EDITORIAL 



317 



making discoveries for himself. He 

 does not loiter in the realm of nature 

 until he is told something, but he him- 

 self takes up the fact. That needs 

 gumption. 



There, my friend, you have the great 

 triumvirate of education, as needed by 

 the business world, according to Su- 

 perintendent Camp of Stamford. 

 Gumption, power of observation, ab- 

 solute attention. These are The AA's 

 threefold points of view as applied to 

 the study of nature. Things are com- 

 ing our way in the hearty approval of 

 the master educators, and though they 

 do not always mention our name when 

 they accept our principles and give 

 them hearty approval, still we are 

 pleased by their cooperation. 



Good Work and Rural Nature Study. 



Here is a man well fitted for his task 

 or, as the colloquialism puts it, "He is 

 right on to his job." I refer to Edward 

 M. Tuttle, of Ithaca, New York, the 

 Editor of the "Cornell Rural School 

 Leaflet." Several good people are as- 

 sociated with him in his interest in 

 rural localities, and in genuine love 

 with Mother Nature in her simplicity. 

 The "Cornell Rural School Leaflet" sa- 

 vors of nature as she is, beautiful and 

 impressive in her commonplace inter- 

 ests. The Leaflet is entirely free from 

 everything sensational and from the ab- 

 normal in observation or development. 

 It is sane, quiet, weighty. I have be- 

 come so weary of some editors who de- 

 mand the unattainable or the nonexis- 

 tant that I am, charmed, I am delighted 

 with a publication for boys and girls 

 that regards nature as she is and tries 

 to make her a delight and a charming 

 companion. That is what boys and 

 girls need and should desire. I believe 

 that the average boy or girl is not in- 

 terested in the latest discoveries of 

 science. There are many things that 

 have been known for at least a year or 

 two that may readily come within the 

 scope of their intellect. I am sure that 

 the average boy or girl who wants to 

 know about nature, and who enjoys her 

 marvelous ways, cares not an iota for 

 the duck-billed platypus of Australia 

 or a Rocky Mountain cony or how as- 

 phalt is mined in Trinidad ; but I do 

 believe that a bright boy or girl does 

 w^ant to know about the life that ex- 



ists nearby on the farm or at the side 

 of the road to the schoolhouse. I shake 

 hands with Mr. Tuttle, and tell him 

 cordially : You are a man after my own 

 heart and the hearts too of boys and 

 girls. You know what they like and 

 you know how to give things that are 

 really worth while. You speak to them 

 al:)OUt the everyday things that are 

 near them." 



In a recent number are illustrations 

 of a bird at a feeding station, a hornet's 

 nest, a cottontail rabbit, the common 

 chickweed that grows and blooms in 

 the winter ; attention is directed to the 

 beauty of trees in winter, to corn con- 

 tests, to school entertainments, to 

 pleasing work with feathers, to bird 

 houses, to a combination apron that 

 will gratify the girl with nimble fingers, 

 to weed seed collections, and fire- 

 side talks on many an alluring topic, al- 

 though these are only some of the good 

 things in this particular number. I 

 welcome these Leaflets as the traveler 

 across a desert hails the oasis. The 

 average magazine unintentionally pre- 

 sents a distorted view of natvire, it is 

 teaching the young to think that only 

 recent discoveries are worth while, that 

 only the things from a distant country 

 merit consideration. Mr. Tuttle has 

 the right idea. In his salutatory for 

 the year he makes the following stimu- 

 lating appeal in the first two para- 

 graphs : 



"Wide-awake boys and girls know 

 that the number of interesting things 

 that may be studied in the out-of-doors, 

 on the farm and in the home, is endless. 

 You know that the more you study, the 

 more new things open up, and that the 

 whole subject of nature study is full of 

 life and jov and worthy accomplish- 

 ment It puts you in touch with your 

 surroundings in a wav that makes you 

 understand them better pnd appreciate 

 ^■hem more. 



"Of course you should always be 

 ready to learn about any new thing 

 that comes to your attention — an un- 

 familiar bird that sits outside the win- 

 dow and calls, a strange weed by the 

 wavside, a tree that you have not seen 

 before an unknown insect. And you 

 should constantly be on the alert to 

 learn new facts about the things you 

 already know. No opportunity should 

 pass bv unheeded. In this way you 

 Avill grow in knowledge and in power." 



