wisdom of leaving the little red beetles, with spots on their wings, so snugly ensconced in their winter-quarters; you see I do not know; I may reap my reward in a bitter experience for it is said that for general pestiferousness, few household pests can equal the Buffalo moth. However, I am inclined to think that the little bugs are my friends as I have never heard of Buffalo moths in this locality. This little instance is only one of many almost similar ones which come to us as we walk or work about our farms, houses and gardens. To kill or not to kill is the question we are many times unable to answer. The average small boy (and sometimes the girl) can usually come to a decision quickly enough. Who has not heard. the shrill cry of a childish voice in the command "kill it! kill it!” when some strange creeping-thing crosses his path? This is not often in a spirit of cruelty, but the child has heard terrible stories of the awful bugs and things which bite and sting and he acts on the theory that "prevention is better than cure."

mer.

Early in the autumn, during a warm, showery time, a little girl, a little boy, a little red lizard and I met on the board-walk. We all feel well acquainted with the bright red, brown or orange colored lizards that are most frequently seen during a rainy time in sumI think they live chiefly on earth worms which are on or near the surface of the ground when it is moistened by a warm rain, No doubt the little fellow we met was innocently searching for his dinner, but after falling in with our crowd, he needed no more dinners. Almost as soon as we saw him there was a quick movement and his head was crushed into a shapeless mass by an energetic little heel. On my speaking a word of pity for the suffering and the destruction of the beautiful little creature, the little girl said, "Why, if you don't kill them they will jump down your throat.” Then I used to know a little girl who was afraid of "tooth-counters," which is some kind of a worm. When she would see one she carefully kept her lips closed because she said, "if they would see your teeth they would count them and then you would die." These little incidents show some childish notions about these small creatures.

But funny notions and fear of harmless insects and reptiles are not confined strictly to children. Who has not heard a young lady scream with fright on meeting a little garter snake not more than seven or eight inches in length? It immediately becomes an awful serpent a yard long, showing great fangs, a long forked tongue and fiery, glittering eyes, with which he has the power to transfix or charm his unfortunate victim. Then tomato worms! What ferocious looking things they are! I don't like them myself. They have such a venomous look. But I never was so badly frightened that I was unable to kill them. I know of a young woman who was so frightened by them last summer that she gave up gathering to

matoes from a garden where they were unusually numerous. I may have done wrong by killing them. Recently I have read that they cannot harm any one in the least, not even with that big sharp horn they have on their tails. Their depredations do not seem to be greater than the eating of a few tomato or potato leaves. They may deserve a place on the friendly list. There is a story of a man whose knowledge of the habits of beetles was the means of his escape from what was to be a life-long imprisonment. He was confined in a high tower and every night his wife would come and weep at its foot. One night he said to her, "Go home and find a black beetle, bring it with a bit of butter and three strings--one of fine silk, one of twine, one of whip-cord, and a strong rope." She returned and be told her to put a touch of butter on the beetle's head, tie the silk cord around him and set him on the wall of the tower. Deceived by the smell of the butter which it supposed was above, the insect continued to ascend until he reached the top of the tower and thus the prisoner secured the silk thread. By it he drew up the twine, then the whip-cord, and then the strong rope by which he finally escaped. Thus far I have spoken only of the "creepin things" we see about us everyday in summer. There are myriads of them, but perhaps enough has been said along that line.

Not the least interesting of Mother Nature's works are the feathered songsters that flit so gaily through tree and shrub. How they call us to join in their song of praise. But do we always know the singer by its song? Then, how about the "green things growing?" I suppose there is not in this State, or perhaps in the United States another county where so many varieties of wild flowers may be found, but how many can we correctly name? I fear most of us are like the little girl, first described, in the following stanzas:

"I knew a charming little girl
Who'd say, 'Oh, see that flower,'
Whenever in the garden

Or woods she spent an hour.

And sometimes she would listen,
And say, 'Oh, hear that bird,'
Whenever in the forest

Its clear, sweet note she heard.

"But then I knew another

Much wiser, don't you think?

Who never called the bird 'a bird,'

But said 'the bobolink,'

Or 'oriole,' or 'robin,'

Or 'wren,' as it might be,

She called them all by their first names,

So intimate was she.

"And in the woods or garden,

She never picked 'a flower,'
But 'anemones,' hepaticas,'

Or 'crocus' by the hour.

Both little girls loved birds and flowers,
But one's love was the best;

I need not point the moral,

I'm sure you see the rest."

The old saying that "familiarity breeds contempt," will not apply to Dame Nature. Dear old lady! The more intimate our acquaintance with her the more we love her. She is a most admirable teacher and her influence is ever elevating, for she leads us up to God. The book of nature is a ponderous tome; but there is no danger of a child beginning its study too early in life, for her subjects may be presented in such ways as the child-mind can grasp or comprehend without effort, and even a lisping babe may gain a knowledge which will never be forgotten nor relegated to the attics of the brain because of disuse.

A prominent writer to mothers, thinks it would be wise to give the first seven or eight years of a child's life to the tutelage of Nature alone. Be this as it may, the primary grades of our schools are the proper places to introduce Nature Studies and primary teachers who have not yet taken up this work, need have no fear of lack of interest on the part of her pupils. I feel sure that every teacher who has made even a small beginning along this line would be unwilling to give it up, for a little knowledge leads to interest and the teacher herself may be a learner with the smallest child, and although she may never have pursued the study herself, she will find it an easy subject to teach. All teachers know how difficult it is to teach abstract subjects to primary pupils, but with this there is none of that to contend with, for all about us, everywhere are subjects by which through "eye-gate" or "ear-gate," new ideas may enter the child-brain. The children grow very fond of collecting specimens, and in this they need wise direction from the teacher lest her schoolroom become a chaotic museum from which the pupils gather only a confusion of ideas. This, like all work in school or elsewhere, needs method and system, and for assistance in this the teacher will find nothing better than that given in "The Normal Instructor," "Primary Education," &c. In these periodicals she finds the work arranged in harmony with the seasons. For instance: The Normal Instructor for December gives an article on winter birds and evergreen trees. Then if she wants to supplement these regular studies, she can obtain from the Pennsylvania State College a course of lessons on such subjects as are familiar to all. They are in pamphlet form and have full instructions to teachers. Several of them were recently handed to me. I cannot say whether

they are furnished free or not; but they are certainly practical and interesting, taking up such subjects as house-flies, potato beetles, spiders, &c.

I have spoken more particularly of the work in primary grades, but I would not want to convey the impression that it should be dropped after passing to a higher grade. If grammar pupils have been so unfortunate as to have missed it in lower grades it is all the more important that they get it now, although they will not take so kindly to it, and the teacher will find it harder to arouse an interest, but if she will make use of the helps mentioned, both teacher and pupils will, in a short time, begin to wonder how they ever got along without the work in their school. There will be objections like these: "There are already too many branches in the common schools." "There is no time for this nonsense." "The law does not require it," and so on. But we would call attention to the fact that in all the larger places, in the best, up-to-date schools, it is no longer an experiment. I cannot say how long Nature Studies have been used in some schools in this county, but their introduction has been more recent as compared with some of our neighboring counties. In Indiana town, I know it is at least five years since they have been used-perhaps longer. It is so all over the State, so far as town schools are concerned, but in country and village schools it is greatly neglected. They need it just as much. Perhaps the term work is misapplied when speaking of this subject, as no textbooks are provided and I believe it is generally used as a recreation or diversion from the sometimes dull routine of book lessons. There will be no difficulty about the time for it when interest is once aroused. "Where there's a will there's a way." No doubt the subject has received some attention during the teachers' institute of this week. We hope all teachers will come back to their work better equipped for teaching all branches and also with the determination to give Nature Studies more attention. When this and music come to be systematically taught in our public schools of all grades, we will see a higher degree of culture and refinement among our people.

I have spoken but briefly on a few points. There are many others which could be brought up and enlarged upon. I wish to speak of one more. It is that if Nature Study is begun in the common schools it will never be dropped, but interest in the inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge will ever widen and deepen while life and intellect last. For many of us, school days are past; but let us all draw "near to Nature's heart" and learn of her as she sits with open book in her capacious lap, ever turning for us the pages and pointing from the creature to the great Creator.

NECESSITY OF A HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE RURAL DIS

TRICTS.

BY MISS MARTHA TRIMBLE, Cookport, Pa.

That the children and young people of the rural districts of Pennsylvania are at a disadvantage in education, as compared with those of the city and town schools, is a fact that is apparent to all. Let us for a moment then compare them.

A boy (and when I speak of the boy I mean the girl too), a boy from the city high school, when ready for graduation at the age of 15 to 18, has mastered completely the common English branches, and has also a fair knowledge of algebra, geometry, botany, physics, Latin and perhaps French and German. He has taken a course in book-keeping, and in many of the schools, a thorough course in business forms, a course in manual training, or a Normal school course; and then if he wishes to go to college, he can enter so high as to finish his course in two or three years. While on the other hand, the country boy of the same age, has, perhaps, been just as anxious to learn and has improved his opportunities just as carefully; but owing to the shorter term he has not progressed so rapidly, although he has finally completed the course allowed him, and he is obliged to stop just when, what might be called the drudgery of getting an education is over, and he can go no further because the opportunity is lacking. He must either give up the desire for a higher education or go away from his home and all its influences, which are so important and so necessary at that age. He must be thrown amongst strangers, where the worst of influences may be set to work to bring about his ruin, morally, mentally and spiritually. The college boy and girl too often, come home with none of the innocent, honest, truthful qualities which they took with them from the country home.

In addition to the disadvantage of being deprived of home comforts and home restraints, there is also the expense attendant upon obtaining an education away from home. Usually the school expenses of one member of a family, away from home, is enough to educate four or five persons, if they can remain at home. Then the sending of the boy and girl to the town to be educated destroys their taste for country life, and if they come back at all, they come with the notion that country life is sordid, that country work is degrading and that the parents, who have perhaps denied themselves a comfortable living in order that their children may be educated,