THE HEAVENS IX MAY 



345 



in the evening. It will attain its great- 

 est brilliance on May 30. The obser- 

 ver who during April watched its 

 change of phase as it diminished to a 

 narrow, silvery crescent has now an 

 opportunity to observe its equally in- 

 teresting and rapid increase, the horns 

 of the crescent now being turned in 

 an opposite direction from that seen 

 when Venus was an evening star. 



Children's Interest in Nature Material. 



Dr. Elliot R. Downing, of The School 

 of Education, the University of Chicago, 

 Chicago, Illinois ,has made a careful an- 

 alysis of the letters and informaton per- 



B 



D 



GRAPH OF CHILDREN'S INTERESTS.— A, 

 Plant Material; B, Animal; C, Physical; D, Mis- 

 cellany. One-sixteenth inch equals one per cent. 



taining thereto that have appeared in the 

 "Nature and Science" Department of "St. 

 Nicholas," for more than a decade. He 

 says as follows : 



"It is quite apparent that the letters 

 that are printed are more or less typical 



and the data are herewith presented. The 

 same question was answered in the de- 

 partment only three times. There were 

 732 children who asked questions or made 

 observations, of whom 301 were boys and 

 441 girls : 1 1(> of the boys was 11.90 years, 

 of the girls 12.08 years. 



"Observations are given in 295 cases; 

 447 questions are asked, making a total 

 of "42. Of this total 20.6 per cent, con- 

 cerns plant material, 61 per cent, animal 

 material, 11.6 per cent, physical material 

 and 1.8 per cent, miscellany that can be 

 classed under neither of these heads, 

 largely observations on the enjoyment of 

 the beauty and companionship of nature. 

 The graphic representation of these per- 

 centages makes it very clear that a child's 

 interest in animals is the major interest." 



An article in "The Nature-Study Re- 

 view" for December, 1912, gives further 

 statistics, percentages, etc., in an effort 

 to ascertain what in nature most interests 

 children. The accompanying diagram 

 shows how far ahead animals surpass in 

 attractiveness all the other departments 

 of what we call Natural Science. 



The First Robin. 



BY EDMUND J. SAWYER, ADAMS. NEW YORK 



The churchyard trees by wail and moan, 



And naked boughs that hoarsely creak and 

 swing, 

 And frosted trunks that coldly groan, 



Proclaim stern Winter yet is reigning king. 

 But hark ! — a sweeter sound is heard, 



The anthem of the first returning thrush; 

 And see! — the figure of a bird 



Is drawn above the pale, cold, sunset flush. 

 He sings of joys he knows not of, 



Of warmer suns, but knows not what nor 

 why ; 

 Yet sure his sun of joy and love; 



Though he were silent, sure his summer sky. 

 And dare I trust that where enow, 



Over the graves of hopes which sadly rest, 

 I hear but moan of naked bough, 



My cup of faith itself a snow-filled nest. 

 There yet shall be a summer day, 



Knowledge were even faith was dead of late, 

 If I will sing as best I may, 



Or cling but to the leafless boughs — and wait? 



Puzzled on the Origin of Life. 



Ernest Thompson-Seton said, "I asked 

 a little boy in one of my camps to tell 

 me something wonderful about birds. 



" 'Why,' said the little boy, 'how they 

 come out of the eggs, that's wonderful.' 



' 'Now,' I went on, 'tell me something 

 about them more wonderful still' 



" 'Why,' he answered, 'it's more won- 

 derful how they ever got inside the 

 eggs.' " — Cincinnati Enquirer. 



