THE EMBELLISHMENT OF SCHOOL GROUNDS. 95 



that we may reverently receive and riehl}' enjoy them, and at last 

 render a good account of our use of them. 



Discussion. 



William E. Endicott said that it might seem to some not a 

 practical thing to have flowering plants in school yards. His 

 experience, when a boy, was precisely opposite ; there was a strip 

 of ground three feet wide around the school yard, planted with 

 flowers which bloomed through the season, beginning with the 

 snowdrops, narcissi, and tulips in the spring, and continuing until 

 the frost destroyed the asters and marigolds. This was near a 

 manufacturing village, and it can be done now where the grounds 

 afford room, as well as in Canton fort}' years ago. If plants are 

 to be cultivated in school-rooms, the^- should be judiciously 

 chosen, so that interest could be maintained through the year, 

 and the janitor should be interested, as it is necessary to leave 

 them to his care during vacations, etc. Succulent plants, such as 

 cacti, stapelias, crassulas, and sedums would be most eligible. 

 Nearly all the narcissi would be valuable. 



Rev. Calvin Terry considered the subject under discussion a 

 most important one ; it touches the foundation of all good citizen- 

 ship. He had had a good deal to do with schools ; the care of 

 buildings and grounds is too much left to janitors, and the 

 scholars do not come so near to Nature as they should. School 

 grounds are too much neglected, and he had been in school-rooms 

 where there was no air fit to breathe, owing to the neglect by 

 those in charge. A great defect in our schools is that it is made 

 the aim to see who will get the highest mark, so that instead of 

 education we have merely inculcation. A set of vandals is train- 

 ing up among us ; children should grow up with the feeling that a 

 tree or a flower is sacred, and that the needless destruction of 

 woods in which they have spent many happy days is a wrong. 

 The existing state of things may be the fault of the teachers in 

 some cases, but its prevalence shows it to be a fault of the s^'stem. 

 Many teachers think they have not time to give instruction in 

 natural histoiy, but if properl}^ qualified they would find time for 

 this important instruction and our scliools would be made more 

 useful by it. 



Marshall B. Faxon held that teaching the young how to care 

 for plants is most important. The Committee on Window Gar- 



