The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1919-08-19
Appreciation of

mucn the Detter. Apprecldtion VI
the mystery of nature and the con-
troll of her resources are as old as
accorded time and probably many
thousand years older. On the walls
IF the Egyptian temples are to be
found harvest songs and in the tombs
Of Egypt are painted agricultural
scenes, and yet we starve our chill
dren's desires in this direction and
furnish them with flimsy toys which
break to pieces in few days, when
the personal possession of plot of
ground, or even Of a flower pot
with seeds would give them more
pleasurable and lasting interest.
Why are we so stupidq 1t would
take less time and less nervous force
to share child's interest in nature
than it does to scold him for the de-
struction Of toys or the abuse of
furniture both Of which are the re-
suit Of the unnatural curbing Of his
instructive desire to express his ideas
by changing, transforming and Gre
ating new forms. .as
l happen to have two little girl
friends aged seven and nine who arc
children of a wealthy family and are
in consequence overloaded with toys
and other gifts. / was in their play
room one morning few weeks after
Christmas and noticed a flower pot
in which still stood the remains of a
Christmas poinsettia. The flower had
4 disappeared and the stalk had with
red, but the pot still stood in the
sun shiny window. On my return
ONE | selected six nasturtium seeds
and six morning glory seeds and
carefully folded three of kind in
two bits of tissue paper. These |
enclosed in note, suggesting that
they each plant them in one OF their
Flower pots and see that the flower.
Dot was placed in a sunny window
and that the earth was kept mois-
tened, and added, eff you do this,
by and by you will see something
open. l am not going to tell you
what it is, but it is a very, very
wonderful thing"
Several weeks later l had occa-
f, sion to visit their home again. The
Two children ran to meet me with
open arms, exclaiming: eve know
Nv; We know now They've grown
up"
The mother told me that of all the
lifts they had ever received, she
had never known any that had given
them so much pleasure, for although
here had always been a garden on
their grounds, it had never occurred
% her that they would be in the least
interested in the processes of gar
lenmg. The children had carefully
followed my directions as to the
depth at which the seeds should be
lanted and the conditions under
which they should be kept; and when
The plants appeared above the ground
she said they wore as delighted as if
it were mans first discovery of the
laws of natures propagation. She
added: 81 realized then how deficient
my training had BEEN" When their
grandmother, who lives in another
suburb, invited them to spend the
week with her, they only consented
to go on the condition that one of
the maids in their own home would
take care of these plants while they
were away.
This may seem like an extreme
case of the isolation of children from
nature, but / can assure you there
are many children in our cities who
know nothing whatever of the mar
velous miracle Of the phenomena of
the springtime. There are many
more who are taken every summer
TO some resort who nav no more at