ii8 The Nature-Study Idea 



them. She should have begun with some 

 definite subject, and followed it systematically 

 and logically. The pupil must be held to the 

 task day after day, until he masters the topic. 

 To skip from subject to subject Is to be super- 

 ficial. This way of teaching does not result in 

 mental drill. To make a collection is only 

 play, and names are vulgar. The pupil must 

 be impressed with the completeness of his sub- 

 ject, and, above all things, he must be accurate. 

 When he was talking, I smelled alcohol and I 

 saw a frog in a museum jar. 



Which was right? No doubt each was cor- 

 rect from the personal point of view, but 

 wrong from the other's point of view. I re- 

 called that the little woman recited only what 

 she had done; the man upbraided her for not 

 doing something else. Perhaps it is easy to 

 advise and to criticize. The little woman was 

 teaching children. She wanted to lead them to 

 love the things they saw. She approached the 

 subject from the human side, for are not the 

 boy and the girl a part of what we call nature? 

 They are not yet tamed and conventionalized. 



