1898. J ANNUAL REUNION. 107 



have not at all, and it is hardly thought to lie possible; that is 

 one thing that we have missed, one thins; that is delightful. 

 That is one reason why I am pleased to be here to talk with 

 you. I came last year with something on my mind, what it 

 was now I cannot think — it is no matter. I bad sat and lis- 

 tened to the remarks about the school, the introduction of 

 botany and gardening. Well, that is a nice thing to do provided 

 you do not introduce another text-book and put another burden 

 on the teacher. The great trouble with our whole system, that 

 was inaugurated as I left the school just fifty years ago, is, we 

 make slaves of our teachers and ignoramuses of our children. 

 All the time that I had children in the Graham school near my 

 house, I was trying to impress upon the principal of that school 

 the fact, that I had discovered from examining the boys' lesson 

 papers, that he was simply teaching the children what I taught 

 my children at home. They taught them nothing in the 

 schools, and I think if I had grown up under the system which 

 now prevails in the schools of Boston, that I should have been 

 an ignoramus myself, which I am not. 



We have one school in Boston that is a sample for the schools 

 of the Commonwealth, and the same system that has been 

 adopted there can be adopted everywhere with success provided 

 the teacher is an enthusiast in the study of botany and horticul- 

 ture. Water will not rise higher than its source. Th'e J. A. 

 Andrews school in West Roxbury (Mr. Piatt is the master) is 

 the one I refer to. Mr. Piatt has dug up and prepared a part 

 of his yard, and encourages the children to scatter through the 

 woods and fields and bring in some of the native plants. He 

 discusses it and gives it a name, and they put it in, cultivate it, 

 and watch it blossom and see if it thrives. This sort of instruc- 

 tion is useful. There is a good deal lacking in the matter of 

 music in our public schools. There are many who cannot tell 

 Yankee Doodle from Old Hundred, and there are many who 

 cannot tell an orchid from an oak. It is idle to teach one music 

 and teach one horticulture when he has no taste for it. 



I want to say something to you practical about horticulture. 

 We have in Massachusetts the men who best understand horti- 



