Ill 



THE MEANING OF THE NATURE-STUDY MOVEMENT 



It is one of the marks of the evolution of the 

 race that we are coming more and more into 

 sympathy with the objects of the external world. 

 These things are a part of our lives. They are 

 central to our thoughts. The happiest life has 

 the greatest number of points of contact with the 

 world, and it has the deepest feeling and sympathy 

 for everything that is. The best thing in life is 

 sentiment ; and the best sentiment is that which 

 is born of the most accurate knowledge. I like to 

 make this application of Emerson's injunction to 

 "hitch your wagon to a star''; but it must not 

 be forgotten that one must have the wagon before 

 one has the star. Mere facts are dead, but the 

 meaning of the facts is life. The getting of in- 

 formation is but the beginning of education. 

 *'With all thy getting, get understanding." 



Of late years there has been a rapidly growing 

 feeling that we must live closer to nature ; and we 

 must perforce begin with the child. We attempt 

 to teach this nature-love in the schools, and we 

 call the effort nature-study. It would be better 

 if it were called nature-sympathy. 



As yet there are no codified methods of teach- 

 ing nature-study. The subject is not a formal 



(14) 



