EDITORIAL 2<57 



the education of children rather than from her own great love of 

 the out-of-doors. Aside from nature-study as an educational 

 factor, she believes with some of the rest of us that the future 

 agricultural development of our country depends upon a fundamen- 

 tal interest in the land and all that grows and lives thereon, and 

 this can best be attained in childhood. In her opinion nature-study 

 in the public schools is a war measure. 



Dr. Elliot R. Downing attended the meeting and addressed the 

 Federation, pointing out the importance of elementary science in 

 our public schools. His address was the potent influence in bring- 

 ing about the passing of this resolution. 



The Federation of Woman's Clubs is a far teaching organization 

 and if it will earnestly support the resolutions which it has passed, 

 we may hope for a very needed reform in our public school cur- 

 ricula, and the results will be of the most vital consequence to our 

 nation. — as Professor L. H. Bailey has said: 



"If the farmer as he trudges down the corn rows under the June 

 sun sees only clods, and weeds, and corn, he leads an empty and a 

 barren life. But if he knows of the work of the moisture in air and 

 soil, of the use of air to root and leaf, of the mysterious chemistry of 

 the sunbeam, of the vital forces in the growing plant, of the bacteria 

 in the soil liberating its elements of fertility; if he sees the relation 

 of all these natural forces to his own work; if he knows of the 

 hundreds of commercial products obtained from his corn or the 

 animals that it fattens; he then realizes that he is no mere toiler; 

 he is marshaling the hosts of the universe, and upon the skill of his 

 generalship depends the life of nations." 



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