Professor Geddes's Address 119 



real stuff of Nature-study, of art-study, of much 

 other study also. As for art and music, so for Nature ; 

 better no teaching than that without the " feeling of 

 the subject ". And if it be said that of such simple 

 rustic experiences too many are and must be starved, 

 let us answer that no child need be wholly starved. 

 Even the poorest and townliest can have at least a 

 window pot, can at times see something of the clouds 

 and sky, can watch the sparrows, can see and sketch 

 the passing horses, can attain to an intimate friendship 

 with the nearest kitten. A " nature note-book ", such 

 as those initiated in teaching, I believe, by Miss 

 Hodgson of the " House of Education ", and now ad- 

 mirably carried on and individually worked out with 

 not only scientific but artistic excellence under many 

 of our best teachers around us, should henceforth 

 also go without saying. Even with the Pageant of 

 the Seasons no trifling acquaintance can be obtained 

 when we interest the town child in the greengrocer's 

 shop and the fishmonger's as much as in the confec- 

 tioner's and toy-maker's. Even in this vastest of 

 cities, apart altogether from its museums, its botanic 

 gardens, its matchless " Zoo ", there is a larger flora 

 and fauna than most of us realize. Nowhere recently 

 have nature-studies been more actively prosecuted or 

 more successful than in the relatively poor nature- 

 environment afforded by the vast city of Chicago; 

 perhaps because in America of all countries " Where 

 there's a will, there's a way ". 



To note, and map, and make the most of the char- 

 acteristic excursions of our neighbourhood, park and 

 garden and roadside; to know the meadow and 

 wood and moor, the hill and dell and sea-shore, with 



