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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



In contrast to the achievements of these boys by a wise use of spare 

 moments, we can but wonder what these hours would have counted 

 for if there had been no museum, no books and no sympathetic per- 

 sonality to offer an occasional useful suggestion. 



Some have maintained that physics and electricity are subjects 

 not germane to museum work, and that a museum should remain 

 loyal to its old purpose of collecting, preserving, classifying and ex- 

 hibiting objects of scientific value. While the original object of a 

 museum should be kept in mind, we must not lose sight of the fact 



Mother Crow and Fledglings on the Nest. In the Bird Room. 



that a children's museum calls for such modifications and adaptations 

 of methods as will enable children to use it, and here we must remember 

 that the keynote of childhood and youth is action. Any museum 

 ignoring this principle of activity in children must fail to attract them. 

 The Children's Museum does not attempt to make electricians of its 

 boys, nor is its purpose to do the work of any school. Its object is 

 rather to understand the tastes and interests of is little people and to 



