THE HIGHEST AIM OF NATURE STUDY. 127 



world about him. He protects where he once destroyed. 

 He takes care of the flowers which before he trod upon. 

 The birds are his friends. He is learning to love them 

 as he understands how much they give him. He is 

 adapting himself to his physical environment; not 

 merely appropriating, but giving in return. 



We have already referred, in Chapter IV, to the im- 

 portance and necessity of leading the children to express 

 their appreciation by action. As they take care of plant 

 and animal they will appreciate and realize what they , 

 receive from and owe to them. 



Every mother and teacher who has studied nature 

 with her children from this standpoint, knows how 

 marked, in this respect, is the effect on the minds of 

 the children, on their attitude toward nature ; how 

 quickly they respond, how soon they are brought into 

 touch or sympathy with nature. If our work in nature 

 study in the elementary schools does no more than 

 strengthen or fix this attitude toward nature, it does 

 much. If it does less than this, it does little. 



How can nature study help the child to appreciate 

 what he receives from and owes to his intellectual en- 

 vironment, man? 



As this right attitude toward, one part of his sur- 

 roundings is fixed, as his sympathy with nature is 

 broadened and deepened, it cannot but affect the atti- 

 tude of the child toward the rest of his environment. 

 He cannot learn to appreciate nature, and what he owes 

 to nature, without being in a mental condition better to 

 appreciate all of his surroundings. 



