NATURE STUDY, TEACHER, AND CHILD 37 



book of Nature that God hath spread out before thee ; so thou 

 wilt store up knowledge within thy brain, and peace within thy 

 heart." 



II. The Teacher. Having given a very brief resume, as it 

 were, of- Nature Study, we now come to the crux of the whole 

 matter, and one finds it difficult to convey in written form an 

 accurate idea of what it is most essential should be made known. 

 Perhaps if I write as I feel, and as I should speak if I was address- 

 ing a gathering of teachers themselves, the difficulty will be best 

 met. With the teacher lies success, or failure. Upon him, or her, 

 everything depends. The children look up to the teacher for 

 guidance, encouragement, appreciation, and the marshalling of 

 knowledge. The Nature teacher, or, if you will, the loving 

 interpreter of Earth's secrets, has, it must be admitted, an unique 

 opportunity of doing real, good work, but there are pitfalls 

 galore, especially for those who, desirous of acting as interpreters, 

 know little, or nothing, of the subject before them. This applies 

 with equal force to Day and Sunday School teachers, and I 

 have myself come across pitiable examples of the former during 

 the course of my wanderings. To me as a born-in-the-cradle- 

 naturalist, as a lifelong student of Nature's children, birds, 

 beasts, fishes, insects, flowers, and the. rest, I know, appreciate, 

 feel, and can to an extent reveal, or, should I not rather say, 

 humbly point the way, to the enquiring and receptive mind. I can, 

 in a measure, advise the teacher who is desirous of instilling Nature 

 lore into the minds of children, what I consider, as a result of my 

 own actual experience, the best method to adopt. I can relate, 

 or write down, apt illustrations that I have myself culled from 

 the great and ever-open book that, as the old chronicler says, 

 lies expansed before the eyes of all. There is nothing egotistical 

 about this personal experience. It is the birthright of every- 

 body, but few there be who appear to take full advantage of it. 

 Some who live in towns and crowded cities state that they lack 

 opportunity for being brought into contact with Nature, that 

 they have the desire, but no means of carrying same into practice ; 

 others who live in the heart of the country, within the very joy- 

 wheel of Nature's Wonderland, find it, they tell me plainly, 

 excessively dull and uninteresting ! 



There is no doubt that things of the country interest people 

 more to-day than ever before in the history of the world, but a 

 very small percentage of our population is thus impressed, and 

 there is much spade work to be done before we are out of the 



