INTRODUCTORY. 3 



"Every child, and every grown person too, for that matter, is in- 

 terested in nature-study, for it is the natural method of acquiring 

 knowledge. The only difficulty lies in the teaching, for very few 

 teachers have had any drill or experience in this informal method 

 of drawing out the observing and reasoning powers of the pupil 

 wholly without the use of text-books. The teacher must first of 

 all feel the living interest in natural objects which it is desired the 

 pupils shall acquire.. If the enthusiasm is not catching, better let 

 such teaching alone. 



"All this means that the teacher will need helps. He will need 

 to inform himself before hi attempts to inform the pupil. It is 

 not neccessary that he become a scientist in order to do this. He 

 simply goes as far as he knows, and then says to the pupil that he 

 cannot answer the question which he cannot. This at once 

 raises his estimation in the mind of the pupil, for the pupil is con- 

 vinced of his truthfulness, and is made to feel but how seldom is 

 the sensation! that knowledge is not the peculiar property of the 

 teicher but is the right of any one who seeks it. It sets the pupil 

 investigating for himself. The teacher never needs to apologize 

 for nature. He is teaching simply because he is an older and 

 more experienced pupil than his pupil is. That is just the spirit 

 of the teacher in the universities to : day. The best teacher is one 

 \\ i se pupils the farthest out-run him. 



"In order to help the teacher in the rural schools of New York, 

 we have conceived of a series of leaflets explaining how the com- 

 mon objects can be made interesting to children. Whilst these 

 are intended for the teacher, there is no harm in giving them to 

 the pupil; but the leaflets should never be used as texts to make 

 recitations from. Now and then, take the children fora ramble in 

 the woods or fields, or go to the brook or lake. Call their atten- 

 tion to the interesting things which you meet whether you under- 

 stand them yourself or not in order to teach them to see and to 

 find some point of sympathy, for every one of them will some day 

 need the solace and the rest which this nature love can give them. 

 It is not the mere information which is valuable; that may be had 

 by asking some one wiser than they, but the inquiring and sympa- 

 thetic spirit is one's own. 



"The pupils will find their lessons easier to acquire for this re- 

 spite of ten minutes with a leaf or an insect, and the school-going 

 will come to be less perfunctory. If you must teach drawing, set 

 the picture in a leaflet before the pupils for study, and then sub- 

 stitute the object. If you must teach composition, let the pupils 

 write upon what they have seen. After a time, give ten minutes 



