36 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



Does this mean that instruction in nature study must 

 be as exact and colorless as a mathematical formula ? By 

 no means; but it does mean that no teaching device shall 

 divert attention from the real truths. Every bit of color 

 and glow that can be made to play about these truths is not 

 only legitimate but extremely desirable. This, however, is 

 merely good teaching, and comes naturally to teachers who 

 have the ability to interest children. To make nature live 

 is one thing; to make the imagination lively and even wild 

 is quite another. We may contrast the actual cases of two 

 teachers, each telling the story of the winter bud and its 

 awakening in the spring, and each holding the rapt atten- 

 tion of the class. One told of a sleeping princess guarded 

 by wonderful coverings, of the coming of the spring fairy, 

 of the gradual awakening, and of the unfolding into full 

 beauty. The other introduced no princess or fairy, but 

 spoke of the bud as a part of the plant, of the danger that 

 comes with the winter, of the way the danger is met, of 

 the new conditions that come with the spring, of the unfold- 

 ing leaves, and of the preparation for a season of service. 

 The pupils of the former were attracted by the princess and 

 the fairy; those of the latter by the structure and significance 

 of the bud. No one should hesitate to decide which of these 

 two teachers was teaching nature. 



Unwarranted Inferences. — It is astonishing how many 

 teachers feel under compulsion to explain everything, 

 when as yet most things cannot be explained. Perhaps 

 this arises from an anxiety lest their pupils regard them 

 unfit for their work. The inferences heard and read in 

 connection with nature study are wonderful. The wildest 

 guesses as to the meaning of things are made, when the 



