THE WAY LIFE BEGINS 47 



Education through Pets 



How blessed is the child who can have a pet! An animal 

 that is all his own, over which he may exercise his affections 

 and his will, and through which he is given the opportunity 

 to establish right relations with the lower forms. To assume 

 the care of animals, to meet and anticipate their needs, to 

 watch the birth and growth of their young, to mate and 

 improve the stock, are all, in themselves, a discipline and an 

 education. Animals have civilized man quite as much as he 

 has domesticated them. 



Rabbits make splendid pets; they are hardy and have few 

 needs. Next to the dog and the cat, they have endeared 

 themselves to all children. 



From Birds to Mammals 



It is seldom possible, and indeed not often desirable, to 

 give formal instruction to children about reproduction, by 

 beginning with flowers, and passing on to insects, fish, frogs, 

 birds, mammals, and man. The inquiry or the question of 

 the moment, whether it concern human birth or the meaning 

 of the flowers, will naturally deserve first attention. However, 

 it is desirable, as soon as possible, to convey an idea of the 

 ascending order of life and the main characteristics of each 

 of the great types. Information obtained about any plant 

 or animal may be turned to account either in comparing or 

 contrasting other forms already known to the child. 



Our first thought is that there are very great differences 

 between birds and mammals, so great as to belong to unre- 

 lated divisions of the animal world. There are, however, 

 connecting links between them on the one hand ; and between 

 birds and reptiles, on the other. 



The most striking difference between birds and mammals, 

 as we know them, is the growth of the young from an egg 

 outside the mother's body in the case of the birds, and the 

 growth of the young from an egg inside the mother's body 

 of the mammal. Without thinking, we say that the young 

 of birds grow within an egg, outside the mother. This is not 



