[Illustration]
A machine, turned by a crank, has been made to speak words, but
nothing below a human being has been able to get thought from a
written or printed page and convey it to others. To make the machine
requires a vast amount of labor expended upon matter; to get the
thought requires the awakening of a human spirit. The work of the
machine is done when the crank stops; the mental work, through
internal volition, goes on to ever higher achievements.
In schools much labor has been spent in trying to produce human
speaking-machines. Words are built up out of letters; short words are
grouped into inane sentences such as are never used; and sentences are
arranged into unnatural and insipid discourse. To grasp the thin ghost
of the thought, the little human spirit must reverse its instinct to
reach toward the higher, and, mole-like, burrow downward.
The amount of effort spent in this way, if given to awakening thought,
would much more effectively secure the mechanical ends sought, and at
the same time would yield fruit in other fields of mental activity.
The matter selected for these higher and better purposes must possess
a human interest. The thoughts that bear fruit are those with roots
set in past experiences, but which, outgrowing these experiences,
reach out toward new light.
In this little book we have again given the initial steps of science
rather than the expression of scientific results. Beginning with
familiar forms of life, the pupil is led to see more clearly that
which is about him, and then to advance into the realm of the unknown
with assured steps, in the tried paths of investigation and
comparison.
While giving prominence to the facts that inform, we have not been
unmindful of the fancy that stimulates. The steady flow of description
is frequently interrupted by the ripple of story and verse. While we
have made no effort to secure the favor of Mr. Gradgrind by looking at
facts only on their lower side, we trust that our effort may prove of
some service in the anxious work of parent and teacher.
[Illustration: Decoration]
CONTENTS.