vinal] NATURE-STUDY IN RHODE ISLAND 261 



and enjoy our parks and bays. In the Nature -Study Review 

 for last October is an article on " Nature-Study in the War Zone." 

 It tells us that in Holland "village museums include accumula- 

 tions of years of field excursions of the school children. On alter- 

 nate Fridays a score of wooden shoes clatter along the brick paved 

 dike learning to know afield the 'wee beasties.' Up among the 

 bonnie braes of Scotland they call it a school treat. Every Jap- 

 anese pupil learns how to swim. In Switzerland the children learn 

 to use their eyes and to know the beautiful. In Denmark, even 

 the blind school children go into the magnificent beech forest. ' ' We 

 are fortunate in having such an up-to-date museum. More teach- 

 ers should take advantage of this opportunity to overcome the 

 difficulties of field trips. 



There are indications on all sides that we are waking up to the 

 possibilities in field work. Over fifty troops of Boy Scouts have 

 been organized in this state. There are sixteen troops in this city 

 with forty boys to a troop. Then there are the Camp Fire Girls, 

 the Rhode Island Field Naturalists' Society, which numbers near- 

 ly 150 members, many of whom are teachers. At Brown Univer- 

 sity they have recently passed a requirement that every graduate 

 must know how to swim. The Horticultural Society, Public Park 

 Association, League of Improvement Societies, Audubon Society, 

 and many others point to an awakened interest in the great out- 

 of-doors. 



Another aid in this field work is the normal school. Our girls 

 need practice as well as theory in leading field trips. They will be 

 only too glad to help you in this work. This has already been 

 done in the past and it is hoped that more opportunities will be 

 offered in the future. 



I have explained how teachers can overcome the obstacles to 

 field trips. Another obstacle to teaching Nature-study is the ob- 

 taining of material in the city schools. This is oftentimes imag- 

 inary. At the Slater Avenue School, in Providence, children ob- 

 served 100 species of flowers and 25 species of birds in their own 

 community, in one spring and fall. The loan material at the park 

 increased its usefulness four times in the last three years. The 

 Board of Agriculture has its exhibits showing the life history of 

 insects, care of trees, and bulletins. The Commissioner of For- 

 estry has pictures and pamphlets. Professor Collins, of the For- 

 estry Bureau at Brown University, will present you with specimens 



