Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-01-01
NATuRNAL HISTORY.
How to Turn Children's Minds Toward the
Things Around Thorn.

HOW TO Turn Ch1ldren's Minds Toward the
Things Around Them.
Despite the fact that nowadays most
people pass the summer in the country,
and thus are or might be brought into
direct communication with nature, the
general ignorance in regard to the Or
dina1y facts of natural history is amaz-
ing. 1t is decidedly the exception
rather than the rule to find a boy who
has any especial knowledge of the
plants and animals with which he must
have come in contact every summer of
his life; and when it comes to any thing
like an accurate or intimate acquaint-
ance, it is not to be looked for. It is
hardly too much to assert that the large
majority 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. It is
safe to assert that did the country lad
who visits the city show so much indif-
ference in learning the names of the
things he sees he would by his town ac-
quaintances be setdown as most incor-
rigible blockhead. It is amazing that
the natural curiosity of boys does not
find some vent in this direction. If it
had the slightest encouragement, there
is no doubt that it would do so. As it
is, nobody makes any effort to turn the
minds of the boys toward the things
around them, and the result is that they
generally remain blind to the end.
The pleasure which can be obtained
from study, even if it be a most casual
one, of natural history is in itself so
great that one wonders that it should be
so generally neglected. 1t affords a
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 de-
sirable. It trains the observant facul-
ties, enlarges the mental horizon. while.
it is in itself one of the most delightful
entertainments, if the boys can once be
interested, as ninety-nine boys out of
a 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 matter
of fact, there are more young people who
are by their parents entirely thrown out
of Investigations than are helped in
them. It is the natural inclination of
children to be interested in whatever
they see, and they question about nature
until they have been so completely dis
couraged by elders who have not the
ability or the patience to reply, that
they become disheartened and abandon
the whole thing. In many cases all that
it would be necessary for parents to do
would be to be careful not to treat the
questions of children about natural SUBJ
jects as if they were trivial and not
worth considera ton. The boys will find
some source of information if they are
given the idea that what they ask is
worth finding out. 1t is the treating of
the whole matter as if it were of no
earthly Importance that does the mis-
chief, and of this how many intelligent
| people are guilty!-Boston Courier.