RELATION TO HEADING AND LITERATURE. 275 



observation and study of the plants and animals and 

 minerals and rocks about their own homes that chil- 

 dren can be prepared for the clearest understanding of 

 what they read about the rocks and life of other regions. 

 Only after they have studied elementary mechanics and 

 some of the first principles of electricity and magnet- 

 ism, and have investigated the working of such simple 

 machines as they have about their homes and school, 

 can they intelligently read about the machinery and 

 processes used in manufacturing. 



In the second class of supplementary school reading, 

 what has been designated as reading for inspiration, as 

 distinguished from reading for information, are in- 

 cluded the literature or classics of our language, or, 

 more specifically, those portions of our literature which 

 are so related to the work the pupils have done, and to 

 the ideas they have gained, that the children can appre- 

 ciate, and to some extent comprehend, their thought or 

 content. 



If it is true, as has been stated in Chapters IV and 

 V, that the great aim of nature study and of all edu- 

 cation is to cultivate the higher nature of the child, 

 aesthetic, ethical, and spiritual, and bring the child into 

 sympathetic right relations with all his environment, 

 nature, man, and God, then this second class of read- 

 ing is much more important, educationally, than the 

 first. 



Much of the best literature has been inspired by na- 

 ture, and can be best appreciated by those who are sym- 

 pathetic students of nature. Longfellow has said, 



