96 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:3— Mar., 1918 



substitute for the instrument ready to the hand of the country 

 teacher. But in our enthusiasm for the neglected commercial 

 field we must appreciate that the purpose of its use is twofold, 

 first for its own intrinsic value, but also as a stepping-stone to 

 knowledge of the real things of the surrounding country. Such 

 work gives us a new point of view in our study of the brook, the 

 birds, or the animals of the country when the time arrives for 

 looking at them. It gives us a new method of attack, supplies 

 a supplementary phase to what is commonly elaborated as nature- 

 study work. It furnishes a connecting link between such nature- 

 study work and the conditions known to the average city child. 

 Thus to go from the known to the unknown is the only way we 

 can lead the city child to make the life of the country a part of 

 his own broader life. 



Most of our children do not know how to see what is around 

 them. Any unusual object in action such as a run-away horse 

 will of course arouse their interest and excite them, but the "set- 

 ting" might as well be absent. There is always so much going on, 

 so many changes taking place that they never look at one thing 

 long. Little children must be taught either by their parents or 

 by older children to play; shall we wonder that their powers of 

 observation must be trained in other directions as well ? 



We are branching out and coming to appreciate the good of 

 "trade schools" in teaching the children how to gain a livelihood, 

 and some chance of choosing a more or less congenial one. Do 

 we teach them how to live the broadest life possible while earning 

 their livelihood? Let us help them get all possible pleasure from 

 the surroundings they must see daily! 



It is with the common things of daily experience that we must 

 begin on our nature work — clouds or sunshine, curbstone or 

 cobblestone, sidewalk or gravel of the playground, water supply 

 or furnace coal, flies or ants, peanuts or popcorn. Have these 

 things great innate interest ? Perhaps not in the present isolated 

 form, but in their natural surroundings each filled an important 

 place. It is our part to furnish these associations, to imitate a 

 more natural state than the streets in our crowded sections will 

 offer us. Let us do this in our schools. We need all possible 

 help in this task. 



