INTRODUCTION, x j 



how wonderfully the harmless crawling creatures percolate 

 the ground so that the rain can sink into it, wilfully tread 

 upon the worm by the road-side ; he will " turn his hasty 

 foot aside," and will scorn to take away the life he cannot 

 give. And the child who has been shown in a microscope 

 the exquisite structure of insects, will not be likely to 

 stick pins through live butterflies, or pull out the legs 

 of flies, 



The boy is the father of the man ; and the habits of 

 consideration thus early grafted will grow and strengthen, 

 and will in after life curb the ' hand raised in cruelty to 

 animals, and in violence to fellow creatures. 



But the girl is the future mother of the coming genera- 

 tion, and on her knee will the child learn those first 

 lessons which will leave an indelible impression on its 

 mind, and therefore the education of our girls in natural 

 history is as important as that of boys perhaps more so 

 for from the female we are accustomed to expect mercy 

 and refinement, and mothers,' sisters, and wives can 

 exercise over the rougher sex softening influences, the 

 extent of which it is impossible to over-rate. 



What beautiful lessons can the mother draw from the 

 book of Nature, so bountifully opened former, and how 

 her children will love her for it ! how she will thus be 

 able to lead them to the Source from which all blessings 

 flow and how they will, in years when the world has 

 ploughed deep furrows on their cheeks, remember these 

 lessons, and love them the more because their mother 

 taught them ! 



We see that all Nature lays her productions at the foot 

 of man ; that the cow which browses in the valley, and 

 the goat that feeds on the mountain-top the bird which 

 flies in the air, and the fish which inhabits the waters 

 assimilate the nourishment they receive from what they 

 eat, until it becomes part and parcel of their flesh, and so 



