4 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



at me again for fifteen minutes, I felt ; perhaps, it 

 was really only a second, but I was subdued. 



"Why, certainly, Miss Carrier, with the greatest 

 of pleasure ; it slipped my mind, when I got to 

 talking of boyhood matters. 



" Now, a boat is — of course, we must first know 

 what the thing is ; that you already know. There 

 are lots of them just over the hill, on the Babcock 

 pond. Now, get the thing clearly in mind, and 

 then we are prepared to define it. A boat — such 

 as you see on that pond every day — is — a boat is 

 — such a boat as Frank has [that made me jump ; 

 it was a close shot, for Frank sat next to me]. I 

 saw him going down there the other day, with 

 another boy and three girls, a good boat-load ; 

 going out after some of those pond-lilies, I guess. 

 But, I forgot ; that boat like Frank's is — a boat — 

 then there's another one, a beautiful boat, newly 

 painted, with the name ' Lily ' on it. I happened 

 to think of that, speaking of pond-lilies. I don't 

 know whether a girl by the name of Lily owns it, 

 or whether some one of you roguish boys named 

 it after your favorite girl." 



We looked at the teacher ; she smiled, and that 

 told us that it was a joke, at which we might laugh, 

 and we made the most of it. The boys all ya- 



