I 4 NATURE STUDY BY GRADES 



Two years later the father was trimming the same orchard, 

 and again the little girl was with him. 



Recalling the former incident, and to test the effect of 

 the child's wrong teaching and his effort to set it right, he 

 asked : 



"Norma, do you think it hurts the trees to cut off these 

 limbs?" 



"Yes, papa," she replied promptly. 



"Who told you so?" asked the father. 



"I don't know, but it hurts them," she emphasized with 

 unshakable credulity. 



"Did your teacher tell you so?" 



"No," she answered. 



It was evident that the source of this error had been for- 

 gotten, but the effect remained undimmed by the lapse of time 

 or by the father's original effort to explain it away. Who can 

 say how long this error will cling to that child, and unneces- 

 sarily disturb her sensibilities? This pernicious result no 

 doubt came from a constant use of personification and 

 allegory, without leading the child to differentiate in thought 

 or feeling between the figures and the reality. 



In these lessons, most of the topics in any given grade admit 

 of being developed beyond the capacity of the pupils in that 

 grade. While it is pedagogical to go from the known toward 

 the unknown, this process should not be unduly hastened ; 

 otherwise, confusion and discouragement result. Do not ask 

 questions of pupils who have not data to give proper answers. 

 Pernicious guesswork is the common result. Every lesson 

 should be based upon an experiment or upon some previous 

 observation, experience, or knowledge, and should be devel- 

 oped therefrom in a logical way as far as the majority of the 

 class can follow. 



