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fined shops of trade but principally in agriculture, that the 

 best stock or staple of men is grown. It is in the open air 

 in communion with the sky, the earth and all living things 

 that the largest inspiration is drunk in and the vital energies 

 of a real man constructed." Certainly the country may claim 

 superior advantages for the physical, mental, and moral train- 

 ing of the young, wherever good schools are maintained. 



Though I studied the Kindergarten system in Germany, and 

 advocate it, I still contend that the best sort of Kindergarten 

 is the open fields and varied objects of the country, if only 

 the eye be trained to habits of careful observation. There, 

 things are studied more than mere words, or rather the per- 

 ception of objects and their qualities furnishes the material 

 for thought and gives precision to language. Hugh Miller 

 used to say : " The best school I ever attended was the miscel- 

 lany of objects and circumstances surrounding me in my 

 native district, challenging the first exercise of my senses and 

 my fancy and that is a species of education open to all . ... 

 Open your eyes, the commonest objects are worth looking 

 at, even weeds and stones and the most familiar animals." 

 He was educated by the rocks of old Cromarty on the shore 

 of the North Sea. Scott was educated by the sounding surges 

 of the sea. Webster was educated by the Salisbury Mountains. 

 How different would have been the history of Washington 

 had he spent his youth amid the excitements and diver- 

 sions of a great city like London. Would Jefferson have 

 attained his eminence and power, had he been early dandled 

 in the lap of affluence in a city like Paris ? How different 

 would have been the career of the great naturalist of our day, 

 had he spent his childhood in a large city. How fortunate for 

 Agassiz and for the world that his native home was in the 

 beautiful little village of Mottier in Switzerland, lying midway 

 between the lakes of Neuchatel and Morat. The woody hills, 

 the gardens and vineyards, the banks, cascades and lakes ; 

 the Jura and more distant Alps, with magnificent glaciers, 

 glistening fields of snow and ice ; these were his early teachers. 

 His very sports served to convert the observing boy into the 

 future naturalist. Theke were boating, fishing, hunting, study- 

 ing birds and turtles, gathering bugs, butterflies and other 



