may learn with profit what those who better understand her speech have to
tell him.

This method of teaching, however, requires much, very much, of the
teacher. He must be himself intelligent, well trained, and able to give
time to the preparation of his lessons. It seems to us, who are but
amateurs, as if it were impossible to teach thus without a thorough
comprehension of the whole field. Our own ignorance oppresses us so much
that we feel tempted to say that we cannot attempt it. But if the work of
leading children to observe the wonders about them is to be done at all,
it must be done by us, who are not masters of our subject, and we must
find out for ourselves how we can best accomplish this result, since we
have so little to guide us.

It is with the hope that the experience of one who has tried to do
this with some fair amount of success may be of use to other puzzled
experimenters, that I venture to write out some outlines of lessons in
Botany for beginners.

The method of beginning with the simpler forms of life is one that appeals
to the scientific tendencies of the day. It seems logical to begin with
lower forms and work up to the higher. But this method is only suitable
for mature minds. We do not teach a child English by showing him the
sources of the language; he learns it by daily use. So also the beginning
of the study of any Natural Science by the young should be the observation
of the most obvious things about them, the things which they can see, and
handle, and experiment upon naturally, without artificial aids. Therefore
this book concerns itself only with the Flowering Plants.

The author believes that the simplest botanical study should afford the