available. It is an easy matter to bring into the classroom a bunch of grasses or grains, quite another to furnish a real stack of wheat or a stout of corn, saying nothing of the field of grain either growing or freshly cut. Here the chalk and blackboard will supply the reserve information and record the missing pictures. The kernel may be separated from its sheath, examined and made into flour; its uses also may be clearly defined and characteristic terms applied to features and uses. Shall this then be termed a finished lesson? The very isolation from all natural environment is painful and underneath is a stifled cry for some home touch, some fostering background. Blackboard sketches, charts and stories will help to supply the need. If the child may not study the subject afield, is it not necessary, in as far as possible, to bring the field to him?

The field tells of the plowman, his plow and his labors, the overturned soil, straight furrows and careful sowing. Sun, wind and rain do their work; scarecrow plays his part as well! An opportunity for a simple or more technical study in germination offers itself. Root and blade in window garden may be a miniature, even though somewhat crippled, representation of a grain field. The old time sickle gives way to the more modern reaper and binder, illustrating the advance of our country in invention and enterprise. Horses, sheep and cows acknowledge their dependence upon the products of the field. and man in his turn employs the lower order of creatures as his servants and helpers. The stories of the fieldmouse and deermouse are interesting for little people. The fieldmouse set

tles her home at once among the grain, while the deermouse, reconstructing a chippy's abandoned nest by the addition of a dome of feathers and leaves, stores it for later use with seeds of grains and hazel nuts. We are accustomed to think of birds as the nest builders, but the flaxen pouch woven to cradle oriole fledgelings cannot excel the curious abode of the deermouse. In the top of a little sapling one rested, the basketlike bottom an outspoken reminder of a feathered family then far away. To this deserted nest a roof of feathers and leaves had so dexterously been fastened with horse hair that one would hardly credit it to the ingenuity of a little mouse, until a terrified squeak and a dash for liberty through a tiny opening in the side, told the tale. The larder within was well stored and it was evident that a meal had been in progress.

The average city child knows, or at least thinks he knows about the cat and dog. Some, alas, may know too much! Still it is ever "Proceed from the known to the unknown", and even though a lesson on these household friends is not relished as is sometimes hoped, the zoo will help one out. The feline family, for instance, possess members interesting enough. to entertain the young adventurer for awhile at least. The life story of the child's pet along with that of its relatives with all their individual characteristics and habits opens before him a new and wide field of animal life and habit. He and his faithful dog in all their romp and play may venture to pose as the Eskimo and his well trained dog. How wide a field to work upon here; part of it foreign! Yes, but a real foundation for geography,

history of races and lands may be laid. Many interesting stories of the dogs in the Northlands can be used to foster kindness in the young child's heart. How could Bruno's fond young master fail to sympathize with the faithful leader of a certain Eskimo train?

Wolflike, powerful, sagacious! None such a leader as he, but he was in time replaced by a younger brute and set second in the train. True to his instinct, he shrewdly relieved the usurper of his duty and honor by chewing the line off between them, and only yielded to his master's arrangements when whipped into obedience. But the spirit was broken, the temper changed, his attitude was thenceforth one of gloom. The master, not regardless of this pitiful situation, sought to make amends by restoring him as leader and adorning his harness with gay ribbons and ringing bells (these ornaments greatly prized by the dogs) but reconsideration came too late. The devotion of years had been stung to death. Color could not attract or bells enliven; brute though he was, he had read his master's heart, and shortly after went away and died. This narrative is given by a reliable authority, a traveler in the north country and cannot fail to impress its lesson on young and old alike.

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In all the study of nature the analytical side is necessary. It leads to alertness, keenness of perception, accuracy of sight and correct description. But in the survey of the whole the blending of sentiment with an analytical study steadies to a point of balance that may be lost by either emphasizing the sentimental or attaching undue value to the analytical process of study. If such be the case the teacher of Nature Study will

need far more than "an object" to accomplish her work. Field study as

wide as possible, broad reading, sketches, charts, poems and tales will also be indispensable to her work.

Animal life introduces, as its associate, plant life, and vice versa, plant life can not write the pages of its delightful autobiography without a constant reference to its animal and mineral friends. The grass, the clovers, the flowers of the field, all tell of the fertile soil. The mold in turn mentions earthworm and frost, both needed to break up and soften its particles and build air cells and passage ways for sunshine and rain. Crumbling rocks recall the age when tremendous glaciers ground to dust most formidable rocks and thus produced the soil in which vegetation. finds its birth. Gigantic glacier and wriggling worm! What a contrast, but both employed to do their part in contributing to the welfare of all animal life.

The domestic animals, for which the grasses and clovers grow, are often mentioned in the autobiography of plant life. The sheep grazing in Central Park are such a happy band, such a wholesome study. The graceful and wide-awake collie, now here, now there, among them, and the bent and genial faced caretaker finish this picture of confidence and peace. How could any child ever forget it! But the mountain sheep and goats that roam the hills of God are happy and contented, too, cared for by Him who placed them there.

The habits of these mild creatures are of much interest to children. The mountain, the open, both spheres of life are replete with material for fine. training. Their usefulness to man is almost inestimable. A general study

of life and habit necessarily leads to particularization.

Again, bird-life overflows with exultant happiness and activity, teaching many lessons that may be applied to human life and industry; while an analytical study of birds, their characteristics, habits and features train the mind, developing powers of perception and description. With the gay flowers and busy insects they are finishing touches to the deeper background of shaded woods and byways. How strange and seemingly sad that adult eyes and ears are ofttimes closed to the variation in song as well as the happy doings of our bird neighbors.

Does it not seem that as teach

ers we should endeavor to interest our pupils in creatures that have been made to contribute their little service daily to mankind, and occasionally have even affected the destinies of armies? The alert gypsy lad, who in much trepidation woke a general and assured him that his position was one of greatest danger, simply heeded a signal, not given by outlying pickets, but by the passage of disquieted birds that should have been at such an hour asleep. Heeding the call, the forces found the warning true and were ready to meet and rout an advancing host.

Nature Study presents numerous advantages in teaching young children. Charmed with the objects studied, the child's mind is being stored with material that shall furnish a ground work for many lessons in language, oral or written. While the plea for the concrete in number before the reasoning powers are awake may be met by number groupings with natural objects. The study of the object employed combines language with number, and the abstract

is easily represented through the medium of figures as a written expression of the conclusion formed and spoken. Flowers, seeds, fruits, eggs, shells, seed-pods full or empty, leaves and berries furnish a good supply for early number work. early number work. Blackboard pictures quickly and readily made, hold the attention and lead the thought toward a written form.

Nature Study must keep step in certain measure with the work in geography or it simply becomes a matter of form or rote, rather than a reality. Here pictures and charts are of greatest value as specimens of products may not be procurable. For the fuller the realization of conditions in a locality under consideration the more likely is the conception to abide. Clear mental images produce correspondingly accurate reproduction and reliable foundation for future building.

Geography and elementary science bring the child to a study of natural phenomena. To younger children. these should be personified, older ones may take up a more technical study. Wind, storm, ocean, spray, moisture, water dust, clouds and vapor will be worse than ambiguous terms to the younger child unless used in a personifying representation. On the mind of the older child the grand, the sublime and the wonderful are impressed. In the correlated sketch given as Water Forms (see picture), the grouping is intended to express water conditions under both natural and artificial heat action. The sun draws from a large body of water moisture or water dust. Upon meeting the cooler upper currents of the air, this water dust forms into clouds. The winds, according to their temperature, will send it back to the earth as

air. Moisture is always present in the air, and when invisible it is called vapor. Steam may be used as a propelling power or heating medium.

What a world of wonders the waves of the ocean conceal from him who rides over them. As a rule, the traveler must consult natural histories for the information given by tireless and undaunted students of sea life. But the banks of our streams and ponds abound with a life that is most interesting and available to all. Even a swamp hole in a wood will richly repay one for a visit. If children hear of the curious turtle colony that sun. themselves in a mid-day sun, and of peepers that whistle and pipe as the day begins to wane, it will hardly harm them or be too foreign for the turtle may spend a few days in the room or its shell be kept in the cabinet. Tadpoles may grow and transform into frogs in an aquarium. Prometheus cocoons, so often found on spice bushes along wooded streams, with alder catkins, pussy willows, skunk cabbages, marsh marigolds, violets, mosses, ferns, etc. and an accompanying blackboard sketch will help the city child, if an outing comes to him, to search for and find these things for himself. Otherwise he would pass them unheeded.

Who would fancy that the gauzy winged, fairylike mite called the caddice fly, was born in a miniature log cabin with screen door of most approved style. This time not to keep the fly out but to shut the fly in. Or rather to protect the larva from any voracious aquatic neighbor, for this unique cabin is usually found on the sandy bottom of a stream. Or, who upon seeing a dragon fly dart through the air would guess the secret of his early days! Would the sheen of his

gauzy wings betray this by their resemblance to the shimmering waves or hint that the pupa stage of the dragonfly was spent beneath them?

One lucky fellow escapes from his early confines on a quiet day, his brother, less fortunate, meeting the issue of transformation upon a rough and windy day, perishes in the very waves that so long had offered him shelter.

The history of the sticklebacks is charming and amusing. Industrious little sprite seeking a home, building one, weighting floor and plastering walls; he guards his young with warlike earnestness, murders a Mrs. Stickleback or so, as occasion requires, meanwhile keeping his coat in tune, or better, in tone, with his temper. A source of real amusement to a class, for sticklebacks do well in an aquarium, if in supreme command.

The stress of the times, the intense business activity and application point to weariness and broken health. Surely, now is the time to offset such conditions by a charm innocent and beneficial, such as hours spent in the enjoyment of walks in fresh air and open sunshine with eyes, ears and heart alert. As our boys and girls meet the stress of life, how many times their thoughts might be turned from weariness and sadness if only they had been trained to see and hear and sympathize with the life of nature about them.

Educated on all sides to meet the earnest side of life, such is the purpose of our schools, and the children need enthusiastic and well-informed instructors who may set forth by object, illustrative sketch, or chart, the phases of Nature Study that shall develop the young mind and cheer and comfort a life of later activity.