126 Outlook to Nature 



system will take its place, and the child will be 

 allowed to develop freely and naturally, without 

 overworking. 



We need equipment in land. 



If we are to evolve a mode of nature-edu- 

 cation, we must control a good piece of land. 

 It is pitiful to see how small and scant are the 

 bits of earth that surround our schoolhouses. 



Even in the open country there is the same 

 stint of land, still another illustration of the 

 lack of any vital connection between the school 

 and the life of the community. Often it seems 

 as if the country schoolhouse were placed with 

 reference to economizing the cost of land, 

 land that, if sold, might bring as much as thirty 

 or fifty dollars an acre ! 



I once taught a district school that was set 

 on an island of hard ground in a swamp ; and 

 again one that stood on the side of a sand hill. 

 I know of country school grounds that are 

 scarcely larger than the building, and lying 

 directly against the highway at that, as bare as 

 the moon, and in a place that would not be 



