130 Outlook to Nature 



The growing child. 



The child is educated by the very process of 

 living and growing up. Every object that ap- 

 peals to his senses, every circumstance that 

 arouses his emotion or stimulates his imagi- 

 nation, contributes to the process. The school 

 should aid in directing all these educational 

 forces, that they may produce the most be- 

 neficent results. The play must be organized 

 educationally. The school has fallen short of 

 its opportunities by confining itself too closely 

 to a certain line of conventional effort. 



In the nature realm, these ideas as to the in- 

 fluence of the environment are well expressed 

 in Walt Whitman's poem, beginning 



There was a child went forth every day, 



And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became, 



And that object became part of him for the day or a certain 



part of the day, 

 Or for many years or stretching cycles of years. 



The early lilacs became part of this child, 

 And grass and white and red morning-glories, and white 

 and red clover, and the song of the phcebe-bird, 



