NATURE-PLAY 



33i 



not have four feet, as he has hitherto believed. In addition, the cat, 

 like himself, has two eyes, one nose, one mouth, two ears, a heart, lungs, 

 stomach, and, in all respects, is built very much like a human being. 

 After fellowship in play, the child becomes conscious of the most 

 important fact of all : that the cat is intelligent and, in addition to 

 feelings and instinctive actions, has a sense of humor, malevolent and 

 affectionate emotions, thinks and reasons, not indeed with a human mind 

 but with a cat mind. After this, the boy is not so apt to throw a stone 

 at the cat, for he may hit his cousin. He now begins to distinguish the 



Three Cousins. 



animals who are his friends, to be loved and protected, from those like 

 the fly, who are his enemies, to be eliminated. While learning to love 

 nature, the child should not be influenced by a sickly sentimentality, 

 which prefers to allow flies to live rather than the little babies whom 

 these dangerous animals infect with disease germs. 



In our nature-play, one type of animal, or plant, or a few closely 

 related forms, is taken for each week. The course comprehends more 

 than the interpretation of the structure and behavior of the isolated 

 types. The relationship to one another, and to the child, of these living 



