Ill 



Extrinsic and Intrinsic Views of Nature 



IHE purpose of this exercise is to tell 

 children how to see the hidden beauties 

 of flowers." Thus ran the announcement at 

 the opening of the classroom period. Is it 

 worth while to tell them any such thing ? Why 

 not teach them to be interested in plants? 

 Why give them a half-truth when they might 

 have the whole truth? 



The "beauty" of a flower or a bird is only 

 an incident: the plant or the bird is the im- 

 portant thing to know. Beauty is not an end. 

 The person who starts out to see beauty in 

 plants is often in the condition of mind that the 

 dear old lady was who came into my conserva- 

 tory and exclaimed, as she saw the geraniums, 

 "Oh, they are as pretty as artificial flowers !" 



But these people are not looking for beauty, 

 after all; they look for mere satisfying form or 

 color or oddity. They confound beauty with 

 124 



