ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL 49 



the culminating points of scenic beauty and grandeur." A 

 plant in the school-room does not show the natural mode 

 of growth, and an animal in captivity or dead is not the 

 creature of the forest. 



Field lessons will do much to correct this abnormal, par- 

 tial, and indoor view of nature. This is the ideal way to study 

 natural history and earth features. This is the only way to 

 imbue the child to a certain extent with that happy spirit and 

 love for nature so peculiar to the naturalist. 



Boys and girls brought up in the country have a greater 

 stock of nature lore and field and woodcraft than the 

 average city child. To very many children in our large 

 cities the country, with its woods and birds and flowers, is a 

 foreign land. To them an excursion into the country would 

 be a rare treat, and an occasion that would open the eyes 

 to many wonderful and beautiful things. But field lessons 

 would be profitable also to children in our smaller towns. 

 Even the country child has much to learn about the wild life 

 around him. 



To make field lessons a success the teacher must have a 

 definite object in the trip. Aimless wandering about with a 

 class accomplishes nothing. Let the pupils understand that 

 the trip is not for a romp and a frolic, but a lesson. Tell 

 them what they are going out to study. A good teacher will 

 be able to conduct a class of twenty-five or thirty pupils on a 

 field trip, but this number is too great for the best results. 

 Large classes had better be divided. Sometimes older pupils 

 may act as assistants. There is no need of formality and 

 military order on these occasions, but let this be understood 

 by all : that the class must not scatter widely, and that every 

 child must come immediately at the teacher's call, when she 



