HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 21 



ludicrousness of the situation. He may not have 

 repeated the words of the conversation verbatim, 

 as a court stenographer would have done, but it 

 is evident to anyone interested in nature in the 

 school-room, that he has portrayed a phase of 

 parenthood in absolute fidelity to fact. 



That this is truth, plain truth without an ele- 

 ment of humor, can be vouched for by everyone 

 who has had even a limited knowledge of what 

 often results from the consideration of natural 

 objects in the school-room. To use a current 

 phrase, " This is a practical age." Parents form 

 a jury before which the educator must prove the 

 cui bono. He must show results worth the time 

 consumed. The Why? stares him in the face; 

 he must be ready for each parent who has a 

 " Vat for ish dat ? " And if the results are not 

 worth while, there will follow a denunciation, as 

 surely as the effect follows the cause. There 

 is more than one Edward Bok, and more than 

 one anonymous editor to voice the opinion of 

 thousands of mothers, and denounce the over- 

 crowding of the child's mind. There are voters 

 to reject school officers if time consumed is worth 

 more than results. There are superintendents 

 like the one whom I met in Massachusetts, 



