The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-09-28
Children and Natural History.
 nnaAAn Nonulnr
Boston Courier.

Boston Courier.
 Despite the fact that nowadays most people pass the summer in the country and thus arc or might Dc brought into direct communication with nature, the general ignorance in regard to the or dinary facts of natural history Is amazing. It is decidedly the excep- tion rather than the rule to find boy who has any especial knowledge of the habits of the plants and animals with which he must have come in con- tact every summer of his life; and when it comes to anything like an accurate or intimate acquaintance, 1t is not to be looked for. It is hardly too much to assert that the large ma iority of city boys who pass every summer of their lives in the country do not know the names of even the more common trees and plants. They have accepted every thing as tree or as a weed, and there the matter has ended as far as they are concerned.
 It is the most obvious of truisms to say that this should not be so. 1t Is safe to assert that did the country lad who visits the city show so much in- difference in learning the names of the things he sees he would by his town acquaintances be set down as most incorrigible blockhead. It is amazing that the natural curiosity of boys does not find some vent in this direc- tion. If 1t had the slightest encour- agement, there is no doubt that 1t would do so. As 1t is, nobody makes any effort to turn the minds of the boys toward the things around them, and the results is that they generally remain blind to the end.
 The pleasure which can be obtained from a study, even it 1t be most casual one, of natural history is in itself so great that one wonders that 1t should be 30 generally neglected. It affords healthful, elevating pastime, which broadens the mind and delights at the same time. It is good for the body, since it keeps the boy out of doors, his mind interested but tranquil, and his environment of the sanest and most desirable. It trains the observ- ant faculties, enlarges the mental hor- izon, while 1t is within itself one of the most delightful entertainments, if the boys can once be interested, as ninety mine boys out of hundred can if properly managed and not forced.
 Of course, the great difficulty is that so few parents are in the least prepared to help their children and, as mat ter of fact, there arc more young peo- pie who are by their parents entirely thrown out of investigations than are helped in them. It Is the natural in- clination of children to be interested in whatever they see, and they ques- tion about nature until they have been so completely discouraged by elders who have not the ability or the pa tience to reply, that they become dis heartened and abandon the whole thing. In many cases all that would be necessary for parents to do would be to be careful not to treat the ques- tions of children about natural subjects as if they were trivial and not worth consideration. The boys will find some source of information if they are but given the idea that what they ask is worth finding out. It is the treating of the whole matter as if 1t were of no earthly importance that does the mischief, and of this how many intelligent people are guilty!