60 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



him up to one thing and he is awake to all. " I 

 take a deeper interest in my geometry and Latin 

 since I became interested in nature study. I'm 

 going to be somebody," is an extract from a letter 

 from a high-school boy. And then he goes on to 

 tell of his " air castles," about being a scientist 

 and making some great discovery. That boy 

 woke up. He came to himself, and the life 

 developed by nature study will be useful and 

 efficient in any occupation. 



Nature study is a valuable correlation in teach- 

 ing true democracy, the American idea. There 

 is no aristocracy or oligarchy in nature. Even 

 the queen of the communal Hymenoptera is not 

 an aristocrat, but the most prodigious worker of 

 them all. She is even " elected " from among the 

 plebeian worker-eggs, and held to her position by 

 the most perfect democracy in the world, an 

 absolutely universal approbation. 



The naturalist who sees things in their true 

 relation sees no high nor low, but universal 

 co-operation and mutual interdependence. The 

 scarlet tanager is attractive, but it is easy to show 

 the young folks that the earthworm has a mission 

 quite as important. Nature study impresses one 

 with respect for high and low, large and small, 



