Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/395

Rh general statement was given, "Plants get food from the soil." Then I asked, "Where does the soil come from?" Before wonder had given way to opinion, I said, "If you bring luncheons and extra wraps to-morrow, we will go to the country and try to find out where the soil comes from." A poem of Longfellow's was read, and the children were dismissed.

On the second morning the children came bounding in before nine o'clock, eager to find and read their sentences, which each did without hesitation; and until nine o'clock they amused themselves finding and reading one another's sentences, teaching and challenging in charming style. A few minutes later we started on our first field lesson in science. An hour's ride in street cars brought us to the open country. We went into a small field where a ledge of rock presented a bold front. "Children," I said, "an answer to our question is in this field. I wish each of you to find the answer for himself, to speak to no one until he thinks he has found it, and then to whisper it to me." Soberly they turned away, and I seated myself and waited. One child looked up at the sky, another at the ground, one began to pull over some gravel, another to dig in the soil—most to do some aimless thing because they knew not what to do. After a while some began to climb the ledge and to feel of it. Suddenly one of these darted to me and breathlessly whispered, "I think the soil comes from the rock over there." "Well, don't you tell," I whispered back. The sun climbed higher, but I waited until the last child brought me that whisjDered reply. Calling them together, I said: "You have all brought me the same answer. Why do you think soil comes from this rock?" They turned to the ledge, picked off the loose exterior, and showed me the same in masses at the base. A hammer was produced, with which they picked away the rock until it became too hard for them to break. I then said, "We see that a kind of soil comes from this rock, but what kind did we come to learn about?" "The soil that plants get food from," they replied. "How do you know that any plants can get food from this soil?" I asked. Instinctively they turned to the cliff; there were grasses and weeds growing in the talus at the base, and in crevices all up its front and sides; these they pulled, and showed me the roots with the rock soil clinging to them. Referring to the work with the hammer and comparing what they picked off with the hard mass underneath, they were led to. variously describe the process of passing from rock to soil, and finally the statement was obtained, "Rock decays to make soil." After luncheon and a bit of play, the children were led to speak of rocks and soils seen elsewhere. Telling the children to shut their eyes and try to picture what I said, I told them that the earth is round like a ball, and is a mass of rock with a little soil on the outside of it; that if a giant could