SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL WALTER 

 Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the Editor, at 53 Arlington Avenue, Providence, R. I. 



THE VACATION SPIRIT 



PRESIDENT Harper, one of the most active and advanced men of his 

 generation, is said to have been opposed to the vacation idea from the 

 point of view of simply idling away twelve weeks each summer, with 

 no definite purpose or employment. Like certain other highly successful 

 educators, he advocated a training which should enable one to find recreation 

 in a variety of interests and occupations, without sacrificing a quarter of each 

 year aimlessly. To some teachers who are already overworked and over- 

 tired, and to many pupils who hail the long summer vacation as their only 

 time of real freedom, this suggestion may seem unw^elcome, but to the 

 true nature-lover it will come as an echo of his daily experience. 



In the minds of most people, the vacation idea and nature are inseparably 

 woven together. A vacation, it must be admitted, will never help some people 

 to enjoy Ufe in the true vacation spirit; but such a spirit, once developed, will 

 bring everyone into that vital, inspired relation to daily life which is the end 

 and essence of what is meant by "a real vacation." 



The substance of nature-study sums up into exactly this to put people 

 into the vacation spirit under all circumstances, at all seasons, and in all 

 places. What nature has to teach "under the open sky" is the secret of the 

 vacation spirit. City or country, school or vacation-time make little differ- 

 ence. What everyone wants and needs is the vacation spirit all the time, which 

 is only a different way of expressing the underlying principle of the concept 

 that the greatest accomplishment is made by the person who does not sharply 

 separate work and play. 



If our Audubon Societies have one special mission above all others, it is 

 to teach people how to cultivate this spirit. It is set down in print that Audu- 

 bon Societies have been formed for the better protection of birds; but those 

 who once learn to live with and in nature will never molest the birds, nor 

 destroy trees, nor become nature-vandals of any kind. 



There is no more practical work to take up than to further every means 

 for bringing people into touch with nature. School gardens, back-yard and 

 front-yard gardens, public playgrounds, the reclamation of waste or worse 

 than waste land — the noxious dumping-heaps of both city and country — the 

 discovery, conservation and utilization of nature to the smallest fraction, 

 all come within the scope of this undertaking, and are practical means to the 

 desired end. 



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