General Aims of Nature Study 47 



those characteristics which betray a violation of law, 

 order, harmony, and symmetry, and obtain, by a pro- 

 cess of assimilation and integration, a cultivated taste 

 for what is truly beautiful in itself. Association with 

 beautiful objects helps to accelerate this aesthetic devel- 

 opment. Like the bee sipping the fragrant nectar 

 from the flower, we, also, extract, through our senses, 

 the more ethereal essence of harmony, symmetry, law, 

 and beauty. 



Doubtless this is largely an unconscious process. 

 But the aesthetic judgment may be cultivated by sup- 

 plying the proper material for observation and directing 

 this observation wisely. We are often led to admire 

 things which at first did not appeal to us, by seeing 

 others, in whom we have confidence, admire them. 

 Children can often be made to appreciate a poem by 

 observing the teacher's appreciation of it, as expressed 

 or implied in her voice and gestures. So, too, a bird, 

 or a blade of grass, or a flower can be given a new 

 meaning, aesthetically, by the teacher's attitude towards 

 it. In the case of the bird, she may point out its uses, 

 the melody of its cheering song, its parental instincts, 

 its adaptations in form, color, covering, etc., to its 

 environment; and, lastly, the inexpressible sadness 

 or the frolicking mischief in its eyes and countenance. 

 By thus combining the various elements, intricately 

 mingled in every natural thing, even an earthworm 

 may become attractive, rather than repulsive, in the 

 eyes of the pupil. 



This appreciation of the essence of things, so far 

 as that is possible, by a careful study of them as regards 

 symmetry, harmony, order, law, and use, cannot fail 

 to be a most potent factor in developing a genuine 

 aesthetic taste. Precluding the false, the lawless, the 

 disorderly, and the incongruous, such a taste is evidence 

 of law, harmony, and beauty of soul, which must mani- 

 fest itself in the daily conduct of the pupil. The teacher 



