That

servation, memory and judgment. these faculties may be developed or dwarfed is recognized. The ideal school is one in which the natural faculties are developed and directed into proper channels. That helpless children may be so guided capable and faithful pilots are essential. Experience is a sure but a merciless teacher, yet each human being must depend to a greater or less extent upon the guidance of this hard master. Old river pilots tell us that no chart can be prepared which can be followed absolutely by the pilot of one of the great Mississippi River packets; the main channel is indicated, the general sweep of the cur rent; permanent snags chartered, and the outlines of sand banks shown but each pilot, on each trip, must judge for himself as to the changes caused by the unforeseen results of combination of wind, height of water, and shifting of currents; in a word, of the best channel to select at the moment of actual trial. This selection is the resultant of all his previous experiences under similar conconditions. On one trip the channel may lie on one side of the stream but before the next trip it may have shifted as far as possible within the limitations of the actual river banks. Each pupil may be compared to the channel found in a single trip. course that may be safely pursued in one instance may wreck the undertaking in the next. Moreover, in the case of children the changing causes are difficult to determine, and only the most careful observations corrected by the impressions of previous experiences can ensure a reasonably safe voyage.

The

The primary objects to be attained in the lower grades of the school life are first, the formation of correct habits of observation, correlation of judgments and of expression of such results. This involves the necessity of clear, concise and logical expression of thought. To speak clearly and well requires a broader vocabulary than the average child is likely to gain either in home or school without the aid of good literature. There is, unfortunately, a tendency among too many people to dignify by the term literature whatever is printed and bound, and since the classification of printed matter as trash or literature is a matter of personal opinion rather than a fact which can be demonstrated with mathematical accuracy, it is to be feared that more or less friction will always hamper the selection of reading matter for public schools.

Signal success has crowned the work of the Committee of Ten, and succeeding committees, and their friends and supporters in the substitution of much really good literature in the place of the scrappy and often valueless collections of stories and selections so long used as reading material for the lower grades of public schools.

But much depends upon the teacher. When the use of Gayley's Classic Myths was introduced as a foundation-text in all the grades of a certain large public school the degree of success depended in a marked degree upon the familiarity of the teacher with the subject-matter and with general literature. As Mr. Hamilton Mabie well says: "Every social condition has left its record in books; every conception of the family is to be found in them; every standard of personal and public morality, and of private and public action; every ideal of life; every form of beauty which men have pursued; every stage of development through which they have passed; every experience which they have shared; every hope which they have cherished; every dream to which they have clung-all these countless aspects, conditions, stages, and facts of life are to be found reflected, described, interpreted in the books of the world." It follows thus that the teacher who has the greatest fund of experience at his command, personal or by proxy through books will, or should be best able to assist the child to comprehend the great facts of life. We have been too much addicted to giving the child weak concoctions of words instead of placing before him the classics of literature. We have underestimated his ability to draw mental nutriment from the highest sources and so have fed him on weak, poor stuff, and then wondered at his flabby brain power. Too often the introduction of the pupil to really good literature savors of the experiences which befell the manager of the old-fashioned magazine coal-stoves. There came a period when the fire burned dimly-or not at all. Then the builder who tried to build a bright fire on the foundation of clinkers and ashes came to grief; the only wise method was to clear the stove completely of unburned coal, clinkers and ashes, and with a firm foundation of fresh material start a new fire. there is always a difficulty in maintaining a parallel between the material and the mental. It was possible to remove the ashes and clinkers from the stove: it is impossible

But

to remove the clinkers resulting from a poor selection of mental nutriment or the ashes of improper reading material from the brain of a child. Whatever is done must be done in spite of the trammeling mixture and if by dint of much nursing the bright fire finally burns much time and strength have been inevitably lost. It is possible to familiarize children with the vocabulary and style of writers who are, in general, beyond them. I well recall a class of third and fourth grade pupils who were not considered too bright. They found the myth work exceedingly interesting; the nature myths were discussed in geography, they read Hawthorne's Wonder Book with intelligence and interest, sometimes supplying voluntarily words for those whose pronunciation was beyond them, and often apparently unconsciously. Among the myths to be given to the class was that of Prometheus in whose sacrifice they were intensely interested. Occasionally it was possible to give them a few lines of Lowell's "Prometheus" and before the subject was ended they asked to have the entire poem read and selected "gems" to learn. The class were much interested in comparing the crude judgments of the ancient Greeks and other people whose myths were discussed, with their own remembered childish ideas. Frequently while reading from the supplementary matter supplied they would detect an expression which bore some resemblance to the ancient myths, and endeavor to trace its rise and growth. When

giving them oral work in geography they delighted in trying to assign physical causes for racial distinctions. Some of the pupils knew something of the different tribes of Indians and were ingenious in discovering the relations between their environment and their peculiarities. Such work is practical and helpful. The pupils learn to observe closely, to describe accurately and report correctly. If the teacher is to be competent to lead them she must be familiar with the customs and environments of as many different peoples as possible. Since few are enabled to travel to foreign countries this information must be secured through reading, and at present, with the great numbers of well-written books of travel and novels distinguished by local color, no teacher is excusable for ignorance. Too many teachers read with no thought but of the romance in the story. The psychological elements-the development of character through the environment-physical, political, social-the description of scenery, of occupations, of costume have no attraction for them, hence, make but little impression. Such teachers can not direct the mental growth of children. in helpful channels. The opportunities, even in the lower grades, to introduce children to the best literature, to train them in character-forming habits of observation and judging, and in fine expression of thought are legion, but they are lost whenever the teacher is incompetent.

MADISON, WISCONSIN.

VII.

But what becomes of the water that sinks still deeper down? We could learn a great deal about it if we could follow a miner as he digs the shaft of a mine, or even by going down a newly dug well, the sides of which had not been walled up. Probably you can learn a good deal about the matter at the nearest railway cut, where, to get a level track, a road had to be made through a hill. there are, it is true, many different kinds of such

cuts, and the one you inspect may not be exactly like the one we are going to describe. Examine all within your reach and you may find one such as the following. You may discover that it consists of sand or a permeable soil above, but at a certain depth down you come to clay. Usually the line of division slopes in some direction. If the main slope is in the direction of the track you will see that the rain which soaks down through the sand can not get through the clay; and so runs

down along the surface of the clay and where the cut has been made the water oozes out between the sand and the clay. But if the main slope be❘ across the direction of the track, the water runs down hill away from the track on one side and toward the track on the other side, and more water flows into the cut on one side than the other. Now, if the cut be a long one and you follow it you may be able to find where the sand stops and only the clay is left. This will, of course, be on a side hill. If you leave the track where the sand or soil ceases you will be able to follow along the side of the hill the line that divides the soil above from the clay or, perhaps, the rocks below. You will then probably be able to see what becomes of the water that sinks through the soil. If, in leaving the track, you have taken the direction in which the surface of the clay slopes you will find springs or wet places, showing where the water runs out between the soil or sand and clay. This is one of the simplest ways in which springs are formed. If you know of any springs in your vicinity you should see if they can be explained in this way. If not you may find that they are produced by little streams issuing from cracks in a rock, through which the water has sunk.

VIII.

In the preceding we have supposed that clay or an impermeable material through which the water will not pass comes out to the surface on a side hill near the bottom of a valley. But this may not be the case. The valley may not go deep enough to reach that layer. How, then, shall we get at the water? Evidently we must make an opening down to it. Such an opening is a well. In an ordinary well we know that the water has to be raised by a pump or bucket, but there are others called artesian wells, which require no bucket or pump, for the water, when we once reach it, rushes up to the surface. What is it that produces some kind of pressure below and forces the water up? If we could see down an artesian well we would find that at its bottom there is water confined in a permeable substance like sand by one layer of an impermeable substance like clay above and another impermeable layer below. Now, let us in imagination start from the bottom of the well and follow this sand layer. We will find that it slopes upward, and at a great distance comes out on a hillside, where it catches water when it rains. This water runs down through the sand, being prevented from escape by the two impermeable layers, and accumulates in the sandy layer so as to produce great pressure. When this reservoir of water is tapped by the hole bored down, the water rushes up with great force. If

you wish to see how such action takes place punch a small hole in the bottom of a tin can (say a twopound coffee can) and after half filling a bucket with water, push the can down into the water and notice how the water spurts in through the hole, rising nearly to a height of the water in the pail.

We thus see that a spring is a place where water comes to the surface after a long underground journey. Is it the same kind of water as when it went in? Try a drink of fresh rainwater and then a drink of spring or well water, and see. You will probably find the rainwater rather flat and tasteless compared with the spring water. The difference will remind you of how food, for instance oatmeal, tastes with and without salt. In fact, the spring water does contain salt, while the rainwater does not. There are places where springs are so salt that thousands of tons of salt per year are gotten from them. But the spring water contains other things also, chiefly lime, and this is what is left when the water is boiled away in a kettle. Thus we see that water is continually busy transporting materials from the depths of the earth to the surface. The things which are thus brought up are often of great importance. The lime contained in the water furnishes material for the bones of animals and the iron, which is another ingredient, supplies the coloring matter for their blood. It is true that most of what is needed of these materials is gotten from our solid food, but as spring water contains them it is healthier than rainwater for drinking and cooking. When we thus think of the water carrying away material from the solid rock we can see how so many cracks and fissures come to exist. As water passes through a very small crack it carries some material away with it, and so enlarges the crack, and so the crack grows until quite a stream can pass through. We now see how rivers continue to run during hot weather when no rain falls. They are supplied by the water from springs and underground streamlets, and as this water often has great distances underground to travel it only reaches the river a long time after it has fallen as rain. Some of this water must evidently be many months journeying in the earth before reaching the river and a small part of it perhaps even years. But at last it emerges, joins the river and reaches the ocean.

IX.

You may imagine that now its useful work is done. By no means. For let us see what happens to it after reaching the ocean. We have already seen that it carries a large burden of mud with it. This it drops gradually, some near the shore and some far out at sea. Thus it coats the

sea bottom with clay, which in the course of ages solidifies into rocks and these rocks will in still more distant ages probably be raised to the surface to form new continents. Some of the materials carried by the rivers into the ocean also serve as food for the creatures that live in the ocean.

This, however, is not the only useful work which the currents in the ocean do. Let us consider, for instance, the water carried down by the Mississippi. It falls into the Gulf of Mexico in a very hot region of the earth. There it becomes heated more than before, and along with water from other rivers it starts off on a long journey up the eastern side of North America, in a remarkable current called the Gulf Stream. This Gulf Stream is in fact a river in the ocean instead of on land. The warm water that forms it does not mix to any great extent with the cold water which it passes on the way. It flows in a bed of its own over the ocean of cold water. It is quite a shallow river compared with the depth of the ocean beneath it. After continuing its way up to Newfoundland it strikes across the Atlantic. It divides into branches in the middle.` One branch passes up to the British Isles and has a remarkable effect on their climate. To understand the effect you must remember two things: First, that the water of the Gulf Stream is much warmer than that of the rest of the ocean around it, and, second, that water when warmed up contains a very great deal of heat, much more than an equal quantity of most other substances. Better to understand this latter point try the following experiment: Take two bottles exactly alike or two similar tin cans with covers. Fill one with water and the other with anything else, say sand or earth. Then place them in a pot or tin pail and pour water into it until they are nearly covered. Place the whole on the stove and leave it until the water gets too hot for you to put your finger in. Then dip some of the water out of the pot or pail and take the bottles or cans out and put them out in the air to cool. Notice how much more quickly the one containing sand or earth cools than the one containing water. The one containing water has so much more heat that it can not lose it nearly as quickly as the other, and so cools much more slowly. This is the explanation of how the Gulf Stream keeps the land of the British Isles warm in winter, alalthough there is not nearly as much water in the Gulf Stream as there is land in the islands.

X.

We have only spoken of the Gulf Stream, but there are many other such warm streams in other oceans flowing from the hot parts of the earth to cooler parts and helping to keep these cooler parts

warm and fit for habitation. But since warm water is thus spreading from the hot parts of the earth to the cold parts, cold water must flow from the cold parts to the hot parts, and this cold water plays the equally important part of keeping the temperature in the hotter regions lower than it otherwise would be. Were it not for the moderating influences thus received by ocean currents tropical countries near the equator would be too hot for man to live in, and most of Europe and North America would be unbearably cold.

Now, we have seen that water is continually flowing by means of the rivers from the land to the seas. The process has been going on for ages past. It evidently couldn't continue unless there was some means by which the water came back from the seas and oceans to the land. What is the road which it travels on this return journey? To discover it let us trace the rain to its origin. Rain comes from moisture condensing in the clouds. Where do the clouds come from? Some of them form from vapor which rises from the land, and some from moisture that rises from the sea. Now this is the only known path by which water return from the ocean to the land. The vapor rises gently and invisibly from the sea, and it seems almost incredible that such huge masses of water can rise in this imperceptible form as is carried by the Mississippi and all the innumerable rivers of the earth. Yet such is the fact, and when we think of the immense currents that carry water from the land to the ocean we should at the same time try to imagine the equally immense overhead rivers of vapor which convey the water back from the ocean to the land.

But water does not move of its own accord. To what great agency, then, do we owe this tremendous activity of the water on the globe? Chiefly, to the heat of the sun, which falls silently on the waters of the ocean, tearing particles free and raising them as vapor into the air. It is really the sun, too, that starts into motion the winds which carry this moisture over the land, where it falls as rain. Then we have the assistance of gravity or the attraction of the earth, for it is to this that the flow of the brooks from the hillside to the river is due, and also the further flow of the rivers to the ocean.

LAFAYETTE, IND.

For the soul that gives is the soul that lives;
And bearing another's load
Doth lighten your own and shorten the way,
And brighten the homeward road.

-Washington Gladden.

NATURE STUDY.

[In the September number of THE INLAND EDUCATOR We commented at some length upon the excellent Course of Study for the City and Town Schools of Indiana, and promised to quote portions of it in subsequent issues. We are quite sure that only a small per cent. of our readers have been able to examine this course, and therefore, at the risk of publishing material which may already be familiar to some of our patrons, we print below the introductory notes and the outline for two years' work in nature study. Work for the remaining five years may be expected in the March issue. -ED.]

INTRODUCTORY.

It is believed that a well-ordered course of study in nature work should suggest the main lines of work to be pursued; should arrange the work in each line in the order best suited to the stages of development of the pupils of the different grades pursuing it, and should make some general suggestions as to the plans and methods of procedure. It is not thought that specific directions as to the carrying out of the details of the work should enter very largely into a general course of study. Such matters should, we believe, as far as possible, be left to local supervision or to the actual teaching force.

The outline of work in nature study here suggested is somewhat comprehensive. Different lines of work are suggested with no attempt to determine or suggest their relative values. It is not claimed that all lines of nature work which may profitably be pursued in the elementary schools, and especially in the primary grades, are here outlined. Neither is it claimed that all the work here suggested can be accomplished by any one grade. It is believed, however, that all the lines here laid down should receive some attention in every system of schools. The best judgment of the local supervision and of the teachers of the grades must determine the selections from the work which are adapted to the conditions under which they are working. If, whenever possible, the work is pursued by a study of typical forms as suggested in the outline, much more can be done;than at first seems possible.

It is not intended that there should be daily al. terations of the lines of work suggested. The relative time devoted to each line and to the different phases of any one line will be determined by the conditions under which the teacher is working, the material accessible, etc. Some one line may be emphasized for a time, say a month or a term, and the emphasis then transferred to some other line or phase of the subject for a like time. This plan is recommended especially for the older grades. It awakens a more intense interest, and relieves the work of the scrappy appearance which would result from an attempt to fuse instruction in

all lines into the work of a single day or week. The successive steps in the given lines are, we believe, sufficiently set off to enable the teacher at any stage to see what in that line has been done in the grades below, and what is to be done in the grades above.

The study is not a book study. The truths are to be developed largely by experiment and observation. The first step in the presentation of the work is observation by the pupils; this should be followed, whenever practicable, by drawings and descriptions, and this, at a safe distance, by the reading of selected literature. "First see, next reproduce, next learn through literature what others have found out regarding it," is, in the main, a safe guide to the teacher as a process.

Work in preliminary geography is outlined in connection with the nature work for the first and second and first half of third years. Up to this point it is believed that the geography work is but the geography side of nature study; that the nature lessons, tending as they do to develop the powers of observation, imagination and interpretation are really fundamental lessons in geography and that, other than to some degree directing the nature lessons towards geographical ends, no special emphasis of the subject is needed. It will, therefore, in these grades, occupy the same place on the daily program that the nature study does and be taught in connection therewith.

Physiology, too, as outlined in this course, is very closely related to the nature work and especially to the work suggested in the study of animal life. It can, therefore, we believe, be most economically and successfully taught in connection with this work and is so outlined up to the eighth year, where the subject is given a separate place upon the daily program and its study is pursued in a more or less technical way.

a. Plant life.

FIRST YEAR.

1. Autumn fruits-peach, pear, apple, grape, etc., as types.

2. Autumn leaves-make collections, study forms, colors, etc.

3. Autumn flowers-golden-rod, aster, gentian, etc.

4. Autumn seeds-make collections, study disseminations by winds, animals and currents of water.

5. Preparations for winter as shown in buds and leaves; make collection of budshickory, buckeye, maple or fruit trees. Study an evergreen as a type form. Preparations for spring. (a) Planting of seeds in schoolroom-beans, peas, wheat,

6.

7.