1264 Rural School Leaflet 



prepare for them. An exhibit of fruit or corn or the eggs and feathers 

 of poultry, or a general nature-study exhibit, will bring about a broader 

 interest than will many formal lessons along agricultural lines. Often 

 schools prepare exhibits for the county fair, and some for the state fair. 

 Many send exhibits to the State College for Farmers' Week. This year 

 we should like one nature-study exhibit, and also two ears of corn, from 

 each rural school in New York State. (See page 1276.) This should be 

 sent to Ithaca by January 31, addressed to the Department of Rural 

 School Education, College of Agriculture, Ithaca, New York. 



There should be at least one field trip each year, in which the children 

 have an opportunity to share out-of-door experiences with the teacher. 

 No matter how little knowledge of nature any of the group may have, 

 the trip will be worth the while. In the springtime many specimens of 

 plant life can be collected for future discussion at school. In winter a 

 short trip into the snow-covered fields or woodland will give joys that will 

 never be forgotton. Who does not remember the older persons who 

 gave them out-of-door companionship? The following poem presents 

 this idea in a very attractive manner: 



GRAMP 



James Buchnam 



" What a man to fish and camp! 

 What a man to hunt and tramp 

 Up and down the woods was Cramp! 



" How he led me high and low, 

 Plunging through the brush and snow, 

 Boylike, how I loved to go I 



" O, the sweet days that we spent 

 In the forest's pure content; 

 O, the long, still miles we went! 



" Keen-eyed Gramp, how well he knew 

 Where the biggest berries grew, 

 Where the witchlike woodcock flew. 



" Learned was he in all the lore 

 Of the woodwise men of yore, — 

 Subtle knowledge taught no more. 



' ' A h ! a happy boy was I, 

 Loving God's free air and sky, 

 With dear Gramp to teach me why." 



