70 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



a higher stretch of observation, for it substitutes for the 

 single study a continuous series of observations that are 

 related to one another. Some problems of this kind are 

 included among the suggestive studies in Part Two. 



Persistence. While this quality is most desirable in 

 children, and is welcome when it appears, one cannot ex- 

 pect them to show it very strongly developed. Nor is it 

 desirable with them to insist too much upon persistence, 

 for such driving will transform what ought to be kept at- 

 tractive into a hated task. But the teacher is in much 

 need of persistence, for the temptation is very great to 

 do the easier thing rather than the desirable thing. 



A field trip or a park trip is often troublesome to 

 arrange. It takes time and planning and a control of 

 children under difficult conditions. To keep such a trip 

 from being merely an outdoor frolic, and to hold it to 

 anything like a class exercise is a problem that makes many 

 a teacher flinch, and perhaps argue herself into the belief 

 that it is not worth the trouble. And yet it is the ideal 

 exercise in nature study when well done. It is when con- 

 fronting such trouble that persistence comes into play. 

 It sees that a field trip is the thing to do, and it compels 

 the undertaking. Even though the first trip seems to be 

 a failure, persistence tries another one, and so on until the 

 problem is solved. It is in such things that persistence 

 means all the difference between success and failure. 



The teacher also knows that material must be carefully 

 selected and examined, that some of it is a little trouble- 

 some to secure, that solitary trips ought to be made in ad- 

 vance of the class, and the temptation is to use inferior 

 material, to take the chances that it will show what it ought 



