i oo THE NA TURE-STUD Y RE VIE W [2 : 3 _ M ARCH) , 9 o6 



school work should have the one of joyousness. Many of the chil- 

 dren of our cities have none too much joy in their lives, and if happy 

 are so in spite of circumstances ; yet on the happiness or unhappiness 

 of the child will depend very largely the nature of the man or woman. 



Admit that nature-study tends to the natural and best development 

 of the child. If this subject is to absorb any great amount of time 

 in a school curriculum, its claim should be the need of the nation. 



What are the facts ? 



All experience and biological law show that we are in a large 

 measure the result of our environment. Then our question is — 

 " What environment will best train citizens ?" Let us take nature- 

 study's method and observe the times and the resulting man in 

 America. 



But a short period ago our country consisted of scattered farms 

 and villages set down in clearings in the great forest. Gradually merr 

 moved west but always to a wild unsettled country where there were 

 dangers in the very forest or prairie, and where there was in the mere 

 struggle for a livelihood close and hard contact with nature. There 

 were but a few weeks or months of school during the year, and books 

 alone were studied. However, the education of the boy — and of the 

 girl too —contained more nature-study and manual training than any- 

 thing else, but these were obtained in the work and play of the home. 

 We know the kind of man that resulted from this training. Many 

 of our leaders like Lincoln were examples, but all the host of men 

 that made the nation had the same qualities in greater or less degree. 

 They were earnest, self-reliant and high-minded. 



The times have changed and very little of the old environment is 

 left. Instead there is the crowded life in cities with their closely con- 

 nected suburbs. The education of the future citizen is obtained in 

 city homes (which often yield mere food and shelter), in city streets 

 and places of amusement or of business, in the public schools and 

 perhaps for the few in the college. New and greater opportunities 

 are in the life, but surely there are greater dangers than ever came 

 from forest or prairie, for they threatened the life of the individual 

 while these may eventually threaten the life of the nation. Indeed it 

 would seem that many of the city children of today might become 

 the very opposites of their forefathers in regard to the qualities of 

 earnestness, determination, self-reliance and high-mindedness. 



What active influences can be brought into the education of the 

 child to pull counter to the dangerous influences of city life ? Turn 



