THE CALL OF THE LAND 



thereto should pervade all school texts and 

 collateral books readers, spellers, arith- 

 metics, grammars and geographies. All 

 literature for youth and not nature study 

 volumes alone, should breathe outdoor air 

 instead of stuffy fumes from offices and par- 

 lors. We wish no special textbooks for 

 country children, but change not so much 

 in matter as in tone and spirit in books for 

 all pupils in town as well as out. An "agri- 

 cultural reader," telling of corn rows, plows 

 and cattle, would be as great an abomina- 

 tion as a "factory arithmetic" with weavers' 

 spinners' and machinists' computations 

 given as examples. Away with all such 

 class devices. What is urged is that school 

 texts and side readings more largely involv- 

 ing nature and making fewer references to 

 the thick and artificial life of cities, while 

 specially advantageous to country pupils, 

 would be an improvement for city pupils 

 as well, an out and out pedagogical advance 

 for all. 



We need the same blessings for which 

 schools everywhere are waiting. Better 



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