300 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
cannot be estimated, and to attempt to make a complete report of it in its bearings upon the character of the children is a task, it seems to me, impossible. It is not sentiment to say that in the lives of these children the report will finally be written.
I am not bold enough to sit down and with the scalpel and microscope seek to analyze and place the impressions made upon the character of the little fellow whom I found sitting alone upon a high bank, beneath the shadow of a great oak ; he was looking across the valley at the fresh, green fields on the plain, fringed by the growth of timber beyond, over which the shadows of the summer clouds were chasing each other, emphasizing the fresh- ness and beauty of the scene. I sat down beside him. He turned his face, made radiant with the joy of a new possession, and said : " Is dis purty ting ours, is dis all in de United States?" And yet there are those who say that we should teach more facts to cultivate the love of country. At a cost of less than $1,400 two thousand children per week for six weeks were carried into the country, in view of beautiful landscapes, among myriads of birds and flowers, to "a world unknown." Over 70 percent, of the children had never been two miles from their own door- step. These excursions were made possible by the helpful atti- tude of the transportation companies. They did everything in their power to make the excursions a success. Twelve thousand children on over thirty excursions without an accident!
SPECIAL WORK.
Credit is due Professor William P. Beeching, supervisor of nature study, for much of the report on special work that fol- lows.
NATURE STUDY.
I believe that the most efficient work in this department can be accomplished by teachers who are fitted by training and experience to be what are called "all-around teachers," that is, teachers who can give fair lessons in painting or drawing and good lessons in language, or an interesting exercise in nature study. They accomplish very much more with the children we
