290 



NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



There can be no reasonable doubt that this aspect of 

 movement and activity is the natural side of approach for 

 the child. It is akin to that animism of childhood which 

 projects life and action even into inanimate things. It is 

 this side of living nature which, from intrinsic fascinations 

 and varied affinities with the passion for activity of child 

 life itself, is best adapted to create enduring interests and 

 love of nature. It is, moreover, with this side of nature 

 that a child's activities come into frequent clash, which 

 results in all sorts of apparently brutal harms to nature. 

 With but a minimum of proper instruction which may 

 bring the child into sympathy with the life around it, and 

 especially show its values and relations to human life and 

 interests, all such activity may be easily guided into benefi- 

 cent channels. Instead of being repressed, as is now so 

 much the case, this activity may be greatly developed and 

 encouraged ; and then child life will flow happily along with 

 the life of nature. 



But why choose such an animal to illustrate the bio- 

 logical type ? There are many reasons, which I may briefly 

 state, in relation to the fundamental values of nature study 

 discussed in a former chapter. 



First, on the aesthetic side, to find any beauty in a form 

 proverbially the ugliest in nature carries the whole battle, — 

 sweeps the field of ancient prejudice and unfaith in nature. 

 To discover here the brightest jewel and the ''sweetest 

 sound in nature" awakens a child's faith and impels him 

 to seek and find beauty in everything about him. 



I pick up a toad a hundred times a season just to enjoy looking at 

 its eye, — a living, sparkling, ever-changing jewel, — and his music 

 in the springtime brings a pleasure that nothing else affords. 



