have ever known, perhaps not about mice, but
about the enthusiastic pleasure of keeping them
and caring for them. It takes a boy to know
that! If the big man that writes books really
knows that, it is because he has remained a boy ;
he may have the man’s body, yet he retains the
boy’s heart.

One scientist with a grown up body anda boy’s
heart, Professor Clifton F. Hodge, writes:

But after all, childhood—active, fresh spontaneous child-
hood—and its need of the normal environment for growth
and vigor, supplies the imperative demand for a natural and
active nature study. Truly ‘‘trailing clouds of glory do we
come”; and when we discover the right way, there shall be
_ no ‘shades of the prison-house ” to ‘‘ close upon the grow-
ing boy!” In rare cases now we find the charm of childlike-
ness, the open interest and rapid growth, extending on
through boyhood and to the end of old age. When we learn
how to educate normally, this may become the rule rather
than the exception.

The teacher read on in her book, while I had
been silently soliloquizing. The schedule was one
on mice in the last of two weeks’ assignment on
rodents.

I fear that my mind wandered from the reading
for I know the children and their interests. Sam
let me have a pair of waltzing mice, and had been
giving me lessons in feeding them. I asked him

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 85

after school if the teacher had ever been down to
see his pets, and he said he had once invited her,
and she seemed somewhat interested, but she
must walk that afternoon with another teacher in
the woods by Reginald park to get some leaves
for the next day’s lesson. He guessed she forgot
it afterwards.

Then I forgot that Sam was walking with me,
and my mind wandered again. I was thinking
about some of the others in the school that had
special interests, and I wondered and I wondered
till there floated through my mind another thing
that I had read in Professor Hodge’s “Nature
Study and Life:”

In adult science we have been studying dead things so
long, dissecting and analyzing type-forms, that we have well-
nigh gone blind to the living, active side of nature; but
this has furnished the primitive and fundamental, and must
furnish the larger future, interest of mankind in nature. So
completely does this side monopolize our college and even
university courses in biology that our teachers know noth-
ing else to teach.

However much value this may have for the adult thought,
when we attempt to teach little children we must moult it all,
heed every suggestion of the Great Teacher, and become as
little children ourselves.

There you have the solution. Just so long as
you let dilute or elementary science (good as it

86 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

may be in its place) crowd out all nature study,
just so long will you need schedules. Every time
you ask for a schedule, every time you make all
the pupils do the same work on the same object,
you are teaching science. Not that I love science
less, but, for the young folks, that I love nature
study more. I appeal to you to take the things
that come to hand and as they come to hand, and
let your young people develop along the line of
individual preferences. For nature study is not to
be taught. Never make a mill of your school with
an everlasting grind, grind, grind, and everything
going into one hopper. You are developing hu-
man beings, human beings (not naturalists nor
teachers) trained uniformly in some things, but
with enough nature study and some other things
to preserve and develop individuality.

And yet a mere objection to schedules does not
seem to get wholly at the heart of the matter.
There surely is no harm in intelligently planning a
line of thought, or of suggesting to the young folks
what they will find of interest for the week or
month.

Perhaps we get at the real difficulty from another
point of view, if we summarize by saying that it
is all right for the teacher to make the schedules ;

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 87

all wrong for the schedules to make the teacher,
Keeping a diary may be a pleasant and profitable
outpouring and developing of one’s best self; the
diary may be a drudge-making master. So it is
with schedules. It is all in the way the teacher
uses them. This does not mean a compromise
with a thing of evil; it means the right use of a
thing that in itself is essentially good. But it is
a thing so commonly misused that it most often
seems best to omit it entirely. “If thy right eye
offend thee, pluck it out.”

Perhaps my strong dislike for schedules in na-
ture study, amounting almost to repugnance, is due
not so much to anything intrinsically wrong in
having schedules as in misusing them. Your nature~.
study must develop the spontaneity, individuality,
and interest of the child. ¢ must wake him upand
lead him out asno other study can. So farasa
method or definite line of thought on your part
will aid in doing this, so far it is good. When
your method tends toward machine instructing,
then it is wholly bad. I have seen much of this
bad kind, hence, not because I love schedules of
the right kind less, but because I love the child

’

more, I have said “out with them.” They are

dangerous unless used with extreme skill.

‘Whoever has not in youth collected plants and in-
sects, knows not half the halo of interest which lanes and
hedgerows can assume. Whoever has not sought for fos-
sils has little idea of the poetic associations that surround
the place where imbedded treasures are found. Whoever
at the seaside has not had a microscope and aquarium, has
yet to learn what the highest pleasures of the seaside
are.”—HERBERT SPENCER.

“* Culture consists less in wide knowledge than in wider
sympathy ; not so much in stores of facts as in ability to
transmute facts into knowledge ; not only in well-grounded
conviction, but in toleration; not alone in absorption of
wisdom, but as well in its radiation ; in patriotism that is
without provincialism ; in the development of character.
But since individual minds differ much in their composi-
tion, no one kind of treatment can be best for all, and the
ideal system will be that which is elastic enough to allow
each to receive what is best for it. True culture, then,
cannot be obtained by forcing all minds intu any one mould
however carefully that may be made, but it is rather at-
tained by allowing each mind to expand for itself under a
proper combination of nourishment from within and
stimulus from without.”—WILLIAM F, Ganone, Ph. D., in

“The Teaching Botanist.”
88

CHAPTER VII

WHAT I DO CARE FOR

“Qh, I don’t care for that!”

“And neither doI!” I did not say so to him,
but I say it to you.

I thought (and I still think), that the principal
of that normal school spoke somewhat sneeringly.
I had made a distinction between the study of
nature as the informal, intimate, sympathetic, un-
systematic view of living things, and the pursuit
of science as the formal, intellectual, professional,
systematic, and synthetic treatment of animate
objects. But I made no reply tothe covert sneer.
The conversation dropped with his remark. He
seemed inclined to think that I was quibbling
over a matter of names, and I felt that if I at-
tempted an explanation it would be like showing
the east where the west is.

The trouble was right here. So far as he had
any views of nature he was scientific. He wasa
systematist. Everything that came to his mill
always dropped in at the same place, and was

89

90 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

ground out in the same style. A peck took the
same course as a carload.

If you say that nature study is merely the
study of nature (and that is natural science
whether for the university or the kindergarten),
and that all this talk about a distinction in the
terms nature study and elementary science is bosh
and you do not care for that, then I say too:
“ And neither do I.”

You may call your systematizing and your
generalizing all the way from your Ph.D. down
to the little fellow whom you are helping to put
on his rubber shoes, you may call it nature study
or what you please. You may demonstrate to
the one that the centralizing tendency in the
nebule is the same that draws the apple to the
ground. You may draw as many diagrams and
make as many 2, y, 2’s, as you please. You may
classify and arrange and evolutionize to your
heart’s content. You may even dilute the same
method and apply it to the little fellow if you
want to, and as you pull on the second overshoe,
you may tell him that he has two feet and the
Tom-turkey gobbling outside the window has the
same number, and the chicadee the same, and
then you can inform him, if you are determined

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I

to do it, that they are all in the one class of
bipeds. You may generalize still further, since
the pussy cat is purring to say good-bye, as the
boy’s father drives up with a prancing horse, that
cat and horse are both quadrupeds, and that the
elephant is likewise a quadruped. The next day
you may put down the whole list on the black-
board, and talk till you are exhausted, and the
children, too. And your only reward will be
exhaustion !

“But I don’t care for that,” with these little
folk. I want you to let the little fellow get ac-
quainted with that particular Tom-turkey, not
some other one, and that chicadee, that cat, that
horse, without reference to any other biped or
quadruped in the world.

I would give more for the boy’s ability to see
that one cat, and for his power to develop his
originality in his own way, and for his skill in
saying what he wants to say about the cat, than
to have him tell you of all the kangaroos and
lemurs and platypusses that ever ornamented the
finest chromo-chart that ever an enterprising
agent sold to your school board.

But for that child, have something in nature-
viewing that will let him find himself (not be

92 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

—

machine made, with others like pins on a paper),
that will bring out his love for living things, in-
crease his ability to admire, to see and to enjoy,
and to tell you in his own way, about the objects,
that interest him, not such things as you provide
uniformly according to some schedule. For this-
I plead and for this I do most emphatically care.
You may callit nature study, elementary science,
nature love, observation lessons, as you please.
But I plead with you not to monopolize all the
names into your dilute science, and leave out
what I call nature study. No,I do not call it
quite that. If I were asked to suggest a more
expressive title for what I commonly express by
the term nature study, and for what I most desire,
I should call it nature sympathy and appreciation.

CHAPTER VIII

LOVE OF NATURE AND THE LOVE OF MOTHER

Nature study is not one of the utilitarian stud-
ies. It must not be expected to do something
it should not do. It may coalesce with other de-
partments of an education, and should do so, but
it is not a stepping stone to them; it stands alone.
Language-study, drawing, and even mathematics,
may be benefited by companionship with it, but
they should never be allowed to use nature study
as a tool for their own purposes.

In its effect on character building, nature study
is closely akin to patriotism, as I have already said
in a previous chapter, and to the life of the indi-
vidual.

The sentiments are so closely allied that they
may be said to be companions; and what ex-
President Harrison writes in the introduction to
“This Country of Ours,” may well be remem-
bered for the excellence of his proposed methods
toward character building.

After citing examples of love, indifference and
93

94 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

disregard as characteristic of various nations, he
says:

“If we would strengthen our country, we must
cultivate a love of it in our own hearts and in the
hearts of our children and neighbors; and this
love for civil institutions, for a land, for a flag, if
they are worthy and great and have a glorious
history, is widened and deepened by a fuller
knowledge of them.

“A certain love of one’s native land is instinc-
tive, and the value of this instinct should be al-
lowed, but it is short of patriotism. When the
call is to battle with an invader, this instinct has
a high value. It istrue that the large majority of
those who have died to found and to maintain
our civil institutions were not highly instructed in
constitutional law; but they were not ignorant of
the doctrines of human rights, and had a deep,
though perhaps very general, sense of the value
of our civil institutions. Ifa boy were asked to
give his reasons for loving his mother, he would be
likely to say, with the sweetest disregard of logic
and catalogues,

“«Well, I just love her.” And we must not be
hard on the young citizen who just loves his
country, however uninstructed he may be.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 95

Nevertheless, patriotism should be cultivated,
should in every home be communicated to the
children, not casually, but by plan and forethought.
For too long our children got it as they did the
measles, caught it.

“ Now, in the schools, American history and
American institutions as serious and important
studies are beginning to have more, but not yet
adequate, attention.

“The impulse of patriotism needs to be in-
structed, guided, brought to the wheel if it is to
do the everyday work of American politics.”

“Sentiment, yes, never too much; but with it,
and out of it, a faithful discharge of prosy routine
of acitizen’s duty. A readiness to go to the fields?
Yes, and equally to the primaries and to the polls.”

That is patriotism inthe elementary schools
from the natural standpoint, that is building the
citizen from the heart. That is beginning at the
right end. What a foundation on which to rear
the various superstructures required in the up-
building of a community!

Loves his mother, “Well I just love her.” I
like that standpoint of loving his country, and the
same spirit in loving this wonderful and beautiful
world.

96 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Oh, no, some scientific appreciator of a mother
may say, that is crude; it flavors of the Middle
Ages, of the amateur, of those who love their
mother from the heart. This is an age of scien-
tific spirit, an age of the intellect rather than of
the affections.

Do nothing so simple as that; learn really to
know your mother, and then you can love her with
solid, intellectual appreciation.

First collect some pictures and drawings of all
the mothers you can find; arrange them side by
side and compare your mother with them. That
will add to your knowledge of the comparative
merits of mother’s personal appearance.

Devote a half-hour at a certain time every day
to the study of mothers. Draw pictures of them;
make a detailed list of color of hair, number of
eyes, nostrils, ears; length of chin, height, weight,
number of fingers on each hand; state the age, past
history and a hundred or more other facts. Ar-
range these details under a few heads, draw a
bracket before each, and collocate these in line
under one big brace, with the word Mother
written in capital letters.

Make a drawing of your own mother standing
erect, and also bending down to kiss youas you

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 097

start for school in the morning. Sketch in detail
her eyes, fingers and nose.

Write a list of nouns, adjectives, verbs and ad-
verbs that will apply to your own mother, and
from these compose ten sentences each day from
10:15 to 10:45 A.M.,in connection with the
drawing work, and if the task is completed before
the time has expired, we will fold our arms and
sing about our mothers. Bear in mind that you
must never really go to see your mother for
the enjoyment of seeing her, nor only for the
enjoyment of her loving presence, but you must
learn to love her, and to let her influence permeate
every fiber of your life, by noting down with pad
and pencil, all possible details of her physical
structure.

But we all know that this is not the method of
securing the highest degree of love for nature ; in
fact such a method would tend to obtain a heart-
felt love for one’s own mother. _

Too much detail, too much method, too much
correlating kills it.

7

‘‘Nature Study is the means of training persons to come
into thoughtful contact with Nature. It thus becomes an
art and not a science, excepting in its relations to the
Science of Pedagogy. It is the art of training in the
methods of studying those things which are the founda-
tions of the natural sciences. It differs from science in
many respects. It also differs from Object Lessons based
upon natural material. The success of Nature Study de-
pends upon the teacher and not upon the subject.”

—Pror. H. A. SURFACE.

‘For many years it has been one of my most constant
regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of
natural history, so far at least as to have taught me the
grasses that grow by the wayside, and the little winged
and wingless neighbors that are continually meeting me
with salutations which I cannot answer, as things are.
Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, too,
and make me at home in the starry heavens which are al-
ways overhead, and which I do not half know to this day.”
—THoMAS CARLYLE.

“ All things are beautiful,

Because of something lovelier than themselves,

Which breathes within them, and will never die.”
—Lucy Larcom.

98

CHAPTER 1X

SCIENCE IS NOT ALL

We all want science in our colleges, science
in our high schools, and we want it systemati-
cally taught. Our educational periodicals should
head their departments of science, as science. We
teach science, then why not, in the name of com-
mon sense, call it science.

But that is not all. We want, previous to it
and with it, hand in hand as closest companions,
another important factor, a daily communion with
the natural things of this world.

Before and during our study of science we need
an acquaintance with nature like that of a child
with his mother.

“ To teach young people or old people how to
observe nature, is a good deal like trying to teach
them how to eat their dinner. The first thing
necessary in the latter case is a good appetite;
this given, the rest follows very easily. And in
observing nature, unless you have the appetite,

the love, the spontaneous desire, you will get little
99

100 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

satisfaction. It is the heart that sees more than
the mind. To love nature is the first step in ob-
serving her. Ifa boy had to learn fishing as a
task, what slow progress he would make ; but as
his heart is in it, how soon he becomes an
adept.

“ The eye sees quickly and easily those things
in which we are interested. A man interested in
horses sees every fine horse in the country he passes
through; the dairyman the cows ; the bee culturist
the bees; the sheep grower the flocks, etc. And
it is even said that the ladies require no effort to
note the new bonnets and cloaks on the street.
If one is a lover of birds or flowers, he easily sees
birds or flowers everywhere. The fact is we all
see and observe easily in the line of our business,
our tasks, our desires.”

I would not teach a beautiful, rhythmical
recitation about the sturdy oak, its leaves and
acorns, and then find, as I did in one city school-
room, that not a child there had ever seen an oak
leaf nor an acorn.

See the bird capturing insects for food; see
the insects feeding on the plant which draws its
nourishment from the ground under the influence
of the beneficent sunshine. That is nature study,

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT IOI

and it covers ground that the individual sciences
do not even touch.

Teach nature study by the natural, boy-and-girl
method. That isthe way John Burroughs, William
Hamilton Gibson, and others got more than
seventy-five per cent. of their knowledge of na-
ture, and from that rough-and-ready natural
method of acquiring it, they gained a full store-
house, from which each drew according to his
own testimony, for all the rest of his life.

We should teach this nature study in this hap-
hazard, natural unsystematic manner, just as
things come to hand, or as we are able to plan for
their coming to hand. With it and beyond it we
should teach and study science, strict, accurate,
scientific science.

I would give to every boy or girl as nearly as
possible the same that the wide-awake child in
the country has, or what Whittier calls the
“ Knowledge never learned of schools.” And on
that solid foundation I would build the noble,
valuable superstructure called science.

I would have the boys and girls rush over to the
apple tree, pick up handfuls of apples, putting
some in pocket and munching the rest. That isna-
ture study inthe natural manner. I would have

102 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

those same boys and girls sit at the table and make
cross sections and vertical slices of some of those
apples, noting the structure, the relation of seeds,
cases, pulp and epidermis. That is science, and a
science not injured by previous “nature study.”

I would have the young folks climb on the ledge,
stand near the boulder, and have a general good-
time in fun and frolic. That is nature study. I
would tell them a little of the history of this ledge,
its relations to the surrounding country, its geo-
logical structure and perhaps its chemical compo-
sition. That is science.

Enjoy the beautiful moonlight ; note the bright
stars and planets, and construct the fanciful
pictures of the constellation. That is nature
study. Tell of the surface of that moon, the dis-
tance of the stars, the various physical characters
of the planets. That is science.

CHAPTER X

“WHAT DID YOU GET?”

“We are indebted,” says a writer in “ Science
Gossip,” “to the humorous pencil of Leach for a
sketch of a languid gentleman, who, pining fora
new sensation, is trying the effect of riding up and
down the Strand, seated on the roof of an omnibus
and picking out periwinkles with a pin. Should
you ever feel as though you had exhausted all
the resources of the civilized portions of the globe,
do not seek for distraction in boiled cockles or in
pickled whelks, but go away to the top of a hill,
with woods and streams, and smiling fields dotted
with farmsteads and villages spread before your
feet, and there rest in solitude and wait on Nature,
and listen and watch for all that her offspring will
do above, below and around you, while the teeming
planet turns once around its axis. Then seeka
similar communion with the sea; study it from
even-fall to broad daylight from the top of some
lone, unfrequented cliff; or better still, commit

yourself to the heaving bosom of the great waters,
103

104 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

and unless your soul be blind and deaf, you shall
learn things never before dreamed of in your
philosophy.”

“What did you get?” Castellar tells you:

““Oh, Nature; immovable inthe midst of move-
ment, unique amid variety, surrounded with ether
which penetrates every pore, forming the spirit
and its atmosphere, with the continual succession
of organic beings which change and are trans-
formed. Oh Nature! durable and unchangeable ;
subject to death and to eternity; to the limited
and the infinite; diffused over the immensity of
space and compressed into organic beings from
the stars which irradiate the heavens to the flowers
which perfume the air with their aroma; from the
unspeakable gases that evaporate, to the great
mountain chains with their glaciers, where the
snow whitens the volcanoes struggling with inter-
nal fires ; from the almost imperceptible nebule,
the great worlds which travel through space;
from the grain of sand drifted by the wave, to the
furthest stars of the Milky Way, whose light
reaches us in twenty thousand centuries.”

“What did you get?” Hear John Tyndall's
answer :

“ The lilies of the field have a value for us be-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 105

yond their botanical one, a certain lightening of
the heart accompanies the declaration that ‘ Solo-
mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these.’ The sound of the village bell which
comes mellowed from the valley to the traveler
upon the hill has a value beyond its acoustic one.
The setting sun where it mantles with the bloom
of roses the Alpine snows, has a value beyond its
optical one. The starry heavens, as you know,
had for Immanuel Kant a value beyond their astro-
nomical one.”

What did you get? What did you learn that
you did not know before? Get? We got a
foundation to all the Sciences. In meteorology
we got the sunshine, the beautiful blue sky, the
invigorating air, and the refreshing breezes. In
geology we gota delightful tramp over the hills,
through the moist and shady gorges, across the
blooming fields. In entomology, ornithology, and
botany we obtained not only enjoyment but in-
spiration.

Within my own personal experience, a science
teacher expressed surprise that, in my field work
with the pupils, so few names were mentioned,
so few pencils and so few pads of paper used.
Enjoyment? So you want to have a good time?

106 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Certainly. For a good time the pure pleasure of
a delightful tramp.

“Walking should be cultivated as an accom-
plishment. Excursive legs help to make an ex
cursive intellect, and among the aids to reflection,
not enumerated by Coleridge, are long strolls.
Children, especially, should be trained to walk
long distances, and to despise short ones. Walk-
ing is a cheaper and more healthful exercise than
riding, and it has the added advantage of train-
ing to endurance.”

On the same subject, hear what Rousseau has
to say:

“Je ne congois qu’une maniére de voyager
plus agreéable que d’aller 4 cheval; c’est d’aller a
pied. On part 4 son moment, on s’arréte a sa
volonté, on fait tant et si peu d’exercice qu’on
ne veut. Quand on ne veut qu’arriver, on peut
courir en chaise de poste; mais quand on veut

voyager, il faut aller a pied.”

CHAPTER XI
COMMONPLACE NATURE

In stating facts never search for the most start-
ling. Nature in her simplicity isamply wonderful
and instructive. I know a girl that came home
from school, and said that the teacher had been
giving talks on astronomy. Upon being ques-
tioned she told how long it would take a man to
walk to the sun; how long for an express train
to get there; the size of acylinder of ice that could
be driven into it ata certain rate and be converted
into steam as fast as it touched the hot surface.

Upon being questioned further she replied,
“That is all I can tell. I remember only the

things I didn’t believe!”
107

In its broadest sense, Nature Study isa keen, appreciative
interest in the common things about us. It means ac-
curate seeing and clear thinking. Nature Study is the
most vital idea to-day in education. It is the getting of
God’s truth at first hand. Itis studying things instead of
studying about things. Do not callit Elementary Science.
The true spirit of Nature Study is opposed to cold, formal
study of lifeless things. It is the informal study, for short
periods, of things that interest. It opens a new world of
delight. Under it, the commonplace becomes transfigured.
It shows us how we may get the very best out of life no
matter where we are, how to realize the possibilities of
happiness that exist even in the most unpleasant en-
vironment.—JULIA ELLEN Rogers in ‘‘ Among Green
Trees.”

The Wonderland of childhood must henceforth be sought
within the domains of truth. The strange facts of natural ©
history, and the sweet mysteries of flowers and forests,
and hills and waters, will profitably take the place of the
fairy lore of the past.—JOHN G. WHITTIER.

‘‘ For hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He too, is no mean preacher.
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your teacher.”
—WORDSWORTH.
108

CHAPTER XII
VICE VERSA

Once upon a time there was a man who read
in his newspaper :

““ WONDERS IN OTHER WORLDS.
GREAT DISCOVERIES BY ASTRONOMERS
CAN BE SEEN BY AID OF A SMALL TELESCOPE,”
ETC., ETC.

And this man said to himself I will forthwith
get me a small telescope that I too may see some
of these strange visions before I die. In his
eager waiting, the machine arrived. Then the
big man, taking his little boy, the box with the
long tube and the three legs, hastily proceeded to
the back yard.

“ Which way does the thing go?” quoth the
little boy.

“T don’t know; I find no instructions on that
point,” said the big man, fumbling amidst the
packing. “But,” he meditated, “I think that

little glass is for the little star, and this big glass is
109

110 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

for my two eyes, so far apart.” Then he looked
at the little star and at the big moon, and slowly
said, “ They are so very, very, very small.”

But the little boy roguishly pulled down the
small end and peered through it. “Am I too so
very, very small? Why, you are very, very big.”

Hlaec fabula docet,’tis easy to get things t’other
end to.

There once was a man (perhaps there has been
more than one), who, looking through the big end
of the university, said, “I will now view the child
in Nature.” So he wrote in a book:

“Science teaching for a few years past has been
gradually working itself downward from the col-
leges and high schools into those of lower grades.”
And realizing that the thing did not work, he
proceeds apologetically to state that “In most
cases, the plans followed, while fairly well adapted
to the demands of advanced pupils, have been
poorly fitted to the needs of beginners.” So this
book (Professor Jackman’s “Nature Study ’’)
starts out with “the aim to furnish a guide for
teachers in the common schools who wish their
pupils to pursue an adequate and symmetrical
course in Nature Science.”

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT III

In other words, he pulled out the object glass
from “the college and high school” end that
seemed to be “poorly fitted,” and substituted
another in the form of a series of chapters on
technical science, diluted and labeled, botany,
zoology, chemistry, and mineralogy.

I am not asserting that this is not a helpful
book. Itis. It has many excellencies, but it is
wrong end to, and in this misfortune it is not
alone.

But recently a few educators have pulled the
telescope sharply around. Probably the most
marked and efficient movement has been made
by Professor Bailey. Here is his acute wice
versa

“Nature study is a revolt from the teaching of
mere science in the elementary grades. . . .
Nature study is not science. It is not fact. It
is spirit. It is concerned with the child’s outlook
onthe world. . . . On the main thesis, that
Nature-study teaching is one thing and that
science teaching for science’s sake is another, I
have no hesitation.”

Strange that it took so long to realize this fact
in nature-study work, and to get the thing vzce
versa. For, after all, it is merely applying to

112 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

this branch of education the fundamental princi-
ples of general pedagogy. What is claimed for
nature study is no exception from what is claimed
for other studies. Professor Preston W. Search,
in “An Ideal School,” puts the same thing in
this way:

“There may be virtue of a kind in the class
room where the teacher carefully plans all the
steps of procedure, and insists on the performance
of work according to her ideals; but, in educa-
_ tive worth, it cannot compare with that where
the pupil feels the glow which comes from per-
sonal discovery and accomplishment. It is a
little thing to be an imitator; a great thing to
be acreator. The father who insists on his son
holding the board while he drives the nail may
drive the nail well, but he who holds the board
while the son drives the nail does better. The
nail may not be so well driven, but he educates
his son. Even so in the schoolroom the child
must be permitted to do his own work. Dead
time must give place to active endeavor. The
child must be a discoverer, an originator, a crea-
tor. He must be permitted to drive the nail.”

This is the same kind of vice versa, or trying to
hoist the father over to one side of the board, and

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I13

to push the son to the other, where he may use
the nail. At first thought it seems as if more can
be seen by looking into the big glass, but a trial
of both ends of the telescope, or better still an
understanding of the optical principles involved in
its construction, informs which end is the right
end. Perhaps, at first thought, and not under-
standing the child, it may seem that the right way
to teach is to begin with a teacher who can tell
a great deal. But the more experience you have
with the child, the more firmly will you be con-
vinced that this first impression is not the right
impression. Begin and continue with him as an
original discoverer, so far as you are able, and as
far as he will admit of such treatment.

It may, indeed, be quicker for the father to drive
all the nails, yet the purpose in pedagogy is not
to do the work, but to teach the pupil how to do
it. Telling the boy how to swim, or letting him |
stand on the bank while you swim, will never
teach him the art. Let him get into the water
and splash and sink. He will gain strength and
skill and pleasure every time he goes under and _
comes spluttering up. .

Even if you have made, and enjoyed some
ene discovery in natural history, do not tell

114 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

the boy about it. Doa little of the vice versa.
Skillfully put him in the way to repeat your ob-
servation, if possible. At the very least, let him
tell you about some of his own personal observa-
tions. You hold the board. He may pound his
fingers occasionally. It will toughen them.
You rest on the bani while he splashes and sinks.
He will soon come up for breath. Never fear for
the lad. You have only to keep an eye to him
and a hand outstretched, as you keep an eye at
the right end of the reversed telescope, and a
hand on the focusing adjustment.

CHAPTER XIII
PLANT LIFE

I desire to emphasize both of these words.
The teacher should assist the pupil to study and
to love plants, not parts of plants, but the plant,
root and all. The flower may be the most attrac-
tive, but it should not monopolize attention.
Rather let it, however beautiful, be an attraction
toward the entire personality of the plant.

A sweet and beautiful face wins us, not to the
face alone, but to the person, and to the individu-
ality. We love many persons whose countenances
are neither beautiful nor sweet, but whose char-
acteristics, whose personal qualities are so sweet
and so beautiful, that they seize our affection,
because they are so exactly and so mysteriously
adapted to fill a vacant place in our own soul.
We crave exactly these, and none but these will
supply our need. We find such winning char-
acteristics in habits, in kindness of heart, in gen-
eral culture, and especially in the manifestation
of good will toward us. Some persons are so

115

116 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

blessed that they combine all these qualities. So
should it be with our love and interest for plants.
We are attracted by the bloom of one, by the
unique or interesting life history of another, by
the method of growth or by the adaptation to its
environment of another. We admire still another
because it is useful. A well-balanced man is
poetical as well as utilitarian. A well-balanced
teacher is especially both. But each of these
qualities, whether it be beauty of bloom, novelty
of growth, utilitarian service, or some other feature,
should draw us to the plant as a whole, not toa
single bit of its anatomy.

Tennyson was attracted by the flower, but his
interest was in the plant. He uses the word
flower as a synonym for the entire structure, and
there found something more interesting, instruc-
tive, and important than beauty only, however
valuable beauty may be, and its beauty is inde-
scribable and immeasurable.

“ Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower, but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.”’

That is the right spirit for nature study in

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT II7

teacher or pupil, a desire led from the flower at
first uppermost in mind, to a greater interest,
which is, or should be, to know the whole, “ root
and all.’ I fear that many of us make the mis-
take of saying in action, if not in words:

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you from the crannies,

Pull to pieces all your parts, in my hand,
Little flower, but if I could understand
Pistils, stamens, and pollen, all in all,

I should know what botany is.

I can see no better reason, at least in the teach-
ing of young children, for administering doses of
the biology of sex, and of histology diluted, than
for teaching the same things regarding animals.
The study of sex, and of basic life-functions,
should be postponed till we reach science in the
higher grades in the high-school or college. There
is enough to see and to study in those grades
where the nature study phases of the plant are
introduced; that is, in getting acquainted with
the plant as a whole, from seed to maturity,
How to know the wild flowers is good; how to
know plants is vastly better.

Let me now emphasize the second word in my
title. Our knowledge and our love of plants are

118 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

poorly manifested by chasing them over hill and
into forest, down the ravine, through the meadow
and across the swamp, in killing them, drying
them, pressing them, sticking them on paper,
poisoning them, and last, but not least, by hurl-
ing jaw-breaking polysyllabic Latinized names
atthem. Better let us know them as living things.
The child who cares for pets, loves them better than
the taxidermist who kills them, stuffs them, and
sells them for an advertisement in a saloon, or in
the window of a cheap restaurant. Cultivate in
the young folks, then, the nourishing, caring love
of living plants. Better one plant grown from
seed to maturity, and watched in all its stages,
than a hundred mummified in an herbarium.
Have you seen the sprouting (no, I don’t mean
peas and beans, too often with a few tadpoles and
a cocoon or two, the all-embracing synonym of
nature study), but have you really seen the first
stepsin the life of the daisies, wild carrot, “ butter-
and eggs,” tick trefoils, acorns, all easily gathered
on a “thousand hills,” and all easily germinated ?
Why is it that we commonly study seeds from
the garden in early spring, and then go to the
wild flowers of the field in May and June?
Would it not have been better to begin with the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT IIg

seeds of the wild plants, or to continue with the
growing plants of the garden ?

Beans and peas are germinated in many schools,
but in few are they grown to maturity, or brought
from home gardens, so that the flower and the
bud may be admired as buttercups and daisies are
adored. I protest that it is illogical to begin
in May with peas and beans, jump in June to
wild flowers, and land in the autumn on tick tre-
foils, stick-tights, and chestnut burrs. It is con-
fusing. Let us know one plant thoroughly, if
we have no time to do more. Let us know the
sprouting chestnut and the bean pod, let us know
the dandelion and the milkweed seeds, sprouting
as well as floating with a puff, puff in mid air.
Of course, they are pretty, and the children do
not need to be told that they are, nor to have the
floating seeds blown about the schoolroom. Too
often such an illustration of a well-known fact
makes the teacher ridiculous.

Feed the same growing plants on different
soils, and different plants on the same soil, and
note results. Let them grow in sunshine and in
shade, even indarkness. Let them grow from the
dark toward the light. Let us have also aquatic
plants, submerged and floating plants.

120 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Let us have common plants, and more glorify-
ing of the commonplace, more of the spirit of
Rennie, the naturalist :

“It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind
anxious for the acquisition of knowledge, that ‘he commonest
things by which we are surrounded are deserving of minute
and careful attention.”

If there is not room for all, set aside the gera-
nium, and substitute a squash vine; set aside
the calla, and substitute a beet ; a turnip is as in-
teresting and a good deal more important than a
fuschia. There is much wisdom wrapped up ina
cabbage head, provided it comes from the field.

Keep in mind that the object is to make the
child not a botanist, but a lover of natural beauty,
to develop his capacity to appreciate Nature’s
commonplace things. As Professor Bailey puts
it:

“The happiness of the ignorant man is largely the
thoughts born of physical pleasure ; that of the educated
man is the thoughts born of intellectual pleasures. One may
find comradeship in a groggery, the other may find it in a
dandelion ; and inasmuch as there are more dandelions than
groggeries in most communities, the educated man has the
greater chance of happiness.

“If one is to be happy, he must bein sympathy with com-
mon things. He must live in harmony with his environment.

One cannot be happy yonder nor to-morrow ; he is happy
here and now, or never. Ourstock of knowledge of common

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 12I

things should be great. Few of us can travel. We must
know the things at home.”

Study these common plants of the garden and
of the field, in the schoolroom as well as in their
natural habitat. Then do not look down so
often that you fail to note the glorious things
above and the grand plants in the forest. Note
the struggle for existence in the shrubs and
tangled undergrowth on the borders of the mead-
ows and in the swamps. In the forest you may
see the victors that have fought successfully with
their rivals of long ago, and now have the field
pretty completely to themselves. Thus viewed,
the plants become sentient things. We discover
life in them, and love them.

“The nature study that is true to child life
must first of all afford free scope to the passion
for activity and guide this toward wholesome
channels. It should at the same time infuse life
and spontaneity into school work, and so lighten

rather than increase the task of the teacher.”
PrRor. CLIFTON F. HODGE.

‘‘Nature Study should lead to a sympathetic acquaint-
ance with living plants and animals in their natural
environment.”—A.C. BOYDEN.

“‘This introductory relationship with Nature is a resource
of inexhaustible delight and enrichment; to establish it
ought to be as much a part of every education as the
teaching of the rudiments of formal knowledge; and it
ought to be as great a reproach to a man not to be able to
read the open pages of the world about him as not to be
able to read the open page of the book before him. Itisa
matter of instinct with a few; it may be a matter of edu-
cation with all. Even those who are born with the eyes
and ears of naturalists must reinforce their native aptitude
by training.”—HAMILTON WRIGHT MaBIE,

“Ts there anything more delightful than the fatigue of
a summer afternoon’s long ramble after objects one loves?
You are not tired of them, but with them. Itisa delicious
fatigue. Subsequent years of trouble cannot obliterate the
charmed impressions. They are the sunniest spots in one’s
memory. Their recollections come, like angels’ visits, to
unconsciously relieve us in after-years of many a sad
trouble and trial. They should be laid up in store when
you are young, so that they can be drawn upon when you
are old. Then the sunshine of youth is stored to gild the
troubled days of matured manhood and the darker shadows
of old age.”—Dr. J. E. Tayzor, in “ The Playtime Natu-
ralist.” ae

122

CHAPTER XIV
SCHOOL GARDENS

Plants need food, not necessarily earth, because
earth is merely the matrix that contains the food
in a more or less extended form. The rootlets of
the plant will explore every tiny space about and
among the particles of soil for a bit of nutriment
in solution.

I never see a rootlet or a root-hair without
thinking of the proboscides of honey bees. The
bee explores many a flower for a drop of nectar.
She gathers from all sources, till by her efforts,
combined with those of thousands of others, suffi-
cient food is provided for the entire colony. As
each bee explores the flowers of a certain territory,
gathering the greater portion of the nectar within
that region, so each root-hair searches over, around,
under, its small domain of perhaps a dozen micro-
scopic granules, or within its little mass of partly
decayed vegetable mould, each working in co-
operation with legions of others, so that the en-

tire plant is provided with sustenance, as the bees
123

124 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

working in company collect for the whole swarm.
This is the natural method of gathering honey.
To understand it fully, the work of a swarm should
be actually seen. But to enable us to make a
careful study of their actions, it is not really nec-
essary for the bees to collect the nectar in the
manner ordained by nature. They may be arti-
ficially fed.

So in studying plants, it is wellto know at least
a few as they grow in the soil, whether in the
field, the garden, or a box of earth. But, fortu-
nately, it is not necessary that all our investiga-
tions should be madein thismanner. The method
can be adapted to the materials at hand in the
country; indeed, the young people’s study of
plants should be mostly of those in their natural
environments, with a few artificially fed, so as to
bring the entire organism under immediate and
close inspection.

The conditions are reversed for the city child.
He has few opportunities for access to plants in
their native places, limited as he is to the trees
and shrubs in the public park, or to those seen on
an occasional visit inthe country. Here enters
the special advantage of artificial culture.

As has been said, the plant does not want the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 125

earth, since it absorbs the inorganic matters which
it needs for its food, as they percolate in solution
through the soil. The student of inorganic chem-
istry knows what these are, and that they may be
supplied to the plant under investigation, without
the intervention of the soil. All that is needed is
some material, be it sawdust, pebbles, shot, beads,
or any other substance through which the roots
may pass, to seek the food artificially applied to
this artificial soil, As honey may be purchased
in the market, and supplied to the bees by spread-
ing it on almost any convenient material, so that
they may have easy access to it, so this chemically
isolated nutriment may be manufactured in a form
convenient for solution in the water which is poured
over the substance that upholds the plant and
gives the rootlets easy access to their food supply.

Several botanical chemists have provided such
food. Perhaps the best is that made according to
the following formula by Professor Sachs, and
pressed into tablets for the sake of convenience.
Each of these tablets is composed of the follow-

ing:
Metric weight (nearly)
Common table salt (Sodium chloride, NaCl),
2 grains, .162 grams.
Plaster of Paris—Gypsum (Calcium sulphate, CaSO 4),
2 grains, -162 grams.

126 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Epsom salts (Magnesium sulphate, MgSO 4),
2grains. .162 grams.
Phosphate of lime, nearly the same as burned bones.
(Calcium phosphate, Caz (PO4)2,

2 grains. .162 grams.
East India saltpetre—Nitre (Potassium nitrate, KNO3),
5 grains. .325 grams.

Compound of iron and chlorine (Ferric chloride, FeC13),
nearly I-10 grain.

To make the food solution, two tablets are required for
each pint (500 ccm nearly) of water. Crush them, and be
sure that they are entirely dissolved, and always shake the
solution before using it. Keep the plants thoroughly moist-
ened with this, and it willsupply them with both food and
drink,

This is well known in all botanical laboratories.
It makes an ideal food for our common plants,
and the device solves the problem of school gar-
dens in which little soil can be used. Let the
seeds germinate in warm, moist air supplied in any
convenient manner, the most convenient perhaps
being wet cotton batting. Let the plant grow on
mosquito netting stretched across the top of a
tumbler, or other receptacle full of the solution,
or in sawdust, pebbles, or in almost any convenient
material kept wet with it. A luxurious crop may
be grown in brick-dust, or in an old tomato can,
or in a bowl filled with sand or with pulverized
stone from a macadamized road. All you need
is a receptacle for the material through which the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 127

roots may penetrate in darkness. You supply the
food and nature does the rest. Ifthe growth is
on a net stretched across a transparent vessel con-
taining only the liquid, with no opaque objects
among which the roots may naturally shun the
light, heavy paper or black cloth should be wrapped
around the glass, the wrapper to be removed when-
ever it is desired to examine the plant.

Children like novelty. By this artificial feeding
there is no limit to the novelty. A cup-like de-
pression may be chipped in the side of a brick,
and the fragments put back into the hole. Place
the brick on a plate, supply the food, and ger-
minate the seed on the chippings. The bits of
brick hold the plant and you feed it.

A cloth may be stretched between two supports,
and the nutrient solution applied by allowing it
to drip through a hole in the bottom of a sus-
pended can. The plants may be grown on this
cloth like epiphytes. It is not absolutely neces-
sary that the roots be kept in darkness, but
growth is hastened and improved, by placing a box
with openings so arranged that the plant may be
in the light and the roots in the dark.

The roots are almost seen to grow. The ap-
pearance of new root hairs is looked for eagerly.

128 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

The writer has experimented with these food-
tablets in a great variety of methods and always
with success. They are used in the university
and in the kindergarten. The technical botanist
appreciates their convenience, and the youngest
child, mixing a little sawdust in a teacup and
growing a few plants in it, finds entertainment
and instruction.

Plants may also be easily grown without even
ashelf oratable. All that is needed is a wide-
mouthed bottle, filled with pebbles. Climbing
plants may thus be easily trained around the
window, from jars hanging at the side of the
frame.

When large plants are growing in small vessels,
I am often asked, ‘‘ Where are the roots?” The
only explanation that I can offer is, that under
this artificial feeding the plants seem to require
the roots to be few and short. I have grown at
least a dozen plants to a height of more than two
feet from sawdust held in two-thirds of an egg
shell.

CHAPTER XV
THE MICROSCOPE IN NATURE STUDY

No one who possesses a pocket-microscope of even the
most limited powers can fail to find amusement and instruc-
tion even though he were in the midst of the Sahara itself,
There is this great advantage in the microscope, that no one
need feel in want of objects as long as he possesses his instru-
ment and a sufficiency of light.—Rzv. J. G. Woop.

If normal eyesight is so valuable that even a
slight defect promptly brings forth efforts to
remedy it, then why do we not hail with joy the
aid of even a small microscope, that will add so
greatly to our capacity of seeing? Thetnicroscope
is not an occult instrument of a special science,
necessitating a knowledge of that science in order
to appreciate the instrument. It is true that the
microscope is used extensively in scientific work,
and this fact is so generally accepted that the
statement, at least in popular thought, seems to
prove too much, since the instrument is believed to
be inseparable from the science. But the micro-
scope is in itself nothing but an instrument with

which to see. This is as true of optical aids for
9 129

130 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

viewing distant objects. The Yerkes telescope,
or an opera-glass used to view the skies, is nothing
more nor less than seeing; it is another set of
eyes, if you please, with which to peer into the
infinitely great and distant world; and to use the
microscope is to see into an equally wonderful, but
infinitely minute creation. As the reader now
knows, nature study, in its school sense, is informal
observation of nature. When we synthesize, class-
ify, and note details carefully, our observations
are scientific. Of the same objects we may thus
have with the unaided sight, either nature-study
or science. The seeing is not made science by
optical aid, but by our purpose and the standpoint
from which we view the objects. You do not
think it necessary to be an astronomer in order to
look up and enjoy the beauty of the glittering
stars. No one regards John Burroughs as an as-
tronomer deeply versed in that science, and yet
no one has expressed better than he this nature-
study phase of celestial seeing:

“< How often do we really see the stars? Probably a great
many people never see them at all, that is never look upon
them with any thrill of emotion. If I see them a few times
a year, I think myselfin luck. IfI deliberately go out to
see them, I am quite sure to miss them ; but occasionally, as
one glances up to them in his lonely night walk, the mind

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 131

opens or the heavens open—which is it ?—and he has a mo-
mentary glimpse of their ineffable splendor and significance.
How overwhelming, how awe-inspiring! His thought goes
like a lightning flash into that serene abyss, and then the
veil is drawn again.”’

That is nature-study star-gazing, the pleasures
of seeing, simply seeing without science, so far as
unaided sight will extend, but because the eye has
the aid of a 4o-inch refractor, or of only an opera-
glass, it does not for a moment follow that there
may not be the same enjoyable emotions. The
lens does not make science, but its method of use
does. Nowadays, no plea is needed for the use
of the microscope in scientific seeing. In the bio-
logical sciences it is indispensable and universal,
so universal that I fear its use is erroneously re-
garded as necessarily scientific. But the micro-
scope is merely an instrument for aiding the sight.
What a vast amount of knowledge comes to un-
aided eyes from scientific seeing. But even this
is only a small amount in comparison with the
pleasure that comes to unaided eyes from informal
seeing, the nature-study use of them. Would all
your informal nature-study seers for one moment
think of allowing all eyes to be used only for sys-
tematic, scientific seeing? I think not, most de-
cidedly not. The very proposition appeals to one,

132 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

not as an argument or enticement, but as an ab-
surdity. Equally absurd is your relinquishing to
the scientists all use of the microscope. Just about
as absurd as it would be to let the scientific or-
nithologist in the fields have the sole right to use
opera-glasses. You recognize their value to him
in their scientific use, but you are not willing that
he should monopolize them. You rightly continue
their use for pleasurable seeing. The scientist
derives both pleasure and scientific knowledge
from theiremployment. Even if you do not care
for the science, continue their use for the pleasure.
As soon abandon the gratification of unaided see-
ing, as to forego the pleasure of such magnificent
pictures as are obtained by the use of the micro-
scope.

You notice the attractive foliage and graceful
outlines of the tree, and your heart is warmed by
the sight ; it dilates in appreciation of the beauty,
and, if you rightly consider the subject, your ex-
perience increases your ability to observe better
at the next trial. As was previously stated, let
there be but some defect in the eyesight, and then
how we strive to remedy it. The clouds, the
trees, the green grass, the variegated flowers, the
birds, familiar forms and faces, are all sealed to

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 133

the blind, but you, who know not the delights of
a microscope, are suffering from exactly the same
misfortune, for you, too, are blind. You see that
tree and its foliage, but the microscopist sees the
structure of the mosses, lichens, and tiny algz
that ornament the trees. You exclaim over the
scarlet tanager that is flitting about in the top-
most branches. What a pleasure to you and
what a loss to the blind man! But the microsco-
pist says, “I have seen the wonderful structure,
and learned the interesting habits of the aphides

,

and leaf miners,” although his use of the micro-
scope may have been as unskillful as your use of
your unaided eyes. You have lost in relation to
him exactly the same in quality if not in quantity
as the blind man has lost in his relation to you.
Strange, is it not, that so many are microscopi-
cally blind? and the pitiable phase of it is, that
the victims are ignorant of their loss. In this
sense, the use of high-power lenses and of showy
instruments is not a guarantee against micro-
scopical blindness. Sometimes “the heavens
open” in the infinitely near world after years
of microscopical skill. But that is another
matter.

What I would especially impress upon teach-

134 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

ers, are the pleasures of observing, and especially
the importance of observing as much as possible.
If you have missed the charms of even a pocket
microscope, you have to that extent been pitiably
blind. It is not, as too often believed, the loss of
a certain science in which you maintain that you
are not interested, and which you do not care to
understand, but a loss of pleasurable seeing,
which you can only appreciate when you begin to
learn what you have been for so long losing.
“Having eyes yet seeing not:” telescopically
and microscopically blind to all but a small part
of the delights of “both great and small.” I ex-
tend to you, not alms in your blindness, but a
sincere appeal for a self-cure. Get at least a sim-
ple pocket-microscope, and apply it as persistently
as possible to seeing eyes that they may see more.
Having done that, see some more, and more.
We learn to see by intelligently seeing, not by
merely looking.

And what a beautiful world is this, for seeing
things. The Infinite does not know how to make
a better. He pronounced this one “ good.” He
has given us His best. Shall we be lacking in
appreciation through indifference? Let us see
everything possible with our unaided eyes, and

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 135

get a microscope and use it faithfully that we may
see more, and, let me repeat, still more.

Then, when you have faithfully used this won-
der-working instrument, used it with the mental
labor and diligence demanded for well doing in
anything worth doing at all, used it in freedom
from the “ constitutional weariness”? so common
in all pursuits except that of money-getting, then
will you appreciate what Gosse, a pleasure-seeing
as well as scientific microscopist, has affirmed :—

“Great and gorgeous as is the display of
Divine power and wisdom in the things that are
seen of all, it may safely be affirmed that a far more
extensive prospect of these glories lay unheeded
and unknown till the optician’s art revealed it.
Like the work of some mighty genie of Oriental
fable, the brazen tube is the key that unlocks a
world of wonder and beauty before invisible,
which one who has once gazed upon it can never
forget, and never cease to admire.”

“Nature Study aims to cultivate in the child what may
be termed the elementary equivalent of the genuine scien-
tific spirit, so that out of his nature fondness for things
about him shall come an enthusiastic, truth-seeking, rev-
erent attitude toward nature, with boldness to question
her, patience to study her, and readiness to be taught by
her.”—A. C. BoyDEN.

“As the child understands his own environment he is
prepared to appreciate geography as the study of the home
of man. The thoughts of the life throbbing through the
plant and animal, and of the forces at work about us, all
in perfect harmony, and for definite purposes, are sug-
gestions of infinite law.”—A. C. BoYDEN.

“There are two forms of Autumn: there is the misty
and dreamy autumn: there is the vivid and brilliant
autumn: almost the difference between the two sexes.
The very word autumn is both masculine and feminine.
Has not every season, in some fashion, its two sexes? Has
it not its minor and major key, its two sides of light and
shadow, gentleness and force perhaps. All that is perfect
is double ; each face has two profiles, each coin two sides.
The scarlet autumn stands for vigorous activity : the gray
autumn for meditative feeling. The one is expansive and
overflowing ; the other still and withdrawn. Yesterday
our thoughts were with the dead. To-day weare celebrat-
ing the vintage.”—AMIEL’s JOURNAL,

136

CHAPTER XVI
NATURE STUDY IN THE AUTUMN

Special prominence should be given to nature
study in the last two weeks of September and all
of October. Full-grown plants, flowers, fruit, and
an almost infinite variety of insects may be ob-
tained. The four-footed animals are busily inter-
esting. Aside from the birds (to which chief atten-
tion is usually given in May and June), all out-
door interests are now at their best.

During September, the schools have resumed
their usual regularity of exercises; the warm
weather still continues, with a clearness of air
that makes one grateful for the pleasure of mere
existence ; the young folks retain the enthusiasm
of the experiences during the long vacation, and
they still have the accumulated wealth of outdoor
spirits.

By way of contrast, the newness and awakening
of spring, the bursting of buds, the germination of
seeds, the growth of the early spring flowers, and

the coming of the birds, it may be maintained,
137

138 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

have charms and advantages excelling those of
autumn even at her best. It must be admitted
that the outdoor attractions of spring are many,
but at that time their availability is somewhat les-
sened by the examinations, the approaching end
of the school year and the eager anticipations of
the long vacation.

Itis easy to advance arguments for the superior-
ity of any of the seasons for nature interests. They
are all good, all best, the best of the good things
of life. As Sir John Lubbock has said: “ Happy,
indeed, is the naturalist ; to him the seasons come
round like old friends; to him the birds sing as
he walks along, the flowers stretch out from the
hedges, or look up from the ground; and as each
year fades away, he looks back on a fresh store of
happy memories. Every month has its own
charms and beauty.”

But taking all things into consideration, it seems
to me that after a short time for the readjust-
ment of the affairs of the schoolroom, there should
be at least six weeks for rich harvesting of out-
door knowledge, a gathering of a store of happy
memories for the coming winter.

How attractive now is everything in its perfec-
tion of life and beauty; how exhilarating the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 139

delicate mingling of warmth and cold, the sunshine
and the showers! The clear day holds the es-
sence of the previous rain in every breeze. As
Dr. Abbott has so truly expressed it: ‘“ There is
a beady sparkle in every breath we draw, a sane
intoxication in every lungful of the October
breeze . . . . There is never a lack of good
company when October sunshine and _ frosty
autumn winds meet upon the meadows. He who
goes there at such a time with a clear conscience,
will return better fitted to meet all of life’s vexa-
tions. For the old man it is a cure for pessimistic
thought ; for the youth it is a safeguard against
distorted views of life. Nature is then rejoicing,
why should not we?”

And the things that we thoroughly enjoy in
nature reciprocate in benefits to us. We goto
her with our best, and her best is given freely to
us. ‘Nature is loved by the best that is in us.”

‘* For him who has the eye to see it, beauty, like thought,
has an intrinsic right to a place among the realities of
the world. He who demands to know why our children
should be trained to an appreciation of the beautiful only
proves by his question that he does not know what beauty
is, that it is to him a mere name.”

‘‘Tn order to perform it, the school must rid its pupils of
what Plato called the lie in the soul, self-deception, as to
the ultimate goods of life. It must make them realize

-that notin their wealth, not in their social position, not
_in their reputation, but in themselves is to be found that
which makes life a success or a failure.”

‘‘Every way I was happy, as idler, as painter, as poet.
Forgotten impressions of childhood and youth came back
to me—all those indescribable effects wrought by color,
shadow, sunlight, green hedges, and songs of birds upon
the soul just opening to poetry. I became again young,
wondering and simple, as candor and ignorance are simple.
I abandoned myself to life and to nature, and they cradled
me with an infinite gentleness. To open one’s heart in
purity to this ever pure nature, to allow this immortal life
of things to penetrate into one’s soul, is at the same time
to listen to the voice of God. Sensation may be a prayer,
and self-abandonment an act of devotion.” — AMIEL’s
JOURNAL,

140

CHAPTER XVII
A PLEA FOR WALKING

In our outings the means as well as the end
has value ; the getting there as well as the things
obtained or seen or studied. Let us, then, regard
walking as a nature-study subject.

Diversified as is nature, so is the variety of her
lovers’ devotion. Her every phase has an admirer,
from the largest to the smallest, from the most
conspicuous to the least noticed, and from the
most beautiful to the things called unattractive by
those who do not love them.

St. Paul, writing of spiritual gifts, says:

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the
same spirit.

“ And there are differences of administrations,
but the same Lord.

“ And there are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God which worketh all in all.

“ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to
every man to profit withal. ...

“ But all these worketh that one and selfsame

Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”
14!

142 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

So in all the diversities of interests in the natural
world there should be one spirit, that of walking,
Indeed, I am so strongly convinced of this that I
sometimes think there is but one thing, one gift,
the ability to walk, and that all other matters are
diversities of pretexts, excuses for going out to
walk.

The sportsman carries gun and game bag; the
fisherman fishing rod and tackle; the naturalist
camera and collecting box; each has an all-day’s
tramp and comes home with but little to show
for miles of walking. Tired out? Discouraged ?
Regretting the trip? Yes, tired out, yes, and
tired with them, but not of them, but happy, even
jubilant, and with full determination to go again
as soon as possible. Was that one squirrel, one
trout, one photograph, one specimen worth all the
time and labor? If it was not, then we may well
expect discouragement and regret. But these
visible trifles were only souvenirs of the real thing,
the walk. That was obtained in all its fullness, and
that was happiness and an inspiration for another
similar journey. Never mind the little excuses,
Now that the real thing has been obtained in such
fullness, the excuses are forgotten.

The Rev. Dallas Lore Sharp is delightfully

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 143

confidential and candid in exposing the mycolo-
gist’s real motif.

“And the collecting of mushrooms is, after all,
their real value. Ourstomachs aretoo much with
us. It is well enough to beguile ourselves with
large talk of rare flavors, high per cents of pro-
teids, and small butcher’s bills; but it is mostly
talk. It gives a practical, businesslike complexion
to our interest and excursions ; it backs up our ac-
cusing consciences at the silly waste of time, with
a show of thrift and economy ; but here mushroom
economy ends. There is about as much in it as
there is of cheese in the moon. No doubt tons
and tons of this vegetable meat goto waste every
day in the woodsand fields, just as the mycologists
say ; nevertheless, according to my experience, it is
safer and cheaper to board at a first-class hotel,
than in the wilderness upon this manna, bounty of
the sky though it be.

“It is the hunt for mushrooms, the introduction
through their doorinto a new and wondrous room
of the out-of-doors, that makes mycology worthy
and moral, The genuine lover of the out-of-doors,
having filled his basket with fungi, always forces
his day’s gleanings upon the least resisting mem.
ber of the party before he reaches home, while

144 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

he himself feeds upon the excitement of the hunt,
the happy mental rest, the sunshine of the fields,
and the flavor of the woods.”

The more I observe my fellow enthusiasts in
other departments of nature the more firmly am
I convinced that this assertion applies equally
well to them, and in full force, too.

Go on, happy mortal, in your innocent delusion.
Dream of your diatoms, birds, snakes or boulders,
They are only agents to entice you to the real
thing, walking and its accompaniments. It isthe
accompaniments that give it the charm. These
are not the minutia of nature magnified into
importance, nor yet the larger interests hampered
within the folds of scientific environments. But
you will, O scientist, artist, photographer, not go
into the fields only to rake up the straws, but to
look at the real things. Your soul will and does
drink in the influence of things. You will walk
in this paradise, and be happy, though perhaps
you may be ignorant of the reason.

What a boon is walking to every child and
youth. It is not only in our infancy that heaven
lies about us, but through our youth. In the
merry rambles of childhood, we get near to this
paradise. It may be that later, as Colonel Thomas

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 145

Wentworth Higginson has said, “ We strive to
picture heaven, when we are barely at the thresh-
old. of the inconceivable beauty of earth.” If so,
it is then that a walk abroad restores us to the
heaven of childhood and of youth. All the senses-
combine to suggest and restore perpetual youth.
Walking is the storing of priceless wealth for
maturity and old age. It isthe link connecting with
things eternal, not the eternal things promised in
some distant future, but the eternal, priceless
things of the present. It gives health of body and
wealth of soul, enjoyable for the present and stored,
for the future.

Walking in the full strength of maturity! Is
there any other luxury that can equal it? It puts
all earth beneath us and heaven around and above.
No toiling horse shall drag us, no freaky bicycle
claim our undivided attention, no smoky locomo-
tive shall pull our car, rank with the odor of
varnish, except when we cannot have what nature
intends us to have, the glorious privilege of walk-
ing. Walking brings into play every muscle. It
fills the lungs with pure air and the arteries with
rich blood. It restores us to ourselves. It gives
independence. We do as we please. It may be

to saunter leisurely along this road, to climb that
10

140 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

fence and go down that picturesque path, to rest
by the spring, to worship in the forest, to hear
the music of the brook, to discover primeval dells
and grottos, these are some of the rewards of
walking. It takes us to scenes that no vehicle
can reach; it gives us wealth which no money can
buy.
“ Light-hearted to take to the open road,”

and in firm strides go to the top of that hill.
There we look across the valley. And Paradise
lies over yonder in the blue distance. We rejoice
in the possession of vast territory that is ours, for
the mere walking to it.

And so we walk on to gain the riches of yonder
forest, and still farther on. But even the best is
limited in extent, yet the riches of the territory
to be obtained by walking are limitless. We find
that the distant place, when reached, is no better
than that we have left behind. We learn that
the actual wealth is not to be obtained by rapid
walking but by leisurely sauntering, by making
the most of the present. Not least among the
values of walking is the lesson of contentment. It
is this place, this day, this world here and now,
that we are to know, and in which we are so to

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 147

live that it may become to us a paradise. Even
if there is a better and greater, how shall we com-
prehend it if we cannot apprehend this? Let us
learn to walk well in the paradise which we now
possess. Let us heed the great Teacher with
whose walks were interwoven lessons from the
fields, whose entire ministry was peripatetic. Let
no more Beloved Disciple lament, that “ from that
time many of his disciples went back, and walked
no more with him.” But rather,

“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself
so to walk, even as he walked.”

“ Even so we also should walk in newness of
life.”

Evernew. Ever awalker. The thought of the
walk spiritualizes the walk, and that kind of walk
spiritualizes the walker.

And every nature-study teacher, every nature-
study pupil should be a walker. The ability to
walk, to get enjoyment from it as well as knowl-
edge from the things seen, is worth more to
teacher or pupil than to find out what is inside of
a caterpillar, or how many rings there are in the
abdomen of a dragon-fly.

“Nature Study is studying nature, in its own environ-
ment by the natural method, through the self-activity of
the child.

““When Nature Study is directed, as by our teachers, the
child is impressed with the fact that in order to make the
knowledge brought to him through the senses serve him in
the best possible way he must train himself to so judge
this knowledge, to so compare it and to so arrange it in
his mind as to be ready to use it in different forms of
thought expression, drawing, modelling, speaking, writing,
or to turn it to practical account in the affairs of his life.”
—MatTiE RosE CRAWFORD, author of ‘‘Guide to Nature
Study.”

‘If nature is to be a resource in a man’s life, one’s re-
lation to her must not be too exact and formal, but more
that of a lover and friend.”—-JoHN BURROUGHS.

“Tt is one of the laws of our being that by seeking
interests rather than by seeking pleasures we can best
encounter the gloom of life.” —-LEcKY.

148

CHAPTER XVIII
OUTINGS

“How many pupils do you usually take with
you on your outings?” recently inquired a school
superintendent.

“T most usually don’t take any,” was my reply.

“Don’t take any with you!” he exclaimed.
“Why, I thought you conducted parties of school
children on natural history excursions?”

“So, indeed, I do,” I replied; “but if I didn’t
have a love of nature that would take me out alone
into the fields and forests many, many times to
once that I go with a natural-history party, I
am confident that I should not have sufficient
love of my own for nature to inspire any of it
in others.”

And I went on to say to him, as I now say to
you, that you cannot give to others what you your-
self do not possess. The first essential is to get
into harmony with the infinite, into loving intimacy
with nature, so that through your influence a re-

sponsive chord may be set into vibration within
149

150 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

the hearts of your companions; or, to revert to
the other figure, you may introduce your com-
panions to your loving Mother Nature when you
know and love her so well yourself that you may in
the introduction transfer someof that knowledge
and affection to your friends. Therefore you
must “usually” go alone; then when you go with
others you will have something genuine to transfer,
and not merely a perfunctory task to perform.
Nature should be so resourceful to every teacher
of nature study, that he could go and live with
her for days and weeks, until the longer he stayed
the longer he would like to stay.

A superintendent of the schools in one of the
largest cities in New Jersey said to me: “I don’t
know what is the trouble with nature study in our
schools. We have tried it, and the children don’t
seem to be much interested in it. We devote
fifteen minutes a day regularly to it, and I often
have my doubts whether it is worth while to as-
sign even that small amount of time.”

I was puzzled.

Later, in a conversation regarding other matters,
he jokingly referred to a visit which some of the
teachers had made in the Adirondacks, A club
went up there to stay forfour weeks. They came

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I5I

home at the end of two, reporting that it was the
dullest place they had ever seen.

My puzzle was solved.

That reminds me of a story that I have some.
where read. A wealthy business man had sent
his wife and children to their country home. He
spent the week in the city at his business office.
One day, as he thought of the inequalities of for-
tune, he said to himself,—“ Isn’t it strange that
my family can have so much, when there are so
many women and children that must toil all the
week in the hot city, and have none of the joys
of country life. If I were the ruler of the universe,
I would have things different. Come to think of
it, although I can’t rule the universe, I can remedy
a part of thisinjustice. I willsend apart of these
women with their children to a boarding-house
near my own country home.”

So he had his secretary make the arrangements,
and a party of seven washerwomen and twenty-
three children were sent to thecountry. Then as
the man toiled at his desk, he was the happier,
not only in anticipating his own weekly visit to
the country, but in feeling that he was giving
much pleasure to those thirty poor persons. Im-
agine his amazement when, at the end of the first

152 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

week, he received a letter from the country, stating
that the entire company had deserted and returned
to the city. He waited for no secretary to trans-
act this business. He grabbed hat and cane and
started for the East Side, to search for, and find,
too, the woman who had been prominent in or-
ganizing the party. She came to the door, wiping
her hands on her apron. He inquired as to the
board, the location, and the treatment of the chil-
dren. All these had been satisfactory. Finally,
almost in exasperation he said, “‘ Tell me, madam,
frankly, why did you come home? Doesn’t my
kindness to you merit at least some candor on
your part?”

“Yes, sir, it does; you’re a good man. I tell
you, sir, we all came home because there was
nothin’ doin’!”’

I have read of a similar experience on the part
-of a Boston lady, who, upon investigation, found
‘that a poor woman whom she had sent to the
country had come horne, because she “liked
people better than stumps!”

And yet, absurd as are these excuses from these
uncultured persons, it isto be feared that they
have far too many followers who everlastingly

yo

want to be where there is ‘somethin’ doin’,” or

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 153

where there are greater aggregations of people,
rather than in the land of stumps and trees, fields
and brooks, flowers and birds. It is only the
greatest teachers and poets, and the greatest
souls, that seek the wilderness and the mountains,
to find strength and comfort. It is ever true that
outdoor life must bea pleasure to the teacher
first, before that teacher can make it a power to
‘benefit others. First of all, then, go alone, and
make it to yourself what you would have it be to
others.

‘‘ Nature ever yields reward
To him who seeks, and loves her best.’’

And this seeking and loving must be done in
all seasons, and in the rain as well as in the sun-
shine. Nature exists in the winter, in the snow
storm and the rain, and even at night. Know
nature; woo her even under difficulties; you
will appreciate her all themore. Take the young
folks with you to find and admire icicles and snow
crusts; do not look for daisies and scarlet tana-
gers only. Is there anything more beautiful than
the lace-fringed brook in winter?

Lowell’s love of nature was not limited to spring
and summer. He found joy in the winter:

“For my own part, I think Winter a pretty

154 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

wide-awake old boy, and his bluff sincerity and
hearty ways are more congenial to my mood, and
more wholesome for me than any charms of which
his rivals are capable. . . . However, when
you do get acrust that will bear, and know any
brooklet that runs down a hillside, be sure to go
and take a look at him, especially if your crust is
due, as it commonly is, to a cold snap following
eagerly onathaw. You will never find him so
cheerful. Ashe shrank away after the last thaw,
he built for himself the most exquisite caverns of
ice to run through, if not ‘measureless to man’
like those of Alpha, the sacred river, yet perhaps
more pleasing for their narrowness than those for
their grandeur. What a cunning silversmith is
Frost! The rarest workmanship of Delhi or
Genoa copies him but clumsily as if the fingers
of all other artists were thumbs. Fernwork and
lacework and filagree in endless variety, and under
it all the water tinkles like a distant guitar, or
drums like a tambourine, or gurgles like the tokay
of an anchorite’s dream. Beyond doubt there is
a fairy procession marching along those frail
arcades and translucent corridors.”

‘Their oaten pipes blow wondrous shrill,
The hemlock small blow clear.”’

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 155

Then what infinite variety in the snow crystals ;
what marvelous silky beauty in the blocks of
“ frost coming out of the ground;” what delicate
traceries on the lower side of the ice from beneath
which the water has dried away; what exquisite
tapering outlines of the leafless twigs against the
background of the cold, blue sky !

Birds now are to be observed, but they do not
confuse by their numbers. Winter birds seem
to say, We are worth your careful study, there-
fore there are few of us.

Go frequently to the winter fields and woods,
to the marshes, and into the mazes of the swamps
where you cannot so easily go in summer; go to
see things, and for the sake of long walks; go
alone and with companions; in sunshine and in
storm; go with that elasticity of step, that joy of
heart and brightness of eye that only winter can
produce.

Then go again.

“For many years it has been one of my most constant
regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of
natural history, so far at least as to have taught me the
grasses that grow by the wayside, and the little winged
and wingless neighbors that are continually meeting me
with salutations which I cannot answer, as things are.
Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, too,
and make me at home in the starry heavens which are
always overhead, and which I do not half know to this
day.” —THomas CARLYLE.

“The true naturalist is a true poet. Into his mind the
influences of natural scenery, of natural history, uncon-
sciously sink down. There is an unmentionable bliss in
the unrecognized sympathy which goeth forth toward all
things into which He hath breathed the breath of life.
The scent of the opening buds; the sad, soft sighing of
summer winds; the unobtruding kaleidoscope of floral
form and color, scattered so freely and bountifully ; cannot
these get hold of the soul of a man! One feels constrained
to adopt the language of the principal talker among the
favorite disciples—‘ Lord, let us build three tabernacles,’
etc. The disciple was in no hurry to depart.”—Dr. J. E.
TAYLOR, in ‘‘ The Playtime Naturalist.”

156

CHAPTER XIX.
GIVE THE YOUNG OBSERVERS A CHOICE

Nature study should be spontaneous on the
part of the pupil. To most pupils nature study is
a privilege and a pleasure. To these it is a very
simple matter to make it a tonic and not a task.

But the problem comes when we regard the few
who do not regard it as a privilege or a pleasure,
and the few larger pupils in the class who, per-
chance, may regard the bringing in of specimens
or the telling about them as “kiddish ” as I once
heard a boy express it. |

If there is a certain period assigned to nature
study, shall this period be merely one of laziness
or indifference on the part of these few? Thatis
a question that often confronts a teacher. Or
shall certain pupils be allowed to hold entirely
aloof from the informal work, even if there is not
a definite nature-study period ?

It is true that nature study should be a pleasure,
and it isa pleasure to most pupils, but this does

not annul the fact that it should be required.
157

158 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

To attain both ends, I have found it convenient
to make a threefold assignment, from which a
choice may be taken:

1. Bringing in a specimen and telling where it
was obtained, with statement of any interesting
facts connected with it.

2. A story of entertaining truths that I have
seen, read or been told, about natural objects.

3. Assignment of some topic to be investi-
gated from books or other sources of information.
Thus, for example, asbestos has been for the past
weeks a timely topic, because it has been referred
to so frequently in the newspapers in connection
with theater curtains, since the fire that caused so
great a loss of life in the Chicago theater. Radium
is another good topic. The pupils should tell what
they have read or heard regarding this wonderful
metal. The teacher corrects any wrong impres-
sions that the children may have acquired, and
states any facts of interest she may have readily
obtained from the many popular articles in various
periodicals.

By this method of choice in nature-study work
or interests, the pupils have no odious task to per-
form, neither is the period one of shirking, nor an
exhibition of laziness on the part of a few.

CHAPTER XX

PROGRESS BY AVOIDING REPETITION
(Extracts from a letter.)

Whole classes are taken out on clear days to the woods,
fields, stream, hillsides, and gorges to observe and enjoy
Nature. When out on these rambles they collect various
things of interest and bring them back for further study.

In this study we aim to connect it with other studies in
such a way as to give added life and meaning to them.
These excursions, wheat, corn, trees, etc., are made the
themes for compositions. Thus we give the children some-
thing to write about that they have seen and experienced—
the only theme that a child can tell of intelligently. Nature
poems are learned and recited in connection with the objects
studied. Nature songs are sung in school. These composi-
tions written by the children are neatly written out and
kept in a composition book. The books are passed on from
grade to grade each year, so that each teacher may know
what has been done by the grade she has during previous
years, and thus avoid repetition, which kills interest. This
method enables us to progress in the subject from grade to
grade.

My aim isto teach those things which have some influence
upon our lives in some way or another. Thus we study
plants and animals useful to man, also plants and animals.
which, directly or indirectly, are a detriment to man’s in-
terests.

The esthetical, ethical, and religious growth comes with
contact, but is not directly alluded to, for preaching kills.

159

160 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

My aim is to give the pupils something which is related to
their own lives and the lives of others, and thus make them
more useful men and women in after years.

Since I have changed my plan of teaching botany from
that of knowledge for the sake of knowledge, to knowledge
for the purpose of becoming better and more useful in the
world, I find that the pupils have a new interest in the sub-
ject. It is a subject now with meaning and purpose, closely
related to the lives of the pupils. Formerly, it was a subject
to be memorized for the sole purpose of passing the examina-
tion.

I have not worked out my ideas fully in our course as yet,
but have progressed far enough to satisfy myself that it is
better than the old.

Assuring you that I appreciate your interest in our work,
and hoping to hear from you again, I am, with kindest

regards,
Very respectfully,

V. A. Suypam,
Principal Public Schools, Ripon, Wis.

I like this method of avoiding repetition, but to
accomplish the object it is not necessary to avoid
using the same subject. Some one has said in
substance that truth is like an ocean, in which a
child may play or an elephant easily get drowned.
It is all in the manner of using it.

The director of the zoological department of
one of our leading universities, once had a student
who said of a requirement for the dissection of a
grasshopper, “I don’t want to do that. I had
that in the kindergarten!” That is what one may
call dilute science in the place of nature study.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I61

And yet a grasshopper may be used in kinder-
garten or in university with profit and without
repetition.

Said Linnzus to a pupil, as he laid his hand on
a bit of moss: “ Here lies sufficient material for
the study of a lifetime.” Perhaps some of us
would regard that remark asa little hyperbolic,
but if taken literally, without doubt we should
all agree that the child’s relation to the mosses is
entirely different from that of the expert technical
botanist. I suppose that it is the avoidance of
repetition of relation that Principal Suydam has
in mind. We may live for decades in the same
home, but the point of view changes rapidly and

opens up new vistas as years go by.
II

«“«The author knows by experience, both on the farm and
in the schoolroom, that the possession of a better knowl-
edge of nature by country youths is one of the crying needs
of the hour. With such a knowledge generally diffused
there would be less dissatisfaction with country life and
fewer farmers’ sons and daughters would flock to the
cities, because, as a recent writer expresses it, ‘‘ they wish
to get rid of the prosy, stunting, isolated life on the farm.”
With a knowledge of some of nature’s objects and a desire
to ferret out for themselves some of her secrets, they would
have something of which to talk and think besides crops,
stock, work, neighborhood gossip and local politics, and
the attractions of the city would seldom excel those to
be found on the old homestead.”—W. S. BLATCHLEY, in
‘‘Gleanings from Nature.”

“Tt seems as if the day was not wholly profane in which
we have given heed to some natural object . . . He who
knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues
are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens, and
how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal
man.”—EMERSON,

162

CHAPTER XXI
NATURE AND LIFE

Of all the subjects in this world, there is noth.
ing so great to which we can give our attention
as the world itself. Offspring of nature as we
are, surrounded on every hand by her wonderful
products and existences, it is no less than our
duty to give her our earliest attention, as a
powerful factor in the complete development of
our own or of any other human life.

“‘Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her ; ’tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this, our life, to leap
From joy to joy ; for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.’’

163

“Tt is of course evident that a scientific interest and an
zesthetic interest in Nature Study are widely different
things. The esthetic interest is the result of the appeal
Nature makes to our sense of beauty ; the scientific, the
result of the appeal she makes to our desire to know. If,
in the case of the average man, we had to choose between
them, it is at least doubtful whether it would not be wise
to sacrifice the scientific to the esthetic interest. The life
of the average man is probably more enriched by the ca-
pacity to derive pleasure from listening to the knell of the
parting day, from watching the lowing herd as it winds
slowly over the meadow, than by ascientific interest in
nature. But thetwo interests are in no wise antagonistic.
And ifthe teacher of the nature subjects be herself a lover
of nature, if she looks upon the changes that pass over the
face of nature as spring blooms into summer, and summer
fades into autumn, and autumn gives way to winter, with
something of the same fondness with which the mother
watches the changes in her child as she traverses the road
to womanhood, there is no danger that the esthetic inter-
est of her pupils will suffer through a development of their
scientific interest. Not only will the bugs and grasshop-
pers and butterflies, the trees and the leaves, the soil and
minerals, claim her attention, but the broad valleys, the
gently sloping hills, the sycamores bending over running
streams and, as it were, gravely bowing to the trees on the
other side ; and her enthusiastic love of nature will be as
contagious as her intense interest in science.”—Dr. J. P.
Gorpy, in ‘‘ A Broader Elementary Education.”

164

CHAPTER XXII
BOOKS AND NATURE

Indoor studies and outdoor studies, are they
antagonistic or co-operative? They are both,
anomalous as it may seem. The same is true in
a comparison of city culture and country culture.
Sometimes we observe the antagonism in the
same person. Wemay see in our best poets, now
the praise of books and now the praise of nature.
A double spirit, a mingling in one, comparable to
the mingling of the good and the bad of Steven-
son’s ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” Wordsworth
first sounds the praises of books:

“Vet it is just
That here in memory of all books which lay
Their sure foundations in the heart of man,
Whether by native prose, or numerous verse,
That in the name of all inspired souls—

* * * * * * *

Tis just that in behalf of these, the works,
And of the men that framed them, whether known
Or sleeping nameless in their scattered graves,
That I should here assert their rights, attest
Their honors, and should, once for all, pronounce
Their benediction ; speak of them as Powers

165

166 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Forever to be hallowed, only less,

For what we are and what we may become,
Than Nature’s self, which is the breath of God,
Or His pure Word, by miracle revealed.”

Then he declaims against books as injurious:

“Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books ;
Or surely you'll grow double:

Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks 5
Why all this toil and trouble?

‘Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife ;
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music ! on my life,
There’s more of wisdom in it.”

This double view is likewise shown in Lowell,
whom Stedman styles “our representative man of .
letters,” and adds, that “ He is regarded as a fine
exampler of culture.” Lowell, though “the poet
of nature,” was pre-eminently a man of books.
His writings and addresses were chiefly on liter-
ary subjects. Yet in a burst of passion for nature,
the supremacy of a great surging part of his own
character, he counts books and literary culture as
of little worth, and in pleonastic verse makes
them for the time shrink into nothingness :

‘Jes’ so with poets: wut they’ve airly read

Gits kind o’ worked into their heart an’ head,

So ’s ’t they can’t seem to write but jest on sheers,
With furrin countries or played-out ideers,

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 167

Nor hev a feelin’, ef it doosn’t smack

O’ wut some critter chose to feel way back ;

This makes ’em talk o’ daisies, larks, an’ things,

Ez though we’d nothin’ here that blows and sings,—
(Why, I’d give more for one live bobolink

Than a square mile o’ larks in printer’s ink).”

Books and Nature are antagonistic and yet they
are co-operative. As Hamilton Mabie says:

“Since I turned the key on my study I have
almost forgotten the familiar titles on which my
eyes rested whenever I took a survey of my
book-shelves. Those friends staunch and true,
with whom I have held such royal fellowship
when skies were chill and winds were cold, will
not forget me, nor shall I become unfaithful to
them. I have gone abroad that I may return
later with renewed zest and deeper insight to my
old companionships. Books and nature are never
inimical ; they mutually speak for and interpret
each other; and only he who stands where their
double light falls sees things in true perspective
and in right relations.”

I like that expression, “stands where the
double light falls.” There isa difference between
the compound light and the extreme colors of
the spectrum. One needs to kvow the details ; to
live and see, in the combination. The poet needs

168 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

the eye of the naturalist for his facts, and the
naturalist needs “the light that was never on sea
or land” for his life.

The quarry is antagonistic to the castle. The
one must be depleted for the other. Yet both
are co-operative; the first is useless and the sec-
ond impossible without the other. The mine
means something, it has its real value and beauty
brought out only in the hands of the assayist.
The two are antagonistic, yet* co-operative. So
you, teacher, must not merely go to nature for
things, things, things, nor to books for words,
words, words. One part of your mental make-up
must be to lay hold of the real things of nature;
the other must be to let in the illumination of
books. Then only will you see facts in their true
relations.

Remember always that the result is not to be
naturalists and scientists, nor yet literati, but
living men and women.

CHAPTER XXIII

“HUSH ALL THE CLASSES AND ... HUG HIM”

He has a secret ; wonderful methods in him ; he is, every
child, a new style of man ; give him time and opportunity.
Talk of Columbusand Newton! I tell you the child just
born in yonder hovel is the beginning of a revolution as
great as theirs. But you must have the believing and pro-
phetic eye. . . . If a child happens to show that he
knows any fact about astronomy, or plants, or birds, or
rocks, or history, that interests him and you, hush all the
classes and encourage him to tell it so that all may hear.
Then you have made your school-room like the world. Of
course you will insist on modesty in the children, and respect
to their teachers, but if the boy stops you in your speech,
cries out that you are wrong and sets you right, hug him!

And you, dear Ralph Waldo Emerson, how all
child lovers should love you for that wise state-
ment! You have practised what you preach;
you have lived true to that other loving state-
ment in your essay on “ Education,” “rather let
us have men whose manhood is only the continu-
ation of their boyhood, natural characters still.”
You had the boy nature in your heart, and sym-
pathy for the spontaneity of the boy.

“ Hush all the classes,” and let the individual
169

170 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

child tell his story in his own way. Then, in that
spirit, even if he disputes you, “hug him.” Know
with joy and love that you are educating, actually
leading out individuality, not “ minding” a series
of buzzing spools and spindles on a school loom.

A few weeks ago at a teacher’s institute, ina
lecture on “ School Discipline,” a fellow instructor
told of a teacher of physiology, who, to illustrate
how the muscles are strengthened by use, referred
to the arm of the blacksmith, and as an example,
swung her right arm behind her back and over
her head in windmill style that would have thrown
a blacksmith into convulsions of laughter.

One of the pupils, who was a frequent visitor at
a blacksmith’s shop, was an interested listener.
The reference to his good friend made his eyes
snap and his heart beat. He was an expert in
smithy work. He knew something, and he knew
that somebody was wrong. But it was not his
blacksmithing chum. Up went his hand with a
confident flourish.

The teacher inquired, ‘ Well, what is wanted,
now, James?”

The little fellow replied, “ Please, ma’am, I
don’t think the blacksmith swings his arm in that
way. Mr. Johnson doesn’t, anyhow; this is the

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I7!

way he does,” and his clenched fist flew up and
down, and up and down, and banged the desk
every time it came down, and did it gladly, too.

“Well, never mind,” said the teacher; “we
won't talk about that; we are talking about physio-
logy now. We will consider that at some other
time. But, James, when you speak you should not
be so vehement, and your gestures should not be
so violent. You should cultivate repose, James.”

I was amazed, almost stunned, when that learned
professor of pedagogy commended the teacher's
action, as an excellent example of adroitness in
avoiding a confession of ignorance, and of her skill
in thus maintaining discipline. He claimed that
if she had admitted her error, she would, to a
certain extent, have allowed the school to get the
best of her, and would, therefore, have lost her
dignified hold of the discipline.

I claimed then, and I claim now, that it was a
case in which knowledge was snubbed by igno-
rance, and the weak oppressed by the strong,
Talk about losing the respect of her little men
and little women! In the schoolroom, as in the
greater world of which it is an epitome, there is
nothing more repugnant than deceit, hypocrisy, or
unfairness.

172 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Had that teacher at once accepted the correc-
tion, with a few words expressing pleasure at the
little fellow’s power of observation ina field in
which no one could expect her to be so well in-
formed as the daily visitor to the blacksmith’s
shop, she would have gratified the boy and have
won the good will and respect of all the little
folks. Can you not see them all looking at James,
and then at the teacher, with a pleased expression
that says, “I wish I could have done that, told
my teacher something she didn’t know and got
such a pleasant answer.”

And then James; see him. How his eyes
glisten with pleasure, but how embarrassed he is,
and how he wriggles in his seat! It isso much
good fortune, and it came so suddenly that it is
almost uncomfortable. He is in haste to get
home to tell about it; and eager, too, to see
something else and tell his teacher, and so are the
others.

But stop, we are dreaming, this was not the
real situation commended by that professor of
pedagogy. Drag yourselves back from the Utopia
to the real thing. Look at the quick glances of
the class as at a culprit; look at the assumed
dignity on that teacher’s face. Oh, James, I

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 173

want to hug you; and you, too, dear champion,
Emerson, for you are right when you say:

I believe that our own experience instructs us that the
secret of Education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not
for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It
is chosen and foreordained, and he only holds the key to his
own secret. By your tampering and thwarting and too
much governing he may be hindered from his end and kept
out of hisown. Respect the child. Wait and see the new
product of Nature. Nature loves analogies, but not repeti-

tions, Respect the child. . . . One burns to tell the
new fact, the other burns to hear it.

The spirit of hushing the class to allow the
child to speak, and of loving that child for what
he tells of his own experiences and observation,
is the spirit of nature study.

The dignity of that teacher, the unswerving
class instruction, the claim that this is true be-
cause I say it is true, whether we call it science
or whether we call it hypocrisy, is not the spirit
needed to bring young folks into relation with na-
ture. Ido not state, nor even imply, that most of
our teachers have this method of teaching what
they term elementary science. Many excellent
instructors in what they call science have the
spiritual insight that I have styled the spirit
of nature study. It is a commendable and en-
viable faculty, with which some of us, I fear,

174, HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

have no speaking acquaintance. You must have,
in justice to the little folks, the nature-study
faculty, even if you do call it the teaching of
science.

Call it what you will. If you are contending
for class instruction, with a mass of facts presented
according to schedule, and are ignoring individual
interests, then out on such teaching. There is
plenty of time in high school and college for
facts, facts, facts, and science, science, science;
banish them from the young folks’ schools.

As Professor Hodge so truly puts it :

Recent developments of the sciences have completely
dazzled our modern education with their bewildering
array of newly-discovered facts, and the temptation has
proved irresistible to introduce their technicalities into
the elementary curriculum. But the childhood of the
race was very long, and we should not wish to force its per-
iod, brief at best, in the life of the individual. The weath-
ering of rock and the formation of soil afford interesting
lessons in modern geology ; but men dug and planted, and
established fruitful relations with Mother Earth thousands
of years before geology was even dreamed of. So with
combustion and the various forms of water: why not let
children wonder about them for a few years, and then come
with interest keen and fresh to their study in the chemistry
and physics of the high school and college.

I heartily agree with this. Do not introduce
technicalities into the elementary curriculum.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 175

But do put in generous proportions of viewing
nature that will “hush all theclass and encourage
him to tell it sothat all may hear.” Then, if you
have the right spirit, you will want to “hug him,”
that bright little James.

That is the thing needed in the schoolroom ;
you may call it anything you please. I call it
nature study “from the child’s standpoint.”

By the way, Thoreau said, “ There is something
of spring in all seasons.” There should be some-
thing of the nature-study spirit in all school ex-
ercises, very frequently so “from the child’s
standpoint.”

‘** All that is needed to give the child an impulse to talk
is to fill his mind with facts that interest him. You may
indeed by discipline, or by appeals to emulation or to the
child’s desire to please, create an artificial motive. But
discipline which does not strengthen a natural impulse to
action, appeals to emulation or to the desire to please for
the sake of making a pupil do what he has no inclination
to do at all, is perverted. What a child does under such
influences is always done in a half-hearted, perfunctory
way.”

‘“‘The value of work, however, should not be measured
by the acquisition of knowledge or the power to express it,
but rather by the love and the sympathetic interest
awakened in nature and the profound reverence for the
design and the protecting care revealed in the works of
earth and sky by an all-wise Creator.”,— ANNA E. Mc-
GoverRN, B. §S., in ‘Nature Study and Related Litera-
ture.”

176

CHAPTER XXIV
WOVEN INTO CHILD NATURE

“Ts this Mrs. Durant?” inquired a caller, ris-
ing as the lady of the house entered the drawing-
room.

“Yes, and you are Miss Plimpton, my Dorothy’s
teacher. I am glad to see you. I should have
known you at once, even if you had not sent up
your card, and in spite of the fact that this is the
first time I have had the pleasure of meeting you.”

“How is that?” surprisingly inquired the
teacher. “I feel as though I were a perfect stran-
ger, except to my boarding-mistress and the little
folks in school. I have been so busy that this is
my first callin Van Wert, but I have been here
only three weeks.”

“Let me explain that perhaps you haven’t
known just what you have been doing. I see
that you are not aware that you have been call-
ing on about forty families every day; that is,
if all your pupils are like my little Dorothy. It
is in this way that you multiply yourself. Dor-

12 177

178 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

othy plays keeping school, and morning, noon,
and night we are served with Miss Plimpton in
voice, in walk and even in every little action. So
you see I am well acquainted. I recognized and
welcomed your voice and manner as of at least
three weeks’ acquaintance.”

There are good contagions and “ catchings ” of
good things, as well as of bad things and diseases,
in the life of every child. We quarantine from
the bad, but too often, I fear, forget to supply the
good. That supply should come from various
sources, nature, associates, books, playthings, and
the greatest of these is nature. Mother Nature is
truly loved by the best that isin us, and never
did she betray the heart that loved her. Let us
weave her in large proportions into the heart, head,
and muscles of the child.

The ingredients of child-life are fresh air, sun-
shine, trees, flowers, birds, and all the other happy
life of the fields and forests. Weave in generous
proportions. Do not skimp and carve, and trim,
and minimize, and scrutinize too much. Pour in
the generous cupfuls, hours rather than minutes.
The strength, the happiness, the life, all are good.
You appreciate them and the child needs them.
Let him have them in their fullness of enjoyment.

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 179

You will cordially welcome and recognize the in-
gredients. They transform the whole make-up.
There are the strength, the joy, the beauty, the

purity.

“‘ Culture consists less in wide knowledge than in wider
sympathy ; not so much in stores of facts as in ability to
transmute facts into knowledge; not only in well-grounded
conviction, but in toleration ; not alone in absorption of
wisdom, but as well in its radiation; in patriotism that
is without provincialism ; in the development of character.
But since individual minds differ much in their composition,
no one kind of treatment can be best for all, and the ideal
system will be that which is elastic enough to allow each
to receive what is best for it. True culture, then, cannot
be obtained by forcing all minds into any one mould, how-
ever carefully that may be made, but it is rather attained
by allowing each mind to expand for itself under a proper
combination of nourishment from within and stimulus
from without.”—WILLIAM F,. GanonG, Ph. D., in ‘‘The
Teaching Botanist.”

‘Nature Study should appeal to the imagination; the
artist and the poet should be called upon to help the child
interpret the beautiful.”—A. C. BOYDEN.

180

CHAPTER XXV
SOME TESTS OF PROFICIENCY IN NATURE STUDY

How shall we make these tests? The require.
ments are too intangible for measurement by the
usual method. It is not so much “ What do you
know?” as “ What do you appreciate?”’ Not so
much the amount and detail of acquired informa-
tion, as it is the extent of your ability and willing-
ness to continue to acquire.

From the pupil’s standpoint, the following
model series of test questions, with answers, that
merit high grading, has been given us by Principal
Gowing of the Rhode Island normal school:

Question—Do you enjoy going on rambles
across the fields, through the woods and down the
ravines to the meadows and swamps?

Answer.—Yes, sir.

Question.—Do you like to pick the flowers, hear
the birds sing, and watch all forms of life?

Answer.—Yes, sir,

Question.—Do you select from the library and
181

182 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

read outdoor books that tell of nature’s interesting
plants and animal life ?

Answer.—Yes, sir.

Teacher.—Marking, Io0.

Then, too, there is an important observational,
as well as a questioning, examination. The enthu-
siastic teacher will find it a pleasure to note the
effects of nature study on the life and character
of the pupils. If nature study gives pleasure for
the time being only, it is still good; but if wisely
and patiently done, it will surely refine the mind
and open out avenues for active sympathy and
helpfulness, and so uplift those who do not, at
first hand, know anything of the teaching and re-
fining spirit that Mother Nature imparts to those
who communicate with her.

Tests for these results should be made, but they
are not to be found easily in written monthly ex-
aminations. They will show themselves in little
acts that may escape the notice of some teachers.
Watch for these little evidences. They areamong
the most important tests of the proficiency of
your pupils in nature study.

So much for the pupil. Now what shall be the
test of the teacher? The writer suggests the fol-
lowing questions, not to be asked by others, but

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 183

as beneficial for self-examination. A conscientious
teacher is her own best critic. Every one desires
success, but success depends on fitness. If you
are not achieving the results that you desire in
nature study, look carefully for the causes. If
you cannot mark at least “fifty per cent.” on
these test questions, and cannot soon bring
them to a higher mark through your own efforts,
then beg the principal to allow you to exchange
duties with some other teacher who can lead your
pupils in nature study. Adaptation and enthu-
siasm are keynotes to success. One hundred per
cent. of teaching ability in science strongly im-
plies, but does not guarantee, an equal grading in
nature study.

Here are a few of the useful questions. They
will suggest others adapted to special cases :

1. If I were to leave teaching and take up
other duties, such as those of married life, for ex-
ample, how much time each day would I devote
or wish to devote to an increasing acquaintance
with nature ?

2. Do I regard the time devoted to nature
study as a recreation, a duty, or a burden?

3. How much time each day do I devote to
observing or reading about facts in nature that I

184 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

never intend to make use of in the schoolroom ?
That is, how much of my nature-study work is
personal and how much utilitarian ?

4. How long could I visit at an isolated home
in the country, or at the seaside, and not find life
a burden?

There is no element of injustice in question 1,
as it may at first suggest. The right kind of
nature study in its continuance under varied
circumstances and vocations 1s not comparable to
science, mathematics, or classics, but to music,
poetry, general literature, and art. It should be
a favorite avocation as well as vocation, a pursuit
that recreates.

Now for a test asto the amount of nature study
in a school.

1. After eliminating every method of viewing
natural objects to which the term science may not
be inappropriately applied, how much remains?

2. Without in the least detracting from the
merits and advisability of correlating other school
interests with nature study, take away all studies
so correlated, and how large a nature study nucleus
remains?

3. A country boy out of the schoolroom gets a
vast amount of nature study, but very little of

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 185

science. Especially applicable to him is Emerson’s
saying that “ The most important part of a boy’s
education is that which he gets to and from his
way toschool.” Howmuch of such country boy’s
relation to natural objects is there in my school ?

Such questions, it seems to the writer, will be
found helpful in bringing out the exact state of
affairs in this informal acquaintance with nature
as separated from exact systematic science yet per-
haps leading to it. As nature study should lead
to science, perhaps the best single question to
pupil, school, or teacher is, “ How much science
does our nature study inspire?”

Or, from a more practical out-of-the-schoolroom
standpoint, how much has your nature study led
“to the end,” as Professor Hodge has so admirably
expressed it, “ of doing those things that make life
most worth the living ?”

‘“The teacher who hopes to guide her pupils wisely will
find it advisable to go directly to nature for inspiration ;
she must learn to know and to love the birds, the flowers,
and the trees, if she hopes to lead her pupils to know and
to love them; she must learn to observe in order to direct
and test the observation of her pupils. After having
studied, sketched and written descriptions of a few typical
plants and animals and verified the descriptions by ref-
erence to good text books, a teacher will begin to realize
something of the enjoyment in store for her pupils.",— ANNA
E. McGoverv, B.&S., in ‘‘ Nature Study and Related Litera-
ture.”

The writer was once a boy himself, and vividly remem-
bers the never-to-be-forgotten rambles and observations of
the objects in the country ; and moreover, as he treasures
up such reminiscences as the most pleasant and innocent
of an active man’s life, he thought he could not do better
than enlist this younger generation in the same loves and
the same pleasures. He has endeavored to do his best for
his human hobbies, and hopes their lives may be richer
and sweeter and more manly, for what he has introduced
them to in this buok.

186

CHAPTER XXVI
INSPIRATIONS OF NATURE STUDY

In an opera-house in Clearfield, Pennsylvania,
it was my pleasure and honor to occupy an easy
chair on the stage and near the orator of the
evening. How much I enjoyed that lecture, how
I forgot opera-house, stage, easy-chair, everything
except the speaker’s eloquence and the pleasure
of following his inspiring and virile thought, I
cannot well describe. I shall never forget the
memorable occasion, and I shall always remember
the eloquent speaker’s peroration. He was eulo-
gizing the earth as an inspiration to any world
that may succeed this one. His concluding
words were those of the following beautiful poem
by M. F. Butts :

A WHITE WATER-LILY.

** O star on the breast of the river,
O marvel of bloom and grace,

Did you fall straight down from heaven,
Out of the sweetest place?

You are white as the thoughts of an angel ;

187

188 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

Your heart is steeped in the sun ;
Did you grow in the golden city,
My pure and radiant one?”’

‘“ Nay, nay, I fell not out of heaven ;

None gave me my saintly white ;

It slowly grew from the blackness
Down in the dreary night.

From the ooze of the muddy river
I won my glory and grace.

White souls fall not, O my poet!
They rise to the sweetest place.”

When the same speaker later invited me to
write an article on some phase of nature study for
his biennial Report of the Fish and Game Com-
mission, I at once thought of his eloquent and
impressive lecture, and with that as an incentive,
as it has been during all these years, I have taken
“Tnspirations of Nature Study ” as my subject.

And I assume the risk of seeming egotistical
when I say that under this title I think can be
properly portrayed the veal aim of fish and
game interests, for this title represents the vital
substance of his entire report more truly than
what he really spoke at the time. Fish and
game! Why, the people for the most part care
nothing for a fishing rod nor a ramrod, nor for
the fish and game neither. They seek the inspi-
ration of the woods. They are alot of commend-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 189

able, excusable, harmless, admirable hypocrites,
although they don’t know it or refuse to acknowl-
edge it, or do so only with what Brer Rabbit
calls “a spell of the dry grins.”

General Sweeney’s constituents nominally seek
for a few pounds of fish and game, but in reality
they go for the rest and the refreshment of nature.
What a delicious lot of hypocrites are all these
so called lovers-of-out-doors. They beneficially
delude themselves. They are all in the same
family, brothers and sisters with the mycologists
whom Dallas Lore Sharp thus describes :

“And the collecting of mushrooms is, after all,
their real value. Our stomachs are too much
with us. It is well enough to beguile ourselves
with large talk of rare flavors, high per cents of
proteids, and small butcher’s bills; but it is
mostly talk. It gives a practical, business-like
complexion to our interest and excursions ; it backs
up our accusing consciences at the silly waste
of time with a show of thrift and economy; but
here mushroom economy ends, There is about as
much in it as there is of cheese in the moon. No
doubt tons and tons of this vegetable meat go to
waste every day in the woods and fields, just as
the mycologists say; nevertheless, according to

190 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

my experience, it is safer and cheaper to board at
a first-class hotel than in the wilderness upon this
manna, bounty of the skies though it be.

It is the Aunt for mushrooms, the introduction
through their door into a new and wondrous
room of the out-of-doors, that makes mycology
worthy and moral. The genuine lover of the
out-of-doors, having filled his basket with fungi,
always forces his day’s gleanings upon the least
resisting member of the party before he reaches
home, while he himself feeds upon the excitement
of the hunt, the happy mental rest, the sunshine
of the fields, and the flavor of the woods.”

Consciously or unconsciously to us the woods
and fields, the meadows and ravines are calling us
to our own. They are inspiring us to seek a
higher life. They want us to be like them.

‘* We are what suns and winds and waters make us;

The mountains are our sponsors, and the rills
Fashion and win their nursling with their smiles.”

And how readily comes the response in a
language varied, but always signifying the same
thing. As Thoreau has expressed it, “I would
be as pure as ye, O woods!” They are as nature
originally makes them or as she later fashions,
cuts and trims them. This may be through

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT IQI

icthyology, ornithology, botany, geology, photog-
raphy, art or poetry. Like the spokes of the
wheel held in by the tire, all pointing to the
hub, so the various occupations, struggles and
tensions of mankind, all eventually lead to
attempted restoration by the soothing hand of
nature.

In my back yard, in a wire cage about ten feet
long, I have a brood of ducks. It is amusing,
especially to the young folks, to see the charac-
teristic and unique manner in which these fuzzy
waddlers take their food. Since we have learned
that they must have one or two sips of water
between every few mouthfuls of food, we have, in
order to add to the entertainment of the row of
youngsters, who so often come to watch them,
placed the dish of food at one end of the cage,
and the pan of water at the other. Laboriously
the birds scoop up the food in their broad bills,
and strenuously jerk their heads back and forth to
shake it down their throats. The material things
of life are serious matters to them. They con-
tinue their exertions as long as they can, and
then wearily waddle over to the basin of water
and delightedly take a few sips. Now the labored
“ quacks ” give way to a sort of musical chipper,

192 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

as they gleefully trot back to the strenuous work
of getting a living. The row of young folks see
lots of fun in all this.

But isn’t it after all an epitome, a sort of par-
allel, to what a visitor from another planet might
observe if suspended in a balloon over this weary,
living-getting world of ours? The people are the
ducks, the basin of food the place of occupation
and the vessel of water the seaside, the lake, the
rivers, the books, the fields, the mountains, the
wilderness. Vigorously we labor at the centre of
material things, then tired out with much work,
or large accumulations, or both, we hurry away
for the dilutant, or that which shall make usdigest,
absorb and enjoy all that we have succeeded in
picking upin the scramble. Every train load of
excursionists to or from a city reminds me of
those ducks hurrying to or from the food and
the water. You can always tell by the appearance
of the people (and of the ducks, too!) which
place has been visited last, even if you canno
surmise it from the point of the compass which
they are leaving, or that toward which their faces
are looking.

My son, who attends to the needs of these ducks,
stops me at this point, and says that he has dis-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 193

covered an error in the parallel. He makes tlie
suggestion that there is a blunder in my figure of
speech. He says: “ They don’t act that way so
often when they get older. It is only when they
are young that they are so erratic. Then they take
a sip between every mouthful, but when they get
older, the members of the flock drink only once or
twice during the entire meal.” This suggestion of
an error in the parallel but points out all the more
effectively the truth of what I maintain. This
alleged discovery, instead of crushing me and my
parallel, actually proves my position, makes my
comparison all the more impressive and my
meaning all the more incisive. The younger
folks should go and need to go to nature more
frequently than their elders; indeed they should
be almost constantly in the presence of nature.
This is the true theory of the kindergarten.
Liberal and continuous sips of nature. The
business man can be, must be, content with
one or two or refreshing drops now and then
in the form of a few hours or of a few days’ vaca-
tion from the office, or with a more exhilarating
“drink” that shall last for a week or a month
in the woods once a year. An author can labor

continuously on a book or two, then back he
13

194 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

must go to nature for a long, refreshing recu-
perating draught. John Burroughs says of the
man who writes :

“T once saw a cow that had lost her cud. How
forlorn and desolate and sick at heart that cow
looked. No more rumination, no more of that
second and finer mastication, no more of that
sweet and juicy revery under the Spreading trees,
or in the stall, Then the farmer took an elder
and scraped the bark and put something with it,
and made the cow a cud, and after due waiting,
the experiment took, a response came back, and
the mysterious machinery was once more in mo-
tion, and the cow was herself again.”

Have you, O poet, or essayist, or story-writer,
never lost your cud, and wandered about days and
weeks without being able to start a single thought
or an image that tasted good,—your literary
appetite dull or all gone, and the conviction daily
growing that it is all over with you in that direc-
tion? A little elder-bark, something fresh and
bitter from the woods, is about the best thing you
can take.

Bryant also tells us that the author must make
visits to the “lonely stream ” for refreshment and
inspiration :

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 195

“« Though forced to drudge for the dregs of men,
And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen,
And mingle among the jostling crowd,

Where the sounds of strife are subtle and loud—
I often come to this quiet place,

I breathe the airs that ruffle thy face,

And gaze upon thee in silent dream,

For in thy lonely and lovely stream

An image of that calm life appears

That won my heart in my greener years.”

David says, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the
hills from whence cometh my strength.”

The child, the business man, the teacher, the
housekeeper, the writer, the minister, everybody
seeks inspiration from nature, everybody is a
naturalist, or a student of nature in spite of him-
self. The fisherman and the sportsman are mem-
bers of one branch of the many that form the
great company which we style ‘“‘ everybody.”

May fishermen and sportsmen “ confess and for-
sake” their cruelty; may they get their out-of-
door inspiration, and their collection of fish and
game chiefly by means of the camera and not by
rod and gun. When his followers go out with
their nerves stretched to the breaking point, and
their shoulders bowed beneath the load that
civilized life heaps upon them, until they ache and
sting and throb with the pain of such living, may

196 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

they return from the water as gleefully as do my
ducks. All nature shall combine to win them.
Even the grass by the brook along which they cast
the artificial fly, shall add to thisinspiration. Says
Richard Jefferies :

“As a few strokes from a loving hand will
soothe a weary forehead, so the gentle pressure
of the wild grass soothes and strokes away the
nervous tension born of civilized life.”

The carol of a bird is more soothing to weary
nerves than the explosive bang of a gun, and
never harmful to any living creature. A wild rose
in the buttonhole is as valuable, and as nourish-
ing to one’s esthetic nature, as a dead fish to his
animal instincts. The tendency of most of us is
to allow the animal within us to develop at the
expense and final extinction of the spiritual. The
slightest observation, even a casual reading of the
daily newspaper, will prove that. We shall be
better for this world, and for the next one too, if
we can have a few more bird songs and a few
more wild roses in our daily experience.

APPENDIX

HOW TO INTRODUCE NATURE STUDY

By Pror. H. A. SURFACE.

Economic Zoologist of Pennsylvania and
Professor of Zoology in Pennsylvania State College.

Many persons are asking if they should intro-
duce Nature Study either in the home or in the
school, and how it should be done.

The method of introducing the study depends
upon the surrounding conditions, and the motives
for its introduction. If the conditions are such
that the children or class cannot have a regular
daily period devoted to the subject, the best re-
sults cannot be obtained, yet something can be
done, as we have seen, toward awakening an in-
terest in nature. It is possible to lead pupils to
see things and understand their significance with-
out devoting a separate period to the special sub-
ject.

Again, if there are certain features of the sub-
ject that the teacher does not understand, it

is better to ignore them and teach those parts
197

I98 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

that are well known. Also, if the teacher does
not know how to teach it by the proper methods
to insure the best results, there will be no greater
merit or value in this subject than in any other.
That part of the subject to be taught should also
depend upon the specimens that occur in the
vicinity or can be obtained. The teacher must
derive lessons from natural objects rather than
use specimens merely to illustrate points made in
the lessons.

When it is decided (1) that a regular period is
to be given the subject, (2) that the teacher knows
enough about it or some part of it to treat definite
valuable points, (3) and is able to teach it in a
way to make the primary object or purpose the
development of thought, instead of merely to
give instruction, and (4) suitable material can be
procured from which to derive facts, then it is
time to introduce nature study and anticipate
the best results from hard work. But it will re-
quire application and effort in this, as in all other
pursuits. There is no royal road to success, and
nature study is no panacea for all the educational
ills of our public schools. Certainly it is possible to
make this subject of just as great intensity, and
of as great cultural value, asany other known sub-

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT I99

ject, and we really believe that when properly
taught it has greater possibilities than has any
other subject that can be undertaken. Since the
purpose is to help students to think, this cannot
be done unless the instructor thinks even deeper
and harder than do the persons whom he under.
takes to train.

If the subject is to be introduced into a system
of schools, by far the best possible way is to
engage the services of a competent specialist in
this line, to place it upon such a footing that it
can in a few years be taught entirely by the regu-
lar teachers.

If an individual teacher wishes to introduce it,
all that is necessary is to observe, or read about
some common objects of nature; learn for himself
some features of interest about them, and then
procure specimens of these objects, and placing
them before the pupils, start them in the process
of thinking or discovering for themselves the truth
or facts which the teacher has learned (no matter
by what means) about this material or phenom-
enon. It is best to have the specimens come
from the surrounding neighborhood, and if pos-
sible collected by the pupils themselves. The
same material can be used in any and all grades

200 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

if the intensity of treatment is made to vary ac-
cordingly.

It is advisable, when possible, to plan a gen-
eral series or course for the year, considering the
kind of material that is readily accessible, or phe-
nomena that can be observed at successive dates.
Although class excursions for outdoor study are
very valuable when they are conducted with but
few persons, they cannot be relied upon with full
rooms, as many experiences have proved that they
are not at all practicable. Try them, and under
certain conditions field excursions may be found
a valuable feature of nature study. These es-
sential conditions are (1) that a suitable time be
found for such excursions; (2) that the size of
the class be reduced to a number that can be
handled to advantage in the field, usually not
more than fifteen; (3) that the teachers know
where and how to go, and what todo and how to
do it. Although there are so many contingencies
here outlined that it appears discouraging, it is
far better for our readers that these conditions be
pointed out, than that they should have to learn
them by the actual, sad experiences that have be-
fallen teachers and parents in various places, who
have attempted to follow the many impracticable

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 20I

suggestions of a number of advanced theorists in
education.

It is certain that the advanced and theoretical
advocates of field studies will propose various so-
lutions for these practicable problems (practical
persons show that there are such difficulties), but
they always involve us in troubles as great as
those from which we seek to escape. To be
clearly understood, we should say that while we
have found field studies to be the soul and life of
the work in university and college courses, we can-
not advocate them for grade pupils, under the
surroundings or conditions that confront the
average teacher.

The following short rules have been derived
as the results of years of personal experience,
and may prove of value to both teachers and
parents:

1. Begin every lesson by showing either a speci-
men or an experiment, or by asking a question
about some observed phenomenon.

2. Direct pupils to observe nature whenever
they are out of the house.

3. Have pupils keep note-books of every feature
of the progress of the seasons.

4. Direct pupils to collect such specimens as

202 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT

are needed, telling them just how, where and
what to get.

5. Watch the markets, and make use of the
material they bring within range.

6. Have pupils describe and name an object and
describe its parts, before you teach them its func-
tions, habits, etc. This is “ the study of structure
before that of functions.”

7. Never tell pupils anything that reasonable
effort can lead them to learn for themselves.
They become “ doers by doing.”

8. Commend all voluntary observations and in-
dividual studies on the part of a pupil.

g. Do not make the lessons so elementary as to
make thinking unnecessary on the pupil’s part,
and do not permit them to degenerate into mere
object lessons.

10. If there is a good prescribed course avail-
able, follow it with care; but if not, use any ma-
terial obtainable, remembering that the aim is
culture, not instruction.

11. In order to teach yourself more about the
subject, do not hesitate to ask questions, by cor-
respondence or otherwise. Remember it is not
essential that the instructor should learn all his

HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 203

facts by the observational method which he asks
his pupils to adopt.

12. Review the subject in a good summer school
of the right kind, where both profit and recreation
may be obtained.

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Thorpe & Karns’ Govt, of U. S. and Tennessee,*
Thorpe & King’s Govt, of U. S. and Michigan,*
Thorpe & Knight’s Govt. of U. S. and Ohio,*
Thorpe & McCorvey’s Govi. of U. S. and Ala.*
Thorpe & McPherson's Govt. of U, S, and Ga.*
Thorpe & Milligan’s Govt. U. S, and Illinois,*
Thorpe & Rawles’ Govt, of U. S. and Indiana,*
Thorpe & Wilgus’ Govt. of U. S, and Wisconsin;*
Thorpe & Woodworth's Govt, of U. S. and
North Dakota,*
Thorpe & Young's Govt. of U. S. and Geeta 4 1
2

RSS

Fs

BSSSESIEEEESESE SS

88

Civil Government (Continued)

State Governments

Coon’s Civil Govt. of New York State,* 8
Douglas’ Civil Govt. of Connecticut,* 50
Garrison’s Civil Govt. of Texas,* 50
Hick’s Civil Govt. of Missouri,* 50
Hodder’s Civil Govt. of Kansas,* 50
Karn’s Civil Govt. of Tennessee,* 50
King’s Civil Govt. of Michigan,* 50
Knight’s Civil Govt. of Ohio,* 50
McCorvey's Civil Govt. of Alabama,* 50
McPherson’s Civil Govt. of Georgia,* 5°
Milligan’s Civil Govt. of Illinois,* 50
Rawles’ Civil Govt. of Indiana,* 50
Thorpe’s Civil Govt. of Pennsylvania,* 50
Thorpe’s Civil Govt. of Porto Rico,* 50
Wilgus’ Civil Govt. of Wisconsin,* 50
Woodworth’s Civil Govt. of North Dakota,* 50
Young’s Civil Government of Colorado,* 50

Composition and Rhetoric
Hart’s Composition and Rhetoric, Revised Ed.* 1 00

Radford’s Composition and Rhetoric,* I 00
Constitution
Constitution of the U. S. in Ger., Fr., and Eng., 50
Hart’s Constitution of the U. S.* 45
Thorpe’s Constitution of U. S., with Index* (Pocket
Edition), 35
Dictionaries
French-English—English-French Dictionary (7ke
Classic Series), 2 00
German-English—English-German Dictionary
(The Classic Series), 2 00
Latin-English—English-Latin Dictionary (The
Classic Series), 2 00
Greek-English—English-Greek Dictionary (7ke
Classic Series), 200

English-Greek Dictionary (The Classic Sertes), 1 00

Handy Italian-English—English-Italian Dict’y, x 00

—Spanish-English—English-Spanish Dict’y, 1 00
3

Dictionaries (Continued)
White’s Latin-English Dictionary,
—English-Latin Dictionary,
—Latin-English—English-Latin Dictionary,
Berry’s New Testament Lexicon, with Synonyms
(Greek-English),

Electricity

The Scholar’s A B C of Electricity* (Meadowcro/?),

Elocution and Reading (See also Speakers)
Brooks’ Manual of Elocution and Reading,*
College Girl’s Three-Minute Readings (Davis),
Fenno’s New Science and Art of Elocution,*
How to Attract and Hold an Audience*

(Esenwein),
How to Gesture: New Illustrated Edition* (Ott),
How to Use the Voice in Rdg.and Speaking* (Ott),
Selected Readings from the Most Popular Novels
(Lewis),
Ten Weeks’ Course in Elocution, A* (Coombs),
Well Planned (A) Course in Reading (Le Row),

English and American Literature

An Outline of the Books I Have Read* (paper),

How to Study Literature* (Heydrick),

Longwell’s Outlines of English and American
Literature* (paper),

Smyth’s American Literature,*

Southwick’s Short Studies in Literature,*

— Key to same,*

Trimble’s Hand Book of Literature,*

—— Short Course in Literature,*

Ethics (See also Manners and Morals)
Bierbower’s The Virtues and Their Reasons,*

Gregory’s Christian Ethics,*
Mackenzie’s Manual of Ethics,*

Etymology (Word Analysis)
Webb's Model Definer (128 pp),*
— Model Etymology (256 pp),*
— Manual of Etymology,*
4

HoH

4

French
French-English—English-French Dictionary

(The Classic Series), 2 00
Bregy’s Smith’s Guide to French Conversation,* 40
Maurice’s Grammaire en Action,* 80

German
German-English—English-German Dictionary
(The Classic Series), 2 00

German Texts, with Foot-notesand Vocab,* each: 50
—— Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell,

— Schiller’s Der Neffe als Onkel,

-— Schiller’s Jungfrau von Orleans,

—— Schiller’s Maria Stuart,

—— Lessing’s Minna von Barnhelm,

— Lessing’s Nathan der Weise,

—— Lessing’s Emilia Galotti,

—— Goethe’s Hermann und Dorothea,

Greek
Brooks’ First Lessons in Greek, with Lexicon,* 50
New Beginners’ Greek Book, A* (Frisbee) I 25

Greek-English—English-Greek Dictionary

(The Classic Series), 2 00
English-Greek Dictionary (The Classic Series), 1 00
Liddell and Scott’s Greek Lexicon (Abridged), 1 20
Berry’s New Testament Lexicon, with Syno-

nyms (Greek-English), I 00
Hebrew

Hinds & Noble’s Hebrew Grammar,* I 00
Italian

Handy Italian-English—English-Italian Dict’y. 1 00
Language Lessons, Grammar and Composition

Gideon’s Lessons in Language,* 38
— Exercises in English,* 45
Hart’s (J. M.) Essentials of Prose Composition,* 65
—— Hand Book of English Composition,* 1 00
——(J. S.) Language Lessons for Beginners,* 20
— Elementary Grammar* Revised Edition, 35
—— Eng. Grammar and Analysis,* Rev. Ed. 65
— First Lessons in Composition,* 65

—— Composition and Rhetoric,* Revised Edition, 1 00
5

Language Lessons, Gram. and Comp’n (Coxz.)

Maris’ Normal Grammar,* 50
Radford’s Composition and Rhetoric,* 1 00
Rigdon’s English Grammar for Beginners,* 4°

—— English Grammar for the Common School,* 60
—— Anal. of the Eng. Sentence with Diagrams,* 75

—— Grammar of the English Sentence,* 85
— Outlines, Infinitives, Participles* (paper), 25
Latin

Dictionaries.
Lat.-Eng.—Eng.-Lat. Dic't. (The Classic Series), 200
Latin-English Dictionary (White), 1 20
English-Latin Dictionary (White), 1 20
Lat.-Eng.—Eng.-Lat. Dicty. (White), 225

First Lessons, Grammars, Readers, etc.

Brooks’ Historia Sacra, with First Latin Lessons,* 50

Chase and Stuart's First Year in Latin,* 85

— — Latin Grammar,* 1 00

—— Latin Reader,* 75

Mitchell's Essentials of Latin,* I 00

New Beginners’ Latin Book, A* (Hoch and Bert), 1 oo
Idioms.

Cesar’s Idioms* (Mueller), 25

Cicero’s Idioms* (Mueller), a5
Prosody.

Casserly’s Latin Prosody,* 6

Texts: Caesar.

Chase and Stuart’s Cesar’s Commentaries with
Lexicon and Notes* (New Edition, 387 pp.) x 00

Beginner’s Czesar, The* (Cannon), 75

Shortest Road to Czsar* (Jeffers), 5
Cicero.

Chase and Stuart’s Cicero de Officiis, with
Notes,* 110

—Cicero de Oratore Book I, with Notes,* 65

——Cicero de Oratore Books I, II, III,with Notes,* 1 10
—Cicero’s Select Letters, with Notes,*
(Montague), 100
—Cicero’s Select Orations, with Lew, and Notes,* 1 re
6

Latin (Continued
Texts: Cicero (Cont. )

Chase and Stuart’s Cicero de Senectute et de
Amicitia, Wsth Notes,*
—Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations, w2th Notes,*
Horace

Chase and Stuart's Horace’s Odes, Satires

and Epistles, wth Notes,* 1
— —Horace (Select. from) with Lex. and Notes,* 1
Ovid,
Chase and Stuart's Ovid, with Lex. and Notes,* 1
Brooks’ New Ovid, wsth Vocabulary,* 1
Virgil.

Chase and Stuart's Virgil's =neid. First Six
Books, with Lextcon and Notes,*
——Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgics, with Lexscon
and Notes,*
Brooks’ Nev Virgil's AEneid, with Vocabulary,* 1
Other Latin Texts,
Chase and Stuart’s Cornelius Nepos, with Lextcon
and Notes, *
—Juvencl, wit?: Notes,*
—— Livy, with Notes,* I
——Pliny’s Letters, with Notes,* (Montague), I
——Sallust's Catiline et Jugurtha, wth Lextcon
and Notes,*
——Tacitus, with Notes.*
—Terence, wzth Notes,*

Letter Writing
New Text-Book on Letter Writing (A),*

Logic

Gregory's Practical Logic, *
Manners and Florals
Character: A Moral Text-Book ( Varnum), 1

Character Building (Coler ),

Lessons on Manners* (Mrs. Dewey),

Lessons on Morals* (Mrs. Dewey),

The Virtues and Their Reasons * (Bierbower), 1
7

95

Music

New Songs for Glee Clubs (paper), 5°

New Songs for Male Quartets (paper), i)

New Songs and Anthems for Church Quartets,
Octavo Edition, separate numbers, at 10 to 30

Songs of the Flag and Nation,* 50
Tlythology
Edwards’ Hand Book of Mythology,* 95
Who's Who in Mythology (1,000 Mythological
Characters Briefly Described), 7
Who's Who in History, (1,000 Classical Characters
Briefly Described), 75

Natural Philosophy

Houston’s Easy Lessons in Natura! Philosophy,* 40
—— Intermediate Natural Philosophy,* 60
~— Elements of Nat. Philos.* Revised Ed, I 00
Martindale’s First Less. in Natural Philosophy*, 40

Nature Study
Nature Study Lessons* (Crawford), 5

Parliamentary [Manuals

Howe’s Hand Book of Parliamentary Usage

(Instantaneous Arbitrator), 50
How to Organize and Conduct a Meeting (Henry), 75
Palmer’s New Parliamentary Manual, 75
Penmanship
Continental Copy Books, Nos. 1-7* (Slant Systent)
per doz. 75
Model Vertical System Copy Books, Nos, 1-7*
per doz. 75
Vertical Writing Slips, Nos. 1-7* jer doz.
sets, 75
Rational Sfanx¢ System Copy Books, Nos. 1-4*
per doz. 75
— Slant System Writing Slips, Nos, 1-4* er
doz, sets, 7s

8

Phonography

American Standard System of Phonography,*
(Scott-Browne) ¢

— Manual of Pitman Phonography,

—— Reading Exercises,

—— First Phonographic Reader,

—— Second Phonographic Reader,

—— Dictation Book,

——- Shorthand Abbreviations or Dictionary,

—— Shorthand Names and Phrases,

—— Religious Phonographic Reader,

—— Reporter’s Guide,

—— Pencil Notes,

—— Books of Business Letters, each

— Typewriter Instructor,

Physical Geography

Houston’s New Physical Geography,* (12mo.,

399 PP»)
—Physical Geography,* Old Edition, (4to.,

180 pp.)

125

1 25

Norman’s Outline of Physical and Political Geog-

raphy* (paper),
Physiology and Hygiene

Cornman and Gerson’s Physiology Primer,*
Lind’s Lessons in Physiology for Beginners,*
—Lessons in Physiol. for Schools and Colleges,*
Mills’ Physiology, Hygiene, and Narcotics,*

Physiological Charts

Mills and Leuf’s Chart—Effects of Alcohol,*
— Key to same,*

—— Our Bodies,*

— Key to same,*

Psychology

Gordy’s New Psychology,*
Rigdon’s Outline of Psychology* (paper),
Stout’s The Groundwork of Psychology,*
Stout’s Manual of Psychology,*

9

25

I 25

Punctuation

Hart’s Punctuation,*
How to Punctuate Correctly* (paper),
Punctuation Mastered in 12 Lessons* (paper),

Rhetoric (See Composition and Rhetoréc)

School Record Books

Model Monthly Report, The*, per doz,
——Pocket Register and Grade Book,*
—Roll Book, No. 1,*

—Roll Book, No. 2,*

——School Diary,* per doz.,
Quinn’s Complete Class Record Book,

—— Manual Training Class Register,

Smith’s New Class Register,

Spanish
Handy Span.-Eng.—Eng.-Span. Dictionary,

Speakers (See also Elocution)

HoH

Best, (The) American Orations of To-day, (Black-

stone),

Pieces That Have Taken Prizes in Speaking Con-

tests (Craig),

New Pieces That WilZ Take Prizes in Speaking
r

Contests (Blackstone),
Pieces for Every Occasion (Le Row),
College Men’s Three-Minute Declamations
(Davis),
Acme Declamation Book (Jager joc. ), cloth,
Handy Pieces to Speak (on separate cards),
Southern Speaker (Ross),
Lawrence’s Model Speaker,*

Spelling

Columbia Graded Speller* (Primary),

Columbia Graded Speller* (Advanced),
New Speller* (A),

Orthography and Orthoepy* (Clinger),
Westlake’s 3000 Prastice Words,*

I

B

50
25
25

State History

Du Bose’s Sketches” of Alabama History,* go
Supplementary Reading

Columbia Primer, 25

What ShallI Do? (s0 Profitable Occupations), 1 00

Going to College (Barbe), 50

Lessons on Prac. Subjects* (Hughes and Faucon), 50

The Man Who Pleases and The Woman Who
Charms (Cone), 75

Synonyms and Antonyms

Likes and Opposites* (4 Dictionary of Synonyms
and Antonyms), 50
Teachers’ Pedagogical Helps

New School Management, A* (Seeley),

I 25
Foundations of Education, The* (Seeley), I 00
Gordy’s New Psychology* (for Teachers), I 25
— A Broader Elementary Education,* I 25
Stout’s The Groundwork of Psychology, I 25
Hart’s In the Schoolroom,* I 00
Page’s Theory and Practice of Teaching (paper

oc.), cloth, I os
Mistakes in Teaching and How to Correct Them

(Preston Papers), I 00
Twentieth Century Educational Problems
(Millar), I 00
Science of Study, The* (Moore), 00
Best Methods of Teaching in Country Schools
(Lind), I ag
Roark’s Outline of Pedagogy 5
po Lessons Outlined in Arith., Geog., Eng. Gram.,
U.S. Hist., and Physiol. (Lind), 135
How to Become Quick at Figures (so Mew Short
Cuts), I 00
Manuals for Teachers (5 volumes,)* each, 42

— Vol. I. On the Cultivation of the Senses,

— Vol. II. On the Cultivation of the Memory,

—— Vol. III, On the Use of Words,

— Vol. IV. On Discipline,

— Vol. V. On Class Teaching.

Methods of Teaching Gymnastics (Anderson), rag
ux

Trigonometry

Whitaker’s Elements of Trigonometry,* I 00
United States History

Henry’s New Normal History of the U. S.,* 100

Joseph’s Institutional History of U S.,* I 50

—— Methods and Outlinesin U. S. History (paper),* 35

— Outline of U. S. History (paper),* 15

Thorpe’s History of U. S.* (From Discovery to
Revolution), 4°

— HBistory of U, S, for Junior Classes,* 80