Inquiries and Answers 199 



It is not essential that we have uniform 

 methods of teaching any subject in all parts of 

 the country, and there is reason why we should 

 not have them in nature-teaching. When one 

 text-book satisfies everybody, it is because every- 

 body is uncritical and unpersonal. 



How shall I acquire sufficient knowledge to 

 enable me to teach nature-study? 



In the same way that you acquire other 

 knowledge by means of work and study. 

 There is no way by which you can dream it or 

 absorb it. There is no excellence without labor. 

 The teacher should know more than he attempts 

 to teach. 



Yet, you must not magnify the importance of 

 mere information. The ambition to teach and 

 the love of doing for a child are the funda- 

 mental requisities. Fill yourself full of some 

 subject, however small it may be. When you 

 cannot hold it longer, teach. Yes, you may 

 make mistakes. But every one makes mistakes, 

 even with the best of pains. Every person who, 

 by teaching or writing, has helped the world to 



