Il6 HOW NATURE STUDY SHOULD BE TAUGHT 



blessed that they combine all these qualities. So 

 should it be with our love and interest for plants. 

 We are attracted by the bloom of one, by the 

 unique or interesting life history of another, by 

 the method of growth or by the adaptation to its 

 environment of another. We admire still another 

 because it is useful. A well-balanced man is 

 poetical as well as utilitarian. A well-balanced 

 teacher is especially both. But each of these 

 qualities, whether it be beauty of bloom, novelty 

 of growth, utilitarian service, or some other feature, 

 should draw us to the plant as a whole, not to a 

 single bit of its anatomy. 



Tennyson was attracted by the flower, but his 

 interest was in the plant. He uses the word 

 flower as a synonym for the entire structure, and 

 there found something more interesting, instruc- 

 tive, and important than beauty only, however 

 valuable beauty may be, and its beauty is inde- 

 scribable and immeasurable. 



" Flower in the crannied wall, 

 I pluck you out of the crannies. 

 Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 

 Little flower, but if I could understand 

 What you are, root and all, and all in all, 

 I should know what God and man is." 



That is the right spirit for nature study in 



