NATURE-STUDY AND EXPRESSION 6 1 



picture is the thing to be developed, and the reading must be, and 

 it is, a useful means, not a hindrance, to that end. 



8. When the work of the school, in reading as well as in other 

 subjects, can be printed, as it was in the present instance, the pupils 

 can be given an opportunity for bookbinding. In the present case, 

 an old book was soaked and the cover removed, and the different 

 parts were separated so that the pattern could be obtained. Then, 

 with cardboard, and paper suitable for the covering, and leatheret, 

 the pupils constructed a back that held a number of short stubs of 

 leaves. To these, they pasted the printed sheets, as they were 

 prepared, and thus built up their own reader and text-book. 



Reading taught in accordance with the principles suggested 

 above becomes of immense service to nature-study, and it is also 

 much more. It makes a direct appeal to the literary taste. Not 

 only does it create a taste for what others have written, but it lays 

 the basis for literary composition by the pupil himself. The two 

 following reading lessons on " Sunrise " and " Sunset " are a child's 

 original expression concerning two sets of natural phenomena that 

 have given to literature some of its choicest gems : 



SUNRISE. 



I saw the sunrise. 



It was beautiful. 



Some clouds were red. 



Some clouds were white and pink. 



Some clouds were golden. 



The sky was blue. 



Then the sun came. 



I could not look at it. 



It was too bright. 



The birds were singing. 



The dew was on the grass. 



The sun rose in the east. 



That way is east. 



SUNSET. 



That way is west. 



The sun sets in the west. 



I saw the sun setting. 



It was beautiful. 



It was large and red. 



