30 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



the nature love, which we sometimes call nature 

 study. 



Do not be in haste to go ; sit still for a mo- 

 ment, your son is worth more than those clothes 

 in the tub. Let me explain further. You want 

 him to do great deeds, I suppose? Did you ever 

 hear of Ruskin ? He was a wise man, who got 

 below the surface of things. He said : 



The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is 

 to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hun- 

 dreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thou- 

 sands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is 

 poetry, prophecy, and religion, all in one. 



We want to develop your boy's originality, not 

 to pack his head with useless facts. We want to 

 help him'to see things and to tell what he sees. To 

 see them in their right relations ; to wake up and 

 realize that life is worth living, and worth living, 

 too, in its fullest capacity, and in the best man- 

 ner. We want to put him under the influence of 

 Mother Nature, because we can find no other 

 power of development so beneficent. 



Your boy may never be rich or great or influ- 

 ential, except in the way that I have indicated. 

 Let him have that at lea — no, at most. He may 

 never be a famous writer, nor a poet, but he may 



