" The teacher who hopes to guide her pupils wisely will 

 find it advisable to go directly to nature for inspiration ; 

 she must learn to know and to love the birds, the flowers, 

 and the trees, if she hopes to lead her pupils to know and 

 to love them ; she must learn to observe in order to direct 

 and test the observation of her pupils. After having 

 studied, sketched and written descriptions of a few typical 

 plants and animals and verified the descriptions by ref- 

 erence to good text books, a teacher will begin to realize 

 something of the enjoyment in store for her pupils." — Anna 

 E. McGovern, B. S., in " Nature Study and Related Litera- 

 ture." 



The writer was once a boy himself, and vividly remem- 

 bers the never-to-be-forgotten rambles and observations of 

 the objects in the country ; and moreover, as he treasures 

 up such reminiscences as the most pleasant and innocent 

 of an active man's life, he thought he could not do better 

 than enlist this younger generation in the same loves and 

 the same pleasures. He has endeavored to do his best for 

 his human hobbies, and hopes their lives may be richer 

 and sweeter and more manly, for what he has introduced 

 them to in this book. 



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