PEDAGOGICAL 



251 



terested in anything' connected with 



nature. 



Then, too, a thing we nature people 

 are more than prone to overlook, there 

 are many things besides nature that 

 must be attended to in school. Writ- 

 ing, reading, figuring, map study and 

 spelling are not incidentals; they are 

 essentials, and man}-, many teachers, 

 even good ones, have nearly all they 

 can do to give proper attention to 

 these, particularly in ungraded schools, 

 of which there are many in the state, 

 where the teacher has to work out a 

 programme for the ordinary routine of 

 the school work that would prove a 

 pretty hard task for some of us who are 

 so ready to force upon her work fo: 

 which she is fitted neither by inclina- 

 tion nor training. 1 have seen pro- 

 grammes for nature study that would 

 actually bar out of the curriculm much 

 that is absolutely essential in order that 

 a child may gain the ability to keep a 

 proper place in the community. We 

 must not simply be distrustful of this 

 sort of thing; we must prevent it. It is 

 a thing we hate to acknowledge, those 

 of us who would prefer to spend our 

 days in the fields ; but it is none the 

 less true that for a vast majority of the 

 children of a state like this, nature 

 study must be, in quantity at least, a 

 minor matter. Indirectly, and by 

 pervading, in a certain restricted sense, 

 a large part of the school work, it may 

 be made to have tremendous value and 

 influence ; it may serve as the leaven in 

 the lump ; but we must remember that 

 without the major ingredients no 

 leaven would be needed. 



One thing I must mention as stand- 

 ing against change with us; that is, 

 tradition, that ancient stumbling block 

 of progress. From our schools have 

 arisen men and women in countless 

 numbers wdio have done work that 

 needed to be done for the country and 

 the world. In far greater proportion 

 than in newer parts of the country, 

 these have seemed in large measure to 

 be a product of our schools. It is 

 easy for educational people in a new 

 country, where nothing has been tried, 

 to veer and turn in all directions, and 

 to sneer at those who hold steadily to 

 a course. It is hard for us to change 



from a course prescribed by traditions 

 that have so much to make them 

 sacred. Rightly or wrongly, we cling 

 to the old, and look askance at the 

 new, because we have accomplished, 

 and are accomplishing, positive things, 

 and we hesitate to step out on uncer- 

 tain ground. It is an interesting, and 

 a significant thing, that in the south, 

 where a rapid upbuilding of school 

 systems is going on, they rely upon 

 Connecticut and other parts of New 

 England for example and inspiration in 

 their work. 



Now, having said all this, let me add, 

 although it may imply an apparent 

 contradiction, that I am as firmly con- 

 vinced as you can be that nature study 

 is important and valuable, and that it 

 does not hold the place it should hold 

 in our schools. I am an ardent om- 

 of-door man myself; and I would cer- 

 tainly bring the out-of-doors into the 

 schoolroom, and the schoolroom out- 

 of-doors, to any extent possible. I 

 know, however, that in the case of the 

 greater part of the teachers in our 

 common schools, they must be told, in 

 this connection, exactly what to teach 

 and when to teach it. You are exactly 

 right in implying that materials are 

 what Ave want, and that generalities 

 are of practically no value at all. 



Nature Study. 



BY W. H. WISMAN, NEW PARIS, O. 

 Oh, for the boy who loves the charm 

 Of strolling idly arm in arm 

 Around the woodland's solitude, 

 With Nature in her sweetest mood; 

 Who is content to sit and dream, 

 Beside the silvery, rippling stream, 

 Or watch the stars that stud the sky. 

 Like gems in Heaven's canopy. 



Oh, for the girl who longs to know 

 How trees and flowers and grasses grow; 

 Who is content, hour after hour, 

 To sit and watch the opening flower; 

 Who starts not at the pheasant's whirr, 

 Hears music in the cricket's chirr, 

 Finds beauty to her soul's content, 

 Along the sunset firmament. 



Tis these who cannot fail to wrest 

 From out old Mother Nature's breast 

 The key that will unlock her doors, 

 And thus reveal her hidden stores 

 Of wonders that we all may learn, 

 If we with patience to her turn, 

 Climb trustingly upon her knees, 

 And delve into her mysteries. 



