Page:Scouting for girls, adapted from Girl guiding.djvu/267

Rh It can equally be used in the development of the elements of religion without in any way trenching on the teaching of any particular denomination—indeed it is helpful to all.

We use, therefore, the study of Nature as a first step to the realisation of the Creator. The dissection of a plant or bird, the observation of the habits of an animal or an insect, or the study of the stars and planets all command the eager interest of the girl, and if properly applied, reveal to her with absorbing force the miracle laws of Nature; it gives her a sense of the beautiful; it gives her an uplifting instinct of reverence for the power of God.

Then, on the moral side, to be good is of little interest to the child; to do good is another matter. She has an innate predisposition to the active practice rather than to the passive reception, and the Scout encouragement to do the daily good turn meets her inclination and eventually leads her—bit by bit—to the practice of kindness and of self-sacrifice for others as her natural habit of mind and action. In other words, the germ of the Divine Love that is within her is developed along lines which appeal to her, till it blossoms out as an integral part of her life and character, as her soul. In this way the soul is educated, that is, self-expanded from within: it cannot be developed artificially by the application of book instruction and rules from without.

Nature study should not be the mere formal class teaching of the school, but should be the interested pursuit of each individual girl in that branch of it which