100 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:3— Mar., 1917 



A few years ago a certain museum spent several thousand 

 dollars in putting up an industrial exhibit that involved much of 

 science, of mechanics, of geography, history and art, directly 

 related to the work of the schools. One of the superintendents 

 of the schools said, in refusing to let the pupils come as a part 

 of their school work, "We have constantly to defend our schools 

 against the well-meant efforts of people who would distract them 

 from their fundamental function of teaching reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic." 



But at least the janitor's resistance can be largely overcome by 

 museum cooperations. A case of birds, lent by the New York 

 Museum is compact and clean. The teachers of Brooklyn and 

 Boston, doing their science work in the parks around their children's 

 museums, make no litter. Our specimens of minerals, a case 

 for each child, and a larger one for the teacher, accompanied by 

 neatly mounted related pictures, and with a half-dozen books on 

 the same subject from the library in which our museum is housed, 

 incommode no one. 



The teacher who does not know the details of her subject is 

 succored by the museum. One hardly expects the museum 

 docent to do the actual teaching, but in small places this really 

 happens. One of Miss Griffin's most telling stories is of her talk 

 to the teachers, at Saint Johnsbury, on how to familiarize their 

 pupils with birds. She noticed on the faces of her audience 

 expressions of agony, and she paused, enlightened. "Perhaps," 

 said she, "you would like me to give some of these lessons for you." 

 There was a rustle, and then acclaim — ^" Oh, we would, certainly we 

 would." And she did — until she was called by Boston to a 

 larger field. 



If in your own homes you have not help from out-of-door 

 institutions, you should investigate what is being done by Mr. 

 Madison, who draws upon the Roger Williams Park in Providence, 

 or by the Bronx Botanical Gardens and the New York Aquarium. 



What we in Newark can do for the schools in the way of lending 

 is but a drop in the bucket to what is asked of us, and yet the 

 asking is merely due to the sporadic interest of individuals. 

 Were the course on paper suddenly to be vivified into reality by 

 power from above, we should be entirely swamped. In any centre 

 it seems wise for the school authorities who are in earnest to push 

 the double service, the schools providing the teaching, and the 



