252 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and the flowers bloom ; and there must be a collection of the com- 

 mon stones and rocks. 



The teacher should prepare for his lesson by observation of 

 the specimens which he is to show ; the children should examine, 

 describe, compare, and classify. They should not consider in one 

 lesson all the af)etalous families, but should learn to know the 

 gilliflower, the violet, the blossom of the oak, all which they may 

 gather for themselves. They may perhaps be ignorant of dis- 

 eases of the bone and the operations they require, but they will 

 know the furnishings of a cat's mouth and the peculiarities of 

 the rabbit's, and what distinguishes them both from ours. At the 

 end of the year they will have a very small burden of natural his- 

 tory, but they will have acquired good habits of mind, their intel- 

 lectual faculties will be developed, and, what is even more impor- 

 tant, they will love science and will have a taste for learning. 

 The habit of observation will be exercised out of school hours, 

 and even after they have graduated they will experience an in- 

 creased pleasure in their walks which will react upon their phys- 

 ical and moral health. Translated from the Bulletin de la Societe 

 Zoologique de France, tome 20. 



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THE BORDER LAND OF TRAMPDOM. 



By C. W. noble. 



LAST summer it was my fortune to spend the vacation on a 

 unique trip through Michigan. My chum and I went down 

 to Berrien Springs to try our hand selling books, but a week of 

 this kind of life sufficed to show us that the rapid road to fortune 

 did not lie here, as the advertisements would lead us to believe, 

 and we abandoned books, bag, and baggage and joined the great 

 army of men "on the road." Our outfit was very simple. We 

 bought a coil of steel wire, a pair of pliers, and a wooden frame 

 to bend the wire over to make tidy-holders. This was our means 

 of support. Besides this we had a small satchel containing an 

 extra shirt apiece, two clean collars, and other things which we 

 might otherwise find necessary to buy on the way. When we 

 traveled we commonly shipped our goods by freight to some 

 point about a week in advance on our route and then made our 

 way there as best we could, supporting ourselves en route by sell- 

 ing our tidy-holders. On these occasions we varied our costumes 

 somewhat. We buttoned our clean collars to our collar buttons 

 in the back of our shirts so that they hung down our backs under 

 our vests, and carried them there until we needed them, when we 

 made a change. We also wore overalls, which served to keep our 



