“NATURAL 
CHILDREN AND BIRDS. 
Prof. Lange, of St. Paul, in his paper 
on “Nature Study in Its Relation to Life,” 
said in part: 
There are those who insist that religion 
has failed to bring happiness to humanity, 
and there are many who claim _ that 
science and education have equally failed. 
Professor Scheer, in his ““Thousand Years 
of German Civilization,” states that one 
of the most secluded and ignorant peasant 
districts in the Black Forest has the small- 
est percentage of criminals in the whole 
of enlightened Germany. 
In other words, the study of zoology 
has been thus far much more destruc- 
tive of animal life than preservative; while 
scarcely an attempt has been made to teach 
a true appreciation of nature’s beauties and 
an intelligent sympathy with our speech- 
less kin of the air, the field and the forest. 
It is true that there have lived seers and 
prophets in our midst that preached not 
only the brotherhood of mankind, but the 
brotherhood of all life. In the works of 
Whittier, Thoreau, Bryant, Lowell, Long- 
fellow and others we find the true senti- 
ment toward nature. The very breezes 
from the prairie and the whisper of hoary 
trees pervade their works. . 
What can we teachers do in this matter? 
We can do more than any other body of 
men and women. 
I. We must not try to follow the uni- 
versities in stuffing birds and mammals. 
In the common school, study birds and 
other animals with eyes and opera glasses 
outdoors, and from good pictures in the 
school room, and let alone those that can- 
not be reached in that way. We do not 
want more birds in dusty, mouldering col- 
lections; we want more birds to fly in the 
woods and fields and to sing from tree 
and bush. The boy egg collector, the 
amateur collector and the market collector 
are unmitigated nuisances and belong 
where birds do not sing. 
2. No intelligent interest in nature can 
exist where there is no knowledge. We 
must teach nature study in every school 
of the land. The time we give up to it is 
doubly made up by the gain and inspira- 
tion it brings for other studies. 
3. Lady teachers must set a good ex- 
ample by not wearing any other feathers 
than those of ostrichs, domesticated birds 
and game birds. 
4. It gives me great pleasure here to 
refer to the Audubon societies, organized 
for the protection of birds, and to the 
= 
HISTORY. 
League of American Sportsmen, organized 
for the protection of game, birds, fish and 
or Both societies are growing rap- 
IGN 5 eee 
I shall close with relating an incident 
which happened to me not long ago. I 
had agreed to make a wagon trip of 200 
miles with an European acquaintance, on 
condition that he should interpret to me 
and comment upon everything he saw, be- 
fore he asked me any questions about it. 
He agreed, and I promised myself. con- 
siderable information and not a little 
amusement from the trip. 
On the evening of the third day he 
said: “Now I give it up, what are 
those little square, uninhabited shanties of 
which we have passed quite a few?” ‘‘What 
do you think they are?’ I replied. “At 
first,’ he answered, “I thought they were 
township jails, but that can’t be, because 
there are notracesof iron bars about them. 
The nearest thing to them I have ever 
seen are poorhouses in small villages 
(I began to be interested), but I have not 
seen a soul around them. You tell me that 
there are not more than 10 lazy paupers 
in the whole country, and that nearly every ~ 
farmer is a wealthy man, and that you 
have no poor, landless, crowded peasantry.” 
“Before I explain to you, tell me why you 
thought they might be jails.” “Well,” he 
said, “you do some things here in a queer 
way. I thought you had them fixed up 
in that style to make the building and its 
surroundings harmonize with the inward 
desolation of the prison.” “Oh,” I broke 
in, “stop your nonsense. You know well 
enough they are schoolhouses.” “No, in- 
deed,” he protested, “I didnot;and I would 
have been afraid to say so, if I had thought 
it. I have seen such fine school buildings 
in your cities, although your people seem 
to prefer to invest in fine buildings rather 
than in good salaries for good teachers, 
that I never thought of schoolhouses.” 
After considerable argument and explana- 
tion, however, he seemed convinced of that, 
and replied: ‘““Do you practical people real- 
ly believe that in such desolate shanties 
you can inspire your teachers and _ chil- 
dren to admire and love the beautiful in 
art, literature, and nature? There is no 
harmony, no nature, no art; nothing but 
the crudeness of neglect about them. Do 
you mean to say that your wealthy farmers 
and your wealthy State allow children to 
spend the most impressible years of their 
lives in spots of such discordant desola- 
tion? Really, if you have not fooled me, 
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