44 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



less good humour in the lesson. Make the children laugh, almost 

 make them cry. Make a bold appeal to their finer senses, but 

 do not overload, or overdo, it. Otherwise, disaster will surely 

 follow. Be sentimental, but not over-sensitive. It doesn't do. 

 Go straight to the heart, but do not bore with too much sermon- 

 ising. Sow, to the best of your ability, the seed of the great 

 Mother Nature through the senses, so that it may eventually 

 germinate, and bear fruit, in the garden of the mind. 



Children are always keenly interested in learning elementary 

 lessons respecting the production of living things, and it is a 

 capital plan to conduct a series of talks upon the story of the 

 seed. For preference, have ready for class use a small packet 

 of the seed of a familiar plant, such as Mignonette or Nasturtium, 

 and, if the living plant can be shown at the same time, it will 

 greatly help to drive the story home. Young people, I find, 

 invariably insist upon having some (and very often much) direct 

 evidence brought before them, although they evince a wholesome 

 respect for the experience of the instructor who shows an 

 intimate knowledge of his subject. Having shown the hard seed 

 inactive, apparently void of energy, or life build up the story 

 gradually. Children cannot take in too much at one gulp, and 

 a little at a time is all they can manage. If an acorn is brought 

 into class, much material will be available as it is a well-known 

 fruit the children are familiar with, and every girl and boy 

 recognises at sight an Oak tree in Summer, even if its identity 

 puzzles them (and older folk) in Winter. Show how, once the 

 tiny seed has been planted in the garden of Nature, the stored-up 

 energy within the hard covering begins to assert itself ; how, in 

 a word, it responds to stimulus. Information can be given of 

 the first stages of germination, of the chemical action of the 

 soil, and then, when the seedling plant appears above ground, 

 the methods that are adopted by the tiny wildling for pushing 

 its way through the soil without being injured. Many, if not 

 most, plants have a wonderful way of producing a living green 

 dagger to enable them to do this successfully, and, once the idea 

 lays hold of one's pupils, they, on their part, will begin to search 

 on their own account, and many are the things they themselves 

 will discover in which they will very naturally take an especial 

 pride. Encourage them to do this, and, although an object may 

 be quite commonplace, do not tell them so, as a word of encourage- 

 ment when one is young goes a mighty long way, as we who are 

 now grown up know full well. The life-giving influence of the 



