Ill 



THE EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC VIEWS OF NATURE 



"THE purpose of this exercise is to tell children 

 how to see the hidden beauties of flowers." Thus 

 ran the announcement at the opening of the class- 

 room period. Is it worth while to tell them any 

 such thing? Why not teach them to be interested 

 in plants ? Why give them a half-truth when they 

 might have the whole truth ? 



The " beauty" of a flower or a bird is only an 

 incident: the plant or the bird is the important 

 thing to know. Beauty is not an end. The person 

 who starts out to see beauty in plants is often in the 

 condition of mind that the dear old lady was who 

 came into my conservatory and exclaimed, as she 

 saw the geraniums, u Oh, they are as pretty as 

 artificial flowers ! " 



But these people are not looking for beauty, 

 after all; they look for mere satisfying form or 

 color or oddity. They confound beauty with 

 prettiness or with outward attractiveness. Real 

 beauty is deeper than sensation. It inheres in 

 fitness of means to end as well as in physical attri- 

 butes. The child should see the object itself before 

 he sees its parts. Teach first the whole bug, the 

 whole bird, the whole plant. The botanist may 



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