96 THE NATURE-STUDY IDEA 



the making of collections. We can make the 

 collecting the means of securing real information. 

 We can fasten the attentionbf J:he child. The one 

 caution is, not to make it an end. The child 

 cannot collect without seeing the thing as it lives 

 and grows. It appeals to him more in the field 

 than it does in the museum. Let him collect for 

 the purpose of understanding a problem. Where 

 does the dandelion grow ? What are the plants in 

 yonder bog? How many are the weeds in the 

 orchard? What are the borers in the old log? 

 Set the child a field problem and he will collect in 

 spite of himself. Then the collecting has teaching 

 power. But to make a collection of one hundred 

 specimens in order to obtain a pass-mark is scarcely 

 worth the effort. The point I wish to urge is that 

 there is no reason in the nature of things why sub- 

 jects always should be taught this way or that, so 

 long as they are taught truthfully and there are 

 many ways of teaching the truth. The way to 

 teach is, after all, mostly a matter of experience 

 and expediency. Things were not made either to 

 be analyzed or collected, 



