Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1906-09-05

Nature study is supposed to be a
quite different thing from the study
Of books. In way it may be true
that the two kinds of study are not
very much alike, but in another way
fthey cannot be separated. Nature is
around us wherever We turn; above
US stretches the sky; we breathe the
air; we have, whether we live in town
or in the country, the sights and
sounds of nature near us all the time.
If we have only a little back yard
with small plot of grass and DOT
or two of flowers, if our only ac-
a canary or a parrot in cage, we still
may study nature, although not with
the same degree of interest that will
be ours when we make excursions to
green fields.
l take it for granted that the girls
who are studying nature are doing so
to some purpose. Every one of us
ought to know by sight and touch the
trees in the locality nearest our homes.
We should know them by their pecu-
liarities of bark and branch and bud
and leaf. We should know the flow
ers that grow in our countryside, rec
ognizing them by their peculiarities
of root, stem and flower, of color and
perfume.
We should likewise know the birds.
Nothing is more absorbing than the
study Of birds. They are fascinating
little creatures. Their habits. man
posite our own when we really pene-
trate their secrets. In a single rather
small neighborhood in New Jersey a
bird lover last summer counted no
| less than SO varieties of birds. Their
| mi;5rations, their nests, their patience
in finding food for their young, the
mothers and fathers care in show
| ing the young birds how to fly, all
these are interesting parts of nature
study. But it is not so much of this
that I am thinking as I write to you,
as of the way in which we may help
one another in these days. Girls who
live in the country ought to have
mission to their city cousins, and
when spring and summer bring their
| pleasant days boxes of wild flowers
and garden flowers. too, should be
sent weekly to the schoolrooms where
the pupils have no easy way of get
| ting specimens for themselves.
Schools in different parts of the coun-
try SHOULD exchange flowers, shells
and other interesting properties of the
nature study class, and it would not
be at all bad idea if there were
regular system of correspondence be-
| tween Jean of the little village and
| Betty of the big city, all about the work
each was doing in her study of nature.
Another helpful thing that recon-
mend is the marking of passages in
| the poetry a nd prose that you read with
an especial look to their bearing on ma
| ture. You will find that the poets care
a great deal about the winds and the
waves, the sky and the earth. and that
| real poetry is full of beautiful illusions
to the phenomena of the world we live
| In. Tennyson, whom you will study
| In your classes in English literature, has
SO much intimate knowledge of nature
that his poetry is almost guide book
| to the flowers of his native land. Long
| fellow, Whittier and Emerson have a
| great deal to say about nature When
| you read the great masters Of fiction
| you will find that they have whole pages
| devoted to descriptions of scenery and
that some of them paint nature in words
| as if with the brush of an artist.
A good plan is to have COMMONPLACE
! book and whenever you find something
that you like write it down for future
| reference
When | was girl we studied botany
| out under the trees. There was a par
ticularly charming bit of woodland near
our school, and our nature study was
| always carried on out of doors. Our
| teacher had a seat on a gray rock, COW
cred with blanket shawl. Maybe YOU
never heard of blanket shawl. but if
you had gone with Miss Jane and had
been privileged to carry her Scotch
! plaid over your arm you would have
known what delightful and convenient
wrap it was.
The girls grouped themselves around
| on the grass near a brookside and as
the lesson went on the brook sang and
sparkled and the sound of its lullaby
and the CLEAN OF its waters made mu-
sic and sunshine in our souls. We
learned a great deal about botany in
those enchanted afternoons, and we
learned. too. a love of nature that is
not gained by those who study her
only in dried specimens between white
washed walls.
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