SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL WALTER 



Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the Editor, at S3 Arlington Avenue, Providence, R. I. 



PLANS FOR THE NEW YEAR 



In the encouraging reports from our State Audubon Societies, which 

 appear as a part of the annual report of the National Association, in the last 

 issue of Bird-Lore, two ideas are brought out with especial emphasis, namely: 

 the importance of nature-study and the need of trained workers. 



To quote from the Maryland report: "Nature-study in the public schools is 

 proving the most effective factor in accomphshing the goal toward which 

 every Audubon Society is striving;" and, from the Illinois report: "We greatly 

 need a real, live missionary, to travel through the state and talk to schools, 

 clubs, Farmers' Institutes, etc." 



A marked advance has been made, of late, toward the realization of both 

 these ideas. Public sentiment is much more in favor of nature-study in the 

 schools, as well as of organized, efficient work along the line of the conservation 

 of natural resources. There are only a few states, however, which can as yet 

 lay claim to either a comprehensive nature-study course in their schools, or 

 salaried field-workers. Fewer yet can boast of having both. 



This is a time of large opportunities. It is also a time of large giving. In 

 making plans for the year, why not welcome the one and take advantage of the 

 other? 



Michigan is seeking to establish its Audubon Society with a permanent 

 endowment. This is not only good business policy, it is also the most practical 

 way of attaining the ends for which Audubon Societies are organized. 



Is it too ambitious a plan to appoint a committee in each society, to raise 

 an endowment fund of twenty-five thousand dollars? The interest on such a 

 sum would insure the salary of one trained worker in each state, a worker 

 such as California reports, whose entire time would be devoted to educational 

 effort in schools, granges, the legislature and elsewhere. 



Other organizations raise much larger sums of money to carry on various 

 kinds of educational work. Has not the time arrived when the Audubon 

 Societies of this country may look to the public for a like confirmation of 

 their aims? 



Whether funds of this kind be raised by appeals to persons of means, or 

 in small amoimts on the apportionment plan, or in some other way, it ought 

 not to be a discouraging task if undertaken with confidence and enthusiasm. 



At present, the average resources of our state Societies are barely adequate, 



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