NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS 



CHAPTER I 



TO THE TEACHER 



Put the question to your scholars individually : Who is your mes- 

 senger of spring ? Make the reading of this book not an end in itself, 

 but only a means toward getting the pupils out of doors. Never let 

 the reading stop with the end of the chapter, any more than you 

 would let your garden stop with the buying of the seeds. And how 

 eager and restless a healthy child is for the fields and woods with 

 the coming of spring ! Do not let your opportunity slip. Go with 

 them after reading this chapter (re-reading if you can the first chap- 

 ter in " The Fall of the Year" ) out to some meadow stream where 

 they can see the fallen stalks and brown matted growths of the 

 autumn through which the new spring shoots are pushing, green 

 with vigor and promise. The seal of winter has been broken ; the 

 pledge of autumn has been kept ; the life of a new summer has 

 started up from the grave of the summer past. Here by the stream 

 under your feet is the whole cycle of the seasons the dead stalks, 

 the empty seed-vessels, the starting life. 



Let the children watch for the returning birds and report to you ; 

 have them bring in the opening flowers, giving them credit (on the 

 blackboard) for each new flower found; go with them (so that they 

 will not bring the eggs to you) to see the new nests discovered, teach- 

 ing them by every possible means the folly and cruelty of robbing 

 birds' nests, of taking life ; while at the same time you show them 

 the beauty of life, its sacredness, and manifold interests. 



FOR THE PUPIL 

 PAGE 1 



Have you ever seen a " spring peeper " peeping ? You will 

 hear, these spring nights, many distinct notes in the marshes, 



