The Teaching of Nature-Study 3 



stand it! I asked some of them "Did you ever try a vigorous walk in the 

 open air in the open country every Saturday or every Sunday of your 

 teaching year?" "Oh no!" they exclaimed in despair of making me 

 understand. "On Sunday we must go to church or see our friends and on 

 Saturday we must do our shopping or our sewing. We must go to the 

 dressmaker's lest we go unclad, we must mend, and darn stockings; we 

 need Saturday to catch up." 



Yes, catch up with more cares, more worries, more fatigue, but not 

 with more growth, more strength, more vigor and more courage for work. 

 In my belief, there are two and only two occupations for Saturday after- 

 noon or forenoon for a teacher. One is to be out of doors and the other is 

 to lie in bed, and the first is best. Out in this, God's beautiful world, 

 there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired 

 muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty 

 and care. To the teacher who turns to nature's healing, nature-study in 

 the schoolroom is not a trouble; it is a sweet, fresh breath of air blown 

 across the heat of radiators and the noisome odor of over-crowded small 

 humanity. She, who opens her eyes and her heart nature-ward even once 

 a week, finds nature-study in the schoolroom a delight and an abiding joy. 

 What does such a one find in her schoolroom instead of the terrors of 

 discipline, the eternal watching and eternal nagging to keep the pupils 

 quiet and at work? She finds, first of all, companionship with her 

 children; and second, she finds that without planning or going on a far 

 voyage, she has found health and strength. 



WHEN AND WHY THE TEACHER SHOULD SAY "l DO NOT KNOw" 



O SCIENCE professor in any university, if he be a man of 

 high attainment, hesitates to say to his pupils " I do 

 not know," if they ask for information beyond his 

 knowledge. The greater his scientific reputation and 

 _ erudition, the more readily, simply and without apology 

 he says this. He, better than others, comprehends how 

 vast is the region that lies beyond man's present knowledge. It is 

 only the teacher in the elementary schools who has never received 

 enough scientific training to reveal to her how little she does know, who 

 feels that she must appear to know everything or her pupils will lose 

 confidence in her. But how useless is this pretence, in nature-study ! 

 The pupils, whose younger eyes are much keener for details than hers, 

 will soon discover her limitations and then their distrust of her will be 

 real. 



In nature-study any teacher can with honor say, "I do not know;" for 

 perhaps, the question asked is as yet unanswered by the great scientists. 

 But she should not let her lack of knowledge be a wet blanket thrown over 

 her pupils' interest. She should say frankly, "I do not know; let us see 

 if we cannot together find out this mysterious thing. Maybe no one 

 knows it as yet, and I wonder if you will discover it before I do." She 

 thus conveys the right impression, that only a little about the intricate 

 life of plants and animals is yet known ; and at the same time she makes 

 her pupils feel the thrill and zest of investigation. Nor will she lose their 

 respect by doing this, if she does it in the right spirit. For three years, I 

 had for comrades in my walks afield, two little children and they kept me 



