THE COUNTRY HOME [chafter 



more about it. Children take naturally to country 

 life, and not to street life, unless driven to it. 



The glory of country life is that every leaf and 

 each twig, and the pebbles in the brook, are all ob- 

 ject lessons. United States Commissioner of Edu- 

 cation W. T. Harris says, " The school should be 

 only a supplement of the home." But now you 

 find that your whole property — not the house 

 only, but the garden and the orchard and the corn 

 field, are all parts of an educational plant; and your 

 children are born into it, to find out what they can 

 of its wonders. Some years ago a French author 

 wrote a book called "The Population of a Pear 

 Tree." It is wonderful how many tribes and na- 

 tions occupy your acres. A study of these turns 

 labor into pleasure, and makes country life noth- 

 ing less than going to a great university. Home 

 studies are all in English, and it needs no Oxford 

 gown for graduation day. In this school no one 

 takes a degree until he dies ; for this sort of educa- 

 tion never ends. 



Professor Search, in his "Ideal School," says, 

 "Every child is a born naturalist." His eyes are, 

 by nature, open to the glories of the stars, the beau- 

 ty of the flowers, and the mystery of life. William 



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