$6 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



" Shure," he said, " and why didn't I think of 

 it before? All the trouble is I've got to wear 

 thim boots a few days to limber thim up, an' thin 

 they'll go on aisy." 



My interest in the story, and hence my vivid 

 recollection, is not due so much to the absurdity 

 of the situation, as to my sympathy with Pat ! 

 The remembrance of the amusing phases of the 

 tale are mingled with my attempt to reconcile 

 with boyish logic, the two facts, that, while Pat 

 in the main was wholly wrong, yet, from a certain 

 standpoint, he was more than half right. 



The Irishman's logic has a host of sympathizers 

 among those who attempt to do certain things. 

 As the architect's plans precede the building, so 

 in most cases, the object must be completed in 

 spirit, before it. is even begun in reality. This is 

 emphatically true in winning love for the study of 

 nature ; the germ must exist before the love can 

 be developed. Something can seldom be made 

 out of nothing. 



As Wordsworth says of his poet, — 



11 You must love him, ere to you 

 He will seem worthy of your love." 



There must be an inherent love for nature before 



