GENERAL INTRODUCTION 13 



preferable for the study of fruits and seeds. This thought 

 influences in a degree the arrangement of the lessons 

 given* 



Except for pure literary effect, inanimate nature should not 

 be personified, nor human attributes and sensibilities given 

 to inhuman things for the purpose of securing the child's in- 

 terest. Nature, properly taught, is new and fresh and pleas- 

 ing to the child, and needs no such embellishments as fairies, 

 gnomes, ghosts, or elves to make it attractive. This evil, 

 which has been committed by so many teachers and authors, 

 is an unpardonable mistake, in that it destroys the proper 

 attitude of the child to the subject, creates fear and supersti- 

 tion, and spends time in erecting a structure that later it 

 must take time to destroy. 



The mischievousness of this sort of nature teaching may be 

 illustrated by a personal experience. While trimming a young 

 orchard at his home, the author was once accompanied by 

 his six-year-old daughter. With evident uneasiness she 

 watched the clipping off of the small branches for a 

 time and finally asked, "Papa, why do you cut off those 

 limbs?" 



"So the tree will have a proper shape and grow to give us 

 fine fruit," was the answer. 



"Well, you ought not to do that, for it hurts the tree. 

 How would you like your arm cut off?" 



Suspecting the source of this error, the father asked, 

 "Who told you that it hurts a tree to cut off one of its 

 branches?" 



"My teacher said so," she replied confidently. 



"I think you must have misunderstood your teacher. It 

 hurts the tree no more than it hurts you to have your hair or 

 nails trimmed." 



