hand] COLLECTIXG THIXGS 293 



and fourth generation. Our little exhibit last year of 200 boxes 

 and about 8,000 specimens on which the fond mothers and fathers 

 gazed so admiringly, was an event that still lingers in the memory. 



A certain "crank" has said: "Get your pleasure out of your 

 work or you will never know what true happiness is" ; another is 

 applying this idea in the high school work. 



Now, if you wish to take up this work, just begin, and watch 

 it grow ! There is at least one man in each state who will be 

 glad to help you. Find him, and if he does not immediately 

 exemplify the saying of the great Teacher: "It is more blessed 

 to give than to receive," he will be the first exception I have ever 

 known. And I am never too busy to help you. 



Wendell Phillips High School, Chicago. 



Observation Ga^es 



Earl Lvxd Johnston. 



Principal, Independence School. 



Ft. Lupton, Colo. 



Desiring to have some nature study when I was in charge of 

 a two- room graded rural school, I found that I needed some 

 cages for observations. I evolved a plan whereby these cages 

 might be easily made and put together and at the same time be 

 easily crated to move from place to place. I was so well pleased 

 with my cages and found them so handy, that I thought I would 

 pass the plan along. 



One of the cages was made for the study of insects and the 

 other one for the study of snakes and other small animals. 



The cages are alike, excepting the wire. The insect cage was 

 covered with common screen door wire and the other with a 

 heavier wire, about eight meshes to the inch. Each cage has five 

 parts, sides, ends and top each made separately. These parts 

 can be put together without the use of nails, screws or hooks by 

 having the ends rabbeted to the sides. The top fits flush with 

 the inside and is held up by a strip along the inside of each side 

 of cage. As these cages have no bottom, they can be placed in 

 any condition one wishes. I made a box for mine in which I 

 placed dirt and fine sand. 



The material used was clear two-inch pine, one inch thick. 

 The dimensions are : sides 36x24 inches ; ends 24x18 inches ; top 

 to fit inside these dimensions. They cost three dollars each, and 

 ought to last a life-time. 



