Mrs. Franklin's Address 153 



people whom we come across. If we go to a dance, 

 or a theatre, we immediately notice any individuals 

 whose names we know, even if they are only the 

 people who live round the corner. They stand out 

 as individuals, as entities, and become, as such, more 

 interesting. Moreover, knowing their names do we not 

 notice gradually their clothing and general appear- 

 ance? And is not this a natural introduction to 

 knowing more about them? So with regard to 

 natural objects, a flower whose name has once been 

 identified stands out in a field as a friend to be 

 recognized when met again. I remember one child 

 herself remarking on this, and saying how curious it 

 was that she had always passed unnoticed by a flower 

 which she never failed to see after having once been 

 told its name. A little boy of seven, when out on a 

 country ramble, noticed a sedge. He came home 

 and asked his teacher to tell him its name. She 

 could not recognize it from his description, so he 

 drew it on a blackboard. He had sufficiently mas- 

 tered its shape and form to draw its portrait sufficiently 

 well for it to be identified. 



Gradually, too, children who have gained an inti- 

 mate relation with nature will themselves classify the 

 various flowers; they will group together those that 

 shut up at night, those that turn towards the sun, 

 those that are fertilized by wind or insects, &c. &c. f 

 and this sort of thing is true science. Still, I would 

 entirely endorse what Professor Lloyd Morgan said 

 as to the inanity of withholding the knowledge gained 

 by those who have gone before us, and of considering 

 it necessary for each child to start as if he were the 

 first in the world and had to discover everything for 



