NATURE STUDY IN SCHOOU. ^5 
remember that children love everything that has life. They 
do not care to what order it belongs. Still less do they 
care for its scientific name. The fact that they have seen 
and examined a caterpillar today does not necessarily mean 
that they will be more interested in a caterpillar of an allied 
species tomorrow. It may be a snake, a flower, a mush¬ 
room or a rock that has attracted the attention. Whatever 
it is, that should be the subject of observation and of study, 
and let us beware lest our study does not lead us in so deep 
or last so long as to cause the interest to lag. The moment 
the children begin to look upon such work as a task, they 
begin to lose their interest. Child nature cannot go very 
deep. It is not very deep itself. It is hungry for facts 
and can accumulate them prodigiously long before it can 
classify them. 
Whatever is at hand should be the subject of a nature 
lesson. As many facts should be learned as can be remem¬ 
bered and these should be presented so plainly that there 
will be no confusion. h)ven then some children with con¬ 
stitutionally crooked minds, like some adults, will go home 
and report exactly the opposite of what they were told. 
Nature lessons can be used in connection with geography 
to illustrate or serve as a foundation for the text. They 
can be used as a basis for language work if this be not over¬ 
done so as to get them weary of the task; but besides these 
and independently of these the study of any and all speci¬ 
mens brought into the schoolroom should be taken up for 
the sake of the love of nature. 
It is to all interested in such work that Nature; Study 
has a message. Designed to present facts regarding the 
natural history of New Hampshire in particular, it is in¬ 
terested in nature everywhere and seeks to carry its mes¬ 
sage and help, perhaps, to all who care for the beautiful and 
instructive things with which Nature so lavishly supplies 
us. 
