Page 47 - 1916 February - To Dragma

126 TO PRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI

C a r e f u l l y they a l l laid their little catkins within the leaves of th
books, and hurried away to their other classes, a f t e r bestowing ad
ing smiles upon the Youngest Teacher. But I lingered.

" I don't wonder V i r g i n i a adores you," I said bluntly, beca
I could not help it, "and I feel just grateful myself. I don't
how you do it. I've just been worrying over how I should t
her a l l the things she ought to know even though I d i d n ' t intend
do it for three years yet."

The Youngest Teacher smiled.

" T h a t ' s j u s t the trouble, M r s . Carver," she said. "Mothers w o r
and wait, and sometimes in the end they don't tell their childre
Why wait? A l l out-of-doors is telling them everyday they liv
and they love to know. Besides, to tell them now, or at least
explain the lesson which the out-of-doors teaches, comes as no sho
to them. I t is just the most natural and beautiful thing in a l l t
world. You saw their faces this morning. I have been teachi
Nature Study i n this way f o r three years, and I have never met w i
the slightest suggestion of anything but interest and reverence."

"But you must remember that supposedly you have only we
bred children here," I interposed. " I t might be different els
where."

But the Youngest Teacher was ready f o r me.

" T h i s is my first year here," she said. " F o r the last two yea
I have done work in three large public schools with children f r o
seven to twelve—children f r o m every class and condition of societ
I have handled large groups at one time, and the result has alway
been the same. T h e i r deep and natural interest leaves them n
time for morbid reflection."

" A n d is i t the same w i t h boys as w i t h g i r l s ? " I asked.

"Exactly, except that perhaps the boys show an even deeper i n
terest. Some of them are almost scientific. I f children, both boy
and girls, f r o m seven, or even earlier, to twelve, could be taugh
these things i n the only natural, that is, Nature's way, then w
should have no need of lectures on Sex Hygiene f o r high schoo
pupils, who for the most part having had no background, canno
help regarding in a morbid way that which they are t o l d i n th
lectures. The laws of health and cleanliness are necessary, I grant
but i t seems a pity that children cannot be guided while they ar
yet children into the storehouse of beautiful things which Natur
has prepared f o r them. There they w i l l learn those same laws, bu
so simply and naturally that they w i l l never know they have been
instructed i n such a formidable sounding subject as Sex Hygiene
I f you mothers would only t e l l such stories as I have told this