i8 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



attractive figure, the church where he had worshiped, and the 

 social circle that he had illumined. 



The three years that have passed have given opportunity for 

 the emotions of grief to soften and yield a place to the clearing 

 recognition of his actual service in bringing the public mind to 

 a better understanding of that which is — relatively speaking — 

 of real value in education. 



Prof. Apgar came to his thoughtful period in young manhood 

 at a time when the general character of education in all of the 

 schools was largely abstract, categorical, given to symbols. 

 Very much time was spent in calling letters and sounds and 

 words in language and numbers and problems in mathematics 

 and in talking a great deal about traditions and fancies that had 

 come as an inheritance to the schools from the old philosophies 

 and fictions, and very little time was given to the study in any 

 satisfactory manner of the real problems with which the pupil 

 was surrounded and which were to make up the substance of 

 his actual life. 



Prof. Apgar's young mind had what would be termed a prac- 

 tical bent. He was born "close to nature" in a country place. 

 The first objects that presented themselves to his awakening 

 senses were the trees, the flowers, the birds, and the animals of 

 the field, and the first problems that presented themselves to his 

 mind were the solution of the uses of these objects of nature. 

 He as naturally turned to these problems as a flower turns its 

 face to the sun. It should be said of him that he was never a 

 student of books, always a student of nature. Others went on 

 field excursions as a matter of theory, and for the accomplish- 

 ment of a special purpose. He was born in the fields. He could 

 not tear himself from them, and his greatest delight w^as in lead- 

 ing others to them. 



There is at this time a large and growing demand for a more 

 practical education, a nearer approach to real things, whether in 

 mechanics, agriculture, horticulture, or social organization. As 

 one studies and appreciates this demand and lends his sympathy 

 and support to it, how Prof. Apgar's practices and teachings 

 come back with renewed force and significance. His plant les- 

 sons, in which the children were taught to see the actual processes 



