TRUE MOTHERHOOD

Series VII

NATURE STUDY

LIDA H. HARDY

The things of nature form a more beautiful ladder between heaven and earth than that seen by Jacob; not a one-sided ladder leading in one direction, but an all-sided one leading in all directions. Not in dreams is it seen; it is permanent; it surrounds us on all sides. It is decked with flowers, and angels with children's eyes beckon us towards it; it is solid, resting on a floor of crystals; the inspired singer, David, praises and glorifies it.-Froebel.

OTICEABLY all through Froebel's writings is his divine love for flowers, from the hazel-buds which claimed his attention in early childhood, and which he said "opened, like angels, the great temple of nature" for him, to the beautiful lilies in the public garden, which restored to

him the peace of mind which he then sought.

An humble little flower, he said, taught him dimly to suspect the secret of existence, the mysterious laws of development, which he afterwards learned clearly.

All through his life fragrant blossoms decorated his table, up to the day when passing from human sight to a higher plane of action, he said: "Take care of my flowers and spare my weeds. I love flowers, men, children, God! I love everything!"

All but seven of Froebel's Mother Plays are of flowers, trees, birds or butterflies, reflecting his words that the field had been his schoolroom, and the tree his tutor.

In the kindergarten Froebel would have children look behind the visible effect for the invisible cause; behind the symbol for the reality.

To explain more fully Froebel's idea, we will look at one or two of his Mother Plays. Let us take for instance the one entitled, "The Weathercock," which was

written for the mother to play with her small child when he is just commencing to take notice of things. In playing this game with her baby, the mother holds her forearm and hand up straight, spreading out the fingers to form the tail of the weathercock; the flat hand forms the body, and the thumb its throat and head. Now she moves the hand backward and forward like the weathercock. To you this game may seem very simple, but the baby will enjoy it heartily, and will use his own little chubby hand to show you the way the weathercock goes.

The baby is always pleased, and yet he is at the same time serious. He looks back of the moving object to find the power that moves it. This hidden power claims his attention even more than the moving object itself. When he grows older he will learn that back of every living object there is a living power.

The picture which accompanies Froebel's Weathercock play, is of a mother who has gone outdoors with her children on a very windy day. One child says to the mother: "Mother, this is such a fierce wind; it makes everything bend and shake. Where does it come from, this wind that moves so many things."

"My child," said the mother, "a change in the temperature causes wind. But you do not understand this very well. You can understand, though, that even if you cannot see the wind itself with your physical eyes, you do know that it does a great many things.'

Through this lesson of the wind we learn that we may be sure of many things which we cannot see.

"The Light Bird" is a play which Froebel wrote after having watched a little boy catch the sunlight on a piece of looking-glass, and then shine it on a wall. The boy's mother said: "What are you doing, son?"

"I am shining a light-bird on the wall to please little sister. I will catch it. Oh, mother, I cannot catch it. When I think I have it under my hand, it shines on top."

Then the good mother tells the children that they must not expect to catch and hold everything in their hands,

but that they can catch the beauty with their eyes and hold it in their hearts, and that in this way only will they find true happiness and enjoyment.

To make the children understand more fully, the mother said: "Don't you remember the love that shone through father's eyes as he said good-bye, the last time he started away? I know you remember, for you have spoken of it lately, when you asked me when he would be home again."

"Yes, mother; I remember. I see him now just as he looked when he said good-bye. Dear, dear father."

"That," said the mother, "is catching the light with the eyes, and holding it in the heart."

The home where little children dwell should truly be a child-garden. Here the little souls should unfold as sweetly and as naturally as the flowers bloom in the garden. The careful gardener sees to it that his flowers receive the best possible soil, plenty of rain, fresh air, shade and sunshine; he provides them with anything-everything that will in any way contribute to their growth and development. Just so should parents provide their household "immortelles" with all that is true and pure and beautiful, that they may grow in harmony and unfold in Truth.

The subject matter each morning in the kindergarten is whatever is uppermost in the children's minds. If they are interested in the falling of snowflakes, directed by the kindergartner, all follow little fairy water-drop from the bosom of the river, on her journey to snow-land and back again.

The flakes of snow are caught on a dark cloth and examined through a magnifying glass, when symmetrical, orderly crystals are discovered and afterwards imitated by cutting from white paper squares, the beautiful forms which were found. ("Man is a creative being.") Song, story, gift, games and occupation all work in harmony to bring out the best possible expression of the idea in mind.

As God creates in a large way, so man imitates him in a small way.

Recently a kindergarten mother observed her boy of six crushing with his heel a village of ant-houses, together with their occupants. The mother seized this opportunity to change his destructive work into a channel of construction. Together the mother and son watched the industrious little creatures until both were filled with interest and wonder. The mother told her eager little listener how these intelligent insects build their own cities, plant their own fields of grain, and how their life is like a well governed country, where each works for the good of all; each having his own given work and each ready to give up his own will for the good of others. Thereafter instead of desiring to take the life of insects this boy was eager to learn more of them and their ways, which he did, not only by observing the ant, but also the spider, the silkworm, the butterfly and the honeybee. And the children of the neighborhood were content when they were privileged to "sit at his feet and learn."

Let us teach our children to read the story book the Father hath written for us.

Let us, in dealing with our children, awaken an interest and sympathy in the gifts of God with which we come in daily contact. Back of every blossom, stone and star "there lives and reigns an eternal law; this law is unity, this law is God," which, though invisible, like the mind, expresses itself in flower, bird or man, through ideas-which ideas are the real of life.

Thinking parents are showing their children how to awaken the spiritual nature until the realm of causes becomes to them the real power back of all. They understand themselves, and are imparting to their children the scientific relation between mind and matter; that man is related both to the world within and the world without, and that every human being possesses inherently a conscious spiritual nature which needs only to be awakened by "the inspiration of the Almighty" in order to send forth that "Light that lighteth every man." And "Only as far as the

masters of the world have called in nature to their aid," says Emerson, "can they reach the height of magnificence."

On all sides the pyramidal ladder of nature beckons us on to a world of light and love. Flowers, insects and song birds point the way. And "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard" the glories that await those who become childlike enough, and meek and lowly enough to follow the "angels with children's eyes."

A PRAYER

W. E. GORDON

Father, let thy Love, thy Peace, thy Strength vibrate through the corridors of our hearts, our bodies and our souls, to cleanse, to heal, to make sweet and clean and free from guile.

Forgive us, that we may forgive; love us, that we may learn to love; lead us into that fullness of strength and faith that will forever remove the dark shadows of fear, hate and discord.

Help us to forget the past, to unfold thy image from within, to become free and unselfish.

Father, thou knowest our every need; give to us our daily bread. We ask of thee; thy will be done.

Our young people are diseased with the theological problems of original sin, origin of evil, predestination and the like. These never presented a practical difficulty to any man, never darkened across any man's road who did not to go out of his way to seek them. These are the soul's mumps and measles and whooping-coughs, and those who have not caught them cannot describe their health nor prescribe their cure.-Emerson.

"The richest person is the one who is constantly spending himself, while the miser of time and strength starves his own soul."