Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/315

 CHICAGO VACATION SCHOOLS

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the real country ; ' and verily they did ; and what is more, many clung to the poor, faded, smelly things all day and carried them home, along with the fresher and daintier flowers picked later. After a tramp through the woods, one little girl looked up into myfaceandsaid: 'Teacher, is this the woods?' Andsuch wondrous things as they did find ! 'Teacher, we found an apple tree and a banana tree by the river.' I told them more about the banana trees, one of which they had seen at the park conservatory last week, and helped to satisfy them that it could scarcely grow here; but alas! the crab- apple tree was there, and

how they did pick the little green apples ! And the wonder was that so few offered to eat them. One boy said, as he poured a capful into my basket : ' I am going to take these home, so I can remember the trip." Some of the children who had wandered away from us came wildly and excitedly back, tumbling over each other and calling: 'We've seen a bear! we've seen a bear!' From their description it must have been a large and timid dog, though they did insist that it was a bear : ' Because we ought to know; didn't we see one in Lincoln Park?' Such a happy day, chock-full of experiences of beautiful things and wondrous things! It seemed almost like fairyland, and I wondered, as the train pulled out, how they could bear to think of returning to their dirty, cramped homes, and odorous streets."

For the purpose of answering the oft-repeated questions, " How did your excursions differ from a picnic ?" and, "What did you do on these excursions ?" I will say that each teacher

JUST LEAVING THE CARS