NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



CHAPTER I 



THE POINT OF VIEW 



And God blessed them, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, 

 and replenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of 

 the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that 

 moveth upon the earth. 



And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, 

 which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the 

 fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it shall be for meat. 



And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden 

 to dress it and to keep it. 



Aims and Purposes of a Nature-Study Course. — The heart of 

 education, as of life itself, is purpose. Through the maze 

 of infinite variety in form and structure and action that 

 nature presents to the student on every side, the only 

 thing that can hold him to definite lines with patience, 

 persistence, and continuity enough to make his work 

 amount to something is purpose. Hence, in order to 

 select intelligently the materials for a successful course, 

 we need at every step to have the purpose of nature study 

 clearly before us. 



This may be expressed in a brief formula, as : Learning 

 those things in nature that are best worth knowing, to the 

 end of doing those things that make life most worth living. 



