NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS 141 



CHAPTER IV 



TO THE TEACHER 



See the suggestions for the corresponding chapter in " The Fall 

 of the Year," the first volume in this series. Lest you may not have 

 that book at hand, let me repeat here the gist of what I said there : 

 that you make this chapter the purpose of one or more field excur- 

 sions with the class in order to see with your own eyes the charac- 

 teristic sights of spring as recorded here ; secondly, that you use this, 

 and chapters vi and x, as school tests of the pupils' knowledge and 

 observation of his own fields and woods ; and thirdly, let the items 

 mentioned here be used as possible subjects for the pupils' further 

 study as themes for compositions, or independent investigations out 

 of school hours. The finest fruit the teacher oan show is a school full 

 of children personally interested in things. And what better things 

 than live things out of doors ? 



CHAPTER V 



TO THE TEACHER 



I might have used a star, or the sun, or the sea to teach the lesson 

 involved here, instead of the crow and his three broken feathers. 

 But these three feathers will do for your pupils as the falling apple 

 did for Sir Isaac Newton. The point of the chapter is: that the 

 feathers like the stars must round out their courses ; that this uni- 

 verse is a universe of law, of order, and of reason, even to the wing 

 feathers of a crow. Try to show your pupils the beauty and wonder 

 of order and law (not easy to do) as well as the beauty and wonder 

 of shapes and colors and sounds, etc. 



FOR THE PUPIL 

 PAGE 34 



primaries, secondaries, tertials : Turn to your dictionary under 

 " Bird " (or at the front of some good bird book) and study out 

 just which feathers of the wing these named here are. 



