Ii6 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



tage of the cat having retractile 

 claws? While Mary is trying to 

 find how many toes the cat has on 

 its front foot the others may be Won- 

 dering what Mary is going to say. 

 Helen may give the cat some milk. 

 (Probably all need to stretch their 

 muscles by now.) And so it goes for 

 the assigned time. There is no doubt 

 in the mind of the visitor as to which 

 person is the teacher. As to the 

 pupils — they are all worker bees 

 cramped in the same kind of a cell. 



competition is started in the prep- 

 aration of fish, — others join the game. 

 Professor Palmer has described in 

 detail many socialized nature activi- 

 ties in his Cornell leaflets. Many 

 such games arise impromptu. Every 

 member of the hive is like the queen 

 bee with plenty of room and food for 

 growth. The period of growth is 

 not arbitrarily put down as thirty 

 minutes, or at 10 a. m. or for the 

 last week in January in the third 

 grade. There is doubt in the mind 

 of the visitor as to which one is the 

 leader. And to the life of the camper 

 has been added another of those never 

 to be forgotten experiences. 



5. Nature-study is something that 

 is taught. 



In this respect it is not unlike the 

 three R's. The same dose is pre- 

 scribed in all cases with absolutely 

 no regard for the requirements. 

 Yet nothing has been suggested in 

 the nature-lore method that could 

 not be applied in the school. Peter 

 Bell never went to school in the woods 

 as did Thoreau. Peter Bell went to 

 the three R's every day. And he 

 went into a nature-study class. And 

 when he came out he thought that a 

 primrose was a primrose. How could 

 he think otherwise? If there was 

 nothing contagious how could he 

 catch anything? And who is taking 

 Peter Bell, and your boy and my boy 

 to the woods as we were taken? 



5. Nature-lore is something that 

 is caught. 



This audience is supposedly in- 

 terested in nature. You were born 

 naturalists. Everyone is a born 

 naturalist but is usually killed as a 

 naturalist before he is ten. You 

 escaped the killing-off process. Right 

 here I wish to ask a personal question: 

 Was your early interest for nature 

 kindled in the four walls of a school 

 room or did you catch the enthusiasm 

 outside? I have my mother to thank 

 for the song of the robin in the old 

 "high-top" tree. And one of the 

 greatest days of my life was when 

 Dad took me "bobbing eels." A 

 nature-study lesson could never 

 take the place of these experiences. 

 These experiences are nature-lore. 



6. Nature-study starts and stops 

 with a bell. 



Arithmetic is arithmetic no matter 

 whether the bluebird flies South or 

 the bluebird flies North, and arithme- 

 tic it must be. 



6. Natuie-lore comes at anytime. 



It is not scheduled and may not 

 be planned. It may happen on the 

 way to breakfast or during a mid-day 

 rest. It may interrupt a baseball 

 game or it may tip over a canoe. 



