I 



IV 



The Integument-Man 



WROTE a nature-study leaflet on "How a 

 Squash Plant gets out of the Seed." A 

 botanist wrote me that it were a pity to place 

 such an error of statement before the child: it 

 should have read, "How the Squash Plant Gets 

 Out of the Integument." 



Of course my friend was correct: the squash 

 plant gets out of an integument. But I was 

 anxious to teach the essence of the squash plant's 

 behavior, not a mere verbal fact — and what 

 child was ever interested in an integument? 



It is the old question over again — the ques- 

 tion of the point of view and what one is driving 

 at. A person may be so intent on mere literal 

 veracity that he misses the pupil. Much of 

 our natural-science teaching is as hard and dead 

 as the old Latin and mathematics. 



It Is the fear of the Integument-Man that 

 keeps many a good teacher from teaching 

 nature-study. He is afraid that he will make a 



58 



