238 The Nature-Study Idea 



and relate it to other facts. You must give 

 them some conception of the hen's habit of life. 

 You must not allow your advice to farmers to 

 take the place of the training of farmers' 

 children. 



I do not doubt but that all elementary educa- 

 tional work for country conditions is yet very 

 crude and fails adequately to reach the mark. 

 On the other hand, I am convinced that we arc 

 learning how. In the meantime it seems to me 

 that it is your part as a teacher to endeavor 

 to put the country children, as much as possible, 

 directly into touch with their environment in 

 order that they may understand it and apre- 

 ciate it. I am quite sure that not all the com- 

 pensations of farming are in the shining dollars 

 of which you speak. Some of the compensa- 

 tion comes in a sympathetic appreciation of the 

 surroundings and the advantages that a farmer 

 has and may have; and the countryman cannot 

 be really successful until he arrives at this 

 appreciation. Of course, he must first of all 

 have the money, for this enables him to live; 

 but there are other rewards in life. If the 



