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THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVII 
of America as Europe is behind us in playground work. Field trips are utilized in many 
kinds of school work. In Switzerland, children are taught history on the battlefields. 
Sempach, Morgarten, the struggle of their ancestors against the Hapsburgs, are more 
than mere printed words. 
These outings are especially utilized in nature study, in acquainting the children 
with the wild life. Thus, the blind child can be taught the bird songs even though he 
cannot see the songster. With ears made more sensitive by his affliction he may, be- 
cause of the very pathos of his affliction, become a wonderfully effective missionary for 
conservation. 
In Holland the outdoor school excursion is linked with the local museum existing in 
Fig. 70. Blind school pupils enjoying a nature-study outing in a deer 
park in Copenhagen 
almost every village. Wooden-shoed children early in life are banded into what in 
America would be Audubon Societies. They are systematically taught to love, not to 
destroy. 
Switzerland is so thoroughly organized and game so plentiful that venison is served 
regularly on the Government dining cars. You may be greeted by the Swiss who hap- 
pens to be at your table with: “You are guests of our Government. We give you some- 
thing unknown on American diners, fresh venison. Because of its youth, your country 
ought to have more than an older civilization like ours.” 
Europe’s secret seems to be the forming of conservation habits while the child mind 
is plastic. — C. M. Goethe, Sacramento , California. 
