1 08 THE NA T( 'RE-STUD V RE VIE IV [ 2 : 3 - MA rch, .906 



or aims for the trip just as she would have for any school lesson. (3) 

 On the trip the teacher's whole thought should be with the children, 

 seeino- nature from their standpoint as much as possible, and the 

 children's whole attention should be with the teacher. All should 

 see, hear and talk about things together, there should be no division 

 of forces whatever. (4) The teacher must remember the activity of 

 the children and supply proper channels for it. 



This then is what primary nature-study can do for city children. It 

 can develop the senses and start that habit of mind which looks for 

 and thinks out relations. It can give them a love of the beautiful in 

 nature and a respect and care for the helpless. It can give such a 

 strong immediate interest in plant and animal life that the child 

 not only will be led to beautify his home, but will spend a part at 

 least of his Saturdays and time after school in his home garden or 

 with his pets or in trips to the fields and woods. The ways in which 

 these results can be obtained have been in part suggested. It must 

 be added that there must be concerted action and continuous effort 

 throughout the months of the year and the years of the primary 

 school. 



What sort of teacher can handle nature-study in the limited time 

 allowed in a crowded curriculum so as to bring about these results ? 

 The one thing essential — for the spirit in primary nature-study is 

 everything — is that she herself should have felt the influence of 

 nature. She must at some time in her life have felt sympathy not 

 only with man but with all life. She must have felt the quiet beauty 

 of the blue flags in the marsh ; have been uplifted by the purity of 

 the woodthrush's song ; or have been filled with reverence that the 

 power we call life can change the tiny, dry seed into hundreds of 

 gay flowers and green leaves. She must realize that nature is man's 

 friend, not his enemy. She must be eager to learn, as advances in 

 science and civilization go on, the details concerning man's best 

 attitude toward nature, the attitude that will allow man to control and 

 use, yet not destroy. Such a teacher, a lover of nature and a lover 

 of humanity (she should be the latter or she should not be teaching 

 children at all), can have so much influence for the immediate good 

 and for the future happiness of the children under her charge, that 

 we stand in awe before the majesty of her work. The primary 

 teacher in city schools has it in her power to become one of the 

 greatest forces of modern times, shaping for good the destinies not 

 only of individuals but of the nation and the race. 



