192 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



as they gleefully trot back to the strenuous work 

 of getting a living. The row of young folks see 

 lots of fun in all this. 



But isn't it after all an epitome, a sort of par- 

 allel, to what a visitor from another planet might 

 observe if suspended in a balloon over this weary, 

 living-getting world of ours ? The people are the 

 ducks, the basin of food the place of occupation 

 and the vessel of water the seaside, the lake, the 

 rivers, the books, the fields, the mountains, the 

 wilderness. Vigorously we labor at the centre of 

 material things, then tired out with much work, 

 or large accumulations, or both, we hurry away 

 for the dilutant, or that which shall make us digest, 

 absorb and enjoy all that we have succeeded in 

 picking up in the scramble. Every train load of 

 excursionists to or from a city reminds me of 

 those ducks hurrying to or from the food and 

 the water. You can always tell by the appearance 

 of the people (and of the ducks, too !) which 

 place has been visited last, even if you canno 

 surmise it from the point of the compass which 

 they are leaving, or that toward which their faces 

 are looking. 



My son, who attends to the needs of these ducks, 

 stops me at this point, and says that he has dis- 



