School work was done as far as practicable, out of doors. Teachers and
pupils, like everyone else at Brook Farm, loved to be in the open. We
lived in the free air so habitually that to be shut up in the house was
an irksome restraint. All summer long classes were held in the
amphitheater, under the elms, on the rocky or the grassy slopes of the
Knoll. Of course there were many lessons that could be given only in
class rooms, but recitations, examinations and mental exercises
generally were relegated to regions beyond the threshold. Botany,
geology, natural history and what was then called natural philosophy
were taught among the rocks, in the woods and in the fields with
illustrations from nature.
In the winter the school had to be housed, but except in stormy weather
we managed to see a good deal of the sky. Study of the stars with the
whole population of the place standing around in the snow while Dr.
Ripley discoursed on the constellations--that was indeed an outdoor
lesson worth remembering.
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