786 



Rural School Leaflet 



BOYS AND GIRLS 



The Editor 



Summer is almost here and with it comes vacation. 

 I Hke to think of the rosy-cheeked girls and freck- 

 led-faced boys in the country who will be free 

 to work and play out of doors through the 

 long, long summer days. To help father in the 

 fields or to help mother in the home will give work 

 enough, but there will probably be time to spend 

 m.any hours with chipmunk or squirrel or gay robin 

 redbreast, or in finding some new wood or way- 

 side plant that you have never seen before. In 

 times of leisure you can add much to your nature 

 knowledge and boys and girls should not neglect 

 this. 

 ^^ The world needs persons who have knowl- 

 - edge of natiu-e because all agriculture is 

 founded on this knowledge. There is always a 

 demand for the successful farmer and there is also 

 a demand for the man in the city who is awake to 

 his surroundings. This is why we want boys and 

 girls in the public schools to study natural forces 

 and objects. If you become farm folk in the future 

 you will then have preparation to become successful farmers. If you go to 

 the city to live you will find that your training in the study of nature 

 will help you in any line of work. 



A boy or girl who wants to live well should train the senses. To see, 

 to hear, to feel, to taste, to smell — all are important. As you grow older 

 you will know that many persons have failed to make the most of one or 

 more of these gifts. If any one of the senses is neglected while we are 

 young we can never have the use of its full power. I am going to ask 

 you, therefore, to learn all that you can through sight, sound, touch, taste, 

 and smell. - There are hundreds of ways in which you will do this all by 

 yourselves. I am going to suggest some things to think about along this 

 line, that come to me as I write. 



SOME THINGS TO SEE 



I. The dawn of the new day: what it reveals in the sky, in the fields, 

 in the distant trees, in the life in and about the farm. 2. Sunset time. 

 How many different colors will you see during the spring and summer 



