vi PREFACE 



the subject-matter according to seasons and life communi- 

 ties, under such chapters as " Life in and near the Water 

 in Summer/' " The Prairie in Late Summer," " The Woods 

 in their Autumn Foliage," etc. An effort has been made 

 throughout the book to show that all nature is one. Scien- 

 tific classification has not been excluded, but has been kept 

 in the background, because the child must study the con- 

 crete before he can make abstractions. Many of our high 

 school and college students take but a limited interest in 

 Botany and Zoology, because they possess almost nothing 

 of what may be called " common knowledge about the life 

 around us." How can we expect that these young pupils 

 should suddenly be interested in the microscopic structure 

 of plants and animals, which they have always passed by 

 with stupid indifference ; or for what possible reason should 

 scientific systematization attract them, when they know 

 nothing about the life history of the trees in their yards and 

 of the birds that nest on them? This little volume is, how-\ 

 ever, specially intended to point out work for those children 

 whose school years close with the common school course. \ 

 Their education must remain elementary, but it should, 

 neverthelessj be broad and thorough. The writer does not 

 believe that the physical sciences should be excluded from 

 our common schools ; they should receive special attention 

 during the last or the last two school years, but it has not 

 been deemed advisable to include much of them in this 

 volume. 



Suggestions to teachers and parents. In order to do suc- 

 cessfully some of the work suggested and outlined, it is not 



