62 THE THIRD YEARBOOK 



I could look at it. 



Some clouds were golden and pink. 

 Some clouds were white and fleecy. 

 The white clouds looked like ships. 

 The sky looked like a great still lake. 

 Will you look at the sunset tonight? 



Teachers of nature-study too often imagine that their work ends 

 when the senses have been employed in observation. Pupils are 

 taught to observe for themselves, but they are generally given the 

 impression that for the literary and artistic aspects they must depend 

 upon others. Hence, while they see for themselves, they read the 

 poetry and sing the songs of other people. This is as bad as it 

 would be to have them depend wholly upon the observations of 

 others. The literary and artistic impulses are roused in the chil- 

 dren by nature, as they have been aroused in older people before 

 them, and it is the teacher's business to nurture and develop the 

 appropriate forms of expression in the children themselves. This 

 cannot be done by having them always read what has been said any 

 more than they can be taught to observe by telling them what some- 

 one else has seen. A field trip has not been wholly successful if it 

 does not rouse the artistic feelings — if it does not stimulate them 

 to paint, or lift them up to the use of the best language ; or if 

 it does not furnish the spirit for a song. The chief reason why 

 these results are not secured is that teachers pay no attention to the 

 foundations which nature-study lays for them. These impulses in 

 children are easily roused ; but, uncared for, they soon wither and 

 die, never again to reappear. Hence, the dull and prosaic life, instead 

 of one rich in feeling, in sympathy, and in appreciation of both 

 nature and man. 



VI. MUSIC. 



The following song was composed under the direction of Mrs. 

 May Root Kern by a class in the Laboratory School of the Univer- 

 sity. Song-writing should be almost as common an expression in 

 connection with nature-study as drawing or written composition. 



