without
the other.

Not only will such facts as these be interesting to most children, they
will deepen the dawning consciousness of the fundamental unity of all
forms of life, which it should be the province of nature-study to
develop.

It may not be out of place here to say a few words about the picking of
flowers. Children instinctively want to pick them. They wish to possess,
touch, caress these lovely objects. If left unguided, this tendency
shortly degenerates in many children into a desire to pick every flower
in sight. A walk taken by such children through the fields can be traced
by the wild flowers that strew the way. Great handfuls are gathered, and
then, becoming burdensome, are thrown down. The child who lovingly
watches his flowers grow and blossom will be less likely to destroy in
this wanton manner. Here, too, is a good opportunity to teach him to be
thoughtful and generous to others. If he carelessly tears up and throws
away the flowers, those who come after him will not have them to enjoy;
it is far better to look at the flowers and admire them in their own
homes and leave them there. A little crowd of hepaticas at the root of a
tree in the woods is one of the most charming sights of spring. Let the
child who finds such a treasure call the rest, that they too may enjoy
the pretty picture; let the children get down and put their faces
against the flowers if they want to smell them, and then go away leaving
the beauty undisturbed. Their adult comrade at such a time by exclaiming
appreciatively over the sweetness of the little scene, the bright
flowers against the dark tree, the green moss growing over the rock at
one side, can often open young eyes to a harmony of beauty which will
cause the whole composition to be recalled later with pure pleasure; a
far deeper and higher pleasure this little picture lingering in the
memory than any number of flowers torn from their places soon to wilt in
the hands of the vandals whose only thought is how to get the most in
the shortest time.

Should children never gather flowers, then? Of course they should. But
they should learn to exercise restraint, and as they grow older,
judgment. They can easily be persuaded to gather only a few flowers. A
few are almost always more beautiful than a great mass, and there is no
exception to this whatever where the delicate spring flowers are
concerned. Let the child carefully gather a few to take home to mother,
father, siste