How we stare at a big foot! foot in a fine shoe. A little foot never yet carried a great man. The man who goes on foot has a warm heart. down on anybody. He does not look He is not asleep. He knows the ground. Wind, frost, rain, heat, cold, are something to him. The apples by the roadside are his. Each step brings him the golden age. CONVERSATION. Mr. Jackman in his "Nature Study" recommends the study of the human body in primary grades. His experiments are usually conducted by comparison with the bodies of other animals. Human foot compared with foot of horse, dog, cat, bear, bird, and so on. The right of the body to exercise, to loose clothing, to good care. The beauty of the body if left to its natural development. The real meaning of the lesson. The beauty of freedom. The democratic spirit of the true American. The vulgarity of showy externalities. (See "City Life.") The coon comes out at night. He eats While the corn is yet green corn. he pulls the ears down like a hog. He tears open the husks and eats the tender kernels. The coon-dog steals through the cornfield in search of him. The coon pricks up his ears and runs to a stone wall. Hear Hear the stones If the dog does not find him he comes back and says, "No coon there!" If he does find him he drives him up a tree. Then there is a pell mell rush to the tree. The first thing now is to make a fire. Then you sit all night at the foot of the tree. CONVERSATION. The animals that are called “nocturnal." Why some animals come out at night. Owls. Bats. Rats. Insects. Night-hawks. The coon. Where he lives. The children in city schools know very little of animals except as they see them in parks and menageries. Of the wild, happy creatures that live in the woods and fields they know almost nothing, the animals that help to make country life what it is in America. If possible, take the children to the woods in the early autumn or spring and let them see whatever may chance to come in their way of these native animals. The black bear will wait until the snow comes. He does not like the looks of his big tracks in the snow. The ants, bees, crickets, spiders, and flies are getting ready for their winter's nap. But the fish go up stream to lay eggs. CONVERSATION. The story of Rip Van Winkle. (See Irving's "Sketch Book," Ginn & Co.) Myth of Proserpine and her long winter's sleep. How the butterfly sleeps all winter. Cocoons. How the bear hibernates. The turtle. Why? Other hibernating creatures. "The secret of observing nature is first a love of her work; and second, an alertness and intentness of the mind in one direction. The mind must be like a sensitive plate quick to receive impressions. The eye does not always see what is in front of it. Indeed it might almost be said, it sees only what is back of it, in the mind." From "Observations of Nature." |