CATKINS 75 



many excellent schoolmasters can do none of these 

 things), it would be well to find an active and obser- 

 vant deputy to join the rambles of the boys. A 

 master in sympathy with the boys and with nature 

 would learn almost as much from the boys as the 

 boys would learn from him. 



If you have boys and girls about you, whether your 

 own or other people's, take them into the woods and 

 fields. Try to answer their questions ; try to put 

 better questions than they can think of. Never mind 

 the technical names ; leave all your Latin and Greek 

 at home. One of the best (and hardest) questions is : 

 " What is the use of this to the plant or animal ? " 

 Do not be discouraged if, as will generally happen, 

 no one can tell. You will grow a little more expert 

 with practice, but to the last you will find many 

 simple-looking questions quite insoluble. Never 

 shrink from saying, " I don't know." These words 

 are always on the lips of a well-trained and inquisitive 

 naturalist. It is dismal, though common enough, to 

 put words in the place of knowledge. " Wo Begriffe 

 fehlen, da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein." 



But I am running to words myself. Let me take 

 up some special thing for examination and report. I 

 will study the Catkins, which will be plentiful for the 

 next fortnight or three weeks. Alder and Hazel 

 catkins are already to be seen everywhere, and the 

 Birch and Willow will be out in a few days. 1 



1 The descriptions which follow will be found dry and pretty 

 nearly unintelligible to those who have not the catkins and cones 

 actually before them. Descriptions cannot stand in place of 

 the things themselves, but are merely a help to the observer. 



