CHAPTER II 



VALUES OF NATURE STUDY 



Economic, Esthetic, Educational, Ethical, 

 Religious 



Consummation of happiness is the natural outcome of the perfecting 

 of character, but that perfecting can be achieved only through struggle, 

 through discipline, through resistance. It is for him that overcometh that 

 a crown of life is reserved. The consummate product of a world of evolu- 

 tion is the character that creates happiness, that is replete with dynamic 

 possibilities of fresh life and activity in directions forever new. Such a 

 character is the reflected image of God, and in it are contained the prom- 

 ise and the potency of life everlasting. Fiske, Through Nature to God, 

 p. 114. 



And sure good is first in feeding people, then in dressing people, then 

 in lodging people, and lastly in rightly pleasing people, with arts, or sciences, 

 or any other subject of thought. Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies, p. 236. 



Economic. — In basing a plan of nature study upon its 

 human values it may be necessary to explain what is meant 

 by the worth of a study in the curriculum. Throughout 

 all the details of the various kinds of values we shall 

 discuss, the paramount value to be aimed at is character, 

 will to do good, power to create happiness. No lesson that 

 does not contribute toward this end can claim the right 

 to a place in the course. 



Different plans of nature study are more or less strong 

 in presenting a certain class of values, generally the 

 aesthetic or scientific. My own plan has often been 



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