CHAPTER III 



SITUATION AND SOIL 

 In the hands of man there are no unfertile soils. P. KROPOTKIN 



There has lately been a great awakening in regard to cer- 

 tain needs of children. This is shown by the suggestion that 

 all the schools of a big city should be transferred to the sub- 

 urbs. Think what 'it would mean if the hundreds of children 

 now doubled over desks in dingy buildings could every day 

 be conveyed to regions of sunny space, playgrounds, and 

 gardens ; yet so sharply does this proposition conflict with 

 the ancient notion . of a bookish education that it was at 

 first taken as a joke. Before long it began to be seriously 

 discussed. The idea is gaining ground, until now it may be 

 considered as an actual promise for the future. There is in 

 sight, too, a happy day when the garden will be called upon 

 to take its place in the scheme of education and to fulfill its 

 social and scientific possibilities. 



These are certainly in no danger of being exaggerated. 

 One educational leader 1 does not hesitate to use these words : 

 " The most workable living laboratory of any dimensions is 

 the school garden. . . . The time is coming when such a 

 laboratory will be as much a part of a good school equip- 

 ment as blackboards, books, and charts are now." With such 

 a prophecy ringing in our ears, we cannot simply fold our 

 hands and wait. There is, indeed, all the more pressing 

 need for small beginnings, for it is these that convince a 



i Charles W. Eliot. 

 45 



