106 Outlook to Nature 



nature, and the theme of my lectures is the 

 meaning of the outlook to nature. 



In making these statements, I have no desire 

 to glorify the farm boy or to magnify the ad- 

 vantages of farm life : I speak of some of the 

 positive training processes of the farm only 

 to show that the unschooled man may be in 

 a very true sense an educated man, and to 

 enable me thereafter to make some suggestions 

 for the public schools themselves. Unlovely 

 traits are often bred on the farm; but these 

 faults are not necessarily inherent in farm life 

 and they will be fewer in the future. Nor do I 

 wish to be understood as implying that the 

 farm-bred man is to be as indispensable to the 

 city as he has been in the past. The city is 

 now finding itself, and is developing strong men 

 of its own ; but even in the city many of the 

 strong traits will also be developed in the 

 school of affairs, for everywhere the business of 

 life educates the individual. 



(i) The farm boy's activities are direct. 

 He deals with real, actual, essential things, 

 problems, and events, and develops practical 



