MOTHERS AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 789 



no mind is so helplessly set that it can not be drawn forth and di- 

 rected into other molds. What a mother can do to interest her 

 children in natural science depends npon her power to direct 

 herself and to master the conditions of her life. Suppose that 

 power is sufficient, how shall she begin ? A mother may think 

 that she needs trained guides, lest she make mistakes and waste 

 precious time and strength. She may wish to know what mate- 

 rials to collect, what books to buy, when and where to get the 

 materials and books, how much time and money they will cost, and 

 what she is to do with them when obtained. Every mother has a 

 right to ask these questions of any one who urges her to under- 

 take to awaken in her children a vital interest in Nature's phe- 

 nomena ; but all that the writer of this paper can hope to do is to 

 give suggestions which may lead a mother to find elsewhere the 

 definite answers required. 



A mother may begin to study with her children the ever- 

 changing phenomena that surround daily life. The house is 

 full of lessons. Various departments of science have contributed 

 to its building and furnishing. There is scarcely an industry that 

 is not represented in some room ; the kitchen is a laboratory in 

 which the truths of chemistry and physics are illustrated, and 

 the table is supplied with gifts from the three kingdoms of na- 

 ture; and to produce these, to transport them, and to prepare 

 them for use, numberless natural agents have worked tirelessly 

 and long. And out of doors — Nature's phenomena — where are 

 they not ? The snow and rain bring them ; the ice locks them 

 across the pond and the south wind picks the lock, the breezes 

 blow them, the birds sing them, the brooks murmur them ; every 

 tree and flower, every stone and clod wait to tell their story ; the 

 waves wash their treasures to the shore ; the rainbow is their ex- 

 pression ; the glories of morning and evening write them on the 

 sky ; the sunlight comes and goes, bringing the wonders of night 

 and day, of storms and seasons; and all night the stars speak 

 of times and spaces our mathematics can not yet compute, and of 

 events before which our short earth-lives shrink into nothing- 

 ness. 



What shall a mother take from this vast store to give to her 

 children ? Before answering this question it is proper to consider 

 what purpose natural-science studies may serve in the education 

 of a child ; and to do this, the objects of education itself must be 

 known. The supreme object of education is, without doubt, the 

 development of the individual to the utmost limits his conscious- 

 ness can grasp in this earth -life ; some of the lesser objects are 

 a vocation and success in it, pleasant social relations, ability to 

 help the unfortunate, interest in national affairs, and a love of 

 the virtues ; and all these may be included under the expression 



