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Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/95

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LIFE IN A SEASIDE SUMMER SCHOOL.
89

evening a mysterious play regarding the 'Hodag' is performed in a lantern-lighted dell in the forest, followed by a sober lecture upon the superstitions of mankind and the difficulties met with in attempting to eradicate them. Another evening a scientific comedy is enacted, followed by a lecture on the structure and activities of the cell, which the play illustrated. Near the close of the session an evening is given to athletic sports, and another to a social dance, in which the music is furnished by a squeaking phonograph.

On the last Sunday evening the geologist gave us an address on 'Science and Religion,' and on the night before camp was broken up the writer hereof gave the closing address on 'The Place of Science in Education.' Yes, we were busy, and learned a great deal not only about the plants and animals and rocks, but many other things as well. The director proved himself a genius in his management of the school and camp, and when we broke up we parted from him with the keenest regret.

Who goes to such a summer school you ask? That can be answered best by giving a list of those who were there this season. First there were the officials, director, sub-director, chaperon, geologist, doctor and professor. Then the students were a Chicago school teacher, a St. Paul high school teacher of science, three university instructors, two Minneapolis teachers, an Illinois high school teacher of science, six university students and one high school student. The writer may be included here as the guest, making a party of twenty-two in all. I can not think of a more helpful session of combined study and 'outing,' nor of a more natural and effective method of giving and receiving instruction than that in this seaside summer school on Vancouver Island.