Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-03-24

but to say why it was of great conse-
quence, and why women, mothers c1t-
zens and formers of public opinion
should be aroused to the great changes
i that have taken and are taking place in
I it. Everywhere we hear OF nature
study, in the public schools, End parents
are wondering if education is not get
ting very faddish, and altogether there
is much wonder and doubt and puzzle
ment over the situation.
Now one thing, continued the speaker,
is clear: We can't ourselves teach our
children sience, for the text books we
learned out Of are no better now than
so much waste paper, and those that the
older Of the children have used are
scarcely different, In Munich ] met an
old professor who had been O. teacher
of chemistry many years IN an Ameri-
can college. Long after he crossed the
ocean to revisit the scene of his laborS.
He went to his lecture room; nothing
was altered, except that a tall desk had
been pulled in front of a blackboard.
Together the janitor and he pulled it
away, only to find the blackboard COW
cred with the very chemical formulae
which he had left on it, And if you'll
believe 1t, Mrs Palmer" said he, "there
wasn't one of them rightr' And so it
is In all the sciences. The man was
right who said 1000 years ago, "KnowI-
edge passetl away"
The fact is, everything has been
transformed the last quarter cf a cen
tury. Who ever heard, rs years ago of
political science, or sociology? And now
all the finest young men and women,
those who feel an impulse beyond their
own personal ambitions, are hurrying to
JON classes In sociology. Twenty-Five
years ago we spent our time learning the
heights of mountains in Asia. the length
or rivers in Africa and the populations
on European cities (Which had changed
before we got to themD no one ever
asked us for the names OF the flowers
under our feet or the trees over o,1r
neads or the birds singing in the
branches. All the studying of nature
that was done was out of books and
tne biggest universities in the country
olu not have as good laboratories as
now now every large high school IS equipped
WIN. Waen such great changes have
taken place, in the sciences, how can
we offer our children expert knowledge? !?
But before we decide to insert this
sudden, new, time-taking, money-spend-
ing subject, or group of subjects, in the
pupAe schohol curricula, we must ex-
anime the latter The supposition is
ana people naturally look aghast and
ask, What shall nature study dis
place. But l doubt If the curricula in
the schools are too full, or even full
enough, judging from the number of
| oored school children 1 see, and 1 have
the word of man of so years who has
oeen IN school work all his life, that so
per cent of childrens time in school is
wasted. Is the time which is put to use
| al cd -
Forlmy part, said Mrs. Palmer 1 am
not alarmed at the prospect of adding
| this topic to the school courses. The
reason why nature study is so import
| ant - mat 1t appeals to children when
80 young, and fills the time in the first
| years of their life which are usually so
wasted. The Catholics are right when
they say "Give me boy until he is
II" but we are so medaevil in our no
| tons that wesay ooh, we must not tax
| our children's minds before they reach
the age of 10, but must keep them
busy with play" So we waste the
first ten years of their lives. But we
cannot tie their hands and feet or blind
their eyes, and all the while memory
! and power of observation are strong in
them. We cannot keep the pages of
their mind blank. Shall we therefore
| teach them Hickory, Dickery, Dock %
! No, we must at once introduce them to
| the wonderful and beautiful world in
which they live, so that not only may
they cultivate memory and observation,
but also find in nature amusement and
! companionship. 1t Is the testimony of
teachers of nature studies that accura-
| cy and truth telling are also strength
ened.
Another thing. Nature study helps
| TO ,,,o FI,oF
in persons coming from cultivated
! homes is so limited. But the wider the
| interests, the wider and more accurate
the vocabulary needed and used am
| not pleading for "school-ma' ann Eng
| lish, but I would have children able to
narrate and describe with wealth and
dash of words, even when the rush of
| IDEAS and impressions might be so fast
as to prevent accuracy Now, for all
| this the study of natural objects offers
| more than almost any other,
Why do emphasize early age? Be
cause have seen the havoc wrought by
neglecting the early years. A Judge who
is active In juvenile reform work. said
to me, You tell the mothers that some
| thing has got to be done in MasSachu-
setts with the boys; they have got to
have more interests, and got to have
| them young" A boy from a Christian,
American home ruins his life because he
cannot stand the temptation of carry
ing $4,000 for his employer across Bos-
ton. Another boy fastens two children to
| a tree and murders one of them. People
ask in horror "Why?"
Here Mrs Palmer told of her expert
ence among group of foreign lads who
work in the stockyards in Chicago and
who since they could not go to college,
invited her out to make them wise. She
| spoke to them much as she did to the
| ladies before her yesterday, saying that
| if each one of them would choose some
one thing and spend 10 minutes 6 days
a week studying about it. by the time
| he became a man he would know more
! than his neighbors, and would be a
! grand man. AS they filed out, one boy
of about IA, with an eXpressionless, in
!, ane face-a Polish or Hungarian boy
1 said, speaking slowly and with great
difficulty for himself and group of his
friends: "I-take-snakes." That night
saw the founding of the Agassiz Club of
Chicago Those boys were all going to
the bad and the leader was on the eve
of falling into the hands of the police;
now they spend their leisure in the
swamps and fields or else reading, and
never go near the saloons, and the lead
er bids fair to become genius in natu-
raj history. Ladies, said the speaker,
how many boys are there going down
in Worcester because they have no alb
sorbing interest in life? If all boys could
| take snakes and find in them some
thing attractive and absorbing, what a
difference to the balance of charity
work and to the taxation which goes in
millions to take care of the boys and
girls, the men and women, who have
made shipwreck!t Let us remember
that every dollar we spend in enriching
the lives of the young will be worth ten
laII tIo oth aid 10 nff