downing] A SCHOOL OUTLINE 223 



hold the nut? Does he crack it as you would crack a nut? What 

 teeth does he use? What is their shape? Does he chew the nut 

 well ? Does he eat the nut where you give it to him or does he run 

 off to some other part of the cage to eat it? What position does 

 he take while he is eating? After he has eaten all he needs what 

 does he do with other nuts you give him? Compare the rabbit's 

 method of eating with the squirrel's. Can the rabbit hold food in 

 its forepaws when it eats? Can you? 



Take the pan of drinking water out of the cage and leave it 

 out for several hours so that the animals will be sure to be 

 thirsty. Then when the children are watching put in fresh 

 water and observe the method of drinking. Compare with the 

 dog and horse. From your observations do you think that ani- 

 mals get hungry and thirsty as we do? This will afford an ap- 

 propriate opportunity for simple directions on the care of pets. 



Perchance this work as outlined appears so commonplace that 

 it will seem to some an unnecessary expenditure of valuable time 

 on what is not only already familiar but also insignificant. But 

 the careful study of these familiar matters will convince one that 

 what is so commonplace is not always therefore well known. 

 Moreover there is more of significance in these observations than 

 one might at first think. There is a volume of ancestral history 

 revealed in some of these apparently trifling mannerisms. The 

 cat, for instance, you will find sniffs daintily of her food, eats 

 leisurely and prefers to have her meal is seclusion. The dog- 

 bolts his food with all possible celerity, growling meanwhile at any 

 possible interference and yet not seeming to be greatly disturbed 

 by onlookers. One can see at once the inherited traits outcrop- 

 ping. The cats have always been solitary hunters. Her ances- 

 tors did not hunt together as the dog tribe has usually done. The 

 members of the great cat family are accustomed through genera- 

 tions of usage quietly to partake of the prey which they have 

 hunted alone and killed in the solitude of the forest or jungle. Not 

 so the dog tribe. They have hunted in packs and when the kill 

 was at last accomplished each animal seized his share, eating amid 

 a jostling crowd of hungry fellows. Each secured the choicest 

 morsel possible and defended it against all comers. Yet each was 

 anxious to stow a large share of the plunder in the shortest 

 time in that one spot secure from the claims of disputants. 



This has not been suggested with the expectation that so 

 much of philosophizing will be attempted with pupils of these 

 lower grades but merely to give the teacher an inkling of what 

 the observations we are now making may disclose. 



