126 NATURE STUDY. 



ment is to lead him to appreciate what he receives from 

 nature, and what he owes to nature. 



To do this we must first open his eyes to the beauties 

 of the world about him, the beauty not merely of form 

 and color, but the higher beauty of use or work or func- 

 tion, and adaptation to work. It is not enough to 

 merely talk or read to him about the world of sense. 

 We must help him to see how much of beauty there is 

 in the most common things ; how much they have to 

 do, and how well they are fitted for their work. The 

 most common plants, the bean and pea and dandelion, 

 the plantain and burdock and thistle, the trees and 

 buds and leaves, the birds and insects and fishes, the 

 stones at our feet, are full of beauty and grace if we 

 will but look for them. When the child has watched 

 the bean and pea grow from seed to fruit, and noted 

 how each part has a work, and how well it does its 

 work; when he has seen the buds emerge from their 

 protecting scales, throw out leaf and flower, and go to 

 work ; when he has discovered how the dandelion feeds 

 and protects and ripens her seeds, and finally scatters 

 them to the four winds of heaven; when he has lis- 

 tened to the song of the robin or bluebird, and peered 

 into her nest as she has fed her little ones, he appre- 

 ciates, as he cannot be led to appreciate in any other 

 way, the beauties of his natural environment. 



As the child understands better the beauty of his sur- 

 roundings, the beauty of being, and the higher beauty 

 of doing ; as he discovers how much he gets from na- 

 ture, he realizes better that he owes something to the 



