The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-05-24


enough to make Lying elsewhere.
Towns increase in size while the vii
lagos dwindle. Nor is the disposition
of country people to flock to the
cities confined to long-settled areas,
such as those of Europe or the Allan
tic Coast of the United States, but is
exhibited in recently established
colonies and frontier settlements.
The instruction of education in
the country, according to a writer in
the Hampshire Chronicle, of Win
chester, England, is the more proba-
BILE cause of the failure of the young
nowadays to cling to the rustic life
for which city people sigh. Country
education is defective, this writer
holds, in that it does not develop the
interest of children in the charms of
the country and its pursuits.
Life is nowhere so rich in incident.
The farm presents innumerable facts
capable of entertaining, employing
and instructing, child, provided he
has a teacher who will direct his at
tention to them. Compared with the
country, the city is a desert waste as
regards natural phenomena, arts, ex-
ercise and opportunities for study
suited to the young mind.
What is wanted, then, is a course
of study for country school children
that will take account of their actual
surroundings and make these sur
roundings the basis of their educa-
ton. To begin with, children should
be taught how to enjoy the beauty of
country scenery and be led to take
an interest in country pursuits. At
tention is to be called to the pic
turesque and the natural beauty of
the district one lives in, as seen by
day or at sunset, or in 1.-The incom-
parable pomp of dawn" The out
door study of geography may be en-
couraged by excursions in which at
tention is called to the topography of
the neighborhood-its hills, valleys,
ravines, gullies, streams, ponds,
houses, villages, roads, etc. BY easy
stages, small children can be led to
make maps. When older the com
pass will enable them to construct
rough diagrams, which will aid them
immensely in the understanding of
books on geography and geometry.
Surveying can thus be learned in it's
elements by mere youngsters.
The problem being to interest chill
dren in the resources of country life,
the parent and teacher have a wide
choice of subjects. Manual training
will be had in view. Tools will be
supplied for rough carpentry, such as
troughs, stools, ladders, gates, coops,
boxes, traps, gates and the like,
School gardens are wanted for the
growth of vegetables, fruits and
flowers. Boys can be interested in
the preparation of the soil for vege-
tables, by trenching, fertilizing, lay
ing out beds, sowing, hoeing, weed
ing, and the termination of seeds.
Fruit trees call their attention in the
spring to modes of planting, remov-
ing trees, shaping the crown, trim
ming the roots and pruning. In the
summer budding and grating COM
mand attention, and in the fall boys
will learn something of the treatment
of old trees, hollow branches, smear
ing stems, blight canker, gums, moss
and rotting With the autumn come
lessons in gathering, packing and
storing fruit, besides collecting, clean
ing and preserving seed. Insect
pests will come under their notice;
also various gals, moses and lichens,
together with the caterpillars, flies
and moth that damage flowers, vege-
tables and fruit. The habit of max
ing collections of hurtful insects and
parasites and specimens of objects in
jured by them can be encouraged.
Collections of grasses are equally use
full. Children will take an interest in
almost any kind of collection if the
teacher does the same. Lessons in
simple book keeping, which is of the
utmost Importance, will come in re-
garding the sales of garden produce.
For all the various arts suggested
there are excellent guides in books
published in recent years. No one
teacher can be expected to be prof.
cient in all the matters mentioned,
but almost any one that is fit to be a
teacher can make a beginning, and
when circumstances favor help can
be had from the outside. If o coun-