Letter to F.H. Butler, Esq.
1889-10-07

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10 South St. Park Lane W.
Oct 7/89
My dear Sir I am extremely obliged to you for the
excellent collection of specimens which you
have been so good as to send Mr. Butron,
of Lea Board School. He is exceedeingly
pleased with the completion of the series -
And I am sure you will be pleased to
hear that he has already done good work
with what you send him last year, &
gone at it in the true Educational spirit,
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teaching the boys to collect specimens
themselves in the holidays in that
fertile Geological county & part of Derbyshire
Mr. Burton is not a mere School master,
looking after the 'grant' - but is zealous to
teach the school-children to teach
themselves in after life, & he has a
spark of genius.
Just now he is in for the Inspector's
General School Examn. - But he is
going to give, besides the School work,
4 Science Classes (in connection with the
Science & Art Dept. in London) of which
one will be on Geology.
And he is Secretary to the Lea &
Holloway Institute, & will give two
Lectures there in the Winter Session, one of
which will be on Coal, & the other on
the prehistoric World, I believe -
I hope he will not go beyond his audience.
But he succeeds most admirably in making
the boys give a lively attention - The main
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thing is (& one in which we terribly fail,
especially with girls) to teach them to
observe what is around them every day
or under their feet in the earth.
I hope in time he will catch the "black sheep",
which we do not succeed in at present.
With renewed thanks & wishing you every
the highest success, believe me
most faithfully yours
Florence Nightingale
F. H. Butler, Esq.