Lesson-time over, the children resort to their tame animals, to their weaving-machines, their wind-mills and dams; to their gardens, kites and ships; to swimming, rowing, foot-ball, marbles, leap-frog, base-ball and cricket. In the practice of these games, skill, dexterity and knowledge are acquired of which the pupils appreciate the utility, and enjoy not only for present, but for anticipated future use.
Natural History, to be taught in school and made a reality, by following the guide given us by nature in the amusements to which children resort of their own accord, should be a prominent subject of instruction and training in the school. Cultivating the faculties of observation and of analysis, it should be among the earliest subjects of instruction, and, at the same time, of amusement.
But they ought not to be taught from books; nature and the teacher are the only books to be employed until considerable progress has been made by the pupils. It is so easy to procure the things themselves for the study of botany; an abundant supply of wild flowers can be so readily obtained, sufficient to enable each child to be supplied with specimens for examination and dissection. The interest of the children in their study can be so easily awakened and sustained by the judicious teacher, the difficulties of the supposed hard words of scientific names disappear so readily, that the real difficulty is to understand how so obvious a subject of instruction is either wholly banished from the schools, or sought to be taught only from books, without any reference to living nature.
The variety and multiplicity of insect life affords ample opportunity for the study of that branch of natural history--and entomology would be found not less beautiful and interesting than botany; the delightful excursions in which teachers and pupils would join for the gathering of objects of natural history would at the same time serve to strengthen the bond of affection which should exist between them. The nature of his own body and the functions of his various organs will soon interest the pupil, and along with instruction therein he would learn the qualities of the different kinds of animal and vegetable substances in use for food, their relative value and importance in building up his body; he would learn to compare the food now in use with that which was employed by our ancestors, and what has given rise to the adoption of the new and abandonment of the old; the methods of cookery best adapted to each kind of food, and what kinds of food are suitable for particular ages and states of health; what material, vegetable or animal, is most suitable for clothing, separately or in combination. He would learn to compare our present style of clothing with that adopted in past ages; he would learn the history of the changes which have been adopted, and while feeling desirous of retaining such as have been wisely adopted, might learn from past experience to desire to return to some good habits as to clothing which have been abandoned.