44 
B Y THE IVA YSIDE 
Besides the books, there are magazines, 
bulletins, pamphlets, leaflets, charts and 
pictures being issued constantly, and 
often these are of great aid in the Nature 
Study work. 
It is my purpose to speak of some of 
this literature that is proving its right to 
be, through the test of school room use, 
b} ; the teacher and by the younger stu¬ 
dents of nature, who are more or less in¬ 
fluenced by the point' of view taken by 
the teacher. This literature, which helps 
to interpret nature, is mainly for the 
teacher. If she finds that which can be 
adapted to her needs, her personality 
must bring that part of nature that can 
be learned through books to the child in 
the right way. Less and less will the 
thinking, discerning teacher put books on 
nature subjects into the hands of young 
children for regular use. More and more 
will she lead the children to see and hear 
and think the answers to their own ques¬ 
tions through their own direct contact 
with nature. 
The greatest book ever written on Na¬ 
ture Study is‘'The Nature Study Idea,” 
by Professor L. H. Bailey, one of the 
masters of the movement to see and know 
and live close to nature, who is charac¬ 
terized by a fellow worker in the Nature 
Study cause as being “a poet, a scientist 
and a worker—a rare combination.” 
Professor Bailey tells us in this book 
that Nature Study is “the movement or¬ 
iginating in the public schools to open 
the pupil’s mind by direct observation 
to a knowledge and love of the common 
things in the child’s environment—not 
science, not knowledge, not facts. It is 
spirit. It is concerned with the child’s 
outlook on the world. Whatever the 
method,” he says, "the final result of 
at tu ^ tend ling is the development 
of a keen personal interest in every nat¬ 
ural object and phenomenon. 
“The multitude of books may be con¬ 
fusing, but the greater the number the 
greater the chance that you will find one 
to your liking.” 
So I proceed with the books that are to 
my liking. One that is full of clear ex¬ 
planations of uselul and attractive things 
to do in connection with gardens, with 
insects, and with animal pets is Hodge’s 
“Nature Study and Life.” . It is useful 
for every teacher who has the spirit of 
working out with children the problems 
found in nature. 
Another guide, full of information like 
the first and work for all times oi the year, 
is Lange’s “Handbook of Nature Study.” 
A third one, full of the right spirit and 
clear-cut helpful detail work, for lower 
grade teachers especially,, is Scott’s "Na¬ 
ture Study and the Child.” Mr, Scott 
conceived the highest aim of Nature 
Study to be "to adapt the child to his 
environment,” as he tells us in Chapter 
\. 1 his book contains many careful 
references to helpful sources in literature 
that will correlate with each subject of 
the work presented. 
One of these full, well-arranged manu¬ 
als will do for a guide; then there are the 
books best suited to the study of birds 
animal life, insects, flowers, plants, trees 
and shrubs il we do not go beyond 
these in nature subjects. 
lor bird study I shall mention first 
Blanchan’s ‘Bird Neighbors,’ for I agree 
with the Reviews of Reviews that “as an 
aid in the elementary study of bird life 
• ivy uii i j 
satisfactory than'Bird Neighbors.’ The 
good colored plates make it possible foi 
the beginning bird students to identify 
Other helpful books are Chap¬ 
man s Bud Life, with the colored plates 
and Merriam’s “Birds of 'Village and 
