84 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



for food and for protection. The joy of studying the ways of living 

 things, of appreciating nature as it is, of loving life because 

 God made it and because it is kin to ours, seems to be rare among 

 boys. Froebel was right when he insisted that children should be 

 taught to cultivate flowers, but not to pluck them ; to nourish and 

 preserve life, but not to take it. 



The first thing we have to do is to root out this killing mania 

 among children. It seems to be due to a mixture of fear, cruelty, 

 and thoughtlessness. Whatever it be, love of nature is the antidote. 

 I have seen a boy carrying snakes in his pocket and making pets 

 of toads and frogs. That is the way I should have all children 

 feel toward nature. I canvassed a class recently to find out 

 how many boys killed things last summer. Every boy had killed 

 something. Some had caught fish, some had shot birds, or 

 squirrels, most of them had killed flies, mosquitoes, or cockroaches. 

 I have seen boys tearing the legs from living frogs with no more 

 sense of cruelty than if thay had crushed a piece of inanimate 

 rock. I believe it is the duty of teachers to destroy this lust for 

 blood. My visit to the slaughter-houses of Kansas City and 

 Chicago alm.ost turned me into a vegetarian; for I shudder yet, 

 after an interval of twenty years, when I recall the horrible scenes I 

 witnessed there. I would teach my boy to be kind to animals; 

 to admire flowers and shrubs in the city parks but not to pluck 

 and destroy them. 



Gardening has an important apperceptive value. The city 

 child lives in a very artificial environment. All literature is 

 full of figures of speech based on nature, and the school readers 

 still assume experience with the barnyard and the farm.* Many 

 of the adult city dwellers of this generation were reared in the 

 country, and it is difficult for them to realize how inadequate is the 

 back-ground of city-bred children for the interpretation of the 

 books they read and the instruction they receive. This is what 

 G. Stanley Hall means when he says that two weeks in the country 

 will often give a child m.ore real education than a term at school. 

 Numerous studies have been made of children's comprehension of 

 language, and all agree in the conclusion that the country 



* Professor Daniel Staich has analyzed the material of ten school readers now in use in each 

 of the eight grades. For the first three grades the average proportion of space devoted by 

 these readers to animals is 20%, to plants 5.7%, to geography and travel 1.7%. This is a 

 total of 27% of space devoted to subjects based upon experiences of country life. See The 

 Twentieth Yearbook, Pt. II, National Society for the Study of Education. 



