508 NATURE STUDY. 



to which the warmer moist air may be carried by the 

 winds. Each of these ways in which rain may be formed 

 can be related to experiments on rain-making in the school- 

 room. The little folks will not comprehend it all ; but, if 

 the work is based on actual experiments, on what they 

 have seen, well directed and reviewed, they will have foun- 

 dations for a clear understanding of the subject a year or 

 two later in their geography work. 



Falling. Try to watch and study with the children 

 the falling of the rain : the home from which it comes, 

 the dark clouds or the dull leaden sky ; the way it comes 

 to us, steady or irregularly, fast or slow, straight down or 

 oblique ; its helper, the wind, and the way the wind drives 

 the drops ; the course it takes, following branches and 

 tree-trunks, dripping from the leaves, falling from the roofs, 

 rushing through the gutters ; the voices of the rain, the 

 patter on the window, the splashing in the pools, the clat- 

 tering on the roof, the roaring down the gutter, the gur- 

 gling and gushing from the spout. 



Work. Begin with what children can see. How it 

 washes trees and plants and buildings. How it beats 

 the ground, stirring mud and sand, and carrying them 

 along. How it wears channels, making them deeper and 

 wider. How it rushes along, always doing something, 

 always seeking lower places where it may find the brook 

 or river or lake. How it leaves much of its load when it 

 enters a quiet pool, dropping stones and sand, and carry- 

 ing the mud farther. How it <nnks into the earth. 



" Still the earth 



Drinks the unstinted bounty of the clouds 

 Drinks for her cottage wells, her woodland brooks 

 Drinks for the springing trout, the toiling bee, 

 And brooding bird drinks for her tender flowers, 

 Tall oaks, and all the herbage of the hills." 



BRYANT. 



