174 
GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
colony in the children’s own gardens. The same class was 
allured to study useful birds and their preservation, as a re- 
sult of the indignation caused by the rascality of the English 
sparrow in their own gardens. 
Overwhelmed, in fact, by the richness of suggestion, the 
teacher finds himself at the parting of the ways. He must 
either set his face resolutely against all spontaneous adven- 
ture or he must explore with his children hitherto untraveled 
lands. In pursuit of the knowledge for which they hunger, 
he is driven to undertake many a bit of research on his own 
account. One teacher, struck with the humor of the situation, 
tells amusing tales of a term during which she was literally 
whipped on to fresh study by her energetic scholars. There 
were at least a dozen " specialties ” running at the same time 
in that class. One happened to be the gypsy moth, whose 
habits some girls wished to study in field and laboratory in 
the most thoroughgoing fashion. Their enthusiasm dragged 
her over hill and dale. Little did they guess through what a 
stiff course of discipline in investigation they were putting 
their somewhat distracted teacher. 
This intensive nature study, inevitable when children are 
following to a logical conclusion the curiosity which the gar- 
den itself has stirred, may be deliberately contrasted with the 
skimming process* necessitated by many a "quite perfect" 
course of study for graded classes. Is it exaggerating to say 
that any course, no matter in what subject, which is fully 
elaborated and crystallized is bound to be archaic For if by 
chance one little bud of interest begins to unfold, it will be 
only too promptly nipped by some of the well-known frosts of 
the schoolroom. Desire to know is quickly blighted by such 
words as "We must hurry on,” or by the dread of inter- 
mittent examinations where rank depends upon memorizing 
facts. A little thought reveals the fact that if heterogeneous 
