CHAPTER IV. 



NATURE STUDY IN THE TOWN. 



IT will probably be felt by town teachers that some of 

 the suggestions given in this work, whilst capable of being 

 acted on in the country, are not appropriate to town con- 

 ditions. There is much force in this objection. The 

 teacher in the town school labours under disadvantageous 

 circumstances as regards this subject. There is no doubt, 

 of course, that the teacher who is personally well equipped 

 can and does overcome his adverse surroundings, often 

 with remarkable ingenuity and success. But we must 

 think of the individual who is more or less of a beginner 

 at this work. 



In the first place it may be laid down as a general 

 principle that the governing bodies of city schools must 

 make reasonable provision in the matter of school equip- 

 ment. The teacher should not be asked to make bricks 

 without straw; he should not be reduced to that most 

 pitiable condition of teaching lessons on flowers, birds, or 

 beasts, and such like, by an appeal to the imagination 

 alone. Nor is that state of affairs an ideal one in which 

 the teacher under town difficulties lives, as it were, from 

 hand to mouth, in the matter of class supplies. 



Many teachers cheerfully find the necessary materials, 

 but many on the other hand cannot spare the time required 

 to collect such. The practice of finding supplies through 

 the medium of the pupils may work satisfactorily in the 

 country ; it has undoubted limitations in the town. It is 

 not suggested that the teacher should stand aside and do 



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