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CHAPTER IV. THE FARM. A child’s education would be very incomplete if it did not include a knowledge of animals. Tbe pony, cows, pigs, rabbits, ducks, and bens are now a part of tbe Community life. London children bave very little opportunity of learning to care for animals; they tbink it ratber sport to cbase cats down areas, and tbe first instalment of animals at Cbarlton did not meet witb very kindly treatment. Ducks and bens were cbased and flurried, rabbits were teased, tbe cow bad sticks thrown at her (from a safe position behind a railing), the ducks’ legs were tied together to punish them for stealing the hens’ corn. As soon as the children were taught to feed and care for the animals, they began to develop a different attitude towards them. Of course, some children show a greater inborn love of animals than others, but without exception, all the children who are old enough to be chosen for the work, love to be given charge of animals. The half-hour before breakfast is always a busy one; half-a-dozen children may be seen, busy cleaning out pig sties, rabbit hutches, hen houses, grooming the pony, or milking the cow: usually, a child works at one of these ]obs for a fortnight at a time, the only exception being the milker, who is chosen for a whole term. Of course, the children need some help; buckets full of pig-meal are too heavy for them to carry, and unless their work is supervised, rabbits are apt to be overfed one day because someone happens to have been clearing an old cabbage bed, and underfed another day because the “rabbit” child has forgotten to collect any green stuffs for them. The very fact that a living creature is dependent upon them, and will suffer if their work is carelessly or thoughtlessly done, makes the children soon realise the importance of, and need for, methodical and persistent work. A child who at first could not be trusted to clean out a rabbit hutch or feed the rabbits at stated times, soon begins to learn to be methodical and thorough. The farm gives plenty of opportunity for exercise and co-operative work during play hours; thistle cutting in the spring, haymaking in the summer, sweeping up dry leaves for litter in the autumn, shovelling snow from the farmyard in winter, and the whitewashing of cowshed » and hen houses, are a few of the things which the children can do, to be of real belp in the farm. They love watching the animals, and certainly they can learn much from doing so. They comment on the politeness of the cock letting the hens feed before he feeds himself ; the pushing, greedy pigs ; the delightful way in which the mother hen teaches her chicks to feed