l68 NATURE STUDY LESSONS FOR PRIMARY GRADES 



grouped together, also those that wear dresses of 

 red, bronze, brown, red and yellow, etc. Do all 

 trees that send off their leaves dress them beauti- 

 fully before they go ? What trees have leaves that 

 shrivel up when the frosts come ? 



You have had a story about a little leaf that worried 

 a great deal [" The Anxious Leaf," by Henry Ward 

 Beecher]. About what did it worry ? (For fear the 

 wind would pull it off and throw it down on the ground 

 to die.) Is the wind doing that with any leaves 

 now ? Do they fall easily ? Could the wind always 

 pull the leaves off so easily ? (No, not in the spring 

 and summer.) You may shake the little branch that 

 I brought in. (The leaves come fluttering down.) 

 Let us see if we can find out why the leaves fall 

 so easily now. Why is it, do you think ? (" They 

 forget to hang on." "They are loose." "Some- 

 thing is growing up between the leaf and the 

 branch, and the leaf can't reach around it.") 

 Look closely at that something. What is it? (A 

 tiny bud.) Will it fall off? Why do you think it 

 will not? (It holds on so tightly.) Do you think 

 it liked to have the leaf by it? (Yes, the leaf 

 clasped it and kept it warm, and dry, and out of 

 the sight of bugs which might eat such a tender 



