Meaning of the Movement 35 



literature or with stories of scenes the child will 

 never see. Of course these statements are 

 meant to be only general, as Illustrating what Is 

 even yet a great fault In educational methods. 

 There are many exceptions, and these are be- 

 coming commoner. Surely, the best education 

 is that which begins with the materials at hand. 

 A child knows a stone before it knows the earth. 



The outlook by fact and by fancy 



There are two ways of Interpreting nature — 

 the way of fact and the way of fancy. To the 

 scientist and to the average man the Interpreta- 

 tion by fact Is usually the only admissible one. 

 He may not be open to argument or conviction 

 that there can be any other truthful way of know- 

 ing the external world. Yet, the artist and the 

 poet know this world, and they do not know it 

 by cold knowledge or by analysis. It appeals to 

 them in its moods. Yet it Is as real to them 

 as to the analyst. Too much are we of this 

 generation tied to mere phenomena- 



We have a right to a poetic interpretation of 

 nature. The child interprets nature and the 



