given] fundamental needs in nature-study 113 



While we want the child not only to observe and reason about 

 natural things but to enjoy nature as well, the fact remains that 

 just in proportion as his powers of observation and reason have 

 been trained on the material of nature, will he be able to approach 

 that personal appreciation which, with its accompanying in- 

 fluences, all admit is the final purpose of the nature work. Some- 

 where Goethe has said "Man sieht nur was man weiss," and 

 certainly this is nowhere truer than in appreciation of the beauti- 

 ful in nature. Once we have examined an object or phenomenon, 

 our attention and interest is more quickly attracted a second 

 time, and with the constant reappearance of kindred phenomena 

 -ve are stimulated to seek out relationships, and we thus grow in 

 appreciation of the fitness and beauty of nature. No amount of 

 ecstacy on the part of the teacher will arouse this in the child. 

 As his knowledge of the facts of nature broaden, nature must 

 make its own appeal. I believe I am safe in saying that to one 

 who is training teachers of nature-study this very question of 

 sentiment towards nature is the most unmanageable one that 

 confronts him. If any favorable recommendations are made at 

 all, the chances are that by the time the matter filters down to 

 the young child it has dwindled into the veriest twaddle. 



Sentiment is of so ethereal a nature and appeals to different 

 persons in such diverse forms and degrees that it is a hazardous 

 undertaking to try to engraft ones own variety upon another 

 personalitv. While the great painter or literary artist may ac- 

 complish this with some degree of success, it seems saner to 

 recommend to the teacher of nature-study to attempt it but 

 sparingly. Certainly the personality of the young child is far 

 from being ready for the sentiments of the adult. The apprecia- 

 tive attitude toward nature which radiates unconsciously from 

 the intelligent lover of natural beauty is usually of far greater 

 value in its effects upon his childish associates than any amount of 

 conscious inculcation of sentiment can be. A teacher full of the 

 spirit that emanates from such works as Lubbock's "Beauties of 

 Nature," Van Dyke's "Nature for its own Sake," or the writings 

 of Thoreau, Ruskin, Burroughs and Gilbert White, will un- 

 consciously imbue his pupils with the proper attitude toward 

 nature in the full measure of their respective capacities. It is a 

 safe rule to say, first know the thing. After that there is ample 

 time to see how this same or similar things have affected the 

 sentiments of our best writers of prose and poetry. 



