NATUBE-8TUDT. xxxi 



The subjects chosen come within the child's everyday 

 experience, or are such things as come easily within his 

 reach. 



The most readily accessible is the child's own body, 

 and there is a peculiar significance in devoting the first 

 chapter to that subject, and the first paragraph to "Its 

 Beauty." This is from the true nature study standpoint, 

 the ideal of the commonplace. It is easy to see this 

 beauty — for beauty and love are correlatives — and what 

 child does not love his own self. 



From an appreciation of one's own organism, developed 

 by a study of our various senses, the student is lead to 

 an admiring knowledge of other organisms. Then the 

 authors logically devote their next chapter to one of the 

 child's nearest and most attractive pets. The succeeding 

 sections are devoted to domestic animals and to familiar 

 birds, beginning with an excellent account of the most 

 available specimen in the domain of ornithology, the 

 farm-yard hen. 



And all this, from the first chapter on "The Human 

 Body" to the last on "The Lever and Fulcrum," is teach- 

 ing the child the correct point of view ; that is it is teach- 

 ing him to see things in their details aiid in their varied 

 relationships, rather than to glance at them casually. It 

 tries to show him the harmony of nature ; to help him to 

 become a part of that harmony (and this is happiness), 

 and to become a part of the truth, or as Tennyson has 

 expressed it, "A part of all I have seen," thereby hasten- 

 ing the development of character, and this is the object 

 of human life. 



