174 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



colony in the children's own gardens. The same class was 

 allured to study useful birds and their preservation, as a re- 

 sult of the indignation caused by the rascality of the English 

 sparrow in their own gardens. 



Overwhelmed, in fact, by the richness of suggestion, the 

 teacher finds himself at the parting of the ways. He must 

 either set his face resolutely against all spontaneous adven- 

 ture or he must explore with his children hitherto untraveled 

 lands. In pursuit of the knowledge for which they hunger, 

 he is driven to undertake many a bit of research on his own 

 account. One teacher, struck with the humor of the situation, 

 tells amusing tales of a term during which she was literally 

 whipped on to fresh study by her energetic scholars: There 

 were at least a dozen " specialties " running at the same time 

 in that class. One happened to be the gypsy moth, whose 

 habits some girls wished to study in field and laboratory in 

 the most thoroughgoing fashion. Their enthusiasm dragged 

 her over hill and dale. Little did they guess through what a 

 stiff course of discipline in investigation they were putting 

 their somewhat distracted teacher. 



This intensive nature study, inevitable when children are 

 following to a logical conclusion the curiosity which the gar- 

 den itself has stirred, may be deliberately contrasted with the 

 skimming process necessitated by many a "quite perfect" 

 course of study for graded classes. Is it exaggerating to say 

 that any course, no matter in what subject, which is fully 

 elaborated and crystallized is bound to be archaic ? For if by 

 chance one little bud of interest begins^to unfold, it will be 

 only too promptly nipped by some of the well-known frosts of 

 the schoolroom. Desire to know is quickly blighted by such 

 words as " We must hurry on," or by the dread of inter- 

 mittent examinations where rank depends upon memorizing 

 facts. A little thought reveals the fact that if heterogeneous 



