INTRODUCTORY. 



NATURE-STUDY METHOD. 



All the world is newer and stranger to the young child than 

 America was to Christopher Columbus when he first set foot 

 upon it. 



The child acquires knowledge by what he is told and later by 

 what he reads, but the first knowledge, and, indeed, most of the 

 knowledge he receives in his earliest years, is, and must be, acquired 

 by the use of his own powers. 



A truth discovered by the child's own effort or experience is as 

 useful as if learned by hearsay ; but in many cases the mental 

 power and disposition developed through the efforts put forth 

 by the child in search of a truth are more useful to him than the 

 truth itself. Hence, usually the child who acquires useful know- 

 ledge by means of his self-activity is more than twice blessed as 

 compared with the one who gets the same knowledge second- 

 hand. 



Nature's Method of Teaching. — Think how much a child 

 learns by this natural method before he is old enough to go to 

 school. In the school-room, the very place devoted to learning, 

 should wise Nature's favorite method of teaching be neglected or 

 forgotten ? This misfortune has happened when the child has 

 formed the habit of depending almost entirely on the teacher or on 

 the book to tell him what he does not know. He is not unlike a 

 jug set before a fountain to be filled. He feels that his memory 

 bears the chief responsibility for his education ; he loses the dis- 

 position, if not the power, to find out things by his own efforts. 



Cramming not Education. — Observe an intelligent farmer 

 feeding his stock. How differently he treats the animal which he 

 wishes to fatten from the one he wishes to make strong. The 

 former is kept quiet and is plentifully supplied with luscious grass 

 or chopped food, but the latter is given exercise and training as 

 well as a different kind of food. A child may sit at his desk and 



