894 Rural School Leaflet. 



NOTES 



Point of View. — " In our day of science, people seem to be afraid 

 of figures of speech. The scientist forbids us to personify; and this is 

 well. But this spirit may be carried so far as to forbid metaphor and to 

 condemn parables. Speech cannot be literally accurate. Even astrono- 

 mers say that the sun sets, but we know that it does not. To say that 

 a potato-plant works all the season in order to provide for its offspring 

 the next year is said to give a wrong conception of the plant because it 

 implies motive. But does this picture mislead anyone? Everybody 

 knows that a potato-plant has no brains. Everybody knows that the 

 statement conveys a truth. If the phrase is not justifiable, then it is a 

 question whether I may sa}'- that a potato has eyes. Much of the objection 

 to statements of this kind is mere quibbling. 



" But, on the other hand, all such allegories must be true .in spirit 

 and in their teaching value. Much of the current writing of plants and 

 animals by which human motives are implied, is productive of harm; 

 but we should distinguish between metaphor, or mere literary license, 

 and an untrue point of view. The ultimate test is Avhcther the reader 

 is led to believe what is not true. An animal or a plant may be repre- 

 sented as telling its own story without misleading anyone, even as a 

 character in a novel may speak in the first person; we need not imply 

 human motives or human points of view in these cases: there' remain 

 only the questions as to whether this is really good literary taste, and 

 whether it is the most effective way to reach the audience for which 

 it is intended. In general, a direct and lucid presentation, without 

 circumlocution and invention, is to be preferred; and this direct method 

 allows of the full expression of sentiment and the poetic impulse. 



" I protest against that teaching of nature which runs into thin senti- 

 mentalism, which makes the 'goody-goody' part of the work so promi- 

 nent that it becomes the child's point of view, whether the writing 

 is in prose or verse. 



" The spirit of science lends itself well to song, 'j'he concrete is not 

 unpoetic. If in this day we apostrophize and personify nature less, we 

 have improved in the spirit and intimacy of our song. The point of 

 view gradually has shifted from human interest in natural things to 

 the things themselves. We need a free nature poetry that will give 

 us confidence and a firm hold on life." — L. H. Bailey in The Nature 

 Study Idea 



Corn Day. — In the May issue of the Cornell Rural School Leaflet we 

 intend to publish a list of the schools in New York State that celebrate 

 Corn Day. We shall then be able to know in what counties active interest 



