LOOMISJ 



NATURE-STUDY A.\'D A SOCIAL NEED 



his serious study. But the distinguishing mark of Dr. Hodge's book 

 lies for me elsewhere, rather do I find it in the marked tendency dis- 

 played to put certain questions to the topics before presenting them. 

 Much of our nature-study possesses no permanent worth in that it 

 meets no pressing needs, presents no large truth, promises never to 

 grow richer in the individual's life, nor lead on and out into some 

 large conception of the world. Consequently, when one meets a 

 book with an idea of helpfulness rather than diversions dominating all 

 its lessons, it stands out like an oasis in a barren waste. While no 

 one will claim for the book under discussion anything like perfection, 

 indeed not a little that it proposes I believe quite beyond the possibi- 

 lity of presentation, yet the clearness with which it names the problems 

 for solution, and its freedom from cant and the airy aesthetical has 

 won for itself a unique place in nature- study literature. When the 

 day arrives that writers and leaders in this subject will agree that a 

 lesson which is really worth while must need have a solid content 

 chosen because of a definite purpose in mind, a purpose that has 

 taken shape not in the woods or by the babbling brook — tho' few 

 enjoy "walks" more than I — any more than in the easy chair, but a 

 purpose that results from mingling with one's fellows on the farm, 

 in the home and in the mart — with a purpose thus born a great step 

 will have been taken towards securing a place for nature-study and 

 elementary science in the school program. 



Today it is undoubtedly true that on completing the great run of 

 school programs, city and country, the child steps into a world to 

 which schooling makes him but a little the less a stranger. So far as 

 being any the more capable of intelligently performing the common 

 home duties, of taking hold of shop-work with an enhanced intelli- 

 gence, of bringing to farm life a quickened appreciation of plant and 

 animal needs, of entering business with some understanding of 

 evidence and a trained sensitiveness to cause and effect relations, of 

 good habits oE personal hygiene and moderations in all things, — so 

 far from this or something like this characterizing the common-school 

 product, we are actually told by parents, shop owners, merchants, 

 physicians and educational commissions that the school is of doubtful 

 value to the individual when confronted by the actual situations of 

 life. 



So far as actully receiving from the school some definite equipment 

 for life along these lines, the individual is actually a little less apt at 

 taking in situations, and forming quick conclusions than before years 



