it
may be based on fact, and usually is simple and rambling. One purpose of
these stories is to show truly how animals live and act, just as one
purpose of a novel or typical short story is to show truly how people
live and act. If the author is a skillful story-teller and a good
student of nature, the story may make the reader feel that he has become
acquainted with a particular kind of animal and even with an individual
animal. For example, the story "Last Bull," by Charles G. D. Roberts,
has an effect on the reader not entirely unlike that of one of Cooper's
_Leatherstocking Tales_. Prominent among the authors of this very
interesting and instructive form of literature may be mentioned Charles
G. D. Roberts, Ernest Thompson Seton, William J. Long, and Dallas Lore
Sharp.

_Its place in the grades._ Nature literature seems to have a place of
increasing importance in schools, especially in grades above the third.
Many excellent books of what we have called the fiction type and the
realistic type have a charming spirit of outdoor life and adventure that
makes them pleasing substitutes for the objectionable dime novel. One
should not assume that these nature stories would be of less interest
and value to the country child than to the city child. Too often country
children have not been taught to think of animals as "little brothers of
the field and the air." These nature stories, without any spirit of
preaching or moralizing, show children how to enjoy nature, whether it
be in the country or the city. They teach the child to form habits of
observation that encourage healthful recreation. A boy who has
understood the spirit of Roberts, Seton, and Sharp is not likely to find
the village poolroom attractive. Nature literature, however, need not be
taught merely for moral and practical purposes, for it has come to be
literature of artistic worth, and as such it has earned a place among
other kinds of literature for children.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

A good summary article is "The Rise of the
Nature Writers," by F. W. Halsey, in _Review of
Reviews_, Vol. XXVI, p. 567 (November, 1902).
The most valuable critical article is "The
Literary Treatment of Nature" in John
Burroughs, _Ways of Nature_ (also in _Atlantic
Monthly_, Vol. XCIV, p. 38 [July, 1904]). In
the violent controversy about "nature-faking"
which raged some years ago, two articles will