274 NATURE STUDT. 



uplifts the pupils, gives them a higher as well as a 

 broader outlook, develops their higher nature, what we 

 may call reading for inspiration. These two classes, 

 however, shade into one another. 



Both of these are important; both are essential; 

 neither should exclude the other. 



The reading for information is distinctively practi- 

 cal ; it prepares for practical life. At the same time it 

 may prepare for the reading for inspiration ; the broader 

 the knowledge we have of nature and man, the better 

 are we prepared to appreciate and make our own the 

 great thoughts which nature and man have inspired. 



To this class of reading belong the information 

 readers, the geographical readers, most nature readers, 

 and most juvenile books which treat of travel and nat- 

 ural science. From all of these the pupils may get 

 more or less broadening and uplifting, but their main 

 value is as sources of information and means of broader 

 acquaintance with man and nature. 



One characteristic of most such books is that they 

 are often or usually " adapted " to the children, " writ- 

 ten down" to the supposed capacity of the boys and 

 girls who are to read them. Comparatively little 

 mental effort is required to understand them. Their 

 content can usually be gained by one or two or three 

 readings. 



Nature study prepares for such reading by leading 

 the pupils to gain, by the use of their senses and their 

 mind, the foundation ideas on which these new and 

 broader ideas must be built. It is only by the careful 



