38 TEACHERS' CORNER 



"And as I go marching along on these wonderful autumn days 

 I think I get more from them than a great many of the men whose 

 only pleasure in life is of a physical nature. I love to watch the 

 spider go by with his silken sails unfurled to the clear and steady 

 breeze of Indian summer. And if perchance one loses hold and 

 alights upon the hat of the individual in front of me, I love to watch 

 him try all sides of the hat, to fix the direction of the breeze and 

 when at last he has succeeded, after many seemingly unnecessary 

 movements, he raises himself on his front legs as high as possible, 

 tries his muscles and with one last effort jumps into the breeze and 

 goes floating away with only a few silken threads, as stately and 

 with the ease of Aphrodite herself. In the meantime, the com- 

 mand, "squads right !" has been given and I find myself eyed doubt- 

 fully by officer or squad leader, and again I come back to earth to 

 do that which is most primitive." 



Teachers' Corner 



If we only could now and then pry open the heads of our pupils and find all 

 that is stored there as the direct results of our teaching we would undoubtedly 

 put on sack-cloth and take to some other profession with mortification and 

 celerity. Occasionally we gain a glimpse of what we have really taught and 

 find it so far afield from what we thought we had taught that we can only gasp 

 and wonder. Fortunate is the teacher who can retain a sense of humor under 

 this ordeal. The Editor remembers well once upon a time she lectured to a 

 very respectful and attentive class at Chautauqua, N. Y. One item in her 

 theme was the clever device for escape used by the caterpillar that forms the 

 spindle-shaped gall in the stem of the golden-rod. She warmed up to her sub- 

 ject and felt truly eloquent and the class responded with enthusiasm. Later in 

 the day, during a field trip, this gall was found and its wise occupant and his 

 skill in making beveled edges to his exit door were shown to the pupils at which 

 one exclaimed incredulously, "Isn't that wonderful! What Mrs. Comstock 

 told us is really so, isn't it!" 



A nature-study and biology teacher somewhere in America has sent in the 

 following casket of jewels culled from the free expressions of her pupils regard- 

 ing their observations and conclusions in the wide domain of nature. It is 

 needless to add that this teacher has a keen sense of humor: — 



"Organic matter is when you have something the matter with your organs." 



"Five devices by which seeds are scattered are wind, water, explosion, torn 

 up, taken out, and thrown away." 



"The peculiars of an insect are some of them bring diseases, others destroy 

 food, suck the blood, spoil the flowers, lay eggs and kill babies." 



"The grasshopper, when he walks, he either jumps or hops." 



"The jaws of a grasshopper move east and west." 



"A larva is an unfinished animal." 



"The flower is to show what a plant can do." 



