NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS 



CHAPTER I 



TO THE TEACHER 



Go yourself frequently into the fields and woods, or into the city 

 parks, or along the water front anywhere so that you can touch 

 nature directly, and look and listen for yourselves. Don't try to teach 

 what you do not know, and there is nothing in this book that you 

 cannot know, for the lesson to be taught in each chapter is a spiritual 

 lesson, not a number of bare facts. This spiritual lesson you must 

 first learn before you can teach it must feel, I should say ; and a 

 single thoughtful excursion alone into the autumn fields will give you 

 possession of it. And what is the lesson in this chapter ? Just this : 

 that the strong growths of summer, the ripening of seeds and fruits, 

 the languid lazy spirit, and the pensive signs of coming autumn are 

 all the manifold preparations of nature for a fresh outburst of life 

 with the coming of spring. 



FOR THE PUPIL 

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The clock of the year strikes one: When, in the daytime, the clock 

 strikes one, the hour of noon is past ; the afternoon begins. On 

 the 21st of June the clock of the year strikes twelve noon ! 

 By late July the clock strikes one the noon hour is past ! Sum- 

 mer is gone ; autumn the afternoon of the year begins. 

 going " creepy-creep " : In the quiet of some July day in fields or 

 woods, listen to the stirring of the insects and other small wood 

 creatures. All summer long they are going about their business, 

 but in the midst of stronger noises we are almost deaf to their 

 world of little sounds. 

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begins to shift : Why is the oak's shadow likely to be " round " at 

 noon ? What causes the shadow to " shift" ; or move ? In which 

 direction would it move ? 



