794 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



too, must be varied according to the age and tastes of the child. 

 Rightly presented, any one of the subjects named will soon win 

 the respect, love, and enthusiasm of any child not hopelessly 

 spoiled by too early dissipation in artificial social life. Such 

 studies are one of the best correctives of this evil, and I have seen 

 them cure some painful cases of it. 



To a school where I was teaching there once came a child of 

 nine, with manner and face plainly stamped with artificial life, 

 and for weeks her teachers despaired of ever seeing any genuine, 

 simple feeling. The child did not for a moment lose a painful 

 self -consciousness which did not forget to air her charms at the 

 entrance of a visitor, or when she wore a new article of apparel, 

 as she frequently did. The first time she was asked to make a 

 bill of materials which she might buy — materials of any kind — 

 simply to show how bills are written, her bill began : 



To one pink satin ball dress $80, 



" one pair white kid boots $15, 



and proceeded through eight or ten similar items of fancy and 

 expensive dress. After our first vacation of one week this child 

 returned with a glad, eager look on her face, and, going close to 

 her teacher, said : " I am so glad school has begun again. There 

 is nothing interesting going on at home." From that day her 

 manner gradually changed ; she came to love the stones, flowers, 

 and animals wmich we studied, and her face lost its blank, soulless 

 look and became sweet and gentle. This change in expression 

 was so marked as to be spoken of by a frequent visitor. 



Materials for study in any department of natural science are 

 so abundant that it seems almost unnecessary to touch upon this 

 topic. The greater abundance of botanical and zoological mate- 

 rial in summer invites to those studies at that season, while phys- 

 ical and chemical studies may quite as well receive attention in 

 winter ; but with care and a small outlay in money any of these 

 studies may be pursued at any season. A window garden, where a 

 child may plant seeds at varying intervals and then pull them up 

 and examine the whole plant at different stages of growth, is pos- 

 sible at any season ; but this had better be done in early spring, 

 when the vegetation starting out of doors increases the interest of 

 the child and supplements his work. 



The preservation of materials and the formation of collections 

 are important. Encourage the child's efforts in this direction. 

 Let the boys and girls make shelves, boxes, or cabinets in which 

 to keep the collections. A set of wood-working tools and ability 

 to use them will be a useful adjunct to natural-science study. 



"Whatever a child collects should be received with a smile of 

 encouragement, no matter how worthless it is, until he has gained 

 some power of discrimination. Let a mother refrain from show- 



