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 COPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
THE TRAINING OF 
 CHILDREN 
 
 A BOOK FOR YOUNG TEACHERS 
 
 BY 
 JOHN WIRT DINSMORE, A.M. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF PEDAGOGY 
 
 AND DEAN OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL OF BEREA COLLEGE 
 
 BEREA, KENTUCKY 
 
 AUTHOR OF "teaching A DISTRICT SCHOOL" 
 
 NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 
s^ 
 
 v^5^ 
 
 Copyright, 1912, by 
 JOHN WIRT DINSMORE 
 
 TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 w. p. I 
 
 gCI.A3i;)244 
 
PREFACE 
 
 A former book, entitled "Teaching a District School," 
 having been received with gratifying appreciation by those 
 for whom it was written, and also with the commendation 
 of leading educators the country over, it is hoped that the 
 present volume may be equally well received and prove to 
 be even more helpful than its predecessor. 
 
 It has long been the desire of the author to prepare, for 
 country and village teachers, a work on the development 
 and training of the mind that would contain the essential 
 facts of psychology so plainly and simply expressed that 
 any person might grasp their meaning without a too fre- 
 quent appeal to the dictionary. It is possible, or it should 
 be possible, to express the underlying truths of any im- 
 portant science in the everyday language of the people. 
 
 Many young men and young women who lack both high 
 school and college training are nevertheless not lacking in 
 intelligence. They have the ability to understand any 
 available knowledge that is not expressed in terms with 
 which they are unfamiliar. There are many of this class 
 who are capable of doing and are doing excellent work as 
 teachers; they possess the natural qualities requisite to 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE 
 
 success and are eager to learn. "Teaching a District 
 School" was offered as a first aid to this class. Its main 
 purpose was to assist the inexperienced to master the tech- 
 nique of teaching. 
 
 This much having been accomplished there should natu- 
 rally arise a desire for reliable information concerning the 
 nature and development of the human mind, its needs, its 
 manifestations, its inclinations, and, if possible, its destina- 
 tion. 
 
 This book is designed to meet such a desire. It does not 
 pretend to be an exhaustive treatise concerning either the 
 nature or the training of the mind. It is intended to fur- 
 nish sound instruction, -based upon well-known and funda- 
 mental truths, to those who are engaged in the training of 
 children either in the home or in the common schools. It 
 should also prove valuable as an elementary textbook in 
 high schools, academies, and normal schools. 
 
 There has been no desire on the author's part to furnish 
 knowledge to those who wish merely to be informed upon 
 the subject but who have no inclination to turn their at- 
 tainments into practical use. The aim has been, all the 
 way through, not only to supply practical knowledge in 
 plain and simple language but to indicate continually the 
 way to apply it. 
 
 It is hoped that parents and teachers generally may avail 
 themselves of the information contained in this book, 
 gathered through years of teaching and observation, and 
 
PREFACE 5 
 
 that the suggestions herein offered may contribute to a 
 "more abundant life" for the multitudes of little ones that 
 have been constantly in mind from the beginning of the 
 work to its close. 
 
 J. W. D. 
 Berea, Ky. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART ONE. PRIOR TO SCHOOL AGE 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Teacher's Business . ii* 
 
 II. The Period of Acquaintance 21 
 
 III. Materials for Instruction 43 
 
 IV. Parental Government 69 
 
 V. Punishment loS 
 
 PART TWO. SCHOOL LIFE 
 
 VI. When a Child Enters School 125 
 
 VII. The Divisions of School Life 136 
 
 VIII. The Physiological Basis of Mental Activity . . 148 
 
 IX. Sensation 159 
 
 X. The Sense Organs 169 
 
 XI. The Care of the Sense Organs 186 
 
 XII. Perception 198 
 
 XIII. Memory 214 
 
 XIV. Imagination 237 
 
 XV. The Thinking Power . 257 
 
 XVI. The Feelings 270 
 
 XVII. The Will — Minor Activities 299 
 
 XVIII. The Will — Major Activities 314 
 
PART ONE 
 PRIOR TO SCHOOL AGE 
 
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 THE TEACHER'S BUSINESS 
 
 The business of the teacher is to train the minds of 
 the children in his charge. To do this he must under- 
 stand something of the nature of the mind, what it 
 feeds upon, how it increases in strength, its periods of 
 activity and its need of change or rest. Most beginning 
 teachers of country schools have not made any care- 
 ful study of the mind. Their education has not been 
 far enough advanced for the study of psychology, and 
 their own observations of the nature of the mind, while 
 extremely valuable have not been classified and ar- 
 ranged for ready use. 
 
 Psychology is a difficult study and in most states is 
 properly placed beyond the requirements of a county 
 certificate. Even elementary psychology as found in 
 the text books is a high-school or academy study and 
 many of the teachers of country schools have not 
 had the privilege of a high-school or academy training. 
 Yet a knowledge of the mind is essential to the country 
 teacher. No one can be an expert in the training of the 
 
 II 
 
12 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 mind who does not know something of its powers and 
 how they develop. Hence the district school teacher 
 should have accurate informatfbn on the subject. 
 
 Most parents likewise have not studied psychology 
 in the schools although they have the responsibility of 
 training the minds of their children. Every civilized 
 race has, outside of books and schools, a considerable 
 supply of wisdom for the training of children in right- 
 eousness and industry. In the early days this sufficed 
 better than now. 
 
 Our civilization has become so many-sided, so com- 
 plex, and the struggle for existence so fierce, that par- 
 ental wisdom needs to be supplemented by the schools. 
 This scholastic knowledge must be imparted in large 
 measure by the teachers as they are nearest to parents 
 both in sympathy and obligations. The principles 
 that govern mind development may be stated in terms 
 so plain and practical as to be within the comprehension 
 of all teachers — even those who have lacked higher 
 training — and when so stated should be eagerly sought 
 and utilized. 
 
 The Nature of the Mind. — We do not know ^vhat the 
 mind is, but we do know that it is the principal factor 
 in the world's progress. It is so complicated in its 
 organism, so intricate in its workings, so far-reaching 
 in its destiny that only the Infinite One can fully com- 
 prehend it. The only earthly power that can study 
 it or even make an effort to understand it is the mind 
 itself. It has commanded the attention of the great- 
 
THE TEACHER'S BUSINESS 13 
 
 est thinkers of every age in every land. Yet it may 
 be said that the mind knows but little of its own powers 
 or of the nature of its workings. We do not know how 
 nor why we can remember, or imagine, or how the 
 mind can look upon its own actions or be conscious 
 of its own thoughts. 
 
 Shakespeare said: "What a piece of work is man! 
 How noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties ! in form 
 and moving, how express and admirable! in action, 
 how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!" 
 
 The Bible puts man in close touch with God when it 
 says: "What is man that Thou art mindful of him, 
 and the son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou 
 hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast 
 crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast put 
 all things under his feet." 
 
 What has been learned. — Of the development of the 
 mind much has been learned both by observation and 
 by experience. We can watch the development of the 
 mental powers of an infant from its birth upward, 
 from the dawning of intelligence to ripe knowledge. 
 We can observe the workings of the minds of the people 
 about us. By their words, by the expression of their 
 faces and by their actions we can tell to a considerable 
 degree of accuracy what they think and what has pro- 
 duced their thoughts. We can also study our own 
 minds by taking note of our thoughts and how we 
 came by them. 
 
 In this way we may discover the powers of the mind 
 
14 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 and the limitations of those powers. We find that at 
 times the mind works well, at other times poorly; some- 
 times rapidly and clearly, and again slowly and vaguely. 
 We find also that minds differ from one another in their 
 respective powers. Some can remember better than 
 others, some have greater powers of imagination and 
 thought; and we observe that training makes a great 
 difference upon all, particularly if begun early in life. 
 There is no more interesting occupation than the study 
 of the mind. 
 
 Conditions of the Mind at Birth. — When a child first 
 comes into the world his only knowledge, if he has any, 
 is instinctive. Knowledge of the v/orld is gained through 
 the senses, and at birth these are inoperative. The 
 new-born child has eyes but cannot see, ears but can- 
 not hear. These organs may be perfect enough but 
 the child is not conscious of them or of their powers. 
 The strongest light may be flashed into the eyes with 
 no response. A loud noise in the ear will produce no 
 signs of conscious hearing. 
 
 This condition lasts in a healthy child but a short 
 time, say a few hours or a few days. 
 
 The senses of touch, smell and taste come into service 
 before sight and hearing. It is said that a babe a few 
 hours old can sustain his weight with one hand grasp- 
 ing a small stick or the nurse's finger. This remarkable 
 power disappears in a few weeks not to be gained again 
 for several years. The sense of smell and of taste is 
 thought to be acute in early infancy. 
 
THE TEACHER'S BUSINESS 15 
 
 Seeing. — The first indication of conscious seeing 
 occurs when something bright, put before the baby's 
 eyes, engages his attention. At this stage if the object 
 is taken out of direct range it is lost. A Httle later if 
 the object is moved slowly the eyeballs will move to 
 right or left following it. Later still the child will 
 turn his head to keep in sight a slowly moving object 
 but if the object be lost to sight will not search for it. 
 The complete act of seeing has been acquired when the 
 child learns to look for objects and to examine them 
 carefully. It may be added that the eyes of an infant 
 do not accommodate themselves to very small objects. 
 Even at six or eight years children should not be re- 
 quired to look at small letters on a printed page for 
 any considerable length of time. The eyes are a very 
 precious heritage and the care of them merits further 
 discussion in another chapter. 
 
 Hearing. — The first indications of hearing are likely to 
 be observed when the child is from one to three weeks 
 old. Some loud or shrill noise may startle him, the low 
 crooning of the mother's voice may soothe him, or a 
 stranger's voice may frighten him. Children at a very 
 early age are fond of noise. Sweet music and gentle 
 tones are no doubt best for their educative value but 
 they are in nowise particular in choosing. Discord does 
 no violence to their nerves. A rattle box, pounding on 
 a tin pan or filing a saw is just as interesting as music. 
 Children are also fond of their own babbling and coo- 
 ing, and however it may sound to them it is always 
 
1 6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 sweet to the parents' ears. They should be allowed 
 to do as much of it as they will. 
 
 Sensation. — The faculty of the mind that responds to 
 all these sense organs is called sensation. Light upon 
 the eyes produces the sensation of sight. Noise pro- 
 duces the sensation of sound through the ears; and each 
 of the organs of smell, taste, and touch produces its 
 own particular kind of sensation. Any external object 
 that calls a sense organ into action is called a stimnlus. 
 Thus any object from which light comes into the eye 
 is a stimulus setting that organ into action. Noise is 
 a stimulus for the ear, odor for the nose, and so on. The 
 mind has the sense of seeing, of hearing, of smelling, of 
 tasting, and of touching. 
 
 Perception. — When the mind gives sufficient attention 
 to a sensation to identify the object producing it or to 
 determine its qualities, the process is called perception. 
 For example, we have a sensation of pain on the hand 
 and giving attention perceive the cause to be a mosquito. 
 We see an object that is strange to us, pick it up, ex- 
 amine it, and perceive that it is rough, smooth, hard, soft 
 or whatever its qualities may be. We are constantly 
 perceiving that objects are warm or cold, that the air 
 is moist or dry, that the sky is clear or cloudy, and a 
 thousand other things. The product of a complete 
 act of perceiving is called a percept. 
 
 Observation. — Observation is the power of the mind 
 that takes in the objects within reach of the senses, 
 identifies them or attempts to do so, and fixes them as 
 
THE TEACHER'S BUSINESS 1 7 
 
 to time and place. Thus an observing child will be able 
 long afterward to give an account of the things he 
 heard or saw on some trip that took him out of his usual 
 environment giving time, place, and numerous details 
 to the objects described. Observation differs from 
 attention in that it is not prolonged. Observation is 
 merely the mind on the alert for everything within 
 sight or sound. All common or uninteresting objects 
 are merely recognized and passed while anything new 
 or strange holds the attention for further investigation. 
 If a strange bird, an unknown flower, or a fine building 
 comes into view the object is given attention. Here 
 again the alert-minded person will take in a multi- 
 plicity of details that a duller one will not notice. The 
 faculty of observation is extremely valuable and should 
 be cultivated early in life. 
 
 Memory. — Memory is the power that enables us to 
 recall sensations and perceptions that were previously 
 before the mind. The object that produced the sen- 
 sation and brought about the perception, whether 
 sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell, is gone from us but 
 we can recall the sensation and the perception together 
 with the emotions that it aroused of curiosity, admira- 
 tion, pity, fear or what not, pass them in review before 
 us and live the former experience over again. We can 
 see in the mind each detail, where it belongs, its re- 
 lation to the whole; and by dwelling upon it, we can so 
 fix the whole that we can recall it at any time after- 
 ward for review or for describing to others. 
 
l8 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 Memory is a wonderful power. It makes all things 
 possible. Without it we should be nothing. If all past 
 memory w^re suddenly cut off we should be utterly 
 helpless. We could not walk out the door or move 
 hand or foot intelligently, because we could not re- 
 member how. Its cultivation deserves the profoundest 
 thought and care. 
 
 Imagination. — The power that enables us to make 
 mental pictures, to give form, color, and setting to 
 things we hear or read, to mentally construct things 
 wholly new or partly new, to lift the veil of futurity 
 and see things as they will be or as we hope or fear they 
 will be, is called Imagination. Without this wonderful 
 gift life could have but little interest. We should be 
 aware only of the things with which we actually come 
 into contact. When a friend recounts an exciting ad- 
 venture we are all ears to hear it and all imagination 
 to picture it. We see it as he saw it, we are affected as 
 he was. To make the picture complete we put in details 
 which he omits. The cultivation and control of this 
 valuable faculty deserves our most careful study. 
 
 Reflection. — With the aid of memory and imagina- 
 tion we may take the materials of sensation and per- 
 ception and hold our attention upon them for a con- 
 siderable length of time, examining them from different 
 viewpoints and arranging them and rearranging them 
 to suit our fancy. This process is called Reflection or 
 Thouglit. This is the highest power of the mind. By 
 thinking, we see the relations of things, and from these 
 
THE TEACHER'S BUSINESS 19 
 
 relations we draw conclusions and decide what action 
 to take or to refrain from taking. 
 
 The Will. — The will is the mind at work carrying out 
 its own decisions. When a certain course has been de- 
 termined upon the will acting through the nerves 
 brings the muscles into action until the desired end 
 has been accomplished. For example, suppose I finish 
 a certain task and have an hour's leisure to dispose of 
 in any way I may choose before beginning the next 
 regular task. By the aid of memory I recall a number 
 of things that gave me pleasure at other times. I may 
 go for a walk, read, call upon a neighbor, play a game, 
 or take a nap. Imagination comes to the aid of mem- 
 ory and shows as in a picture the amount of pleasure 
 T am likely to get out of each of these. I compare 
 these several pictures, conclude that some one of them 
 offers more inducements than any of the others, and 
 decide upon that one. Then by an exercise of the will 
 I proceed to put it into effect by bringing the proper 
 muscles into action. 
 
 The Emotions. — The emotions play a large part in re- 
 flection, in drawing conclusions, in forming decisions 
 and carrying them out. Love, joy, admiration, curi- 
 osity, pity, fear, hope, anger, hate, jealousy, envy, all 
 have their influence upon our minds, often biasing our 
 judgment and causing us to think or act as we other- 
 wise would not. The emotions are powers of the mind 
 and need to be studied so that they may be cultivated 
 or restrained as the case may require. 
 
20 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 The Field of Pedagogy. — The foregoing are the prin- 
 cipal subjects of that division of pedagogy known as 
 psychology. In addition to a knowledge of these the 
 teacher should be wtII versed in physiology and hygiene, 
 in courses and curriculums of study, in methods of 
 teaching and school management. The chief object of 
 this book is, as has been stated, the Training of the 
 Mind. The other topics will be touched upon as the 
 connection requires and as the space of the volume 
 permits. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 
 
 Man is lord of creation, the supreme being among all 
 the animals of the earth. All progress beyond natural 
 evolution is due to him. God said to the first man and 
 woman, "Multiply and replenish the earth and subdue 
 it. Thou shalt have dominion over the beasts of the 
 field, the fowls of the air, and over every living thing 
 that creepeth upon the face of the earth." 
 
 Yet man at his birth is among the feeblest of earth's 
 living creatures. In his little realm of activities he is 
 guided entirely by instinct, and of this he probably 
 has less than any other of the higher animals and less 
 than many of the lower types. All his wants must be 
 administered by others. In an almost utterly helpless 
 condition he is ushered into the world with absolutely 
 no knowledge of what awaits him. Yet, helpless as he 
 is, his life will require a thousand times more intelli- 
 gence than that of any other animal. Fortunately it 
 requires many years to reach maturity, giving hin} 
 abundance of time to become acquainted with his sur- 
 roundings and to acquire skill in the use of his powers. 
 In all these years he is mainly dependent upon others 
 for life and learning. 
 
 21 
 
22 THE TRAlXINd OF CHILDREN 
 
 How eagerly the mother watches for signs of intelli- 
 gence in her child. The first smile is proclaimed as 
 though it were the rarest phenomenon. The gradual 
 acquirement of the use of hand and eye and ear are 
 each noted with the greatest interest and satisfaction 
 to such an extent that, to the doting parent, it is doubt- 
 ful if any child ever before progressed so rapidly. At 
 six weeks, the baby recognizes each member of the 
 household and is lavish with his smiles. At two months 
 he can guide his hand to his mouth, and tests every- 
 thing within the grasp of that all-important organ. 
 His chief interest in life seems to center in finding some- 
 thing to eat. His principal activities consist in exer- 
 cising his limbs and his lungs. 
 
 The Activity of a Growing Child. — From the time the 
 little one learns to creep or to walk, his chief character- 
 istic is his wonderful activity. In all his waking hours 
 the sense of sight, hearing, touch, and taste are on the 
 alert to make the acquaintance of everything that comes 
 within range. In fact his principal business for the 
 first five years is to make the acquaintance of the world 
 around him. The number of things he can do in a day 
 is astounding. A child two or three years old can go 
 through enough motions in ten hours, sitting down, 
 rolling about, jumping up, dancing, skipping and run- 
 ning to tire out several grown people. This ceaseless 
 activity is nature's schooling. Every motion makes 
 him stronger, more skillful, surer of himself. 
 
 Everything that comes within his grasp he investi- 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 23 
 
 gates with eyes, hands, and mouth. Things beyond 
 his reach that he sees or hears, he wants to know the 
 names of. His chief questions are, "What is this, 
 mamma?" "WTiat is that, papa?" He repeats the 
 names of new objects many times so that he will not 
 forget them. Many things he remembers best by the 
 sound they make, as the "bow-wow," the "moo-moo" 
 and the "choo-choos." He is interested in everything. 
 He learns that objects are hard, soft, smooth, sticky, 
 etc. He is constantly enlarging his acquaintance. 
 Under favorable circumstances he will learn more new 
 things in a day than an adult will in a month or a year. 
 
 Blessed is that child whose surroundings are varied, 
 who is encouraged to ask questions and to investigate to 
 his heart's content everything that is safe. Such a 
 child will at five know half as many things as he will 
 ever know, and the foundation will be laid for the 
 noblest structure of which the human being is capable. 
 
 On the other hand the child who is reared amid 
 meager or barren surroundings, who is met at every 
 point with "don'ts," and "hush-ups," at the age of 
 five will have the mark of the dullard stamped upon his 
 face, and will in large measure have lost the most 
 precious years of life. Even if in later years, through- 
 the efforts of some faithful teacher he should have his 
 soul awakened he will have a hard struggle to rise above 
 mediocrity. Lost opportunities at the beginning of 
 life are the most difficult to recover. 
 
 Mental Development of the First Five Years. — When 
 
24 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 a child is born his mental powers are, so to speak, in the 
 germ. Their development begins early, but some are 
 evident long before others and make rapid progress. 
 Sensation is the first to appear. The new-born babe 
 announces his arrival with a cry, caused no doubt by a 
 general sense of discomfort upon his entrance into a 
 cold world. For some days there is no acute sense of 
 pain. If any part of the body is injured there is pro- 
 duced only that same general sense of discomfort that 
 accompanied his arrival. A few months later the sense 
 of pain is very acute, probably reaching its maximum 
 long before maturity. 
 
 This acute sense of pain is necessary to the child as a 
 warning and protection against accidents. Nature 
 tries to atone for the sharpness of pain by making it 
 short lived. Little bumps and bruises heal with great 
 rapidity. While a child quickly learns to avoid things 
 that cause pain, as a hot urn or kitty's claws, still the 
 small accidents incident to these early years are many, 
 indeed, and are a part of his training. The tumbles 
 and bumps and bruised fingers are conducive to caution 
 and watchfulness, and prepare him for the rough edges 
 of life, with which he is sure to come into contact in 
 'later years. 
 
 Perception. — Perception is almost if not quite co- 
 incident with sensation. The new-born babe would 
 hardly cry unless he perceived in some dim way a sense 
 of discomfort. He perceives and responds when the 
 means of nourishment are placed within his reach. He 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 25 
 
 is sufficiently conscious of hunger to make his wants 
 known and probably perceives a sense of satisfaction 
 when they have been supplied. He objects seriously 
 when placed in the bath, but responds quickly to the 
 comfort of warm, soft wraps by growing quiet and 
 dropping off to sleep. 
 
 In a few weeks perception has so far developed that 
 the child recognizes the voice and touch of his nearest 
 friends. If a stranger speaks or takes hold of him he 
 knows the difference at once and is likely to give 
 abundant evidence of his disapproval. This is not so 
 likely to be evident when a number of different people 
 share in his care. 
 
 It is interesting to notice w^hen a child first perceives 
 his hand or his foot. He looks at the little member 
 with wonder and appears to be making its acquaintance. 
 For some time he is not aware that it "is a part of him- 
 self, and when he discovers this fact he has made his 
 first excursion into the realm of space, that is he finds 
 himself to extend farther than he knew. He increases 
 his perception of space rapidly when he begins to creep 
 or walk. When he wants a thing that is out of his 
 reach he first cries for it, then makes an effort to reach 
 it, and finally moves toward it. 
 
 The idea of distance is crude at first and changes with 
 the child's development. He judges of distance by his 
 ability to compass it. When he is taking his first lesson 
 in walking, the hands held out to him seem a long and 
 dangerous way off. A few days later the same distance 
 
26 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 would seem nothing in comparison. Any unconquered 
 space appears far and is looked upon with doubt or 
 dread, but being traversed frequently, takes its place 
 with other familiar distances. The idea that distances 
 appear greater to childhood than to maturity is evi- 
 denced by the fact that w^hen persons return to the 
 home of their childhood they are greatly surprised to 
 find how things have shrunken. Fields that in the early 
 days seemed almost illimitable are now scarcely more 
 than lots. The houses of the neighbors have all grown 
 smaller and have moved closer to each other, while the 
 old swimming pond that used to be so wide and so 
 deep appears little larger than a bathing tub. 
 
 Memory. — Until a child has had time to acquire 
 knowledge of a practical nature he is guided in his needs 
 by instinct. Instinct has been aptly called inherited 
 memory. It is 'sufficient for the wants of the child 
 until his mental powers are somewhat developed when 
 it gradually loses its sway, giving place to accjuired 
 knowledge. As soon as the child recognizes his mother's 
 voice or touch he is exercising the power of memory. 
 It seems pretty certain that the senses of touch and of 
 hearing are more active and accurate at this early 
 stage than the sense of sight. From its first indication, 
 memory like perception develops rapidly, and nature 
 should be allowed to take her own course. Any at- 
 tempt at forcing would probably do more harm than 
 good. 
 
 Conditions of Growth. — For some months the child's 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 27 
 
 chief business is growing and gaining in strength. For 
 amusement, the exercise of his lungs and his Hmbs 
 should be suf!icient. After he has learned to sit up 
 he will be interested in playthings. Those that he can 
 bite on, pound with, or that will make a noise, will give 
 him the most pleasure. He needs no great variety at 
 this stage. 
 
 When he has learned to move about at will, he will 
 find plenty to occupy his attention. He will examine 
 many things, first to ascertain if they are good to eat, 
 next to pound with or throw down. Even at this 
 point it is well to keep in touch with the child's interest 
 and to supply him with harmless objects that will give 
 him pleasure. Something that will come apart and 
 fit together again, as a small bottle with a cork, will 
 tax his attention to the utmost, and his little hands 
 will gain much skill in its manipulation. Whatever 
 the contrivance, so that it is within his power, he will 
 work at it diligently until he has mastered it, after 
 which it will, for a time at least, lose its interest and he 
 is ready for something else. In the meantime, percep- 
 tion, memory, and even imagination have all been 
 called to work. This leads us to the consideration of 
 the last-named power. 
 
 The Imagination. — This faculty cannot be exercised 
 until there is considerable material to work upon. 
 Many things must have been perceived and examined, 
 and knowledge acquired, before imagination comes 
 into use. In the case of the small bottle and the cork, 
 
28 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the child may have seen corks taken out of bottles. 
 When he gets hold of this one he imagines the cork out 
 and proceeds to extract it, making every possible 
 effort until his puipose is achieved. When the cork is 
 out, he forthwith imagines it in again and immediately 
 essays the task. This is much more difficult than pull- 
 ing it out, and his chubby hands make many awkward 
 attempts; but at last he succeeds, or failing seeks aid 
 and watches the operation just as he imagined it could 
 be done. Such an occasion as this affords a good op- 
 portunity to observe the amount of patience, per- 
 severance, ingenuity, and skill the little one possesses. 
 
 Reasoning and Will. — In the above illustration rea- 
 soning is likewise in evidence. The child reasons that 
 if corks came out of other bottles this one ought to 
 come out. If it refuses to come out at first, he studies 
 the situation, and thinks perhaps a greater effort will 
 accomplish it. When it is out he reasons that it be- 
 longs in the bottle. If he cannot put it in, he thinks 
 father or mother can do it, perhaps refusing all aid 
 except from the one he has seen perform the operation 
 before. His will power is seen in his determination 
 to bring to pass the thing he set out to do, and in his 
 holding on to things he wants but may not have. 
 
 The child whom we are considering is supposed to 
 have attained to the age of twelve or fifteen months. 
 He is just learning to toddle about and investigate things 
 for himself. All his mental powers have made a start 
 and henceforth will be in operation to a greater or less 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 29 
 
 degree in all his waking hours. His education is now 
 begun in earnest. The time to develop anything, 
 plant, animal, or mental power, is when it is growing; 
 and the more cultivation and attention it receives the 
 nearer it will come to reaching its greatest possible 
 capacity, providing always that the process is carried 
 on wisely by one who understands when and how to 
 render assistance and when to refrain. This process 
 of giving the right amount and kind of aid, of furnish- 
 ing the proper materials for growth, of guiding and con- 
 trolling sufficiently but not too much, includes the whole 
 matter of teaching and training. 
 
 Development in Progress. — From this time on, the 
 child is getting into everything, investigating, appro- 
 priating, and frequently destroying any article within 
 reach. His attendants are provided with plenty of 
 entertainment but no rest, except when he is asleep. 
 
 His eating is an important matter. A healthy, grow- 
 ing animal should eat whenever it is hungry, while on 
 the other hand plenty of good food tends to keep it 
 healthy and make it strong. A child should first of 
 all be a perfect animal and to this end he should have 
 plenty of good nourishing food about as often as nature 
 demands it. This is the rule the world over. The food 
 should be wholesome, easily digested, and nourishing. 
 Further than that, this book has no advice to offer on 
 the subject, except that in case of sickness a doctor 
 should be consulted. 
 
 The Moral Element. — That there is any moral qual- 
 
30 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ity in the actions of a child up to the age of two years 
 is doubtful. He knows by this time that there are 
 many things he must not do and some things he must 
 do, but as to this or that being sinful, wicked, or wrong 
 in itself he has no conception. His training in righteous- 
 ness must not be neglected on that account however. 
 It is very important that he should early understand 
 his limitations. There are many things he must not 
 do, and he should be firmly but kindly prevented from 
 doing them. He must learn not to strike anyone, not to 
 hurt the kitty, not to grab at things on the table; to be 
 punctual and unfailing about his bath, his retiring, and 
 all the other regulations of the family life. Right habits 
 formed now and persevered in for a few years, will re- 
 main through life and even grow to be a necessity for 
 comfort. On the other hand if they are neglected now 
 their establishment later will grow more and more 
 difficult. 
 
 Obedience. — There is probably no time in life when 
 obedience may be so easily taught as in the first two 
 or three years of life. No harsh methods need be used. 
 A well thought-out course of procedure and persistence 
 in that course is all that is necessary. In training a 
 child to obedience nothing that is difficult should be 
 commanded for a while until the idea has been grasped. 
 If a child should set himself against authority the only 
 course is to insist, quietly but firmly and without 
 the least harshness, upon full and complete obedience. 
 In time all idea of resisting parental authority will be 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 3 1 
 
 given up completely after which there will be no trouble 
 unless slackness intervenes on the parents' part. Here 
 is where the wisdom of a wtU thought-out and con- 
 sistently followed course manifests itself. 
 
 The Value of Well Laid Plans. — The education of a 
 child is worthy of a great amount of thoughtful con- 
 sideration. One should think ahead what the child will 
 require in the weeks, months, and years to come. These 
 plans should be chiefly in outline and subject to modi- 
 fication as the occasion demands. But no matter how 
 much change they may undergo or how much they may 
 need to be added to, they will be invaluable. No 
 general plans can be made that would exactly fit any 
 individual child. New phases of child life will appear 
 and new ideas should constantly occur to be adjusted 
 to the general outline. 
 
 Agreement of Those Concerned. — It is needless to say 
 that in all essential matters parents must agree in a 
 course of training. It is certain that their opinions will 
 differ in many particulars but these differences must 
 be adjusted between themselves. It cannot be other- 
 wise than disastrous to discipline when children dis- 
 cover that their parents disagree on matters of conduct. 
 When such disagreements arise, as they are likely to 
 do, they must not result in conflicting methods. One 
 must give up, bring the other to his or her vie^\'point, 
 or a compromise must be effected. All the systems of 
 government now in use in civilized- countries are the 
 results of compromise, and so it should be in the family. 
 
32 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 In spite of the obvious necessity of such a course, many 
 children are spoiled by parents attempting to carry out 
 opposing systems. 
 
 The Development of Emotions 
 
 Children are often called little men and women; and 
 in some respects the observation is true, but not in all. 
 If one should be with a child every day until he is five 
 years old he could not accurately predict what he will 
 be at maturity. His powers are not sufficiently devel- 
 oped at that age to enable us to judge of their later 
 effect upon his character, neither can we tell the result 
 which outside influences may have. But even at two 
 years of age, most of his powers that will count for 
 good or ill are noticeable. 
 
 Who has not seen a little child exhibit anger in the 
 most positive fashion? This trait appears so early 
 and is so universal that many point to it as the main 
 reason for believing in original sin. Whether original 
 or not, it is like all the other powers, inherited, and is 
 much more strongly implanted in some than in others. 
 We could not say that the power to become angry 
 should be rooted out, but certainly it needs no culti- 
 vation. Older children, and thoughtless gro^\^l people, 
 often tease a little child into anger for their own grati- 
 fication but it is extremely costly to the child. When 
 he is older he will have many a hard effort to control 
 his temper, if indeed it does not cause him to inflict 
 serious injury upon some one else. 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 33 
 
 Excessive anger is injurious to anyone and especially 
 so to a child. It interferes with his development along 
 other and more desirable lines. Anger causes weakness 
 and sometimes nausea in an adult, and must be a 
 serious setback to a child. Parents should see to it 
 that children should have little cause for anger and 
 should try to allay it when it arises. Good humor is 
 conducive to health and growth and should be the pre- 
 vailing condition of a growing child. Both anger and 
 cheerfulness are contagious, and if parents exhibit the 
 latter the children will do likewise. The best antidote 
 for anger is good humor. It cannot thrive nor last 
 long in an atmosphere of sunny cheerfulness. 
 
 Fear. — There are three senses that are alive to fear; 
 hearing, touch, and sight. Fear is noticeable at a very 
 early age, that is within a few weeks from birth. The 
 touch of unknown hands, or the sound of a strange, 
 harsh voice will produce fright. The faculty of fear 
 is instinctive, since the child can know nothing of 
 danger from experience or reasoning. Excessive fright, 
 like anger, is unhealthful and dangerous and should 
 be avoided. A child should be shielded from any ob- 
 ject that arouses fear, however harmless the object 
 may be, until he has time to examine it, get used to it 
 and discover that it is not dangerous. 
 
 Here again thoughtless people often amuse them- 
 selves by frightening children, saying the bogy-man will 
 catch them if they are not good, or that they will cut 
 off their ears if they run away, or some such familiar 
 3 
 
34 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 folly. Such a procedure is wicked in the extreme and 
 deserves drastic measures that will prevent a repetition 
 of the offense. There are things that children must be 
 taught to avoid because they are really dangerous, 
 such as fire, bodies of water, getting in the way of 
 wagons or cars and the like, but all tales of ghosts, 
 spooks and the "badman" are worse than useless as a 
 means of discipline, and positively harmful to the mind 
 because they arouse imaginary fears and inculcate 
 cowardice. A child should be taught from the start 
 to fear nothing except things that are really dangerous 
 either to the body or to the mind. 
 
 Deceit. — While all these qualities of the mind may be 
 inherent they are certainly catching. If parents or 
 nurses practice deceit upon the child, as is frequently 
 done, he will soon discover it and will use the same 
 means upon those who have deceived him. For ex- 
 ample if he iinds that objects are being hidden from him 
 he will in turn attempt to hide them to keep from los- 
 ing possession. His efforts may be very awkward at 
 first but he will soon learn, and'finally become an adept 
 at deceit and treachery. A better way is to place for- 
 bidden objects beyond his reach and tell him he must 
 not have them. 
 
 Losing Faith. — It must be a great shock to the mind 
 of the child to discover that his parents have been de- 
 ceiving him and telling him things that are not true. 
 A child's credulity is perfect. It does not occur to him 
 to doubt anything he sees or hears. If this faith is taken 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 35 
 
 away from him he has lost one of the great charms of 
 childhood. 
 
 Irresponsible nurses are prone to falsify in order to 
 appease the child or get away from him. Parents are 
 usually more thoughtful, although they also sometimes 
 err in this respect. It is so easy to tell a child you 
 are not going to do this or that, and then when he 
 is out of the way proceed to do it. The story is 
 told of a certain little fellow who overheard his par- 
 ents talking of going out riding and besought them to 
 take him along. They had reasons for not wanting him, 
 and therefore told him they w^ere not going, but that 
 he might go walking with the nurse. A little later as 
 the boy and his nurse approached a cross street they 
 saw his parents riding with some friends. The little 
 fellow's lips puckered and his fists clenched as he re- 
 marked to the nurse, "There go the two biggest liars 
 in the world." How much better it would have been 
 to have told the child the truth and let him endure the 
 disappointment of not going along rather than to cause 
 him to suffer the loss of faith in his parents. 
 
 Keeping Promises. — Another frequent departure from 
 the right way is to make promises trusting that the 
 child will forget them when his attention is turned to 
 something else. He is not likely to forget, but if he 
 should do so, the promise ought not to be broken. It 
 is infinitely better not to promise than to fail to keep 
 one ' s word with a child. The time will come soon enough 
 when he will be asked to promise something and hav- 
 
36 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ing observed looseness on the part of his elders will 
 keep faith or not as it suits him. If he decides that it 
 does not matter, and fails to keep his word, his parents 
 are forced into the absurd position of punishing him 
 for following in their footsteps, or what is worse still, 
 lose their control over him. Nothing but the unvar- 
 nished truth pays in the long run. 
 
 One of the strange things about lying to a child is 
 that while he will condemn it in the severest terms he 
 will unhesitatingly adopt the practice for his own use. 
 He doubtless reasons that others have profited by 
 lying and that he will do the same. Many a child 
 would indorse the boy's answer to his Sunday School 
 teacher when asked to tell the meaning of the word 
 *'lie." "A lie," said the boy, "is an abomination to 
 the Lord, and a very present help in time of trouble." 
 It is inevitable that a child will sooner or later discover 
 that lying is a common practice among humanity but 
 he need not be pushed into the discovery. So long as 
 his parents teach him truthfulness and practice it 
 strictly themselves he is fairly safe. That boy was being 
 rightly taught who when contradicted by a playmate 
 declared, "I know it is so because my mother says 
 it is, and if she says a thing is so, it is so even if it 
 isn't so." 
 
 The Result of Weak Discipline. — Probably more chil- 
 dren are spoiled in disposition and rendered weak 
 in will power by parents foolishly yielding to their 
 imagined wants than from any other one fault in train- 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 37 
 
 ing. Many children discover that if they fuss and fret 
 and whine long enough they will carty their point, 
 no matter how positively it may have been refused 
 in the beginning. Examples of this kind of treatment 
 are so well known that none is necessary here. The 
 parent scolds, threatens, and occasionally slaps the 
 besieger, causing a relapse for a minute or two until 
 the storm is passed when the attack is renewed. Fi- 
 nally the parent yields with a scold and a frown hoping 
 the youngster will be satisfied and give her a little peace. 
 Parents sometimes fondly imagine this persistence 
 is an indication of a strong will and that it is on the 
 whole rather commendable. Such is not the case. 
 The child has simply discovered the parent's weak point 
 and takes advantage of it. It is rather a weakening 
 instead of a strengthening of the will, as the force of 
 the example is very strong. Besides, there is a kind of 
 philosophy in it. If the child really wants the thing 
 he is asking for so badly and coaxes so long and so 
 earnestly he ought to have it. He has quite earned it 
 by his persistence. Such appears to be the parents' 
 reasoning, but, none the less, it is very bad in its effect 
 upon the child's character. 
 
 The Right Course. — A child should be taught not to 
 make needless requests. When he does express a want 
 it should be given consideration before being granted 
 or refused. The answer should be the wisest one the 
 parent knows how to give and when given should be 
 final. If the request is refused and the child cries let 
 
38 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 him cry or turn his attention to something else but do 
 not change the decision. As soon as it is discovered 
 that fretting and crying and coaxing do no good they 
 will be abandoned. Children have vastly more re- 
 spect for parents and teachers who show decision of 
 character and firmness in their government than for 
 those who are weak and vacillating. Moreover the 
 exercise of these virtues on the part of the parents be- 
 gets in the children the same strength of character. 
 
 Curiosity. — Almost all children from two to five years 
 of age are bundles of questions. Their persistence, 
 the lack of necessity, and the apparent irrelevancy of 
 their queries are often annoying. But remember that 
 the child is making an effort to become acquainted 
 with the world around him, and he can only fmd out 
 the things he does not know by asking and being told. 
 Many of his questions are about things that do not 
 concern him, or about things he could not understand 
 or are in themselves insignificant, but he ought not to 
 be discouraged in asking them. 
 
 As has been suggested, his chief desire at first is to 
 know the names of things. This is important because 
 he can remember an object, think about it, and talk 
 about it to much better advantage if he knows what to 
 call it. Consequently the name of anything he asks 
 about should be given him, not in baby talk but in ex- 
 act terms as grown people use it. There should be no 
 tricks played upon a child's desire to obtain information. 
 He will do his best to speak the name as it was given 
 
THE PERIOD 01'' ACQUAINTANCE 39 
 
 him and the oftener he hears it correctly the sooner he 
 will be able to master it. 
 
 After many names have been acquired and he begins 
 to comprehend a little the uses of objects he will arrive 
 at his second prevailing question, " What is it for?" 
 This oft repeated question varies with, " What are 
 you doing that for? " and is more annoying than his 
 search for names. But it shows a natural and legiti- 
 mate desire for knowledge that should not be ignored. 
 Doubtless the best plan is to tell the inquirer what a 
 thing is for. He may not understand the answer and 
 his next question may be, "What do the people want 
 to do that for? " or some similar interrogation, until 
 the one questioned is at wits' end to know how to ex- 
 plain. It takes a deal of patience and much wisdom to 
 guide the little one in his search for knowledge but the 
 rev/ard is great. 
 
 This element of curiosity in a child's nature is of 
 inestimable value. Without it his progress would be 
 slow indeed. IMoreover it is not confined to childhood. 
 The whole world is on tiptoe with curiosity to hear the 
 latest news, to know what is being done, to find out 
 about the things that are unknown. Curiosity in a 
 child needs no quenching but careful nurturing and 
 guidance to keep it in the path that chiefly concerns 
 him and that will lead him the most rapidly into an 
 acquaintance with the things that pertain to his life. 
 
 Use Correct Language. — A child's efforts at pronunci- 
 ation are so amusing and so delightful that it is a great 
 
40 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 temptation to use his pronunciation instead of the cor- 
 rect one. This use of "baby talk" must be very con- 
 fusing to the child. He makes the best effort in his 
 power to speak a word as it was spoken to him, and to 
 hear thereafter his owm inaccuracy instead of the cor- 
 rect form is certainly poor assistance. It doubtless 
 gives parents pleasure to use baby talk but the child 
 will make much more rapid progress if the correct 
 forms are used. If this is not done he will be compelled 
 to learn in a roundabout way. He will, by and by, ob- 
 serve that people when not talking to him use different 
 forms than when they are and that the other forms are 
 the correct ones. In this manner he finally gets his 
 words right, but it is a long process. 
 
 The Sensitiveness of Children. — There is no surer way 
 to destroy a child's confidence and to quench his thirst 
 for knowledge than to laugh at his awkward attempts 
 either in speaking or in performing his tasks. A child 
 supposes, as he has a right to do, that every one is his 
 friend and in sympathy with him, and when he is 
 laughed at he is chagrined and mortified and loses con- 
 fidence in himself. Thereafter he will not "perform" 
 in the presence of those who laugh at him or whom he 
 thinks may laugh at him, and consequently his freedom 
 is curtailed and his progress hindered. To make the mat- 
 ter worse this kind of treatment causes a child to become 
 suspicious of all except those whom he knows he can 
 trust and suspicion in a little child is far from desirable. 
 
 Laughing at Children's Blunders. — Children with the 
 
THE PERIOD OF ACQUAINTANCE 4 1 
 
 best intentions make amusing blunders and the grown- 
 ups relate them to their friends and laugh heartily, con- 
 sidering it matter for mirth. Two little country girls 
 were on their way to a neighbor's a mile away. They 
 were met by a gentleman who spoke to them and asked 
 in a friendly way if it was noon yet. Now these little 
 girls were accustomed to hearing the word "noon" used 
 at school in connection with the long intermission, but 
 at home they had only heard the term "dinner time" 
 used to designate the middle of the day; so the very 
 natural reply was, "We don't know, we haven't been 
 to school to-day." The gentleman smiled and passed 
 on. When the little girls returned home they related 
 the incident to the assembled family but were after- 
 wards sorry they did it. It was considered the finest 
 joke of the season and it was many a long day before 
 they heard the last of it. There is no doubt but 
 that this incident increased the reticence of those 
 children to a marked degree, and they were timid 
 enough before. A reasonable amount of timidity is 
 pleasing, but country children are likely to have an 
 abundance of it and should not have their courage to 
 answer a civil question crushed out by being laughed at. 
 Repeating the Smart Sayings of Children. — The prone- 
 ness of parents and especially new parents to recount 
 the smart sayings and doings of their prodigies is so 
 common that it has passed into a proverb and become 
 the subject of newspaper jokes. In spite of this, hosts 
 of children are injured by it and notwithstanding its 
 
42 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 time-worn proclivities it needs a word of caution here. 
 The Joke Hes in the fact that the child which is con- 
 sidered a prodigy in the eyes of his doting parents is no 
 smarter than most other children, and the listener is 
 usually bored by the recital of his wonderful cuteness 
 and remains unconvinced of his superior intelligence. 
 
 The fond interest of parents in their child would 
 readily excuse them for making him a topic of con- 
 versation among their friends if that were the end of 
 it, as frequently it is not. Too often these remarks 
 are made in the presence of the child. At first he may 
 be too young to catch the drift of the conversation, but 
 very soon he perceives that he is being discussed, and 
 the love of praise takes root in his mind when he is al- 
 together too young to bear it. The road to ruin is 
 strewn with the wrecks of young lives that were brought 
 there by being placed in the lime light by admiring 
 parents whose pride in their offspring made it diflficult 
 for them to see the folly of their own actions. 
 
 There are some very old-fashioned notions about 
 child training that even the most modern schools of 
 thought have not entirely obliterated, and one is that 
 children should be kept in the background. This does 
 not mean that they should be snuffed out from every 
 public occasion, but that care should be taken lest they 
 conceive too high an idea of their own importance. A 
 modest estimate of one's own powers is admirable in 
 both old and young, but the reverse is objectionable in 
 anyone, and particularly so in the latter. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 
 
 Play. — The young of all the higher animals instinct- 
 ively engage in play. It is nature's method of preparing 
 them to meet the requirements of adult life. Aside 
 from the point of utility there is nothing that so con- 
 tributes to their happiness as the free exercise of their 
 budding powers in this divine gift. When little ones 
 play together, as it is much better that they should, 
 all their powers of body and mind are brought into 
 action. Their senses are on the alert and their minds 
 are keen to take in everything of interest. 
 
 There are two fundamental principles in respect to 
 play. The first is that it should be in the open air or in 
 rooms where the air is as pure as out of doors. The 
 second is that they should have materials to play with. 
 In regard to the first, children should come into contact 
 with mother earth at an early age and become so used 
 to it that under ordinary conditions it will not harm 
 them. When the weather is suitable they should have 
 a place in the yard where they may roam at will, all 
 dangerous obstructions being removed. 
 
 Frequently in rainy weather children are obliged to 
 remain indoors. For such occasions it would be very 
 
 43 
 
44 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 easy in country homes to provide a play house. The 
 essential parts are walls, roof, door, and windows. The 
 earth cleaned and packed hard and firm will be the best 
 floor. If the walls are constructed of logs so much the 
 better. Here will be passed many happy hours. If 
 materials are provided in the rough the children will 
 construct their own shelves and housekeeping arrange- 
 ments. There should be cross beams so that swings 
 can be fastened to them. The whole need cost but 
 little except the time and labor of off hours. For cold 
 weather a room in the house should be set aside, con- 
 taining only such things as the children may use. 
 
 In regard to the second principle, with the exception 
 of a few simple tools no costly materials are needed. 
 A wagon load of clean sand, a few shingles and boards, 
 with some rope for swings, will answer well for a begin- 
 ning. Home-made articles constructed mainly by the 
 children themselves are the best. Their observation 
 of how father makes things for the farm and how mother 
 does things in the house will be of service. Memory 
 must suffice when the article to be copied is not present, 
 and imagination will be active in making adjustments 
 and contriving improvements. 
 
 As soon as children are old enough to handle tools 
 they should be provided with such as they can con- 
 veniently use. A hammer, a barlow knife and a small 
 saw will go a long way and will work wonders. Not 
 everything that would be desirable to grown-ups should 
 be supplied. Something should be lacking to give in- 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 45 
 
 genuity free play. Suggestions may occasionally be 
 offered and directions given but not too often and only 
 one or two at a time. So long as children are completely 
 occupied with their own contrivances they need no 
 assistance or advice. When they have reached the end 
 of their own resources and tire of the old regime it is 
 time to come to the rescue. Parents should take a 
 lively interest in their children's doings. Half the charm 
 of their little triumphs lies in the appreciation of their 
 elders. 
 
 The Lone Child. — If a child has no playmates near 
 his own age it is all the more reason why he should be 
 well supplied with opportunities for play. In such a 
 case his parents should be playmates for him permitting 
 him to be the leader as much as possible. They should 
 plan ahead, however, and when old things pall have 
 something new to suggest. One's resources may last a 
 long time if he does not deal them out too rapidly. 
 To be the companion of a child is a rich privilege, and 
 the study and attention given him will be well repaid. 
 
 Games. — In the matter of games the world is old. 
 No one knows when the ball was first used as a play- 
 thing and marbles have been a part of the sports of 
 youth for thousands of years. Many household games 
 extend back to the time when "the memory of man 
 runneth not to the contrary." Such are Mother Goose 
 Rhymes, Counting Baby's Toes, Hide and Seek, and 
 Blind Man's Buff. These and many others that have 
 stood the test of age are not likely to die out. Yet new 
 
46 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 games are desirable and may be invented by any clever- 
 minded person; or old ones may be modified to make 
 them more interesting after they have been used for 
 some time. Children are such lovers of play that they 
 are not hard to please and in many instances invent 
 their own games. 
 
 What constitutes a game? Any organized play with 
 something to be won or attained may be called a 
 game. Throwing at a mark, pitching quoits, ring toss, 
 tag, rolling a hoop are examples of very simple games 
 that are old and still popular. The chief point of in- 
 terest in these is the skill or swiftness required of the 
 player to outdo his competitors. In fact the basic 
 element in games is rivalry, to win over one's competitors 
 by skill, knowledge, or strength. There are sports, 
 scarcely to be called games, that do not depend upon 
 rivalry for their fascination, as skating, dancing and 
 swimming, though in these that element may become 
 the leading factor. 
 
 There should be some discrimination in children's 
 games to see that physical and mental exercises are 
 in proper proportion. Much of their playing should 
 be out of doors where they may exercise their limbs, 
 lungs, and bodies to the fullest extent. Even games of 
 running, jumping, and swinging have some effect upon 
 mental development. They require attention and con- 
 tinued effort. They develop the qualities of assurance 
 and quickness. They teach endurance of fatigue and 
 pain and forbearance with one another. Still they are 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 47 
 
 classed as physical games and should be interspersed 
 with those that are strictly mental. 
 
 For very young children nurser}^ rhymes, motion 
 and marching songs, and riddles cultivate the attention 
 and the memory. Playing with dolls, housekeeping, 
 moulding mud pies, imitating the work of their elders 
 in an}^ way are all fruitful in mental growth, and parents 
 should show an interest in them. Playing is about 
 the only business children have in waking hours and 
 it is better to expend some effort in planning for them 
 and helping them than to be forever scolding, forbid- 
 ding, and punishing. 
 
 Proper Clothing. — One of the earliest proclivities of 
 childhood is acquiring dirt, soihng the clothing, and 
 getting it torn. Mothers are wont to start the day with 
 things clean and nice, bidding the children keep them 
 so as long as possible. Some even go so far as to forbid 
 any playing on the ground or the doing of anything 
 that will soil their clean clothes. As well put a healthy 
 energetic man into prison! To play is a child's freedom 
 as it is a man's freedom to work or engage in whatever 
 pursuit he likes. 
 
 Play is much more important in the life of a child 
 than looks. His clothing for everyday wear should 
 be plain and comfortable, not easily soiled and of good 
 material. He should be allowed to play on the ground 
 unless it is muddy or cold. If his clothes are soiled 
 it is no great matter. Soiled clothing is of little con- 
 sequence. It can be made clean again; but deprivation 
 
48 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 of healthful exercise means loss of strength, develop- 
 ment, and happiness, and this loss is not so easily 
 remedied. 
 
 For a further discussion of games and plays, see 
 "Teaching a District School," Chapter XII. 
 
 Stories. — Next to play, sometimes in preference to it, 
 is the pleasure of childhood in listening to stories. It 
 may be remarked that this pleasure is not peculiar 
 to childhood but continues scarcely unabated through 
 Ufe. But it comes into being very early and is a wide 
 open avenue to learning. It is to be regretted that the 
 accomplishment of telling sfories suitable for children 
 is not universal among parents. No doubt the ability 
 is universal but in too many cases it is allowed to re- 
 main undeveloped. If children had the privilege of 
 prescribing the qualities of their parents one among 
 the first would be the power to tell a story to their 
 satisfaction. 
 
 If any parent who chances to read this desires to 
 master the art of story telling it is not so very difficult. 
 The easiest method of attack is to read over several 
 times the one selected to begin with until thoroughly 
 familiar with it, then tell it in the best manner possible, 
 putting it in words that the child can readily under- 
 stand. If the first effort is not an entire success keep 
 on trying. Children as a rule are not overly critical 
 and the art is soon learned. 
 
 The Kind of Stories. — Among the best stories in the 
 world for children are those of the Old Testament. 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 49 
 
 They should early learn about God, and as good a way 
 as any is to tell them the Bible story of how God made 
 the world and peopled it with life, first the plants and 
 the animals, last of all man. Tell them the good things 
 first and a little later when some occasion of naughti- 
 ness makes it appropriate tell them how sin came into 
 the world, the loss of Eden, and finally murder. The 
 progress of evil in the world will lead on to the story 
 of Noah and the flood. Then there are the delightful 
 stories of Joseph, of Moses, of David, and of Daniel. 
 
 We have some fine examples as proof that in the way 
 of instruction the story telling method is the best. 
 The first is that of Christ, the greatest of all teachers. 
 He was master of the art, as witness the story of the 
 Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan and many others. 
 Plato is perhaps the next great example. His stories 
 are so vastly inferior to those of the Saviour that they 
 are hardly to be mentioned in the same category, but 
 they taught the youth of Athens the cardinal virtues 
 as they have of many other nations since. 
 
 The stories of the New Testament follow in logical 
 order those of the Old. What could be better than that 
 a child should have the story of the birth of Christ 
 for the first time on Christmas eve? It is the world's 
 most beautiful story and the occasion and the manner 
 of telling should be such as to make an indelible im- 
 pression. Simply and in child language, the story should 
 be told supplying enough details to make the picture 
 vivid, leaving out the prophecies concerning his birth 
 4 
 
50 TPIE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 and all references to his sacrificial death, so that there 
 may remain in the mind the wonderful birth of the one 
 who was the greatest and best of all mankind. 
 
 This story will be called for again and again and 
 should be told and retold, each time adding some new 
 incident gradually carrying the story forward until 
 much of the life of the Saviour shall be familiar to the 
 child. ^ladonnas and other pictures of the Christ 
 and his times should accompany this instruction. These 
 can be purchased at any cost from a penny upwards 
 and will be of great assistance. 
 
 Children like to have stories repeated frequently for 
 two reasons. First it affords exercise for the imagina- 
 tion in constructing the scenes and in filling in the de- 
 tails as they are given, and second it gives memor}^ 
 an opportunity to fix the whole in the mind for future 
 use. Mental exercise gives as much pleasure, or per- 
 haps more, as physical exercise and is as essential 
 to growth. Or it may be illustrated in another way. 
 Knowledge is food for the mJnd and the mind can no 
 more grow without it than can the body without its 
 food. Also there is as much mental gratification in 
 imbibing knowledge as there is physical pleasure in 
 receiving nourishment for the body. 
 
 The idea that children are averse to learning is en- 
 tirely wrong. They are no more averse to learning 
 than they are averse to eating. If we should insist 
 upon stuffing their stomachs when they are not hungry 
 with food that they do not like and is not suitable to 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 5 1 
 
 their age and digestion we should find them as much op- 
 posed to eating as they appear at times to be to learning. 
 The fault lies in the kind of pabulum we serve and in 
 our Avay of serving it rather than in any aversion to 
 learning itself. Herein lies our need of a closer study of 
 childhood and of Nature's way of contributing to growth. 
 Nature provides the stories, all we have to do is to 
 learn to put them in words suitable to the minds of 
 our hearers. 
 
 Other Stories. — While the Bible is a mine of riches to 
 the instructor of youth, its principal use is not to fur- 
 nish stories for children, consequently there are other 
 sources. History, without any intention or desire of 
 doing so, furnishes a never ending supply. Poetry and 
 fiction abound with illustrations of heroism, fidelity, 
 and all the other virtues. Besides there are books, and 
 their name is legion, that are written especially for 
 children. Many of these are comparatively worthless 
 but a considerable number have proved worthy of a 
 place among the classics, have become a part of the 
 wealth of the world, a heritage for all generations. These 
 or some of them should be available to all who are 
 intrusted with the bringing up of children. 
 
 Fables and Fairy Stories. — Every scholar or would-be 
 scholar is familiar with the Fables of ^Esop; not that 
 ^sop was the first to use fables or the originator of 
 msinj of them, but that his collection or version so far 
 excelled all others that it became a classic. According 
 to these fables human nature has not changed much 
 
52 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 in the last three or four thousand years. Hypocrisy, 
 deceit, cheating, and lying have a prominent place but 
 virtue is superior to them all. What a delightful way 
 to teach the principles of righteousness! How much 
 more real and comprehensible to the mind of a child 
 is a truth when expressed in fable than when stated in 
 abstract terms. 
 
 Whoever invented the fable as a means ot teaching 
 understood child nature and was in thorough sympathy 
 with it. What could be more to Ihe children's liking 
 than to bring in the animals and give them the char- 
 acteristics of human beings? How well, too, the ani- 
 mals lend themselves to the occasion. The cunning 
 of the fox, the treachery of the wolf, the masterful 
 strength of the lion are all typical of human traits. 
 The inventor of fables also understood animals, for 
 each one is presented in his real character. The fables 
 are a veritable study in natural history. 
 
 Fairy stories differ from fables in that the latter are 
 based upon real things while the former are purely 
 products of the mind. Size appeals readily to the imagi- 
 nation of a child. He likes to think of things as very 
 large or very small, hence the practicability of fairies 
 and giants. Little people are not very strong, but they 
 are bright and cunning and have ways of managing 
 the grown-ups in spite of the latter's superior strength 
 and wisdom. There seems to be some mysterious 
 power that stands by the little ones and makes them 
 irresistible. So the fairies are bright, animated little 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 53 
 
 creatures, dancing upon the moonbeams, disappearing 
 in the shadows and always having a good time. They 
 are the especial friends of good children, sympathizing 
 with their griefs and helping them out of their troubles 
 by the intervention of some mysterious power. They 
 appeal to the childish heart because they are so much 
 like children themselves. 
 
 On the other hand, the giant appeals to the child 
 because he is what the latter will be when he grows up 
 or what he would like to be. He is possessed of un- 
 limited strength and fears nothing. He lives in some 
 great cave or huge castle and commands everything 
 about him. He may be a good giant or he may be a 
 bad one, just as the fanc}^ determines. He may be 
 created for the very purpose of being put out of the 
 way by some daring adventurer who overcomes him 
 by superior wit. This shows the superiority of a trained 
 mind over brute strength. Jack the Giant Killer is a 
 fine example. The giant was one of the earliest won- 
 ders among the races of men, and the world has pretty 
 well retained its admiration for him. 
 
 In all these there is no deceit practiced upon the 
 child. He knows, or may as well know, that they are 
 creatures of the imagination, playfellows of the brain. 
 They have given pleasure to millions of children and 
 have been a potent factor in the development of their 
 mental powers. Children take to them as naturally as 
 young animals to play. When a colt sends its heels 
 flying in the air, is it not striking at an imaginary foe? 
 
54 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 And why should not a boy slay his giants and a little 
 girl have her fairies to assist in banishing her woes? 
 
 To be sure this kind of material should be used in 
 moderation. Its very fascination may lead to excess 
 and to harm. It must not be allowed to take the place 
 of ever^'day realities. But as was said in the beginning, 
 the mind is many sided and needs a variety if it is to 
 come into the full possession of all its possibilities. 
 The imagination when brought to its full strength is a 
 mighty power, a divine gift to m^an that places him far 
 above the brute creation. It needs to be cultivated in 
 early life if one would get above the narrow limits 
 of the commonplace. There is little doubt that stories 
 of the mind's own creation minister to its grov\'th in 
 a way that the more prosaic matters cf real life can- 
 not. 
 
 A Time for Stories. 
 
 " Between the dark and the daylight 
 When the night is beginning to lower, 
 Comes a pause in the day's occupations 
 That is known as the Children's Hour." 
 
 Longfellow evidently believed in devoting a portion 
 of each day to the children and this portion not left to 
 hap-hazard, or to the exigencies of other duties, but 
 clearly specified, set apart and kept sacredly. And if 
 one may judge from the poem, it was the most delight- 
 ful period of the day to him as well as to the children. 
 So important a matter as the children's story, or the 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 55 
 
 child's story as the case may be, should have a set time 
 that is least likely to be interrupted. Certainly it will 
 not be neglected if the children have a voice in it. " Be- 
 t^veen the dark and the daylight" is probably the ideal 
 hour for the little ones and the most convenient one 
 for the parents. 
 
 Considerable time should be given to selection and 
 arrangement so that there may be a variety in kind 
 and puriDose. A program for a month at a time will 
 be helpful, but one mmst not hold too strictly to a pro- 
 gram. Some incident of the day will make some particu- 
 lar story applicable, some special lesson of truth or 
 obedience needs to be taught and the time and place 
 will serve to make it doubly impressive. 
 
 Music. — Every observer of human nature knows that 
 there is a wonderful, if not a magical power in music. 
 The m.other soothes her restless child with her lullaby 
 when it is but a tin}' infant; and as day follows day into 
 weeks, months, and years the tones grow sweeter, and 
 the memor}' of that mother's voice is cherished as long 
 as life endures. David, the shepherd lad, charmed away 
 the spirits of evil from King Saul by playing upon his 
 haqD. Music is the art of arts, the most universal 
 of them all. It plays an important part in the savage 
 tribe as well as in the most civilized community. 
 
 It ministers to every passion of the heart. It com- 
 forts the mourner, gives strength to the flagging foot- 
 steps of the weary marcher, wooes the love of the maiden 
 and incites the warrior to deeds of heroism. It is an 
 
56 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 instrument of good or an instrument of evil. It is a 
 potent factor in the worship of the Divine Being in the 
 sanctuary, and a powerful incentive to evil in the dens 
 of the wicked. It has been well said that the songs of a 
 nation have more to do in shaping the lives and morals 
 of the people than its laws. 
 
 In the training of character so important a factor 
 as music must not be overlooked. As has been al- 
 ready suggested its power to soothe the infant mind is 
 marked. This susceptibility to the charms of music 
 increases with the growing powers of the child. The 
 kind of songs he hears in childhood cannot but make a 
 deep impression upon his mind that will tell in character 
 in the years to come. Everything that is worthy may 
 be expressed in song, as work and play, rest and wor- 
 ship, but anything that appeals to the baser passions 
 should never be heard. 
 
 The kindergartens, the primary schools, and the Sun- 
 day schools have contributed bountifully, and to a 
 large extent wisely, to the furnishing of songs for chil- 
 dren. Yet the supply in the countr)/- schools and in 
 the homes of our land is far from sufficient. Just where 
 the fault lies it is difficult to say. Perhaps it is chiefly 
 because it has not been required as an exercise in the 
 country schools. Nearly all city schools have instruc- 
 tion in the rudiments of singing, as a part of their curric- 
 ula, and a special teacher or corps of teachers; but such 
 a thing as instruction in vocal music is rarely to be 
 found in country schools. 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 57 
 
 Teachers who have been taught to sing and who en- 
 joy it, usually indulge in one or two songs at opening 
 exercises but give no instruction in the rudiments. 
 Many make no pretense of singing, whatever, and easily 
 excuse themselves on the ground that they are not 
 musicians. In fact they look upon it as an unimpor- 
 tant matter and consider themselves about as well fitted 
 for their occupation as they need to be. 
 
 Our state legislatures that have not yet done so 
 should take the matter up and make the teaching of 
 vocal music one of the requirements in every school. 
 Every candidate for a county certificate should be 
 required to pass an examination, not only as to his 
 knowledge of the rudiments of vocal music but as to 
 his ability to sing. When this is done some attention 
 will be given to singing in the country schools; but so 
 long as it is not required we cannot look for much 
 improvement. When it has been made a law in the 
 schools, books and songs will quickly find their way 
 into the homes, and in a generation household singing 
 will be much more common and children will be better 
 off in this respect than they now are. 
 
 The time to teach a child to sing is early in life. 
 Long before the little one can speak plainly he will be 
 able to carry a simple tune, provided he is given the 
 opportunity to learn. A good many people consider 
 themselves incapable of learning to sing. They hold 
 to the opinion that music is a gift and that only a 
 limited number of people are endowed with it. This 
 
58 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 is an error that is altogether too common. JMusic is no 
 more a special gift than mathem.atics. There are prodi- 
 gies in both and dullards in both, and minds that repre- 
 sent every stage between these two extremes. But as 
 every one who is taken in time can become reasonably 
 proficient in mathematics, so every one can become 
 reasonably proficient in music, but the instruction and 
 the effort to learn must not be put off until maturity. 
 
 Religion. — ]Man's spiritual po\vers are doubtless in 
 the germ at birth but do not appear so early nor develop 
 so rapidly as his mental and physical powers. Still, a 
 child of two or three years of age is quite capable of re- 
 ceiving religious instruction. The spiritual nature 
 like the other powers should be cultivated all through 
 its development period. Too frequently the spiritual 
 side of a child's life is left to take care of itself. It can 
 no more come to its best possibilities by neglect than 
 can the others, while its importance certainly entitles 
 it to equal attention. 
 
 It is customary in dealing with the powers of man to 
 divide them into physical, mental, and spiritual. There 
 is no doubt but that any one of these can be cultivated 
 to the neglect of the others, or two of them to the neg- 
 lect of one. This often happens. When the physical 
 is highly developed and the others neglected, we have 
 the human brute, the most striking example of which 
 is the prize fighter. When the mental powers are culti- 
 vated to the utmost and the spiritual wholly left out 
 of consideration, we have the mental giant, one who 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 59 
 
 probably denies the existence of the spiritual and scoffs 
 at religion. ]\Iany people of the best intentions are 
 led astray in their thinking by this t}'pe of individual. 
 If the reason for his peculiarity were understood and 
 admitted he would largely be ■ shorn of his power to 
 do harm. The result of a one-sided training is per- 
 fectly simple and in accord with the laws of nature. 
 "As a man sows so shall he reap." If he sows mental 
 seed he cannot expect from it to reap a spiritual har- 
 vest. It is likewise a law of nature that if any growing 
 thing be deprived of its nourishment, if other and more 
 vigorous growths take from it its share of soil and sun- 
 shine, it will make a feeble effort for life, then atrophy 
 and finally die. The only strange thing about it is that 
 parents and teachers will permit themselves to make 
 such a fatal mistake. 
 
 Once again, the spiritual nature may be cultivated at 
 the expense of one or both of the others. In this case 
 we have the fanatic, the faddist, the ultra-religionist, 
 the promoter of isms and cults. This type is prob- 
 ably the most dangerous of all as he has religion without 
 reason, enthusiasm without thought, and can induce 
 a large number of unthinking people to accept his doc- 
 trines. The only safe course is to give proper and 
 reasonable attention to body, mind, and spirit, not to 
 push any to excess, and to wait patiently for results. 
 
 Religious instructions should go hand in hand with 
 story telling, as was suggested under that topic. Along 
 with the Bible stories and others of a religious nature 
 
6o THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the child will ask many questions in his efforts at com- 
 prehension. These should be answered truthfully and 
 candidly and expressed as nearly as possible in terms 
 of his experience so that he will not become confused. 
 Deep questions of theology and the everlasting punish- 
 ment of bad children are out of place and should be 
 avoided. The m^ain point is that a child should be 
 taught to believe in God, in his care over us, to speak 
 his name reverently, to worship him as our creator, and 
 to love him as our heavenly father. These with obedi- 
 ence to his commandments, as we come to know and 
 understand them, are the fundamental principles of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Forms of Worship. — Much of our religious worship is 
 of necessity carried on by means of forms and ceremo- 
 nies. These are sometimes spoken against by cynical 
 minded people as empty and useless. It is true they do 
 not in themselves constitute worship, but it is just as 
 true that they are a help to worship. A kneeling pos- 
 ture, clasped hands, closed eyes and upturned face, or 
 bowed head, tend to put one in a devotional frame of 
 mind. A beautiful and well-appointed church, a silent 
 and reverent audience, a saintly minister, a deep-toned 
 organ have a solemnizing effect, suggesting the presence 
 of God and the duty of man to worship him. 
 
 There is something fitting as well as beautiful in a 
 child kneeling at his mother's knee, night and morning, 
 to offer his prayers. A youth may wander far from the 
 paths of righteousness but he can never forget th 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 6 1 
 
 prayers of his childhood. But one need not go astray 
 to appreciate these memories. They are a consolation 
 to the good as well as to the evil, A good deal should 
 be made of the hour of prayer in a child's life. If it is 
 attended to carelessly, or in a hurry, the impression 
 made will not be for the best. The child himself 
 will come to the conclusion that it is not important 
 and drop the habit when the responsibility rests upon 
 him. 
 
 Singing should compose a part of the child's worship. 
 There are some beautiful little hymns for children 
 that have done splendid service in helping to form the 
 character of many noble minded men and women. 
 The Lord's Prayer and many of the Psalms can like- 
 wise be sung with pleasure and profit. 
 
 The Influence of Pictures. — Usefulness and happiness 
 are the ideals of life. In the life of a child, happiness and 
 preparation for usefulness cover the ground. A child's 
 happiness can only come from external sources. He 
 cannot amuse himself or occupy his time unless he is 
 provided with m.aterials. He has no problems waiting 
 for solution nor memories to fall back upon for enter- 
 tainment. His reflections are generally expended upon 
 concrete objects that are close at hand. His wants may 
 be very simple but they are immediate and constant. 
 What a blessing are pictures in contributing to his happi- 
 ness! A childhood without pictures would have many 
 ^ dreary waste within its boundaries. Fortunately the 
 Wipply is equal to the demand. With a little pains and 
 
62 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 a trifling outlay of money, both of which are of no im- 
 portance in proportion to the resuhs, a sufficient number 
 of suitable pictures can be obtained. 
 
 Pictures of animals, of children, of life in any right- 
 ful way are pleasing to the little ones, and so many les- 
 sons of usefulness can be taught that one need not stop 
 to specify in particular, unless it be to say that ideals 
 are perhaps oftenest found in this way. If you want a 
 child to be interested in any phase of life you have but 
 to keep him supplied with pictures of it, furnishing 
 necessary explanations from time to time, and your 
 desire is pretty certain to be realized. If you wish yodr 
 child to become like some great character in histor}-, 
 secure the best likeness possible of that character, 
 weave about it stories of his life, and the effect is cer- 
 tain to be marked. Hawthorne's story of the Great 
 Stone Face is a fine illustration of this fact. 
 
 There is a story of a woman whose sailor husband 
 was lost at sea leaving her three sons to bring up. She 
 was determined that these sons should have some other 
 occupation and so moved far inland where the charms 
 of the sea could not tempt them. Notwithstanding 
 her precautions, the boys thought, talked, and dreamed 
 of the sea. The oldest as he approached manhood 
 ran away and became a sailor. The second followed a 
 few years later and it seemed certain, in spite of her 
 tears and prayers and entreaties, that the youngest 
 would follow their example. The distracted mother 
 sought the counsel of her pastor. "Have you anything 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 63 
 
 about the house," inquired he, "that would be sug- 
 gestive of the sea?" "Nothing," rephed the woman, 
 "except a picture." "What kind of a picture?" was 
 the next question. "It is a picture of the sea that my 
 husband brought home many years ago. He was very 
 fond of it and 1 have not parted with it for his sake." 
 "That," declared the pastor, "explains why your sons 
 went to sea. The silent influence of that picture 
 aroused a passion for the sea in their young minds 
 that was too strong for parental restraint." 
 
 The woman if she had been wiser might have kept the 
 picture and her sons, too. The trouble was that it was 
 the only picture they had for their contemplation. If 
 they had been supplied with a dozen or a score of others, 
 showing different phases of life, the one would not have 
 pulled so strongly. As it was they had no other choice 
 and were powerless in the grasp of that one idea. 
 
 The Value of Travel. — If children are to make the ac- 
 quaintance of the world they must not be confined 
 wholly to one place. They must have a look now and 
 then outside of their usual environment. A child will 
 learn more in one day of travel than in a week at home. 
 Eyes and ears are open for every sight and sound. A 
 ten mile ride, to one who has seldom been beyond the 
 garden wall, is about what a trip to Europe is to the 
 average adult. Country children should be allowed 
 frequently to go to town wdth their parents. They 
 should see enough of town, life by the time they are 
 ten years of age to* prevent their appearing timid or 
 
64 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 gawky when invited to spend a day with their town. 
 cousins. 
 
 Any new place that is different from the home sur- 
 roundings will be interesting. If a child sees something 
 that attracts his attention and wonders at it, he should 
 not be pooh-poohed at by his elders who have seen 
 something bigger. Let him have his full satisfaction of 
 enjoyment out of it as long as he may. The notion 
 that there is nothing interesting around here is too prev- 
 alent. It often happens that children who live in the 
 mountains never see any beauty in them and wonder 
 how strangers can; and the same is true of those who 
 live upon the plains or in a rolling country. 
 
 The love of the beautiful is deeply implanted in the 
 human heart. Our Divine Parent has been most munif- 
 icent in supplying the means of enjoyment for his 
 children, but like all other good things they are not 
 always on the surface. To perceive the best things 
 requires a cultivated mind. "The ]\Ian with the Hoe" 
 can see no glory in the sunset nor beauty in the wild 
 flowers at his feet. If he could he would not be "The 
 Man with the Hoe," stupid, dull, and "brother to the 
 ox." This man was surrounded with beauty, the sky, 
 the woods, the flowers and the fields, but they were 
 never pointed out to him, at least not in his childhood, 
 else his soul would have awakened and responded to 
 their call. 
 
 What is insisted upon here is that children should 
 be taught to appreciate the commoner things of hfe, 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 65 
 
 the things they can see and investigate for themselves. 
 Extensive travel is out of the question for the majority 
 of children and it might not prove an unmixed blessing 
 if it were not. All things in moderation is a good guide 
 in training the young. It does not mean that the best 
 things of life are to be withheld, but it means that they 
 are to be supplied only as they can be appreciated and 
 utilized, and when some are not available others must be 
 made to take their places. The child is to be pitied who 
 has had gifts and amusements lavished upon him be- 
 yond his needs, who frets and pines and renders himself 
 and everybody around him unhappy because he cannot 
 think of anything he really wants. Unnatural and un- 
 timely desires are created and pandered to by parents 
 who have more money than knowledge. Then when 
 in the natural course of events the time is ripe for these 
 things they are an old story and do not satisfy. A boy 
 should not have a watch until he needs one, nor a pony 
 until he can take care of it and use it with safety. 
 
 Children's Industries. — As this part of our book deals 
 with children under school age there is not much to be 
 said about industries. Up to school age the child keeps 
 the parents busy attending to his wants. After that 
 the conditions may be gradually reversed. There are 
 some things, however, that a child from three to five 
 can do that will not interfere with his growth or with 
 his happiness and will add to his stock of knowledge 
 and increase his skillfulness. 
 
 A very small child can bring father his slippers, 
 
 5 
 
66 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 hand him a paper or a book, can wait upon mother 
 in many little ways and save her a multitude of steps. 
 Children take delight in watching things done and in 
 doing small errands to help along. Care should be 
 taken not to cut the child off from play too frequently, 
 nor to overdo the matter to the extent of making work 
 distasteful. This overdoing is most likely to happen 
 in homes where there is a baby to mind. Many an 
 oldest child has had cause to regret that otherwise 
 enviable position by being made a slave to younger 
 brothers or sisters. This is no imaginary evil but a 
 very real one. Baby becomes so fond of sister, and 
 sister's services are such a relief to mother, that between 
 the two, sister's time is taken up, the freedom of child- 
 hood is lost and life becomes a burden. 
 
 Tools, blocks, and boards have been mentioned be- 
 fore in connection with the playhouse. After- some 
 skill in their use has been acquired, and hand and eye 
 have learned a little to work together, simple instruction 
 should be given in cutting to pattern or to measure, 
 in joining and fitting. Small utensils, handles, boxes, 
 boats, anything that the surroundings suggest and that 
 is easy of construction, may be made according to speci- 
 fications. Toys such as tops, whistles, sleds, and wagons 
 will furnish a variety. 
 
 Gardening. — Plant knowledge may have its beginning 
 quite early. The child may watch the watering and 
 tending of window plants and flowers and when his 
 interest has been aroused his attention can be called to 
 
MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTION 67 
 
 their growth and flowering and he can observe their 
 development from day to day. He will learn that plants 
 must have soil, water, and sunshine; that tiny shoots 
 come up, grow, bud and blossom; that care and regu- 
 larity of attention are essential to their well-being. 
 
 From this it will be an easy step to the cultivation 
 of garden plants, fruits, and vegetables. After he has 
 watched the operation of planting, tending and gather- 
 ing a few times and has under directions had some share 
 in them, he may be permitted to undertake the culti- 
 vation of one or more plants by himself. If the child 
 requests the privilege for himself, so much the better. 
 If he does not, the idea may be suggested to his mind 
 by telling or reading a story of some other child doing 
 a like work. The desire should be in his mind ; he should 
 anticipate pleasure in tending and watching and per- 
 haps being rewarded in finally producing flower or fruit 
 as a result of his efforts, just as he has seen from the 
 efforts of his elders. 
 
 He should be furnished the proper space and mate- 
 rials, and his questions should be answered. Aside from 
 these he should be placed upon his own responsibility 
 except that in case he grows careless and neglectful 
 he may be told that his plant will not do well or will die 
 if he does not attend to its wants. In no case should 
 he be urged with a threat that if this plant is neglected 
 he will not get another. Tell him his little plant is 
 thirsty and will die if it does not get a drink, that 
 it is hungry for fresh soil and will not grow well unless 
 
68 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 it gets it. If this docs not suffice, let him suffer the 
 consequences that every one must suffer under like 
 circumstances, the loss of flower or fruit. That is a 
 natural punishment and should be sufficient to cause 
 him to do better another time. The appreciation of 
 his loss may be made keener if the enjoyment he might 
 have had is pointed out to him. W^ienever he is 
 sufficiently desirous, let him have another trial. 
 
 When success, no matter how small, has been 
 achieved and an ambition to do greater things has been 
 aroused, let the next effort be on a somewhat larger 
 scale. There is no need to arouse cupidity in a child's 
 mind by giving him money for fruit or vegetables of his 
 producing. In fact it is wrong to do so. Let them be 
 put upon the table so that he may share the triumphs 
 of his skill with the other members of the family. This, 
 however, applies only to very young children. When 
 they are older they may with safety be allowed to sell 
 their products for books and clothes. 
 
 The above outline probably suggests enough to un- 
 dertake with children up to five or six years of age. 
 From that time on their further instruction will be 
 considered in Part Second of this book. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 If the outline so far given should be filled in with 
 necessary details, adjusted to suit the needs of particu- 
 lar cases, and applied faithfully and conscientiously 
 there would not seem to be any need for rules of govern- 
 ment. The problem of government is very nearly the 
 problem of keeping a child busy in pleasant and useful 
 occupations. But as the best machinery that has yet 
 been invented will not work without friction and break- 
 age, so the best laid plans for the instruction of a child 
 will not go forward without trouble, vexation, and oc- 
 casional strife. 
 
 There is a certain perversity in human nature that 
 was put there for good and is a factor in the world's 
 progress, but it is frequently getting us into trouble 
 and will continue to do so all our lives unless we suc- 
 ceed in taming it and getting it under control. 
 
 This perversity appears early in life and needs the 
 wisest care lest it outgrow the judgment, become too 
 strong for the will, and cripple the usefulness of the in- 
 dividual for life. There are a multitude of parents who 
 are at a loss to know how to govern their children, 
 who would give all they possess if they could be sure 
 
 69 
 
70 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 of a right wa}^ and could bring themselves to the point 
 of carrying it out. There are multitudes of children 
 of good parents who will never realize the full develop- 
 ment of their powers, who will fight a losing battle 
 in their efforts to overcome their deficiencies of char- 
 acter, who will fall far short of the end for which they 
 were created and perhaps go entirely to destruction, 
 all because of lack of parental control and parental 
 wisdom in their early training. 
 
 The first essential of good government, then, is a 
 good governor. There can be no expert workmanship 
 without an expert workman. Government whether of 
 a child or of a nation is an art and must be acquired 
 the same way as any other art. It can come only by 
 example, observation, study, and experience. To master 
 the subject requires a trained mind, maturity of judg- 
 ment and much time. 
 
 How many young people plunge into matrimony 
 with little thought and less preparation for parental 
 duties! How much attention after marriage do they 
 give to the subject of child training previous to the 
 arrival of their first-born? Young parents are happy 
 and proud in their offspring but what is the outlook 
 for its bringing up? The matter is too important to 
 be entrusted to novices or bunglers. The children of 
 kings are carefully trained and educated to the limit 
 of their abilities. Those who are expected to rule are 
 tutored by the most skillful experts the kingdom affords. 
 Now every child is a probable future candidate for 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 7 1 
 
 parenthood, the highest privilege of citizenship, and 
 should be trained accordingly. 
 
 The family is the best type of kingdom in the world. 
 The father and mother are king and queen and reign 
 with undisputed authority, each having his or her 
 separate and distinct rights and duties. They love 
 their subjects and enjoy, or may enjoy, their absolute 
 confidence and esteem. All disputes, troubles, trials, 
 grievances come, usually before the queen first and if 
 not settled there, go to the king, from whose decision 
 there is no appeal. 
 
 Why then should there be trouble in the government 
 of such a kingdom? Is it not because the rulers do not 
 realize the importance of their positions, have not been 
 trained for it, have not made it the study of their lives, 
 do not appreciate the enormous responsibility that will 
 rest upon them if they fail, nor the honor that will be 
 theirs if they succeed? 
 
 The evidence seems to point to the conclusion that 
 parents as a rule do not attach to themselves the blame 
 that is due them when their children make wrecks of 
 their lives. People who have made failures, or who have 
 attained nothing, are very unlikely to cast the blame 
 upon their parents, while it is common for those who 
 have achieved the very pinnacle of success to ascribe it 
 all to the love and wisdoni and sacrifice of those who 
 bore them. The responsibility of the parents, however, 
 is no greater in the one case than in the other. 
 
 The Principles of Government. — When thought out 
 
72 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 and set in order the underlying principles of government 
 are few and easily understood. It is the details, the 
 adjustments, the diagnosis of individual cases of in- 
 fractions that are difficult. When Jehovah gave to 
 Moses the laws for the government of a great nation 
 they were written on two tablets of stone, the Ten Com- 
 mandments, so briefly stated that they could easily 
 be committed to memory, and so plain that any rational 
 minded man could understand them. The Saviour 
 condensed the ten into two, expressed them in one 
 sentence, and declared them to comprise the whole duty 
 of man. 
 
 The first principle is that there shall be authority, 
 capable, recognized, having mutual interests with those 
 governed and ha\'ing power to comm.and and to exe- 
 cute. 
 
 The second one is, there shall be laws or rules of 
 conduct, righteous, merciful, and just, stated plainly 
 and published sufficiently that all may know them. 
 
 Third, there must be allegiance and obedience, and 
 these are fundamental. To withhold allegiance is dis- 
 loyalty, to refuse obedience is rebellion, to break a law 
 is a misdemeanor or a crime. 
 
 Since an intelligent understanding of these princi- 
 ples is necessary before any kind of government can 
 be instituted we will proceed to discuss them in 
 order. 
 
 Of all forms of government that of the family is un- 
 doubtedly the oldest in existence. It obtains with a 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 73 
 
 good deal of unanimity showing that it is nature's 
 method. In some countries it extends farther than in 
 others giving the parents the power of Hfe and death 
 over their children. Among some races of men, and 
 among certain species of animals, the tribal form practi- 
 cally does away with family life. This has been tried 
 in a limited way by civilized nations but does not obtain 
 in any to-day. 
 
 The kind and amount of authority a man may exer- 
 cise over his children depends upon the customs of 
 society and the laws that govern the country. The 
 power of the group is great. An individual's actions 
 are not likely to be very different from those of the class 
 to which he belongs, that is he may not differ in ways 
 that would bring disapproval. Every community 
 has certain standards of family government, and any 
 one may go to the limit of these standards, even though 
 others do not, without incurring displeasure. But if he 
 should go contrary to the customs of his neighbors 
 their disapproval would act as a check. No man wants 
 the sentiments of his own class against him. 
 
 Also, there are laws in every countr}^ respecting the 
 rights and duties of parents and these laws must be 
 observed. But the laws and customs of every civilized 
 country concede to parents the right to exact obedience 
 of their children, to train them for usefulness, and to 
 give them as much education as they think best. Like- 
 wise they may have the products of the children's 
 labor up to a certain age. But the laws forbid the in- 
 
74 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 fliction of bodily injuries or the practice of cruelty in 
 any form. 
 
 In addition to the above, most if not all of the states 
 of the Union make it obligatory upon parents to edu- 
 cate their children, or at least to send them to school 
 a certain portion of the time, and they limit the par- 
 ents' authority by enacting laws upon the subject of 
 child labor. The tendency of the times is toward 
 greater stringency in legislation and a stricter enforce- 
 ment of the laws respecting both education and labor. 
 The argument for this is that the child will become a 
 citizen of the republic, that he will be a much better 
 citizen if properly trained and educated, that as the 
 population increases competition grows fiercer, and that 
 every one needs to be in possession of all his powers 
 with those powers properly developed if he is to succeed 
 in the struggle. The state is not interested from a com- 
 mercial standpoint alone. It believes every one should 
 have an opportunity to make the most of himself for 
 his own good. It wishes him to be prepared for all 
 the duties of life, both civic and domestic, and there- 
 fore it lays down its requirements. 
 
 Parental authority differs from civil authority in that 
 the latter is delegated while the former is not. Civil 
 authority is from the "consent of the governed." It 
 is the people making their own rules and regulations, 
 agreeing to them as contributing to the common wel- 
 fare, and living by them or sufTering the penalties which 
 they themselves prescribe. 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 75 
 
 But the right of parents to govern their children does 
 not come from the state. It is an inherent right. The 
 state has no authority except that which is given to it 
 by the people, while parents have all authority except 
 that which they in common with their neighbors sur- 
 render to the state. Neither do parents derive their 
 authority from the consent of the governed. From the 
 very nature of the case this could not be. Children 
 have no authority to delegate to their parents and no 
 wisdom to make rules for their own bringing up. Con- 
 sequently, as we said in the outset, the family is the best 
 type of kingdom in the world. 
 
 In laying down our first principle of government it is 
 stated that those in authority must have mutual in- 
 terest with the governed. In the case of the republic 
 the interests of the government and of the people 
 governed as a whole, are identical, but it is not entirely 
 so in the case of the family. The children look at 
 parental government from their own standpoint; if it* 
 is to their liking it is good, if not it is wrong. In early 
 life at least they consider only their own immediate 
 wants and desires. It is not in the nature of things 
 that they should look to their future welfare. Parents 
 live chiefly for their children, but they do not and should 
 not leave themselves out of the account. Their joy 
 or sorrow through life depends upon the rearing of these 
 little ones intrusted to their care. This is secondary, 
 however, their chief desire being that their children 
 shall live happy and useful lives, be an ornament to 
 
76 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 society and a blessing to the world. Their interest 
 in the children's welfare is equally as great as that of 
 the children themselves. 
 
 Laws, Rules, and Regulations. — Having now an idea 
 of authority, its sources, its rights, duties, and limita- 
 tions, we may consider the second principle of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 It would be impossible for people to live in commun- 
 ities without regulations. There would be a constant 
 clashing of interests that would lead to disputes, fights, 
 brawls, and the sacrifice of life. There could be no 
 peace, no social or trade regulations, without an under- 
 standing of the rights, privileges, and duties of all con- 
 cerned. Law is necessary to life. 
 
 When a number of people band themselves together 
 to found a state, as the colonists did in the early history 
 of our country, a multitude of problems arise that con- 
 cern all alike or nearly so. They all want protection, 
 'shelter, and food. Land must be cultivated and owner- 
 ship recognized. How shall it be apportioned and what 
 shall o\\Tiership consist in? Two may want the same 
 tract; how shall it be decided between them? Labor 
 will have to be exchanged for shelter or food ; what shall 
 be the medium of exchange, the unit of measurement? 
 Barter and sale will be necessary; upon what terms shall 
 they be effected? The strong will want to take ad- 
 vantage over the weak; how shall they be prevented? 
 All people have some form of worship but there are a 
 thousand different forms; who shall decide? Marriage 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 77 
 
 will be desired; how shall it be consummated? These 
 and a multitude of other, questions must be solved and 
 enacted into laws and made known to the people, so 
 that each one may know his duties and his limitations 
 and be secure in his rights and privileges. 
 
 Laws may be miade by all the people in assembly 
 at som.e appointed time and place, as was done by the 
 early settlers in Kentucky; they may be made by dele- 
 gates chosen for the purpose by the people, as in a 
 republic; or they may be made by the mother country 
 and a governor appointed to carry them out, as was the 
 case with the English colonists, or in still other ways. 
 But the most satisfactory laws are those for which the 
 people are directly responsible. When people make 
 their own laws, untrammeled and unhindered, there 
 can be no oppression, no trampling of rights, no dis- 
 loyalty. 
 
 There are no original forms of government in these 
 days and no need for any. Neither is the process for 
 law-making a new one. The subject has been studied 
 for thousands of years, but the methods of procedure 
 are still costly and cumbersome and no scheme has been 
 devised that has proved itself an unqualified success. 
 
 The principles upon which laws should be based are 
 those stated in our second principle of government 
 and are well understood by legislators everywhere. 
 When a matter is proposed to be enacted into law the 
 first question to be asked is, is it right? If it is wrong 
 in itself, or would effect wrong in its working, that is 
 
78 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 sufficient to condemn it. The greatest difficulty in the 
 way of righteous laws does not He in the securing of 
 legislators who know right from wrong, but in securing 
 men who cannot be bribed, influenced, or corrupted 
 in any form to swerve from that which they know to be 
 right. 
 
 So long as humanity is weak and inclined to error 
 the laws that govern it should be inclined towards 
 mercy. The weak need more protection than the strong 
 and are more likely to be oppressed, and the strong arm 
 of the law is their main dependence. Many favor very 
 rigid laws, thinking in that way to make control easier, 
 but history proves the contrary. A few centuries ago 
 England and other European countries had a great 
 many laws on their statute books that bore the death 
 penalty but crime was not lessened thereby. Also 
 it is more difficult to secure a conviction under a harsh 
 law than under a mild one. If in the opinion of a jury 
 a penalty is out of proportion to the offense, they are 
 slow to bring in a verdict of guilty. 
 
 That laws should be just is self-evident. Justice is 
 the bulwark of society. It means fair dealing and equal 
 opportunity to all. The love of justice is deeply im- 
 planted in the heart of humanity. Probably all persons 
 desire to be just, certainly everyone wants to be con- 
 sidered just; but the passion for money, for power, for 
 self-gratification is strong in many and blinds them as to 
 what justice is, or to their duty to be guided by its 
 principles. The term a "square deal for all" made a 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 79 
 
 strong impression upon the countr}' because it is a plea 
 for justice to all classes whether rich or poor. 
 
 All this is pertinent to the subject of family govern- 
 ment because all who bear rule should know the princi- 
 ples upon which human government of all kinds is 
 based. The family, as has been said, is a little kingdom 
 in itself, and to rule it rightly requires all the essential 
 principles that are used in governing nations. 
 
 Laws Should be Plainly Stated and Published. — There 
 is a well known maxim that ignorance of the law ex- 
 cuses no one, and this is as it should be; but it should 
 be equally emphasized that if there is ignorance of the 
 law some one is to blame. All rules of conduct should 
 be well known to those who are to live by them. They 
 should be stated clearly in simple language that the 
 ordinary mind can readily comprehend. Formerly 
 it was customary to couch the laws in terms so intri- 
 cate that it required the most expert legal minds to 
 interpret them, and even then there was room for end- 
 less discussion as to their exact meaning. This gave the 
 lawyers plenty to do but made the course of justice a 
 slow and doubtful process. Now the laws for the most 
 part are expressed in simple terms, and the simplest 
 and plainest interpretation has the preference. 
 
 It is equally important that they should be made 
 known to the people. It was customary in the old days 
 of the Jewish nation to assemble the people together 
 from time to time and read and explain the laws to 
 them. This not only made them familiar with the re- 
 
8o THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 quirements they were to observe, but it was done in such 
 a manner as to cause the people to reverence the laws; 
 and when this state of mind prevails enforcement is a 
 comparatively easy matter. Our countr)^ is at fault 
 in this particular. Our laws are so voluminous that 
 there is little effort made to put them before the people 
 as a whole. If one wants to know the law on any sub- 
 ject he must secure a copy of the statutes and look it 
 up, often a difficult matter in itself, or consult a 
 lawyer. 
 
 In family government there should be definite rules 
 of conduct and the children should be well informed 
 as to their part in keeping them. It is not necessary 
 that they should all be written, but they should be 
 thoroughly understood. The lack of definite plans and 
 understanding of what is required is one of the chief 
 weaknesses of family government. Rules should be 
 few and simple but they should be made plain and 
 lived from day to day so that they shall be learned by 
 experience rather than by rote. There is a prejudice 
 against formal rules in these days that is carried to an 
 extreme, caused no doubt by the custom of former 
 times of making a long list of minute and exacting rules 
 the keeping of which grew to be an unnecessary burden. 
 The revulsion of feeling brought about by such a method 
 led to the other extreme and in some cases all rules 
 were abandoned. 
 
 When the Ten Commandments were given to the 
 children of Israel the instruction to parents to teach 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 8 1 
 
 them to their children was made exceedingly emphatic. 
 "Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, 
 and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, 
 and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
 down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind 
 them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as 
 frontlets between thy eyes. And thou shalt write 
 them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." 
 (Deut. VI : 7-9). This was undoubtedly the essence of 
 wisdom and if the Jews had lived strictly according to 
 its teaching they would not have perished as a nation. 
 
 Lastly, rules should not descend to petty details but 
 should be upon rather broad lines that will leave some 
 room for the exercise of judgment. No one likes to 
 have ever>' little matter laid down with a " thou shalt " 
 or a " thou shalt not " as though he had no power of 
 thought in himself. A general law is a measure for 
 particular cases. Let the person concerned apply the 
 particular case to the general rule, and if he misses the 
 mark it will only be an error in judgment, and when 
 the mistake is apparent he will be enlightened. If he 
 feels the need of instruction he will ask for it. He should 
 be held accountable for his judgment as well as for his 
 actions. 
 
 The Third Principle. — Allegiance is the obligation of a 
 subject to the power over him. Loyalty is the sentiment 
 of the mind acknowledging that allegiance, and obe- 
 dience is the outward manifestation of loyalty. We 
 owe allegiance to the government that gives us citizen- 
 6 
 
82 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ship and protection, we are loyal when we acknowledge 
 this allegiance by word and deed. 
 
 The matter of allegiance to rightful authority ought 
 to be emphasized more than it is. There is no humili- 
 ation in being subject to goverrmient. It is an honor 
 to be a citizen of any civilized country, to be a member 
 of a church, a soldier in the army, a student in a school, 
 a member of a family. Whether we are in an organ- 
 ization by force of circumstances over which we have 
 no control, as by being born into a family and into 
 citizenship in a nation, or whether we put ourselves 
 in voluntarily, as in a church or school, makes no 
 difference in owing allegiance. If we are a part of an 
 organization which contributes to our well-being we 
 owe it allegiance corresponding to the benefits we re- 
 ceive. 
 
 It is in the former way that children owe allegiance 
 to the family government. They are subject to it, not 
 by request or consent, but because their entire well- 
 being depends upon it. They should be taught to 
 look upon it as the greatest blessing in life, to reverence 
 it and to render a cheerful and willing obedience to it. 
 To a certain extent, all this comes naturally but it needs 
 emphasis now and again. Children wonder why they 
 should do this or that contrary to their inclinations, or 
 why they should not do a thing they wish to do. When 
 it is within their understanding they should be told 
 just why they should or should not, and they should 
 also learn to obey unquestioningly, whether they can 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 83 
 
 understand the whys and wherefores or not. The 
 first great lesson to learn in life is obedience to au- 
 thority. 
 
 The Nature of Offenses. — The writer remembers a 
 most excellent man stating many years ago that one 
 sin was as offensive in the sight of God as another. 
 He at the time accepted it as truth. Reason teaches us, 
 however, that such cannot be the case. There are slight 
 offenses and great offenses with all gradations between. 
 When an offense has been committed the first thing 
 in order is to examine into the nature of it. There 
 are disciplinarians who have but little judgment when 
 considering the seriousness of offenses. It seems to 
 give them pleasure to magnify an incident that is 
 slight into one that is grievous. They look upon any 
 little offense as an affront to themselves. Their dig- 
 nity is attacked, their vanity is injured, their con- 
 trol is slipping away from them. Something severe 
 must be done or the whole system will fall to pieces. 
 They lose sight of the real quality of the offense in 
 nursing their own imaginary grievance. 
 
 One should always look at an offense from the stand- 
 point of the one who committed it. Probably no affront 
 was intended, no dignity attacked, and if vanity was 
 wounded it needed to be. "Put yourself in his place" 
 is a great maxim in government. But many say, "I 
 never did such awful things when I was a child; I always 
 acted thus and so." Such an argument only shows that 
 one has forgotten his childhood or is self-deceived in 
 
84 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the way he looked at things when a child. If one did not 
 do that particular thing he did other things fully as 
 bad, or if he did not it was because of different circum- 
 stances. Perhaps he had better training than he is 
 giving his own child. 
 
 Another will argue that even a slight offense is dis- 
 obedience, and that disobedience is a capital offense 
 meriting severe punishment. Disobedience is truly a 
 capital offenss but even so there is as much difference 
 in acts of disobedience as in any other class of offenses. 
 We must have an eye for the main point, and the main 
 point is, the offense itself, is it a grievous one? Does 
 it or will it result in serious evil? Will it lead to greater 
 offenses? Will it have a deleterious effect upon the 
 character of the offender? These are the points by 
 which it should be judged. 
 
 After passing judgment upon the offense itself the 
 next step is to discover the motive that prompted it. 
 This is quite as important as the deed itself and the 
 penalty that should be inflicted depends almost en- 
 tirely upon it. An act cannot be judged by its conse- 
 quences but only by the way it happened. The same 
 act may deserve at one time censure, at another pity, 
 and still at another praise. 
 
 Cases in Point. — Suppose that a little girl is appointed 
 the task of handling certain dishes and is instructed 
 to handle them carefully. If in a fit of anger or through 
 carelessness the dishes are broken she is deserving of 
 censure. But suppose she is doing her best when a 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMICNT .85 
 
 noise occurs in the yard, the dog rushes by, knocks 
 her over and crash go the dishes, she now deserves pity. 
 Again suppose she is absorbed in her work, something 
 attracts her attention, she sees the baby about to tumble 
 into an open cistern, she drops the dishes and they are 
 broken into fragments but the child is rescued. The 
 broken dishes are just as great a loss as in the first in- 
 stance, but now every one will say she deserves praise. 
 
 A man kills his neighbor. It may be a horrible 
 crime, it may be justifiable homicide, it may be a praise- 
 worthy deed, all depending upon how it happened. If 
 it was done for a selfish purpose and with premeditation 
 it is a crime; if in self-protection, it is justifiable; if it 
 was necessary to the defense of family or of innocent 
 people it is praiseworthy. 
 
 Direct disobedience may be deserving of the highest 
 praise. A boy may be told that he is not to go into a 
 certain pond under any circumstances without express 
 permission. If he should see a comrade drowning and 
 should with great danger to himself plunge in and bring 
 him safely to shore, he would have acted right, would 
 be a hero and deserve a Carnegie medal. 
 
 But motives are not always so easily discoverable 
 as in the cases above given. Very often they require 
 a deal of penetration and investigation, but however 
 hidden it may be, there is always a motive and we can- 
 not determine what judgment to render until we have 
 located it. If it will not come to the surface we must 
 postpone judgment, for we can in no case deal intelli- 
 
86 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 gently with an act without knowing why it was com- 
 mitted. If an offense is serious in itself and the motive 
 obscure, it will pay to devote time and attention to its 
 investigation rather than to make a mistake in judg- 
 ment or to let it go unnoticed. 
 
 Personal Offenses. — If an act of wrong is plainly due 
 to personal motives, spite, malice, dislike or contempt 
 of authority, it is a strong indication of something at 
 fault in the relationship between governor and governed. 
 The case needs searching introspection on the part of 
 the one whose commands have been set at naught. 
 In very many cases the fault will be discovered in the 
 manner in which the authority was exercised. It may 
 have been selfish, arrogant, untimely, or harsh. Un- 
 warranted or unwise punishment may fiave been in- 
 flicted and the feelings outraged. How natural it is 
 for children and adults too to seek relief by wreaking 
 vengeance or setting at naught the author of their woes. 
 
 There are so many ways of going wrong in adminis- 
 tering authority that parents need to keep a sharp 
 lookout and not punish the little ones when the blame 
 for their misconduct lies almost wholly with themselves. 
 If the machiner}^ is found to be out of order let the first 
 care be to set it right, then attend to the damage. If 
 the parent has been at fault and acknowledges it, that 
 acknowledgment will make a deep impression upon 
 the child's mind and the efTect will be far better than 
 if the fault is ignored and the child punished. 
 
 Children cannot analyze their own feelings, frequently 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 87 
 
 cannot trace their own motives, but the motives are 
 there and parents should do the analyzing. It may come 
 as a shock to the young to learn that parents are not 
 infallible, even when they have rebelled at their author- 
 ity, and it may produce great surprise to find them 
 acknowledging their mistakes, but the lesson they will 
 learn from the latter will more than offset any harm 
 that wdll come to them from the former. 
 
 While a great majority of these cases of personal 
 offense are due to the fault or weakness of the persons 
 in authority thej^ are occasionally due to other causes. 
 They may have arisen from the influence of an outside 
 party who has counseled it or set the example. If this 
 should be true a serious talk with the offender will 
 probably set matters right. But the fault may lie in 
 the perversity of the offender. When this is so the 
 case v/ould seem to merit severe treatment, but here 
 again we must take heed to the source from which the 
 motive sprung. The child has only yielded to an in- 
 herited weakness, a weakness for which he is not 
 responsible and for the possession of which he is not to 
 blame. His only blame lies in yielding to the weakness. 
 
 Now this perversity, as was said before, is implanted 
 in us and has its uses. It cannot be wholly eradicated 
 and should not be if it could; but it can and should be 
 checked and put under control, and the child who has 
 yielded to it needs not punishment so much as help. 
 He should be told that this inclination to do personal 
 injury may lead to great wrong both to himself and to 
 
88 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 others and must be overcome. He must show his 
 strength by not yielding when the incHnation comes. 
 If he is given to see his wrong act in the Hght of weak- 
 ness on his part, and his resistance to it in the Hght of 
 strength, he will set about his own reform which is the 
 point to be desired. The use of this method is largely 
 the secret of successful character training. 
 
 Propensity to Investigate. — Childhood seeking ac- 
 quaintance with its environment must needs investi- 
 gate everything that comes to hand. It was this desire 
 to obtain information at first hand that led our first 
 parents, in the childhood of the race, to eat the for- 
 bidden fruit; and childhood has been getting itself 
 into trouble ever since in much the same way. Every- 
 thing must be examined, inspected, experimented 
 with. "Want shee wheels go wound" has been the 
 cry of an infinite number of "Toddies." Neither can 
 these youthful discoverers wait to be shown things. 
 They are continually on the search for things to in- 
 vestigate. "The mountain would not come to Mahomet 
 so Mahomet goes to the mountain." This illustrates 
 the spirit of childhood. 
 
 How many scrapes are the result of this inquiring 
 disposition! Their name is legion. Give a child a 
 hammer and he will pound everything from his own 
 toes to a plate glass mirror, just to see what will hap- 
 pen. His mishaps are about equally divided between 
 those that fall on his own luckless head and those that 
 result in the destruction of property, and run all the 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 89 
 
 way from grabbing a candle flame to smashing his 
 grandmother's spectacles. 
 
 Every experienced child trainer knows that the only 
 proper way to deal with this spirit is to be ever on the 
 alert to avoid calamity. It would not do to crush out 
 such a propensity if it were possible to do so. That 
 would be the greatest calamity that could happen. 
 Its exercise gives him supreme delight and is the high 
 road to usefulness, to the development of his faculties, 
 to the acquisition of knowledge. 
 
 It is well worth while to study a child in this investi- 
 gating period. Some things he casts aside with very 
 little examination. Their qualities do not appeal to 
 him. Other things will absorb his attention. It is 
 through these that his mind can be reached and in- 
 struction given. Often the best instruction is that which 
 is not given directly, which however well planned will 
 appear entirely unconventional to him. Many little 
 things designed for his investigation need not be given 
 him but may be placed where he will happen upon them 
 in his journeyings about the room. 
 
 When he fmds an object thus provided he may be 
 left to examine it in his own way. If he thinks he has 
 discovered something important and brings it up with a 
 "Look what I found," it should be appreciated but no 
 enlightenment given unless he asks for it or unless some 
 hint is needed to aid his ingenuity in discovering its 
 properties. By allowing him this freedom to act for 
 himself one may sooner discover what things appeal 
 
90 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 to him and what do not. If he is going wrong, that is 
 if he is inclined to things that are harmful, some other 
 avenue must be sought, other interests aroused. But 
 so long as his interests are harmless his instruction will 
 proceed best by following his lead. 
 
 In this way a child practically outlines his own. sys- 
 tem of instruction, and the truth of the saying that one 
 cannot outline a course of instruction for a child with- 
 out knowing the child is proved. Besides, the things 
 that attract one day may be discarded the next. A 
 child's interests change rapidly and we cannot prescribe 
 for any length of time ahead. Our knowledge must be 
 of the progressive sort to keep pace with his rapid de- 
 velopment and the consequent changes in requirements. 
 
 Progress is often, indeed most generally, retarded 
 from lack of material for the growing mind to work 
 upon. It will tax the ingenuity and wisdom of the 
 brightest intellect to provide the material that an in- 
 vestigating child can use to advantage. It should be 
 kept in mind that to make the most of one's powers 
 they must be put to use and kept in use while they are 
 developing. So many child minds are starved in bar- 
 ren surroundings all through the years when growth 
 should be the most rapid, that it is no wonder in later 
 years they fail to respond when an opportunity for 
 education offers. No wonder their powers are hard to 
 awaken, and still harder to bring into service, if they 
 have lain dormant through the very period when they 
 should have been most active. 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 9I 
 
 There is danger too of checking this spirit of investi- 
 gation by continually snatching things away from the 
 child with a "baby must not have that, and baby must 
 not touch this," and nothing provided that he may touch 
 and handle to his heart's content. If he persists he is 
 punished, if he gives up it is to whine and cry and fret 
 until he is worn out and goes to sleep. If the investi- 
 gating spirit is not killed by- this method of procedure 
 it will take the only way possible under the circum- 
 stances, investigate on the sly and run the risk of pun- 
 ishment if discovered. 
 
 Here is an instance. The baby has been unusually 
 troublesome, getting into everything and being chidden 
 for each and every offense until the nurse is distracted. 
 She finally gets him into a state of semi-quiet, makes 
 everything "safe" and runs out for a little chat with a 
 neighbor, just to relieve the tension. She is no sooner 
 gone than baby begins to look around. Everything is 
 out of reach; but by pushing a chair up to the table 
 he can climb first upon the chair and then upon the 
 table and there is the ink bottle. What a find! It 
 takes some time to extract the cork but it yields at 
 last and with it comes the ink. What a beautiful color! 
 Hands, face, clothes, table are smeared. It is the finest 
 thing he has found since he can remember. About this 
 time the nurse comes to the end of a most interesting 
 tale and listens for some sound in the nursery. Hear- 
 ing nothing she remarks to her neighbor, "That baby 
 must be in some mischief or he wouldn't be still so 
 
92 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 long." Sighing over the weight of her responsibilities 
 she returns to her charge. Imagine the scene when she 
 opens the door. Exclamations, reproaches, punish- 
 ment, howls! The beautiful time is over and the con- 
 sequences have been suffered, but, after all, was it not 
 v/orth it? 
 
 This constant interference leads to endless skirm- 
 ishes and trials of wit in which the child is not always 
 defeated. Some lessons are learned with such instruction 
 that will not soon be forgotten. How to escape con- 
 trol, how to do the things one wants to do and avoid 
 detection, how to battle for one's rights, how to prevari- 
 cate when punishment threatens, these are brought to 
 perfection by practice — and who is to blame? Surely 
 not the child, for was he not driven to it by the in- 
 stinct of self-protection, the hrst law of nature? The 
 only alternative was mental starvation, atrophy and 
 death with no hope of resurrection, a condition much 
 more pitiable. 
 
 If a child could whisper instruction to that fictitious 
 bird with the long legs and the strong bill that carries 
 the tiny ones from heaven to their destination on earth, 
 what a dearth of child life there would be in those 
 homes that are barren of toys and pictures and books 
 and all the delights of child life. But said bird is a 
 stupid creature and makes a muckle o' mistakes which 
 lead to the everlasting degradation and final destruction 
 of myriads of helpless souls. 
 
 Untruthfulness. — One of the wavs children learn to 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 93 
 
 tell lies has been indicated above, but there are a thou- 
 sand ways of learning an evil. As is well known all 
 evils start with small beginnings and the best time to 
 cure them is in the early stages before the practice be- 
 comes habitual. There is no doubt but the most in- 
 veterate liars could have been cured if they had been 
 taken in time and the proper treatment administered. 
 Just what the proper treatment is for certain cases most 
 people are at a loss to know. 
 
 Prevention, however, is better than cure and conse- 
 quently parents should observe the greatest care to 
 keep temptation out of the way. There should be as 
 little occasion as possible for children to deceive or 
 prevaricate. Lying is always done for a reason and 
 with the idea of gain, usually to avoid detection, to 
 escape punishment, or to obtain possession of some 
 coveted article. 
 
 Lying is often induced by asking children if they did 
 this or that naughty act. What is more natural than 
 that a child should deny doing a thing if by such denial 
 he may avoid punishment? And if he finds it will work 
 on one occasion, will he not surely adopt it as a regular 
 method of procedure? It is unwise to ask questions 
 to elicit information when there is a possibility of get- 
 ting an untruth for answer. If investigation is necessary- 
 let it be through other channels than by questioning 
 the supposed perpetrator. Almost any offense w^ould 
 better go unchallenged than to make opportunity for a 
 child to lie out of it. 
 
94 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 Again, children are made to promise that they will 
 not repeat an offense for which they are being punished, 
 more punishment awaiting if they do not promise. A 
 child quickly learns that the way to stop the punish- 
 ment is to make the promise. Soon a temptation will 
 come, the act will be repeated and now he must be 
 punished more severely because he has added lying 
 to his original offense. The punishment with the 
 promise, along with an extra promise that this one will 
 be kept, goes on and the child is on the highway to 
 become an expert liar. A child may need punishing, 
 but the punisliment is to keep him from repeating the 
 offense and no promise is needed and none should ever 
 be required. 
 
 Truthfulness can be taught in a variety of ways but 
 it is extremely doubtful if any bad case of lying can be 
 cured by corporal punishment. A child should be 
 taught, first of all, that truth is in itself better than ly- 
 ing and that it pays better; that it is a splendid thing 
 to be trustworthy, to have one's own w^ord depended 
 upon. Second, lying should be made to appear, as it is, 
 abominable. The child should be led to see that the im- 
 mediate advantage which an undetected lie may bring 
 is more than offset by the evil consequences that are cer- 
 tain to follow; that lying is sure to be detected sooner or 
 later with loss of reputation; that every one despises 
 falsehood, even those who indulge in it. Third, along 
 with precept should go example. Parents and teachers 
 should show a reverence for veracity and be exceedingly 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 95 
 
 careful in all their speech that no semblance of false- 
 hood may appear even in jest. 
 
 Imitation. — The reason correct example is so all im- 
 portant is because children are such perfect imitators. 
 We all learn more by watching others and following 
 their example than we are aware of. This propensity 
 appears more pronounced to us when we find ourselves 
 in strange company where the customs are not familiar 
 to us and we are afraid of going wrong. In such a 
 position we keep a sharp eye on what others are doing 
 and imitate them as skillfully as we may. 
 
 Now children are in a strange world and are always 
 running against ways that are unfamiliar to them, and 
 as their reasoning powers are not strong their main 
 chance for adapting themselves to their surroundings 
 is by imitating their elders. Being particularly anx- 
 ious to act like and be like those whom they love, 
 they admire and copy their ways assiduously. Words, 
 phrases, exclamations, movements and even the slight- 
 est mannerisms will be studied and practiced until 
 they are mastered. Anything that especially strikes 
 their fancy as when some small accident provokes an 
 involuntary by-word they will catch in a twinkling. 
 A little girl was watching her father mending a small 
 frame. At one of his hammer strokes a stick flew up 
 and struck his nose. " Confound that stick," exclaimed 
 the father. The suddenness of the accident and the 
 unexpected and previously unheard remark at first 
 alarmed the child, but when she saw there was no seri- 
 
96 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ous harm done the humorous side of it struck her and 
 she laughed in the greatest glee. Presently she ran 
 to her mother and rehearsed the incident for her bene- 
 fit. She would strike a blow with her little fist, an 
 imaginary stick would fly up, she would grasp her nose 
 and cry out, "Tonfound dat 'tick!" The adoption of 
 the by-word followed as a matter of course. 
 
 This tendency to imitate is a stronghold in character 
 forming. It lays the necessity of putting a guard upon 
 every word and action lest undesirable traits appear 
 that will not be easily eradicated. It is hard to for- 
 bid children doing what they have learned from parents, 
 pastor or other highly esteemed grown-ups. It may 
 seem irksome to be ever on one's guard but it is one of 
 the responsibilities of parenthood and the good results 
 are well worth all the effort required. 
 
 It is incumbent upon parents to be in character what 
 they desire their offspring to be. They may have habits 
 which they deplore but have not the power of will to 
 overcome. They desire their children to escape these 
 habits, but how shall they prevent them from following 
 the example they themselves set? It is inconsistent 
 to i)unish another for what one allows in himself. 
 Children may and often do escape the bad habits of 
 their parents, but when they do, it is usually through 
 the influence and better example of others. This is 
 infinitely better than the forming of evil habits, but the 
 knowledge that their children's good traits are due to 
 others cannot be entirely comforting. 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 97 
 
 Imitation from Outside Influences. — A large part of 
 one's character comes from contact with others of about 
 one's own age and class. If a child's playmates are a 
 little older and better versed in the ways of the world 
 their influence is particularly strong. A child cannot 
 l)lay for a single hour with other children without show- 
 ing their influence upon him. He will consciously or 
 unconsciously adopt their words and their ways. He 
 learns quickly their advanced knowledge, and will never 
 again be quite the same person he was before. No child 
 should be kept away from all other children for fear 
 of contaminating influences, but there are very many 
 whose intimacy should be avoided. 
 
 Children that are brought up in towns or villages 
 and allowed the freedom of the streets acquire bad 
 language and evil thoughts with great readiness. Evils 
 attach themselves to the mind like burrs to woolen 
 cloth and are more difficult of removal. It takes all the 
 power of parents, Sunday school teachers and day school 
 teachers to offset the evil influences of the street; and 
 even with the united efforts of all these the street fre- 
 quently comes off victorious. What then is to be done? 
 Manifestly there is only one course to pursue and that 
 is, keep the children off the street. Any parent who 
 imagines his power over his child to be greater than 
 that of the street, is likely to come to grief. 
 
 How many parents allow their children to wander 
 at will, all the day through, without the faintest idea 
 of who their associates are or of what they are doing. 
 
 7 
 
98 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 To be at home for meals and at bedtime is all that is 
 required. If they escape some of the ills that childish 
 folly is heir to, it will not be due to the parents' care. 
 It is morally certain that they will not escape them all. 
 
 Little children should never be allowed outside of 
 their own domain except when under the care of some 
 responsible and capable person. 
 
 It is impossible to successfully combat the influence 
 of evil associations and still allow the evil associations 
 to go on. Children may repeat in the home vulgarisms 
 they hear on the street and be told they miust not use 
 such language and they may be punished for it but it 
 will not cure them. They will simply have a care to 
 avoid punishment and go on using them when out of 
 hearing. 
 
 It is an evil day when a child learns that it is wise 
 not to confide in father and mother, that a large part 
 of the knowledge he acquires from his companions must 
 be kept from them. Parents having once shut them- 
 selves out from the confidence of their child will never 
 be able to enter that sacred citadel of the heart again : 
 try they ever so hard. They may plead, scold, pumsh, 
 weep, but it is shut against all their efforts. Yet they 
 cannot permit disgusting remarks to go unchallenged. 
 What is to be done? The answer again is, there is only 
 one safe way and that is to keep the child from contami- 
 nating influences. 
 
 The home should be made attractive. There should 
 be plenty of out-door space for play. Children of the 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 99 
 
 right sort may come and play with them and they may 
 return their visits under proper restrictions. A child's 
 surroundings must be sufficiently attractive to satisfy 
 his desires or else he will break away or be restive under 
 restraint. Parents who keep their children in, but fail 
 to provide them with suitable activities, are about as 
 much at fault as those who permit them to run at large. 
 
 The Power of the Group. — The influence of associ- 
 ation is strongly seen in what has come to be known as 
 The Power of the Group. We can tell from what 
 section of the country a man comes by hearing him 
 speak. He uses the same dialect or peculiarity of pro- 
 nunciation as the people of his section and we recognize 
 it at once. We say he is a down-east Yankee, or he is 
 from the middle West, or he is a Southerner. Whichever 
 it may be, we assume that he has the qualities common 
 to the people of his class. We assume this because we 
 know a person is not likely to be very different from the 
 people with whom he associates. 
 
 Society forms itself into classes according to similar- 
 ity of ideas and tastes, of religious belief, of educational 
 advantages, of social standing. When one joins a 
 group he is expected to act in concert with the group. 
 If he will not conform, the group will bring pressure 
 to bear upon him ; and if he is intractable, he will lose 
 standing and perhaps be expelled, persecuted, or ig- 
 nored. Any group has a vast power over its members. 
 
 This power is manifest in children at an early age. 
 You may see an illustration of it almost any time if 
 
lOO THE TRAINING OV CHILDREN 
 
 you will watch a group of children at play. One is in- 
 jured, roughly treated, or bullied, and not being able 
 to retaliate, he starts off in high dudgeon, defying the 
 whole group and declaring "I will tell my mother." 
 Now the group sees possible disaster ahead but it is 
 not without resources. "Telltale, mamma's boy, cry- 
 baby" are some of the taunts hurled after him. He 
 stops to answer but the gibes and mocking laughter 
 continue. His fierce determination relaxes, his swift 
 gait begins to lag. Presently he stops, turns to one 
 side, and pouts. The gibes cease, they have done their 
 work, all danger is over. By and by the injured one 
 returns shamefacedly, is received with good nature, 
 and harmony is restored. 
 
 Recognizing this power, as every one must, those 
 that have the training of the young must not fail to 
 reckon with it. It matters not so much in what city 
 or in what section of the country one lives, there are 
 good and bad in all, but the difference comes in choos- 
 ing the class with which one is to associate. This is 
 more difficult in the country or in small villages than 
 in the city where there are enough of all classes to suit 
 every one's taste. In selecting a group, the important 
 thing to consider is that the standards of the individual 
 are not likely to be much above or much different from 
 the standards of the group with which he associates. 
 Therefore parents need to exercise the greatest care in 
 choosing associates for their children. 
 
 In this connection it may be well to say that the 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT lOI 
 
 children of the poor are as Hkely to be free from vices 
 as the children of the rich. There is a tendency on the 
 part of certain parents to toady to those who are better 
 off in this world's goods than themselves and to consider 
 it an honor if their children are allowed to associate 
 with those of the more favored neighbor. There is 
 danger too that the children will catch this spirit of 
 toadyism and be content to play second fiddle when 
 their powers of intellect entitle them to an equal foot- 
 ing with others. The rich man's son, accustomed to 
 seeing his father lord it over those around him, naturally 
 assumes the same right over his playfellows and they 
 are too prone to accept this rule as coming by divine 
 right. Far better let them associate with those of their 
 own station, at least until they have acquired some 
 independence of character and are able to assert and 
 maintain their own rights. Poverty will not rub off, 
 and while bad grammar may be contagious it is not 
 contaminating. It is readily curable and leaves no 
 stains or scars. 
 
 The Rights of Property. — The little words mine and 
 tliine are much alike and closely related and one would 
 seem to be as easily understood as the other, but it is 
 not so. Many children grasp the idea of the former 
 and hold on to it with great tenacity, but that the latter 
 has any rights they are bound to respect they are slow 
 to perceive. This is natural enough in view of the 
 circumstances that frequently surround a child. He 
 is supplied with toys and hears them referred to as 
 
I02 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 "baby's rattle, baby's doll, baby's wagon," and what 
 not, until he looks upon all such things as belonging 
 to him. When he comes into contact with some other 
 child who has toys, and one of them strikes his fancy, he 
 appropriates it and then trouble ensues. The owner 
 wants it and grabs for it, the appropriator will not give 
 it up, and all the symptoms of a first class row are in 
 e\idence. 
 
 Just here his education on the rights of property 
 should begin. He must be made to understand that 
 the object in dispute belongs to Willie and these other 
 things belong to him. He may have his own playthings 
 but must not take Willie's. On the other hand, while 
 not interfering with discipline in this particular in- 
 stance, Willie must be taught to be generous with his 
 playthings and let the baby use them. It is a nice 
 distinction, this being generous in the use of objects and 
 still retaining a property right in them, but with pa- 
 tience it can be taught. 
 
 It is to be feared children often get the idea of ap- 
 propriating things from members of the household. 
 Articles are given them temporarily and when wanted 
 for use are taken away by main force. The article 
 was given without any explanation of its temporary sur- 
 render and the child supposes he has the same right 
 of possession that he enjoys with his other playthings 
 and consequently fights for it. Many people think 
 such little matters as these are of no consequence and 
 disregard them; but little matters often lead to serious 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 103 
 
 things, that require ten times the effort to overcome, 
 if indeed they are overcome, than would have been 
 necessary for a different course of action in the first 
 place. 
 
 It is evident then that a child's rights of possession 
 should be treated with as much respect as the rights 
 of grown people. What is his is his, and he has the first 
 right to it. He should be taught to lend things and 
 share their use as grown people do, but if an article 
 is borrowed from him it should be returned promptly 
 with a word of thanks thus recognizing his generosity. 
 If things are wrenched from him it will but teach him 
 to be violent in turn and bring trouble and punishment 
 and other evil consequences upon his head. 
 
 It is just as important that a child should be taught 
 to respect the property rights of older members of the 
 household. It too often occurs that a little one learns 
 that he can master the whole household, that by fight- 
 ing and screaming he can obtain possession of almost 
 anything he may want, no matter to whom it may be- 
 long. Some children learn this art of grabbing and fight- 
 ing for things and practice it until they become a nui- 
 sance. They will do it, wherever they happen to be, 
 to the embarrassment of all concerned. 
 
 Children should learn to respect the property rights 
 of father and mother and all the other members of 
 the family, and of outsiders still more particularly. If 
 they want anything that belongs to another they must 
 ask for it politely and return it with equal courtesy. 
 
I04 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 The easiest time in life to teacli these things is at the 
 beginning. It is easier to form than to reform. Polite- 
 ness and a proper respect is so becoming in children 
 that it is worth while to train them to it for that reason 
 alone, but its results are so far-reaching and weighty 
 that they should not be neglected for any reason. 
 
 The writer in a quarter century of teaching has been 
 called upon to deal with a good many cases of child- 
 stealing. Evils seldom travel singly, and stealing is 
 certain to be accompanied with lying. It is of little 
 use to attempt to force an admission of guilt by ques- 
 tioning. Even if the victim is caught by the adroit- 
 ness of the questioner it only teaches him the necessity 
 of greater caution in the future. Neither will punish- 
 ment be likely to effect a cure. The method that worked 
 best in the writer's experience can perhaps best be 
 explained by giving one or two instances that actually 
 occurred when he was superintendent of public schools. 
 
 Number One was a girl of about thirteen years of age 
 in the seventh grade who was accused of taking part 
 of a schoolm.ate's dinner from one of the baskets in the 
 hall. Before interviewing the accused all the evidence 
 obtainable was mastered and put in orderly sequence. 
 Then the girl was summoned and the case stated in 
 the most matter-of-fact terms. She made quite a 
 show of surprise and indignation that any one should 
 think of her being guilty of such an act, and asked if 
 it was possible that I could suspect her. I replied that 
 the evidence was so strong as to force me to the con- 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 10$ 
 
 elusion that she was guilty. I then drew a picture of 
 the way I thought it happened. I said in substance, 
 "You were in the hall alone; one of the baskets was 
 partly uncovered leaving something tempting exposed ; 
 you were slightly hungry and without thinking much 
 about it took the tempting morsel and ate it thinking 
 no one would be the wiser. Was not that the way it 
 happened? " At first she looked astonished as though 
 she thought I must have witnessed the whole occur- 
 rence. When I finished with the direct question she 
 replied, "I am afraid that is just the way it happened," 
 and gave way to sobs. I presently told her that her 
 offense was due to moral weakness, that I was sure 
 she had no intention of becoming a thief but that such 
 would be the result if she did not exercise great care 
 and exert her will to the utmost when necessary, and 
 that I should not expect to hear of any such occurrence 
 again. When I excused her she thanked me for my 
 kindness and assured me the offense would never be 
 repeated ; and I feel certain it never was. 
 
 Number Two was a boy of about eight years from the 
 fourth grade, charged with stealing some small article 
 from the teacher's desk. In the course of the investiga- 
 tion it developed that the boy was in the habit of taking 
 things from his schoolmates and was a most consum- 
 mate liar seeming rather to enjoy the situations he 
 created. I studied the case carefully before calling the 
 lad. He was a bright manly little fellow, the son of a 
 minister, and easily put at his ease. I made no at- 
 
Io6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 tempt to probe into his mind, asked no questions that 
 would give a chance for denial, but discussed the offense 
 in a way that made it clear I was convinced of his guilt. 
 I spoke about the motives that probably prompted 
 him to this kind of deeds, the satisfaction it gave him 
 to see how skillfully he could perform them and how 
 successfully he could avoid detection and punishment. 
 I then held up to view the other side, the wrong com- 
 mitted upon others, the danger of its leading to greater 
 and greater offenses, and what was liable to be the final 
 outcome. 
 
 The boy listened most respectfully, without inter- 
 ruption, until I paused and gave him an opportunity 
 to speak. He made no attempt at denial but said I 
 had described his case correctly, that he had gone into 
 it for fun, that his parents had tried hard to break him 
 of stealing and lying. He had no intention of being 
 either a thief or a liar, and now seeing the danger, he 
 would try to quit. I told him I would not punish 
 him but would keep an eye on him and help him all I 
 could. I further said, " You will be tempted again and 
 may yield, but if you do I make the request that you 
 come to me and tell me about it, so that I may render 
 further aid." And I promised that if he would do this 
 I would be a friend to him and would not betray the 
 trust he imposed in me. He agreed to the proposition 
 and went his way. I kept my eye upon him for many 
 months. He always greeted me with the greatest re- 
 spect and friendliness. Not another complaint ever 
 
PARENTAL GOVERNMENT 107 
 
 came from either teacher or pupils regarding his honesty 
 or truthfulness, and I am satisfied the boy wrought out 
 his own reform. 
 
 Many other cases might be given differing in details 
 from the above but these will be sufficient to show 
 that there are other and more effective ways of dealing 
 with offenses than by corporal punishment or any other 
 violent means. The offender is usually a victim of cir- 
 cumstances rather than a sinner by intention, and needs 
 help rather than punishment. If he is treated as a 
 hardened sinner he may become one. If his offense 
 is treated as a lapse from otherwise creditable conduct, 
 and if sympathy is extended, he may be encouraged 
 to put forth an effort to reform which is the great 
 desideratum; for without his effort nothing can be ac- 
 complished. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 PUNISHMENT 
 
 The Object of Punishment. — The chief aim of punish- 
 ment is to reform the offender of whatever wrongdoing 
 he may be guilty. It is to impress the culprit with a 
 sense of his folly. It is to make him stop and think 
 about his conduct and realize its offensiveness to those 
 who have his well-being at heart. It is to prevent a 
 recurrence of this or any similar act. If it brings these 
 about it is effective, otherwise it is a failure. This should 
 always be kept in mind as of chief importance. 
 
 Second, it disapproves the offense, puts it in the cate- 
 gory of things that are forbidden. The degree of sever- 
 ity of the punishment should be an indication of the 
 seriousness of the offense, slight offenses meriting lighter 
 punishment than grievous ones. Disapproval is in 
 itself a punishment; if forcibly expressed it may be 
 sufficient penalty for minor matters, and if given in 
 time it may act as a deterrent from more serious ones. 
 Children as well as grown people like to have the ap- 
 proval of their superiors and will go to great lengths 
 to hold it or to regain it if lost. If more parents real- 
 ized the power of disapproval and understood better 
 
 1 08 
 
PUNISHMENT 109 
 
 how to use it, much of the home government would be 
 easier than it now is. 
 
 A third aim that is sometimes in evidence is to make 
 of the offender an example to others. It serves them 
 with a warning to pay heed to their conduct lest a like 
 penalty fall upon them. This of course can only obtain 
 where there are a number of children subject to the 
 same rule. There is some doubt about the justice of it 
 as it makes one suffer for the sake of the others. It 
 should certainly be used with moderation if at all. 
 
 A fourth aim with some persons is to show the children 
 who is in authority and inspire them with a fear of that 
 authority. A wholesome fear of those who bear rule 
 is often desirable but when it comes with an "I'll show 
 you who's boss," it may inspire awe but will hardly 
 command respect. It smacks too much of brute force 
 and of a fierce delight in exercising superior strength. 
 
 A fifth object, (which it is to be hoped will not meet 
 with indorsement) is to relieve aggrieved feelings. It 
 is not uncommon for parents to endure the pranks and 
 bickerings of children for a long while until patience 
 is exhausted, then fall upon the offenders and punish 
 them until their own wounded feelings are relieved. 
 This kind of punishment bears all the marks of having 
 relief to one's feelings the main object and is therefore 
 wholly unjustifiable. 
 
 Punishments That Should Never be Resorted to. — First, 
 all sorts of punishments that are in themselves 'cruel 
 must be avoided. Anything that would maim or injure 
 
no THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the body is not to be thought of. A child should never 
 be struck on the head with the hand or any other in- 
 strument. Such an act is beneath the dignity of any 
 cultured person. The bones of a child are soft and a 
 box on the head with the knuckles may result in in- 
 jury. A slap with the open palm may burst the delicate 
 ear drum. At best it is a harsh application of author- 
 ity, puts an indignity upon the child, outrages his feel- 
 ings and causes enmity where love should abide. 
 
 Only a trifle less dangerous are those punishments 
 that tax the endurance of muscles or nerves, such as 
 standing for some length of time in a corner, or conform- 
 ing to any uncomfortable position. Such punishments 
 are liable to interfere with a child's welfare in health 
 and growth and thus result in lasting injur}^ A child 
 in his waking hours is a creature of almost continuous 
 activity and remaining in any uncomfortable position 
 not only inflicts pain but hinders growth. Any punish- 
 ment inflicted upon the body should be of short dura- 
 tion and leave no injurious efTect. 
 
 Terrorizing little ones is perhaps the most abominable 
 of all practices that have their excuse in punishment. 
 One would suppose that the practice of shutting a 
 child in a dark closet had passed away with other bar- 
 barous customs but it appears still to be in use among 
 certain people who consider themselves quite civilized. 
 Fear is so unlike everything else that it can only 
 be described by its own name in excessive form, terror. 
 To say that a thing is terrible or terrifying is to exhaust 
 
PUNISHMENT III 
 
 the language of mental suffering in that particular state. 
 Remorse may be almost as painful as fear, though 
 that is doubtful ; but remorse often results in the great- 
 est good, while abject fear is almost certain to result 
 in direful consequences to the character. It is likely 
 to produce cowardice which is always despicable. 
 
 To make the matter worse, children are sometimes 
 made afraid of the dark by being told that something 
 will catch them. This terrifies them because they have 
 no means of knowing whether it is true or not and they 
 do not dare to put the matter to the test. Later they 
 will learn that they were deceived and lied to by those 
 whom they should have been able to trust; but the im- 
 pressions of childhood are hard to eradicate and often 
 that foolish fear of the dark remains through life. 
 
 As said in a previous chapter, children should be 
 taught to fear nothing except things that are really 
 dangerous and then only such as are reasonably avoid- 
 able. It is useless, for example, to teach little ones 
 to be afraid of lightning, except to have them shun the 
 shelter of trees in a thunder storm. Yet children and 
 grown people, too, cower in terror when they are as well 
 protected as human means can provide. Death from 
 lightning is comparatively rare yet parents will, in the 
 presence of the children, relate all the instances they ever 
 knew or heard of until the children are convinced they 
 are in the most imminent danger every time a storm 
 occurs. A mother will jump and perhaps shriek at a 
 sudden crash of thunder and excuse herself by saying she 
 
112 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 is SO afraid of lightning. Every one of stronger nerves 
 pities the mother; but the children think it the proper 
 thing or mother wouldn't do it. 
 
 If children are inclined to be afraid of thunder and 
 lightning it is much better to quiet their fears by telling 
 them they are comparatively safe, that very few people 
 are ever hurt by lightning, and that God can take care 
 of us as well in storm or in darkness as in the sunshine. 
 This will save them from a large amount of useless 
 suffering. If grown people are afraid they should not 
 impart their fears to others, but should cultivate quiet- 
 ness and the fear will diminish. 
 
 Again it is customary in certain families to discuss 
 the dangers of ocean travel, and to tell of disasters at 
 sea until the children imagine the sea to be little more 
 than a yawning chasm waiting to swallow them up if 
 they should ever venture upon its surface. Now children 
 must be properly warned against needless venturing 
 in the water, but to have their minds prejudiced against 
 ocean travel by over emphasis of its dangers can serve 
 no good purpose and may cause much unnecessary 
 discomfort. 
 
 Avoid Jerkiness. — If an engineer should run his train 
 by guess, if he had no definite idea of his destination 
 or the time for arrival at and departure from stations, 
 his train would be of little use to passengers. If he ran 
 his train some days when he felt like it and left off 
 others because he didn't feel like it ; or if some days when 
 he was in a good humor he ran his train steadily, ar- 
 
PUNISHMENT II3 
 
 rived and departed on time, was affable and accom- 
 modating, and the next being in a fierce temper he 
 ran Hke Jehu, arrived and departed several hours ahead 
 of time, was snappy and cross to everybody, how long 
 would his business be a success? 
 
 Yet such a picture illustrates family and school 
 government in far too many instances. Children have 
 as little idea of what to expect a day ahead as the pas- 
 sengers would under the above conditions. Some days 
 the teacher is all smiles and sunshine, the children are 
 happy and everything is as placid as an Indian summer 
 day. On other days the teacher's countenance is like 
 a dark cloud, he is sullen and cross and liable to break 
 into violence over some trifling incident that on other 
 days would pass entirely unnoticed. The children feel 
 the chill in the atmosphere, dread the foreboding storm, 
 are crossgrained and unhappy, and the day is a failure. 
 
 The same thing prevails in certain families. If 
 father is in one of his happy moods he will grant any 
 request the children may ask. If mother thinks other- 
 wise, father says, "Oh, let the children have a good 
 time." But wait till father's mood changes, then let 
 the children look out. IMother will have to come to 
 their rescue or father's harshness will be next to un- 
 bearable. Sometimes the mother's temper is changeable 
 and her rule uncertain. In either case the government 
 is criss-cross and jerky. 
 
 There can be no success in such an administration 
 of government. Evenness of disposition is one of the 
 
114 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 essentials of any ruling power. Under a jerky rule 
 injustice is certain to be meted out. Some luckless 
 wight will be sure to be deceived by the remarkable 
 serenity, venture too far, and being absorbed in his 
 own devices never notice the approaching storm until 
 it falls full blast upon his head. 
 
 The weakness of character of a disciplinarian who 
 is as changeable as April weather is too obvious, even 
 to children, to command their respect. They will take 
 every advantage when conditions are favorable and 
 learn to keep a sharp lookout for squalls. When they 
 see trouble ahead they subside until it passes, then they 
 can have some fun again. Can any one expect to pro- 
 duce strong and capable character with such an ex- 
 ample? 
 
 Whatever kind of government one believes in, 
 whether mild or severe, there should be a definite plan, 
 one that can be followed consistently in all weather 
 and under all ordinary conditions. Definiteness, regu- 
 larity, and certainty are the strong points of govern- 
 ment. If children know what is wanted and what is 
 expected of them, they are almost certain to make an 
 honest effort to meet those wants and expectations. 
 If they are left to guess their way, very little can be 
 expected of them. 
 
 Corporal Punishment. — All punishment is or should 
 be to produce an effect upon the mind. Whatever 
 offense a child may have committed it is the mind and 
 not the body that is guilty. There is danger of losing 
 
PUNISHMENT' I15 
 
 sight of this truth. A parent or teacher will discover 
 a child in some misdemeanor, jerk him up, give him what 
 they call a ''good whipping," leave him overwhelmed 
 with pain and think they have made a good job of it. 
 A sound thrashing with abundant evidence of suffering 
 is what they are after and when it is assured they are 
 satisfied. As to whether any mental change has taken 
 place in respect to the offense it does not concern them. 
 They have done their duty, their authority has been 
 vindicated, what more can be asked? 
 
 A careful and intelligent parent never finds it neces- 
 sary to strike a child a blow, either with hand or rod. 
 "Spare the rod and spoil the child" is a figure of speech 
 and only means spare correction and spoil the child. 
 All of us who have attained to any age have seen many 
 children who were not spoiled although never whipped, 
 while on the other hand we have seen plenty who were 
 spoiled although accustomed to being beaten. Spoiling 
 is not a question of "rod" or "no rod," but of the neg- 
 lect or unwise application of the principles of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 *lThe steps in discipline should be about as follows: 
 First, a clear understanding of what is required; 
 second, warning against infractions or disobedience; 
 third, counsel; fourth, rebuke or reprimand, the dis- 
 tinction being the degree of severity necessary; fifth, 
 more punishment if these do not suffice. 
 
 The more severe punishment should vary according 
 to the nature of the offense. A large percentage of 
 
Il6 THE TR:\INIX(] of CHILDREN 
 
 wrongdoing may be classed under the head of Abuse 
 of Privilege. When this covers the case the natural 
 penalty is the withdrawal of the privilege. It is a 
 child's privilege to sit with the family at table but if 
 he does not behave he should be removed. If he is 
 given a book and abuses it, it should be taken from 
 him. If he is allowed to visit a neighbor and his con- 
 duct is unbecoming he should be taken home and his 
 request to repeat the visit denied. This withdrawal 
 of privilege should be temporary to be sure but it 
 should be of sufficient duration to effect a change of 
 mind. 
 
 If a child is sent on an errand and overstays his time 
 he has caused inconvenience and must in turn suffer 
 a similar loss. The next time he should not be allowed 
 to go because he cannot be trusted. If he deceives, 
 falsifies or is dishonest he loses his reputation, his 
 standing and his business suffer. This is what happens 
 to grown people and it is what should happen tem- 
 porarily with children. We cannot do business with 
 those who deceive us, falsify to us, and cheat us. We 
 cut them out of our transactions if we can, disapprove 
 of their actions, and prefer to dispense with their so- 
 ciety. 
 
 This course does not always cure old offenders but 
 it acts as a tremendous restraint upon many people, 
 and if properly carried out with children who are just 
 becoming acquainted with the ^^'a}'s of life should 
 be quite sufficient. They will in this manner learn 
 
PUNISHMENT I17 
 
 by their own experience that forbidden things are not 
 for their good, that although they may yield pleasure 
 at the time, they do not pay in the long run, that the 
 confidence and trust of their parents are worth more 
 than anything they can gain by disobedience. This is 
 what they must come to, ultimately, if they are to be 
 good moral citizens and the sooner it is taught them 
 the better. 
 
 The Kindergarten. — People who live in cities and towns 
 where kindergartens are maintained have the oppor- 
 tunity to receive from them much help in the training 
 of their children. At about the age of four years 
 children are placed in the care of experienced kinder- 
 gartners who teach them many things that are to their 
 advantage in play, in singing, in manners, and in work 
 that is suited to their age and advancement. They are 
 taught to act in concert with other children and gauge 
 their conduct according to the standards required. 
 
 But parents who dwell in the country seldom have 
 an opportunity to profit by the kindergarten or by 
 kindergarten methods. Yet there are compensations. 
 They are surrounded by field and wood and the children 
 can learn many things directly from nature that are 
 not permitted to city children. But it takes a person 
 of some intelligence to direct children in their study 
 of the life around them. The lack of knowledge of the 
 names and uses of plant and animal life aside from the 
 commonest kinds, on the part of country people, is 
 amazing. A child's questions about plants, insects and 
 
Ii8 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 birds go unanswered because no one possesses the 
 knowledge to enlighten him. If he had some one to 
 give him the information and lead him on to investi- 
 gate intelligently his mind would be more active and 
 alert than it usually is when he enters school. 
 
 He would see, too, the need of learning to help him 
 in his studies of nature. A large percentage of children 
 are started to school without the least idea of what 
 it is for and with very little if any desire to learn. Na- 
 ture study affords the finest field in the world to arouse 
 an interest in learning. If a child has been started 
 properly he will know that books contain much in- 
 formation that he needs and he will consequently 
 want to learn to read in order that he may obtain this 
 information. 
 
 This is the main reason some children take to learn- 
 ing so readily and progress so much more rapidly 
 than others. The training previous to school life makes 
 a vast difference, much more than most people suppose. 
 Where a child is incapable of planning, his parents 
 must plan for him. A certain college professor of note 
 explains with pardonable pride how he came to be a 
 graduate from a certain college. He says his father 
 would tell him from time to time that he was destined 
 from his cradle to be graduated from this college, 
 related his own experience when he was himself a stu- 
 dent there, and gave the son many bright anticipations 
 of what was in store for him. The son looked forward 
 eagerly to the time when he should be ready for en- 
 
PUNISHMENT I19 
 
 trance, thoroughly enjoyed his college life as his father 
 before him had done, and took his degree as a matter of 
 course. 
 
 Now most parents have not attended college but 
 nearly all have had years of experience in elementary 
 schools and no matter how much or how little they 
 learned, whatever they did acquire is precious to them. 
 They would not sell their learning for money nor ex- 
 change it for anything earth has to give. If they cannot 
 relate college experiences they can tell their children 
 how much pleasure and profit they derived from their 
 attendance at the public school. They can have them 
 looking forward with eagerness to the time when they 
 shall be in school and be learning the mysteries of read- 
 ing, writing and arithmetic and the other branches 
 that are taught. 
 
 Helps. — Every family where there are children should 
 have a supply of children's literature. There are so 
 many excellent books for children and they cost so 
 little compared to the benefits derived that no one can 
 
 afford to be without them. No matter if the children 
 
 ♦ 
 
 cannot read, their parents can do the reading for them. 
 They will find that books nowadays that are prepared 
 for children have a vast amount of enlightenment 
 for most grown people, and this enlightenment will be 
 interesting and helpful. There are books in abundance 
 on the common things around us, written by those who 
 have careful and accurate knowledge and made plain 
 for beginners be they young or old. There are books 
 
I20 THE TRAIXIXG OF CHILDREN 
 
 on plants, how they grow, their cultivation, their ene- 
 mies and how to combat them. There are books on in- 
 sects, birds, fishes, and animals, with information simple 
 enough for a child's understanding 3Tt new to many 
 adults. There are books of travel with pictures and de- 
 scriptions of life in many lands that are intensely inter- 
 esting to young and old. If anyone objects to fairy 
 stories he need not deprive his children of material for 
 the imagination on that account. Stories of real child 
 life in Mexico and the South American countries, in Eu- 
 rope, Asia, and Africa, are abundant and cheap and to- 
 gether with the pictures that accompany them m^ake the 
 most excellent material for children. The knowledge 
 they obtain will remain with them and be valuable in 
 after life. It will entertain them, give them food for 
 thought and make them eager for further knowledge. 
 
 Children who have had such a preparation as this 
 are not likely to find school irksome. They will go to 
 their tasks with an eagerness that will make advance- 
 ment easy and rapid. If they have a good fund of 
 knowledge with which to begin their book learning 
 they will understand the lessons at school much better. 
 It adds keenly to the interest of a lesson when a child 
 can say, "I know something about that"; and proceeds 
 to tell what has been learned in the home. 
 
 Parents who take pains to see that their children 
 are prepared for school will find their efforts repaid a 
 thousand fold. They will be in close touch with the 
 little ones and will be interested in what they are gain- 
 
PUNISHMENT 121 
 
 ing from day to day in school. The children will put 
 forth greater efforts and consequently make more rapid 
 progress than if parents show no interest and make no 
 inquiries as to their studies or their life at school. 
 
 If the education of the parents has been limited it will 
 not matter so much, provided they will put forth an 
 effort to keep in touch with what the children are get- 
 ting. They will pick up many a bit of knowledge 
 which their broader views of life will enable them to 
 interpret better than the children possibly can, and in 
 this way they may win and hold their respect. 
 
 The teacher too will be benefited and encouraged 
 by this cooperation on the parents' part, A consulta- 
 tion now and then as to what the children have been 
 taught at home, what they are especially interested 
 in will be of the greatest assistance to him. He will 
 know better what lines to follow and what instruction 
 will be the most helpful. It stands to reason that the 
 greatest progress will be made when parents, teacher 
 and children all work together. 
 
PART TWO 
 SCHOOL LIFE 
 
CHAPTER VT 
 WHEN A CHILD ENTERS SCHOOL 
 
 •The Country Teacher. — In dealing with this part of 
 our general subject of mind development we shall en- 
 deavor to keep before us the conditions to be met by 
 the country teacher. While having many things in com- 
 mon the country teacher has numerous problems that 
 never confront the city teacher and many disadvan- 
 tages in working them out. He, or she, (we prefer to use 
 the masculine pronoun), has no principal or superin- 
 tendent with whom to counsel when vexations occur 
 or doubts arise ; no weekly teachers' meetings where the 
 best wisdom of the corps is available; no fellow teacher 
 across the hall with whom to consult in petty emergen- 
 cies; no outlines of lessons with careful instructions 
 as to details for daily guidance; and usually far less 
 preparation and training than the city teacher has en- 
 joyed. In most cases the country teacher could not, 
 if he would,* obtain a position in city schools. His 
 qualifications are not up to the mark required by city 
 superintendents. 
 
 On the other hand the country teacher has advantages 
 that his city cousin might well en\y. He is independent 
 of principals who lay down the law saying how this 
 
 125 
 
126 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 shall be done and how that shall not be done. He has 
 no superintendent to countermand his most cherished 
 plans. (A county superintendent has so little op- 
 portunity for personal supervision that his interference 
 is here considered a negligible quantity.) There is no 
 teacher of long standing and superior wisdom in the 
 next room above to criticise the product of his work 
 when it comes on up to her. He is not confined to one 
 grade of work with practically the same materials and 
 the same methods from year to year. 
 
 In fact his position is in many ways enviable. He is 
 the chief authority in his district. He can lay plans 
 and carry them out without hindrance. His work is so 
 varied that it cannot become monotonous. He may 
 exhaust all the skill he is capable of with the little ones 
 and daily test his ability to give more advanced in- 
 struction with the larger ones. If he is successful he 
 may stay year after year instructing the same pupils 
 from promotion to promotion, and watching their de- 
 velopment under his care. He has a chance to advise 
 the older ones and inspire them with the most sublime 
 ideals. He may keep in touch with them in after years 
 and retain their friendship and love as long as he lives. 
 Yes, the life of the country teacher is fraught with op- 
 portunities and possibihties that no other may enjoy. 
 
 The First Day of School. — When the country teacher 
 assumes sway he finds himself confronted with a con- 
 glomerate mass of raw material, consisting of twenty, 
 forty, or perhaps sixty, boys and girls, ranging in age 
 
WHEN A CHILD ENTERS SCHOOL • 127 
 
 from five or six to eighteen or twenty, and of various 
 degrees of advancement, cultivation, ability, and en- 
 lightenment. His task is to take this unhomogeneous 
 mass, study it individual by individual, place each one 
 where he or she belongs and bring everything into 
 working order. Not only must the mass be organized 
 into one harmonious whole known as the school, but 
 it must be arranged in classes to facilitate the progress 
 of instruction, and each individual unit must have just 
 the care and the kind and amount of instruction that 
 his or her particular case requires. This is no small 
 undertaking. 
 
 Let us first consider The Beginners. Many people 
 including a goodly percentage of teachers think it a very 
 simple matter to start beginners on their way to learn- 
 ing. All that is necessary, in their minds, is to learn 
 the children's names, find out by a brief test whether 
 they have any knowledge of reading, and if not put 
 them in the chart class. These beginners are called up 
 three or four times a day, given a lesson from the chart 
 if there happens to be one, and sent back to their seats. 
 In all they receive each day from twenty to forty min- 
 utes of the teacher's time. If they are bright they will, 
 in the course of a term or two, learn to read a little, 
 perhaps be well along in the first reader. 
 
 In the inter\^als between lessons they are allowed to 
 get along as best they can, the teacher being chiefly 
 concerned in keeping them reasonably quiet. If they 
 are so fortunate as to have writing materials they may 
 
128 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 amuse themselves with these; if not, they may do 
 about as they Hke, provided they do not disturb the 
 older pupils. To them school is a tiresome and dreary 
 place. The time drags wearily on with many a yawn 
 and a constant longing for the session to be over so 
 they may get out to play. 
 
 This is indeed a simple regime but it is woefully 
 lacking in some of the essentials of child training. 
 The children are not advanced as they should be, 
 their time is for the most part wasted, they fall into 
 lazy habits and acquire a dislike for school. Any really 
 competent teacher would prefer to start these children 
 from the beginning, rather than undertake the task of 
 starting them over again and undoing the evil that had 
 been wrought after a year of such schooling. 
 
 In the first place, entrance into school brings about a 
 great change in a child's life. In the majority of cases 
 it takes him from a life of freedom all day long and 
 places him under restraint for many hours of each day. 
 Hitherto his tasks have been of his own choosing; he 
 has made his own problems and sought their solution 
 in his own way. Now he must work in harness as it 
 were. His tasks and the method of performing them are 
 prescribed by another, usually a stranger. All the ways 
 of the place are new to him and he must adapt him- 
 self to them as best he may. If he starts to run about, 
 he is put back in his seat and told to sit just there. If 
 he attempts to talk, he is suppressed at once, it is 
 strictly forbidden. In short, he is virtually a prisoner 
 
WHEN A CHILD ENTERS SCHOOL 129 
 
 condemned to labor without any choice of kind or 
 method. 
 
 In view of this great change it is exceedingly impor- 
 tant that school be made a pleasant place and learning 
 be put in its most attractive form. To do this requires 
 a bright teacher, one with ready sympathy and a skilled 
 understanding of children's likes. If the child has been 
 prepared for school, something after the manner de- 
 scribed in the closing paragraphs of Part One, and if he 
 has the fortune to be placed under a real live teacher, 
 there will be little trouble. He will have been informed 
 as to what will be expected of him, that he is to remain 
 in the seat where he is put, obey the teacher, and be- 
 have like a little gentleman. If this has been done he will 
 respond cheerfully and appreciatively to the teacher's 
 efforts. 
 
 In the second place, his work-a-day life has begun. 
 He is a creature of responsibility. Tasks are prescribed 
 for him and he is held accountable for the way in which 
 they are performed. Instead of roaming about accord- 
 ing to his own sweet will, he must submit to the will 
 of another. He has passed under the yoke and must 
 henceforth bear the burdens thereby entailed. 
 
 Now the best and happiest workmen the world over 
 are those who love their work. Hence it is important 
 that the first lessons should be as delightful as they 
 can be made; and that they can be made pleasant has 
 been proved a thousand times. It is not necessary 
 that a pupil shall learn so many new words or cover a 
 9 
 
130 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 certain amount of space the first week or the first 
 month, but it is essential that he shall be introduced to 
 the mysteries of book knowledge, that its acquirement 
 shall be a pleasure and its possession a present benefit 
 to him in his everyday life. If his verdict at the end 
 of a month is favorable, if he has found learning en- 
 joyable and prefers the life at school to any other he 
 has yet tried, a crucial time in his career has been safely 
 passed. His education may thenceforth proceed as 
 rapidly as his budding powers will permit. 
 
 The third great point to be kept in mind when a 
 child enters school, is that he should acquire the habit 
 of diligence. It is not only necessary that he should 
 be kept busy but that he should learn to bring energy 
 and devotion to his tasks. The acquirement of the 
 habit of a listless and half-hearted effort has kept thou- 
 sands of young people from ever coming into the full 
 possession of their inherited powers. It is not needful 
 that the effort be long sustained, it should not be, but 
 it should tax the whole being while it lasts. A half hour 
 of intense effort will accomplish more than an hour 
 of desultory application, and in after years the dispro- 
 portion will be far greater still. Besides, the pleasure 
 derived from putting forth all one's powers is something 
 that the half-hearted plodder knows nothing about. 
 
 Fourth, a child's induction into the ways of school 
 life should be a gradual process. Some of the best 
 primary teachers have an astounding amount of skill 
 in this particular. They seem to anticipate a child's 
 
WHEN A CHILD ENTERS SCHOOL 131 
 
 every want. They know what is going to happen before 
 it begins, and understand what to do to prevent un- 
 pleasant occurrences. They know how to greet the 
 children in the morning, how to keep them wide awake in 
 their efforts to do their best through the day, and how to 
 send them home happy with a "good-by, teacher," 
 on their lips. They know as by intuition when the 
 little ones are doing their best, when they are not try- 
 ing, and when they are weary or only pretending to be 
 weary. Such teachers are worth their weight in gold, 
 but they are not so plentiful as we could wish. 
 
 Usually children are not given the care and attention 
 in their first days at school that a first-class trainer 
 gives to colts when they are being broken to harness. 
 A trainer is well aware that a colt will not do what is 
 desired of it until it knows what that desire is. He 
 advances by littles, is kind, persuasive, and patient. 
 No harsh words are spoken, no blows are struck. If 
 the colt is slow to learn, the trainer does not slacken 
 his efforts on that account. He knows that patience 
 and perseverance will win in the end. If one does not 
 yield as readily as another he is not discouraged. He 
 knows there is a vast difference in colts, and studies 
 each one faithfully until he understands its disposition 
 and can adapt his instruction to its particular needs. 
 
 I have sometimes wished that certain teachers of my 
 acquaintance could be for a few hours in the presence 
 of a first-class horse trainer. If they could see his en- 
 thusiasm, notice the deep interest he takes in his 
 
132 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 charges, hear him discourse on the pecuhar dispositions 
 of certain ones and his methods of deahng with them, 
 it would open their eyes. To be sure, the horse trainer's 
 salary is likely to be ten or twenty times that of the 
 teacher, but after all it is not the salary that makes 
 him an expert. It is his being an expert that brings 
 the salary. This fact is sometimes overlooked. 
 
 To proceed with the application, a child's training 
 when he first enters school should be much like that 
 of the colt. lAke the latter the child will do what is 
 desired of him if he knows what that desire is, and he 
 will do it much more c]uickly through kind treatment 
 than through blows or harsh words. 
 
 A Child's Knowledge when he enters School. — After 
 the first few weeks of infancy all new knowledge must 
 be connected with and built upon that which has al- 
 ready been acquired. When a child enters school it is 
 taken for granted that he has a considerable store of 
 knowledge. To ascertain the extent and nature of this 
 knowledge is the teacher's first business. He may even 
 have an acquaintance with books, magazines, and news- 
 papers, and he may have learned from them much that 
 is valuable although he is yet unable to read. If he 
 comes from a reading family, one supplied with litera- 
 ture, he is certain to have this knowledge whether he 
 has been taught to read or not. WTien the teacher 
 discovers this he has an eft"ecti\T leverage to work 
 upon, and his task is very much lightened because 
 the child knows pretty well what he is in school for 
 
WHEN A CHILD ENTERS SCHOOL 133 
 
 and has a desire to acquire the art of seeking knowledge 
 for himself. 
 
 Moreover such a child will find a close connection be- 
 tween what he learns from books and what is in his 
 mind. He will listen eagerly to the teacher's explan- 
 ations and comments, he will be constantly adding to 
 his store of information, analyzing, classifying, and 
 arranging his knowledge for present and future use. 
 It puts a teacher on his mettle to meet the wants of one 
 like this. If he fails to read him correctly he may win 
 his contempt rather than his respect or admiration. 
 It will not do to repeat a lot of childish lingo that this 
 pupil has long passed. The teacher must be able to 
 take the measure of each child's advancement and 
 make the proper connection. 
 
 Many children are very different from those just 
 described. They come from homes that are destitute 
 of reading matter. The world of literature is to them 
 a strange world, perhaps an unheard-of one. They 
 know nothing of its attractions or of its benefits for 
 them. They scarcely have an idea of what learning is 
 for, consequent^ they have little desire to acquire it. 
 
 The contents of the minds of these children should 
 be as an open book to the teacher. They need a course 
 of instruction very different from that above men- 
 tioned. They too have a store of knowledge, but it is 
 not connected with books or with literature of any 
 kind. It is of their homes, their acquaintances, and the 
 things around them. They must be shown that what 
 
134 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 they know is a part of the world's stock of knowledge, 
 and that the learning of the school will greatly add to 
 their store and will consequently increase their happi- 
 ness and usefulness. 
 
 The essential thing is to create in their minds a 
 desire for the learning that may be acquired at school. 
 They must be made to understand that their mental 
 powers grow as their bodies grow. As their bodies re- 
 quire food and exercise, so their minds require mental 
 food and mental exercise. 
 
 Having ascertained the contents of the child's mind 
 the next thing is to give a lesson about some familiar 
 object, introducing something new, or at least present- 
 ing it in a new light that will awaken interest, start new 
 ideas, open up avenues of thought hitherto unknown. 
 
 For country children the picture of a robin would do 
 very well for the first lesson. Ask them if they recognize 
 the bird, if they know its name, what they like about 
 it, whether it is useful to the farm and garden, when it 
 comes, where it builds its nest. Show them what the 
 robin's name looks like in writing or put it in a sentence 
 if that is preferable. Give them a verse or a little song 
 about the robin, and promise to teach it to them a, 
 little later. 
 
 But before we go further into the details of the work 
 of this period let us take a look at the whole field of 
 school life, its divisions and the nature of each so that 
 we may the better understand the relation of this pri- 
 mary work to that which is to follow and to the whole. 
 
WHEN A CHILD ENTERS SCHOOL 135 
 
 While many of the children may not go beyond the 
 common-school studies, some may wish to go farther, 
 and we shall need to know how to prepare them, to point 
 the way and indeed to inspire them with a longing for 
 the higher things that are theirs for the taking. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 
 
 School life, as understood and practiced throughout 
 the country, naturally includes five periods of nearly 
 equal length as follows: 
 
 First, The Period of Beginnings — Primary Depart- 
 ment — time four years. 
 
 Second, The Period of Elementary Training — Gram- 
 mar School Department — time four years. 
 
 Third, The Period of Secondary Training — High 
 School and Academy — time four 3^ears. 
 
 Fourth, The Period of College Life — General Scholar- 
 ship and Culture — time four years. 
 
 Fifth, The Period of Research and Special Train- 
 ing — time two to four years. 
 
 While these periods vary somewhat as to time they 
 are reasonably accurate, are recognized everywhere, 
 and each is worthy of separate consideration. 
 
 I. The Period of Beginnings 
 
 This period deserves special attention for several 
 reasons. First, in point of membership it far out- 
 numbers any of the others. It is safe to say that more 
 children are included in this period than can be found 
 
 136 
 
THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 137 
 
 in all the others put together; or, that the number 
 in the first period is as great as in the third, fourth, 
 and fifth combined. Or put it this way: Ninety per 
 cent of all children who grow up get the beginnings — 
 learn to read, write, spell, and compute numbers. 
 Possibly fifty per cent take all or part of the second, 
 or elementary period, that is, learn something of 
 arithmetic, geography, grammar, history, physiology, 
 and the like. Perhaps ten per cent, (rather less than 
 more,) take all or part of the third period, the high 
 school or academy. About three per cent go to college, 
 and about one fifth of one per cent take post graduate 
 work. 
 
 The above shows that so far as the number attend- 
 ing school is concerned, the first period is the most im- 
 portant. This period is, as the name indicates, the 
 time of beginnings. Here is to be laid the foundation 
 of whatever learning the children may acquire in their 
 school career. Much will depend upon their experiences 
 here as to whether they will like or dislike school, 
 whether they will desire a complete education or con- 
 sider further schooling useless, the reward not worth the 
 effort. So much depends upon the teacher that one may 
 fairly tremble lest she fail in her high mission. Aside 
 from making school pleasant and engendering a love of 
 learning the little ones have many wants that demand 
 attention. They must be taught the routine of school 
 life, how to conduct themselves in class and during 
 study hours, their relations to their schoolmates and 
 
138 THE TR.\INING OF CHILDREN 
 
 how to act in concert with them. They look to the 
 teacher for everything and to be successful she must 
 have skill and patience and love for the work. The 
 training of pupils in the early stages is all important. 
 
 Third, the principal business of pupils in school is 
 studying, and the principal business of the instructor 
 is teaching them how to study. This is not learned to 
 perfection in a few months or in a few years. As a 
 matter of fact few people ever learn it. It has been said 
 if students on completing their high-school course have 
 learned how to study they have done exceedingly 
 well, and will have no difficulty in mastering their 
 college course. This is undoubtedly true. It has also 
 been said with equal truth that to know how to study 
 is in itself an education. 
 
 All through life we are confronted with problems 
 that must be studied out, or solved. Not to be able to 
 master them spells failure and inferiority. The superior 
 mind is not, as a rule, superior in quantity or quality 
 of brain, but in the training and development of the 
 mental powers. The trained mind knows how to look 
 at a given subject from all sides; how to proceed from 
 the known to the unknown; how to reason from cause 
 to effect in logical sequence until the conclusion is 
 reached. Often the most intricate problems that are 
 absolutely dark and unsolvablc to untrained minds 
 are perfectly simple when the steps of reasoning are 
 explained. The ability to solve is simply a matter of 
 training. (The term "problem" as used here does not 
 
THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 139 
 
 imply arithmetic or algebra but refers to the trouble- 
 some questions that arise in life either in school or 
 out.) 
 
 College and high-school teachers appreciate the im- 
 portance of knowing how to study much better than 
 the teachers in the lower grades, and particularly than 
 district-school teachers. This is because they have 
 themselves been taught or have learned the great secret. 
 And because of this training they are now occupying 
 the better paid and so-called higher positions. All suc- 
 cessful teachers in colleges and high schools lay great 
 stress in their instructions upon how to study. But if it 
 is so important in the advanced schools how vastly 
 more important it is in the lower grades ! It is unfortu- 
 nate if one must be almost through his school life before 
 mastering this important art! When we consider, too, 
 how few ever reach the higher schools we can see how 
 essential it is that attention should early be given to 
 the chief thing. 
 
 What does studying mean? It does not mean con- 
 ning over the thoughts of others or committing words 
 to memory. A certain amount of this is necessary to 
 be sure, but it is not the better meaning of the term. 
 To study is to think, and children can think. When they 
 compare a word with an object and grasp the idea that 
 the word represents the name of the object, the}^ are 
 thinking. They must learn definitions and rules and 
 tables, but the thinking process should go along with 
 the memorizing. They should compare each stated 
 
I40 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 fact with the idea which it represents until the mean- 
 ing is clear, otherwise they are not studying. 
 
 Children need constant and careful instruction in 
 order to master the endless number of facts confront- 
 ing them. They must ever be making comparisons 
 between the symbols of things and the things them- 
 selves. A child may easily learn to say, "Two pints 
 make a quart," without the slightest idea of the mean- 
 ing of either "pint" or "quart." Such learning has but 
 little value. A clear understanding of the terms must 
 go with the statement, and the teacher must see that the 
 child gets this understanding. Much if not all of the 
 "form" work that is given to children can be made 
 "thought" work if the teacher has the enlightenment, 
 the intelligence, and the skill to do her part. 
 
 From the foregoing the great responsibility of teach- 
 ing beginners is obvious. College teaching is child's 
 play compared to it. The college student scarcely 
 needs instruction, the child can hardly advance a step 
 without it. But it is the teacher's duty to make her- 
 self less necessary to her pupils as their education ad- 
 vances. They m.ust gradually, very gradually to be 
 sure, but no less certainly, become independent think- 
 ers, discover the objects that correspond to their sym- 
 bols, make the comparisons and arrive at definite 
 conclusions. If the teacher understands the nature of 
 the child mind and the methods of its development her 
 pupils will know how to study as children should study 
 long before they reach the high school. 
 
THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 141 
 
 In order to accomplish this it follows, fourthly, that the 
 teacher should give more time to pupils who are in the 
 "period of beginnings" than to those farther advanced. 
 Older students should get as much out of the study hour 
 as out of the recitation, the little ones do not. Their 
 love for school and for learning, their mental and spirit- 
 ual development, their usefulness, their happiness, and in 
 many cases their destiny, all depend in large measure 
 upon the kind of teaching they may have in the first 
 years of school. 
 
 2. The Period of Elementary Training 
 
 This for reasons similar to the above is the next 
 most important period of school life. The two include 
 all the education given in all country schools, and in 
 what is known as the grades in all town and city schools. 
 Those who complete the elementary training given 
 in this second division of school life are supposed to be 
 equipped for ordinary occupations such as farming, 
 carpentering and all mechanical operations. In ad- 
 dition to reading, writing and spelling they have 
 learned all the essential things, or at least all the com- 
 mon things, in geography, grammar, U. S. history, 
 physiolog}', and arithmetic and in some cases music 
 and drawing. 
 
 Very many enter the profession of teaching in the 
 district schools, and a considerable number take the 
 study of Medicine or Dentistry, and some the study 
 of law with no further school preparation than that 
 
142 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 gained in these two periods. About nine-tenths of all 
 the education given to all the people in the United 
 States is in these same periods. Many states have as 
 yet made little or no provision for the secondar\^ edu- 
 cation of the young people outside of that provided in 
 the cities and towns, but the question of county and 
 township high schools is being agitated and some states 
 have made commendable progress in this particular. 
 Yet even where high schools and academies prevail 
 the numbers attending them are small compared with 
 those who do not attend. 
 
 We may say that in this second period most people 
 receive all the practical education they ever get in the 
 schools. If the teachers are capable and the students 
 are permitted to complete the work of the period they 
 come out with a fair working knowledge of the common 
 branches. It is meager enough at the best. They know 
 but little of the world's literature without which no one 
 can claim to be educated. Except for a mere smatter- 
 ing of our own country they are ignorant of the world's 
 history. They have learned a little of grammar but all 
 tlie great languages, both ancient and modern, are 
 "Greek" to them. They have enough arithmetic for 
 practical use but have not even been introduced to the 
 other branches of mathematics that are supposed to dis- 
 cipline the mind. In short they have come to the parting 
 of the ways where the great world of knowledge lies be- 
 fore them. They are ready to enter and make its riches 
 their own but comparatively few ever cross its threshold. 
 
THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 143 
 
 Since so large a part of the education of the country- 
 is obtained in the district school or in the "grades" 
 it is evident that the instruction ought to be of a char- 
 acter to best suit the needs of those who take it yet 
 every educator knows that such has not been the case 
 in the past. xA-lmost all who do not enter high school 
 take up some of the ordinary occupations of life and 
 the schools should fit them, at least in a general way 
 for it, but they do not. They are as far removed from 
 the industries as it is possible to be. In their zeal for 
 learning the schools have held the mistaken idea that 
 knowledge and culture and mental development were 
 to be gained from books and have overlooked the fact 
 that the field, the garden and the shop are equally 
 productive of the attributes to character. It is now 
 coming to be understood that the two should go hand 
 in hand. 
 
 3. The Period of Secondary Training 
 
 This includes the high school, academy, or normal 
 course and usually requires four years for its com- 
 pletion. 
 
 The people of the cities and towns long ago saw that 
 the common-school course could not furnish sufficient 
 education for their children. It did not prepare them 
 either for college or for life. Children who enter school 
 at five or six years of age and attend nine months each 
 year complete the common-school course at thirteen or 
 fourteen. They are too young to take up a life work. 
 
144 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 They must go on with their education at home. Acad- 
 emies and high schools were founded to take up the 
 work just where the common schools dropped it. The 
 main and original purpose of the academies was to 
 bridge the chasm between the grades and the college. 
 The high schools were established later, not so much to 
 prepare for college, as to give further education to a 
 large number of children whose parents considered 
 them too young to take up a life work. As tuition 
 was provided at the public expense and the children 
 could board at home, it was styled the "poor man's 
 college" and was from the first, and still remains, more 
 of a finishing than a preparing course. 
 
 The high schools, supported at the expense of the 
 towns and cities that established them have been very 
 popular. They have placed four years of excellent 
 training at the doors of thousands of boys and girls 
 who otherwise would be depri\'ed of higher education. 
 Most of the high schools of the larger towns are finely 
 equipped with buildings, laboratories, libraries, g}^mna- 
 siums, and works of art, and the salaries paid are suffi- 
 cient to procure the services of trained teachers. 
 
 The academies have had a harder struggle because 
 they are usually "church" schools, that is they are 
 established and controlled by some denomination, and 
 are dependent partly upon tuition and partly upon 
 contributions from the churches which they represent. 
 They do not appeal so directly to all classes, and be- 
 cause of the uncertainty of their support have not 
 
THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 145 
 
 been so uniformly successful as the high schools. But 
 because of their high moral standard and wise admin- 
 istration they have done, and are still doing, a world of 
 good. 
 
 The normal schools are of recent origin. They are 
 designed to prepare young people both in scholarship 
 and methods for teaching. Much attention is paid to 
 methods of instruction. Originally, the normal schools 
 were private enterprises, but of late years nearly all 
 the states have provided one or more in which tuition is 
 free. In this way a state provides itself with trained 
 teachers, but the supply is as yet far from adequate. 
 
 These secondary schools either prepare their students 
 for a liberal education or equip them for life with a de- 
 gree of learning and mental training far beyond that 
 of the common schools. They include in their courses 
 of study higher mathematics, ancient and modern 
 languages, English and American literature, general 
 history, and the sciences, such as chemistry, physics 
 and botany. With the excellence of their facilities 
 and with their well trained teachers they are doing 
 a work for the country that could not be dispensed 
 with. 
 
 4. The Period of College Education 
 
 This period stands for scholarship and culture and 
 like its predecessors requires four years for its comple- 
 tion. The college was first established for young men 
 who wished to follow some one of the so-called learned 
 10 
 
146 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 professions, theology, law, or medicine. But the love 
 of learning grows by its o^^^l acquirement and the col- 
 leges soon became popular. It is now beginning to be 
 generally known that a liberal education is good for 
 an individual, no matter what calling he may there- 
 after pursue; that college life is fuller and freer and 
 richer than any other, and in the formative years of 
 youth well repays the efforts required to secure it; 
 that the time thus spent yields a "more abundant 
 life" in the years to come. Nor has it been long since 
 the needs and rights of young women have been recog- 
 nized, and in co-educational and female institutions 
 they are now keeping pace with the young men. 
 
 5. The Period or Research or Special Training 
 
 The college puts the finishing touch upon the general 
 education of the individual. At the end of it he may 
 take up any special line he may choose. His mind is 
 trained, disciplined, and stored with knowledge. He 
 should be able to make rapid strides in whatever field 
 he selects. He may enter the school of law and become 
 a lawyer; of theology, -and become a doctor of divinity; 
 or he may go on with certain studies under the direction 
 of the university and become a doctor of philosophy. 
 To prepare himself for any of these or for other pursuits 
 will require from two to four years. He has spent from 
 eighteen to twenty years in preparation in the schools 
 which added to the five or six previous 3^ears puts him 
 well along in the twenties, a good time to begin his life 
 
THE DIVISIONS OF SCHOOL LIFE 147 
 
 work; or, if he has dropped out of school a few years 
 at intervals to put into practice what he has been learn- 
 ing and finishes his schooling at thirty, it will most 
 likely increase his usefulness. 
 
 This somewhat comprehensive outline is given that 
 teachers may know what a complete education as 
 offered in the schools, the world over, consists of. The 
 phrase "as offered in the schools" is used advisedly, for 
 an education is never completed so long as the human 
 mind has power to learn. 
 
 Every teacher should know at the outset what it 
 means ''to go through school." He should understand 
 the significance of each division, so that pupils may be 
 kept looking ahead with eager anticipations to the 
 periods in advance, to the end that the work of each 
 period may be done at the proper time and in the 
 proper place. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF MENTAL 
 ACTIVITY 
 
 All intelligence, all knowledge, all mental activity, 
 have their sources, physiologically speaking, in the 
 nervous system of which the brain is the central office 
 or station. From the brain extend the nerves of the 
 special sense organs of sight, hearing, smell and taste, 
 and the spinal cord. Thirty-one pairs of nerves ex- 
 tend from the spinal cord, which with their numerous 
 branches ramify to all parts of the trunk and limbs. 
 These nerves are of two kinds according to their uses 
 and are called respectively afferent and efferent. It 
 is the business of the former to carr\^ the operations 
 of the special sense organs to the brain producing sen- 
 sations. These are interpreted by the brain and an 
 order is given for a certain kind of action. This order 
 is carried to the muscles by the different nerves, and 
 the action results. 
 
 For illustration suppose we are searching in the dark 
 for a door. Certain of the nerves of touch comiC into 
 contact with an object, and the fact is flashed to a cer- 
 tain group of brain cells whose business it is to respond 
 to these nerves. The "touch" is familiar to the cells 
 
 148 
 
THE BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY 149 
 
 and is interpreted at once into "door knob," a message 
 is sent through the efferent nerves to the muscles, the 
 knob is turned and the door opens. The Vvhole opera- 
 tion occupies but a very small fraction of a second, but 
 when we analyze the act we can see that it happened 
 as described above. We experienced the sensation 
 of touch, we recognized it as the door knob, and we 
 acted upon this knowledge. 
 
 Suppose when we are not expecting it we touch 
 something we do not recognize, the operation is this: 
 the efferent nerves report the contact to the brain cells 
 as before, but they being taken as it were unawares 
 and being ever on the lookout for injury flash back 
 through the efferent nerves the signal "danger" and the 
 hand is jerked away. It may be a moment later we 
 recognize the object touched as perfectly harmless and 
 laugh at the "start" we made. The explanation is 
 that when the sensation was reported to the brain cells, 
 they were taken by surprise and did not dare to lose 
 time by referring to memiory and judgment but took 
 the safe course of getting out of the \yay and permitting 
 investigation to go on afterward. 
 
 Now the knowing part of all this belongs to the mind, 
 but the mind cannot act except through the nerves, 
 the brain and the muscles; and when we know the 
 function of the different parts of the nervous system 
 it is easy to trace the act from start to finish. 
 
 Take another example. Light is reflected from an 
 object to the eye, we perceive that the object is a book, 
 
ISO THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 we rise from our seat, go to the book and examine it, 
 lay it down and return to our seat. This series of acts 
 was started by the reflection of the book upon the 
 retina of the eye. The image, or rather the fact of its 
 existence, was carried by the optic nerves to a group 
 of cells in the occipital lobe of the brain where lies the 
 visual center. There the agitation or the activity of 
 these cells is interpreted as "book," but there is as yet 
 no definite knowledge as to the nature of it. The cells 
 of curiosity are aroused into action, the proper muscles 
 are notified and put to work, and we fmd ourselves at 
 the table examining the book. Here again, the optic 
 nerves report the title, name of the author, and table of 
 contents; the mind interprets the meaning of all, and 
 the will causes us to lay it aside. It is the nerves, 
 the mind and the body all acting in conjunction; and 
 in this way all the actions of our lives are made up. 
 
 We have seen that the optic, the auditory, and the 
 olfactory nerves have their sources in the brain and go 
 directly to their respective organs, and also that they 
 must be and are afferent, or sensory, in their functions. 
 The nerves of taste (sensory and motor) located in the 
 tongue, have their origin in the spinal cord in the medul- 
 la oblongata. There are many other nerves, sensory 
 and motor, that have their sources in the brain, the 
 principal ones of which are those that protect the eyes, 
 those that give expression to the face, and those that 
 control the muscles that move the eyeballs. 
 
 There is still another set of nerves that are called 
 
THE BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY 151 
 
 reflexive whose actions do not depend upon the will 
 but are involuntary or automatic. Such are the nerves 
 that control the muscles of the digestive organs, the 
 heart, and the lungs. The stimulus that sets these 
 nerves into action is in the functioning of the organs 
 which they control. Thus the heart, which is mainly 
 composed of muscle, contracts when blood flows into 
 it; food is the stimulus for the stomach, air for the 
 lungs and so on. There is a vast number of these re- 
 flexive nerves, with muscles or glands to correspond, 
 whose duty it is to take care of the body, to separate 
 waste matter and carry it off, and to repair the body 
 with new materials supplied by food, air and water. 
 
 Some of these reflexives can be temporarily con- 
 trolled by the will as those of the lungs and of the eye- 
 lids, but their regular functioning goes steadily on with- 
 out our attention, which is a very wise provision as 
 otherwise we might neglect to keep them in operation. 
 Most of them we have no control over as to their 
 functioning, but as to their good or ill we have much 
 to do. 
 
 In addition to the reflex actions just noted, we are so 
 constituted that many acts that in the beginning re- 
 quire the most careful attention are gradually reduced 
 by repetition to reflex. Balancing the body on the 
 feet and walking are two out of many hundreds that 
 may be mentioned. It is the duty of everyone to bring 
 as many right and necessary actions as possible into a 
 reflex state. This is in order that we may do right and 
 
152 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 necessary things habitually and without stopping to 
 think about them. Acquiring these reflex conditions 
 should constitute a large part of the education of every 
 individual. 
 
 This tendency of oft-repeated voluntary actions to 
 become involuntary is a wise and wonderful provision. 
 It is like having a lawn-mower that would become so 
 accustomed to performing its function that it would 
 go out and mow the la\^'Tl whenever the grass required 
 it ; or like having an alarm clock that, after having been 
 set and wound to alarm at a certain hour for a great 
 many times, would go on ringing its bell at that same 
 hour whether it was wound or not. 
 
 But valuable as the provision is it also has its dan- 
 gers. After a certain set of nerves and muscles have 
 acted automatically for a long time they may come to 
 demand that action whether we desire it or not. Neither 
 does it matter whether the action is good or bad, the 
 tendency will be to go on and repeat itself again and 
 again just the same. This shows how important is 
 the cultivation of good habits. 
 
 To protect the brain from overwork, special provision 
 is made in the nervous system for reflex actions. It 
 is a part of the duty of the spinal cord to act as a reflex 
 center. Walking, again, furnishes us with a good ex- 
 ample. When the afferent nerves report that the body 
 is out of balance and falling forward ^^■ith only one foot 
 on the ground, the report goes no farther than the 
 spinal cord when the efferent nerves carry back in- 
 
THE BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY 1 53 
 
 structions to the muscles to move the other foot for- 
 ward. It appears that the spinal cord has observed 
 this invariable action so many times that it does not 
 consider it worth while to report the matter to the 
 brain but attends to it at once. 
 
 There are also reflex centers situated at convenient 
 places in the body. They are composed of groups 
 of nerve cells and are collectively called ganglia. They 
 have the control of glands and other organs whose 
 actions have no need to come under the commands 
 of the will. 
 
 It is not the intention of this work to go into a de- 
 tailed description of the nervous system, but only to 
 make such observations as will serve as a working basis 
 for the physiological aspects of mental and moral 
 actions. The student is supposed to be familiar with 
 the com.m.on facts of physiology and will learn what- 
 ever else is requisite under more favorable circum- 
 stances, when he comes to psychology proper. One 
 further thought, however, may receive brief atten- 
 tion. 
 
 The Care of the Nervous System. — Owing to the ex- 
 treme delicacy of the nervous system in its composition 
 and structure it is in a high degree susceptible to dis- 
 ease, and we find, as we might expect, many nervous 
 disorders. In a world of sickness, with knowledge lim- 
 ited, with bodies so delicate that a little cold makes us 
 shiver and a little heat overcomes us, with "the thou- 
 sand ills that flesh is heir to," it is no small matter to 
 
154 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 keep ourselves well and happy and in good working 
 order. 
 
 The study of physiology and hygiene affords the 
 teacher an excellent opportunity for training children 
 in the care of health. Here they learn the structure 
 of the body and its uses and abuses; its need of exer- 
 cise, food and pure air. They learn that the surest 
 prevention of sickness is not the dread of disease nor 
 hothouse, treatment, but vigor of body, cheerfulness 
 of mind and moral conduct. Fortunately these qual- 
 ities appeal to all right-minded people and most strongly 
 to the young. Likewise the things that promote health 
 are the things that nature demands, food, exercise, 
 sleep, air. A close study of nature will solve most of 
 our physical problems. 
 
 The influence of the mind over bodily conditions 
 must not be overlooked. The nerves are especially 
 susceptible to mental states. When peace and hope 
 and good cheer reign in the mind the nerves are at 
 their best. Anything that upsets the mental equilib- 
 rium affects the nerves first of all. This has been 
 proved by many tests. Sudden fear will often para- 
 lyze the nerves so that the muscles cannot act in obedi- 
 ence to the will. Anger acts for a time as a stimulus 
 to the nerves, but when the reaction comes they are 
 greatly weakened. All evil passions are detrimental 
 to the nerves, and despair enfeebles them at times to 
 prostration. Excessive grief and prolonged sorrow are 
 likewise injurious. 
 
THE BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY 1 55 
 
 On the other hand the better emotions are health 
 promoting. Happiness, comfort, peace of mind, good 
 will, help to keep the strength up to the highest notch. 
 This is one of the beneficent provisions of a wise 
 Creator. It is an encouragement towards righteous 
 living. Kind acts are better than medicine; they are 
 beneficial to both doer and receiver. Laughter is a 
 healthful tonic, and "A merry countenance doeth good 
 like a medicine." 
 
 These facts are well established and should serve 
 as beacon lights to the teacher. All righteous emotions 
 should be cultivated, filial affection, kindness to friends 
 and to animals, courage, hopefulness. These are 
 qualities that give zest to life and make companion- 
 ship desirable. Patience should be taught not only 
 in axiomatic form but by illustrations and concrete 
 examples. It should be shown that patient endurance 
 is better for the health than flying into a passion or 
 yielding to despair. A hot rebuke may be met with a 
 laugh or turned aside with a joke. "A soft answer 
 turneth away wrath." 
 
 It is conducive to both health and happiness to con- 
 trol the temper. Children should be taught that it is a 
 part of the discipline of life to refrain from giving 
 offense, and a mark of a lady or a gentleman to be slow 
 in resentment. "Slow to anger, temperate in wrath, 
 forgiving in disposition," should be more than mere 
 phrases, they should be the every day rules of life. 
 Courage is a better safeguard against violence than 
 
156 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 cowardice. When disputes arise avoid ciuarreling, and 
 under threats show no fear but refrain from threatening 
 or boasting in return. If danger cannot be righteously 
 avoided it should be faced unflinchingly; physical 
 bumps and bruises are less injurious than the mental 
 torture of abject fear or the depressing effects of coward- 
 ice. We should strive to outdo our companions in 
 cheerful amenities but let them outdo us in rudeness 
 and braggadocio. They will soon learn which is the 
 more admirable. 
 
 The Effect of Fatigue upon the Nerves. — If a simple 
 instrument could be devised to measure the working 
 power of the nerA-'ous system it would be seen that 
 fatigue has a marked effect. There is a device called a 
 lung tester that shows it clearly in one respect, namely, 
 the ability under vary-ing conditions to inhale air into 
 the lungs. The capacity of the lungs varies in persons 
 of the same age and size, but the instrument shows 
 that an individual can inhale fewer cubic inches when 
 fatigued than when not. Fatigue as used here does 
 not mean out of breath but weariness from continued 
 exertion. A working man can inhale more by several 
 cubic inches after a uSunday's rest than at the end of the 
 week. He can inhale more in the morning than at 
 night. It is not a question of the size of the lung 
 cavities, it is a question of the power of the nerves and 
 the muscles. 
 
 A teacher should be a judge of the working capacity 
 of his pupils and should not permit them to overtax 
 
THE BASIS OF MENTAL ACTIVITY 1 57 
 
 their powers. Some children can do a given amount 
 of work much more easily than others, and the weaker 
 ones are liable to overdo their strength in the effort 
 to keep up. Obviously this should not be allowed. 
 Resting spells should be frequent, more frequent for 
 the smaller and weaker ones, and the easier parts of 
 the day's work should be given toward the close of the 
 sessions. Signs of extreme weariness in any pupil 
 should be quickly noted and an opportunity given for 
 rest and even for sleep if nature demands it. In the 
 study of fatigue it will be observed that change of work 
 is often all that is needed. Short lessons with frequent 
 change are best for young students. 
 
 Nervous Disorders. — Some children are spoken of by 
 their parents as "nervous." The term doubtless covers 
 not only a multitude of sins but a large amount of ig- 
 norance as well, but we have learned to recognize the 
 type. These "nervous" ones are usually pale and 
 anemic, easily startled, excitable, lacking in self-control, 
 susceptible to every passing mood of companions, 
 and upon slight provocation put entirely out of work- 
 ing order. In diagnosing disorders it is necessary to 
 have a sharp lookout for causes. To discover the 
 cause and remove it is better than any temporary 
 relief of the suffering. 
 
 The causes of "nervousness" are numerous, but in 
 the case of a child the cause is likely to result from one 
 or more of the following conditions: Lack of sufficient 
 nourishment, too much work and too little play, too 
 
158 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 much service and too little love, the strenuous life of car- 
 ing for younger children, scolding, nagging, complaining. 
 If any of these are playing a part in the child's life, it is 
 needless to look further; if not, a physician had better 
 be consulted. 
 
 In addition to plenty of food, rest, play and sleep, 
 what a nervous child needs is the loving encouragement 
 of a good, strong, hopeful, cheerful, warm-hearted 
 teacher or companion. Fortunately, with most people 
 health is more catching than disease, hopefulness than 
 despondency, and all good qualities than all bad qual- 
 ities. It must be so, and it is so, otherwise we should 
 all be compelled to lapse into permanent pessimism 
 and this world would quickly go to the dogs. For- 
 tunately, also, it does not require a highly educated 
 person to teach and practice the health giving virtues. 
 It can as well be done and is as likely to be done by 
 the country or village schoolmaster as by the college 
 professor. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 SENSATION 
 
 Sensation is the effect made upon the mind by the 
 functioning of a sense organ. By it we become aware 
 of light, sound, odor, taste and contact. The sense 
 organs bring these phenomena to the mind. With- 
 out the sense organs, or something to take their place, 
 we could have no experimental knowledge of any of 
 them. Without eyes we should have no knowledge 
 of light, and so far as we are concerned light would 
 have no existence. 
 
 Sound is merely the mind taking notice of the sudden 
 activity of certain brain cells; these cells were aroused 
 by a like activity of the cells of the auditory nerve, and 
 it in turn was put into action by the vibrating of the 
 tympanic membrane, which lastly is but a continua- 
 tion of vibrations of the atmosphere caused by con- 
 cussion. That is all there is to it except that the mind 
 is able by previous experience to tell by the activity of 
 the brain cells what caused this particular concussion of 
 the atmosphere. To put it the other way about, a bell 
 is struck causing it to vibrate, the vibrations are com- 
 municated to the atmosphere, from the atmosphere 
 through the tympanum of the ear, from there to the au- 
 
 159 
 
l6o THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ditory nerve, and from it to certain brain cells whose 
 business it is to attend to reports of this particular nerve. 
 The mind takes note of the agitation of these cells and, 
 remembering the way they always act when a bell 
 has been struck, interprets accordingly. If any one 
 of the connecting media were wanting, the air, the 
 tympanum or the auditory nerve, the mind would not 
 know that the bell had been struck. The cells would 
 still be there, perfectly able to perform their function, 
 but they would have no way of coming in contact with 
 the bell. 
 
 How the mind which is immaterial can have knowl- 
 edge of the workings of material objects has not yet 
 been discovered by man. It is as great a myster}' as 
 how the mind can go on living, knowing and acting 
 in a spirit world after the body has perished; only the 
 one we know and the other we can only grasp by faith. 
 
 The Value of Experience in Interpreting Sensations. — 
 Without experience, the extension of self, one could 
 never know the meaning of "bell" or any other sound 
 producing object and the same would be true of other 
 sensations. To an infant the tone of a bell is merely a 
 sound, it conveys no meaning. If its first experience 
 is with a toy bell it will connect all similar sounds with 
 the plaything. Later it may learn that meals are an- 
 nounced by a bell ; next it may learn that church serv- 
 ices are so announced; and later still it will come to 
 know of school bells, fire alarm bells and many others, 
 until it acquires a full comprehension of the mean- 
 
SENSATION l6l 
 
 ing of the sound. But all this requires a multitude of 
 experiences and a great fund of knowledge. To know 
 the meaning of the church bell one would have to know 
 about God and worship and church buildings and as- 
 semblies and preaching and praying and singing. 
 
 The Co-operation of the Sense Organs in Acquiring 
 Experience. — To carry the illustration still further if the 
 child had only the one sense by which to interpret he 
 would be a long time in gathering much information 
 concerning bells. The sense of sight will tell him almost 
 as much as that of hearing. So it is with all our sen- 
 sations, we bring the other senses to bear upon them, 
 we submit them to every test we can think of in order 
 to gain experience. One thing is worth noticing how- 
 ever, and that is that none of the sense organs can ever 
 do the actual work of one that is lost or wanting. We 
 might know very well by sight alone the meaning of 
 bell but we should never know what its sound was for 
 no other sense than that of hearing can interpret air 
 vibrations or produce anything like sound. 
 
 It is obvious then that the one thing needful in early 
 life is experience, and that to shut a child away from 
 the world around him, to limit his observations and 
 experiments to a few things is folly and wickedness. 
 Nature provides us with a demand for investigation, 
 and a child especially should have as large and free a 
 scope as safety and circumstances will permit. 
 
 Experience not only sharpens the wits but the senses 
 as well. It is the principal element in training. In 
 
1 62 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 fact to provide ways and means for and to supervise 
 experience is about all there is to training. The only 
 way we can cause anything to grow is by furnishing 
 the materials for its growth, and furthermore these 
 materials must be provided during the growing period 
 or they will avail nothing. We can expend a great deal 
 of care in supplying the materials for the growth of a 
 plant, seeing that it gets air, sunshine, water, soil, and 
 rest in proper proportions, and be abundantly rewarded 
 for our pains. In addition to supplying materials for 
 growth we can make the plant more beautiful and more 
 useful by directing its growth, by pruning it, keeping 
 it clean, and protecting it from destroying insects and 
 the extremes of heat and cold. 
 
 Thus plant growing furnishes a very good model 
 for child training. We cannot by taking thought add 
 one cubit to the stature or make one hair white or 
 black, but we can see that the child, like the plant, is 
 brought into the proper relation with the materials for 
 his growth. We can attend to the pruning, the clean- 
 ing, and the protecting; and the cubits and the coloring, 
 the vigor and the beauty will take care of themselves. 
 
 The Attributes of Sensations. — We shall be the better 
 able to understand the nature of sensations, their uses 
 and abuses, if we study them with reference to their 
 distinguishing features. The principal ones are quality, 
 quantity, duration, intensity, and extensity. These we 
 shall now consider in their order. 
 
 Quality. — Quality is the characteristic feature of a 
 
SENSATION 163 
 
 sensation by which we distinguish it from all other sen- 
 sations; it is the key to its identity. After we have once 
 learned the peculiar quality of a sensation and become 
 familiar with that quality there is no danger of not being 
 able to recognize it thereafter. For instance the quality 
 of the tone of a violin is different from that of an organ, 
 a piano, or any other musical instrument; and by this 
 quality we can single it out from all others after a few 
 experiences. This is easy, but to detect the difference 
 in tone between two violins of about the same pattern 
 is not so easy though to a trained ear there is a distinct 
 difference. This again shows the value of experience. 
 
 All sensations produced by the different sense organs 
 have qualities peculiar to themselves. Sounds differ in 
 quality from odors, tastes, and sights, and so in greater 
 or less degree from the sensations of each of the other 
 sense organs. Taste is somewhat closely related to 
 touch, because the latter is necessary to the former and 
 because the tongue is a very good organ of touch. Still, 
 when we speak of the taste there is no danger of con- 
 fusing it with the feel of an object. On the other hand, 
 the sense of smell is no doubt often mistaken for the 
 sense of taste, and people who have lost the sense of 
 smell are likely to be poor tasters. 
 
 As has been suggested the ability to discern the finer 
 qualities of sensations is a matter of training and is a 
 part of everyone's education. Even then no one can 
 become an expert in all lines. A musician might be 
 able to recognize the tones of a thousand different 
 
164 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 violins, to detect minute variations in pitch, and many 
 Dther fine points that the average Hstener would not 
 notice, and yet a horse trainer might consider him a 
 very poor judge of horses. Each is an expert in his o\\n 
 line. Any one by perseverance in painstaking effort 
 can become skilled in some things and a good judge 
 of many things. Particular lines or occupations are 
 matters of choice, talent, adaptation, and effort. The 
 training of children should in most cases be general 
 rather than special. 
 
 Quantity. — The quantity of a sensation depends upon 
 the mass of the stimulus. A large light produces more 
 sensation than a small one, and a spoonful of salt more 
 than a pinch. It takes a certain amount of anything 
 to arouse a sense organ at all, while a very great amount 
 produces a sensation quite different from the ordinary. 
 An average amount of light is pleasant to the eye but a 
 very great or a very small amount is painful. There 
 must be sixteen vibrations of air per second before the 
 sense of hearing will respond, and when the number has 
 reached about thirty-six thousand per second the re- 
 sponse ceases. A pinch of salt is pleasant to the taste, 
 the smallest grain could not be tasted and a large 
 amount would be decidedly disagreeable. A certain 
 amount of perfume is delicious, too much is oppressive, 
 and so on. 
 
 In judging the quantity of sensations distance must 
 be taken into consideration in the cases of seeing, hear- 
 ing, and smelling. A large light at a distance may pro- 
 
SENSATION 165 
 
 duce no greater effect upon the eye than a small one 
 nearby. This does not mean that the quantity of the 
 sensation has ceased to depend upon the mass; the small 
 light at the same distance might not be visible at all. 
 The rule for distance is the same as that for the at- 
 traction of gravitation, the quantity of the sensation 
 is in inverse proportion to the square of the distance 
 of the stimulus from the sense organ. That is, if a 100 
 candle power light produces a certain sensation at 
 50 feet it will require a 400 candle power light to produce 
 the same sensation at 100 feet. This can be mathe- 
 matically proved with a stereopticon by placing the 
 instrument ten feet from the curtain and then removing 
 it to twenty feet, measuring the area covered by the 
 light in each case. It will be seen that the area covered 
 at twenty feet is four times as great as at ten feet. This 
 means that there is only one fourth as much light on 
 any square inch of surface at twenty feet as there was 
 at ten feet. The same rule obtains in hearing and in 
 smelling. 
 
 The ability to judge of the distance of an object by 
 knowing its mass, or to judge of its mass by knowing 
 the distance is, like the ability to judge of the quality 
 of sensations, a matter of training or experience, the 
 wider our field of acquaintance and the more extensive 
 our experience the better our judgment. 
 
 Duration. — The time required for a stimulus to make 
 an impression upon a sense organ is variable, depending 
 upon a number of factors as attention, alertness of 
 
1 66 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 mind, vigor of body, fatigue. That a perceptible time 
 is required to produce a definite sensation can be shown 
 in several ways. When a wheel is revolving rapidly 
 we cannot see the spokes, but an instantaneous photo- 
 graph might reveal each one distinctly. An object can 
 be passed before the eyes and removed again before we 
 can get an impression of it. Psychological laboratories 
 have devices for testing the rapidity of action of the 
 sense organs. 
 
 Again, after an impression has been made a little 
 time must elapse before it is removed, the duration 
 depending apparently upon the intensity of the stim- 
 ulus and the length of time employed in acting upon 
 the sense organ. This can be tested in the case of sight 
 impressions by looking steadily at a window for a short 
 time and then closing the eyes. It will be observed 
 that the image remains for some time and that it varies 
 with the period employed in acquiring it. This action 
 of the eyes is something like the dissolving views of a 
 lantern, one picture gradually fades away and another 
 as gradually takes its place. The same thing is true 
 in var\'ing degrees with the other sense organs. Sound 
 impressions appear to be made more rapidly and are 
 more readily distinguished one from another than those 
 of sight. 
 
 The most prominent factor in gaining the impressions 
 of the sense organs is attention, and it is the one factor 
 that we can or should always have under control. 
 We cannot always have the necessary amount of light 
 
SENSATION 167 
 
 for seeing or the proper degree of quietness for hearing, 
 nor can we always be in the best physical condition; 
 but the attention is something we should learn to master. 
 We are a curious composition of mind and matter. 
 The body cannot accomplish anything except in con- 
 junction with the mind. The eye is as good a photo- 
 graphing lens as any photographer possesses, but the 
 picture it takes will leave no impression unless the mind 
 is giving attention ; yet, if the mind attends, the image 
 will last as long as it is needed or indefinitely. We see, 
 then, that attention is one of the great desiderata and 
 its cultivation is of the first importance. 
 
 Some persons are naturally much more sensitive 
 to stimuli than others and some are quicker to respond 
 than others. These individual peculiarities should be 
 carefully noted by teachers when they are instructing 
 children. Health, happiness, fatigue, all have their 
 bearings; but these will be spoken of under the care of 
 the special sense organs. 
 
 Extensity and Intensity. — The term extensity refers 
 to the area of surface of the stimulus while intensity 
 means the rapidity or concentration of strength with 
 which the stimulus strikes the sense organ. A given 
 amount of light diffused might be very gentle in its 
 effect upon the eyes, but if concentrated into a point 
 it might be fierce enough to be scarcely endurable. 
 The sun's rays on the body may afford scarcely enough 
 heat for comfort but if concentrated through a three 
 inch lens they will quickly burn the skin. 
 
1 68 THE TILMNING OF CHILDREN 
 
 This phenomenon of diffusion and concentration is 
 taken advantage of to assist faulty sight by means of 
 spectacles, and dulled hearing by means of a trumpet- 
 shaped instrument that brings to the tympanum more 
 air waves than the outer ear could gather. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 THE SENSE ORGANS 
 
 The sense organs are the eyes, the ears, the nose, the 
 tongue, and the fingers as special sense organs of touch. 
 The whole body is more or less an organ of touch, some 
 parts being much more sensitive than others. Sensa- 
 tions of weight are sometimes classed as muscular while 
 feelings of oppression, of aches and pains, comfort and 
 discomfort, hunger and thirst are classed under touch 
 though they are quite different from what we ordinarily 
 understand by the term. We shall study these sense 
 organs in the order given above. 
 
 The Eyes. — Divine wisdom is nowhere better exem- 
 plified in physical mechanism than in the provision 
 made for seeing. The delicacy of the structure of the 
 eyes, their many parts so fitly joined and working to- 
 gether, their adaptations, their location, their natural 
 provisions for preservation and protection combine 
 to make them the most perfect and wonderful bit of 
 machinery in the world. Their location under the bony 
 arches of the forehead, the depth of their sockets, their 
 self-moving and self-adjusting lids, their provision for 
 oiling, their tear glands and ducts, their hair awnings 
 on the brows and dust shields on the lids, their readi- 
 
 169 
 
170 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ness and facility of movement, their alignment for 
 working in pairs, the automatic adjustment of the 
 pupils for admitting a greater or less amount of light 
 according to the supply, all these and many other 
 nicely adapted contrivances attest the perfect wisdom 
 of the Creator. 
 
 The Sense of Sight. — This sense as a source of in- 
 formation usually far exceeds that of any of the others. 
 By it we become aware of most of the objects around us, 
 and by it we discover much of what we need to know 
 about them. The sense of sight gives us acute pleasure 
 and much general satisfaction. One would need to be 
 deprived of it for a time before he could fully realize 
 its benefits. We are so accustomed to seeing that we do 
 not stop to consider the tens of thousands of uses to 
 which we put our eyes. Since they are so necessary 
 to our happiness and to our usefulness they merit our 
 special study both as to their nature and to the part 
 they play in our education, development, and life. 
 
 The stimulus that sets the eye into action and gives 
 us the sense of seeing is light. Light, when reflected 
 into the eye from an object, gives us the sensation of 
 brightness or of color. Light has its source in some 
 luminous body, as the sun, and is supposed to be con- 
 ^^eyed to us by means of waves of ether. This latter 
 is a substance that pervades all space and is in constant 
 motion like the air or the waves of the sea. The theory 
 of the ether and the way it conveys rays of light from 
 the sun to the earth is that the heat of the sun sets the 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 171 
 
 ether into motion in the form of waves, and that these 
 waves move with incomprehensible rapidity so that 
 they break upon the eye, as waves of water break upon 
 the shore, at the rate of many milhons a second. The 
 ether itself does not travel from sun to earth but only 
 the waves. The motion is caused by one particle 
 striking against another particle, and this in turn trans- 
 mitting its motion to another, and so on until an object 
 is reached. It is similar to the motion of electricity 
 in sending messages from one city to another or across 
 the ocean. 
 
 When rays of light are reflected from an object into 
 the eye, an image of the object is formed on the retina. 
 The image of ourselves that we see when we look into 
 another person's eye is not the one that is on the retina. 
 What we see there is simply a reflection from the sur- 
 face of the eye acting as a mirror. The image on the 
 retina is considerably larger than this and is upside 
 down. This image, or the rays of light which produce it, 
 stimulates the cells of the retina into some kind of ac- 
 tivity the nature of which is not known; this activity is 
 transmitted through the optic nerve to the brain cells at 
 the roots of the nerve, and a certain group there are 
 energized in the same mysterious manner. The energy 
 of these brain cells is what the mind is taking note of 
 when it is "seeing," or perhaps that energy is the mind 
 seeing. Of one thing we are certain, the mind actually 
 sees neither the object nor the image upon the retina but 
 gets its knowledge from the energization of the brain 
 
172 Till': TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 cells. If the two optic nerves could be suddenly severed 
 without disturbing the rest of the apparatus the image 
 might remain on the retina and the cells there be 
 energized, but the cells in the brain would remain qui- 
 escent because there could be no communication be- 
 tween the two, and the result would be absolute dark- 
 ness. The fact that the activity of a little group of 
 brain cells can be interpreted into a tree with its leaves 
 and branches and a thousand other details is infinitely 
 more wonderful than the mechanism of the eye. The 
 eye can be in a sense imitated by man, but the per- 
 formances of the mind are utterly beyond his grasp. 
 
 Colors, — The rapidity with which the waves of ether 
 break upon the retina gives to the mind the distinction 
 of colors. To produce the sensation of red there must 
 be over four hundred trillions of vibrations per second, 
 while to produce the sensation of violet there must 
 be nearly eight hundred trillions per second. Between 
 these two extremes are the other colors of what is 
 known as the spectrum. These may be seen in the rain- 
 bow or on the wall by allowing the rays of the sun to 
 pass through a glass prism, and in their order as thus 
 shown are known as violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, 
 orange, and red. White is the combination of all colors 
 while black shows the absence of all. There are other 
 colors not found in the spectrum that arc the com- 
 pounds of one or more of those of the spectrum com- 
 bined with white or gray or black. Pink, brown, olive, 
 maroon are examples of these. The varying shades of 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 1 73 
 
 colors that may be discerned by a trained mind run 
 into many hundreds. 
 
 The time to train the mind to a ready discrimination 
 of colors is in the early years of school life. The fact of 
 color blindness noted in many adults is doubtless due 
 to the neglect of the faculty of discrimination in early 
 youth. Persons who have much to do with colors as 
 in the handling of cloth, ribbons, and the like, have a 
 much more acute sense of differences than those who 
 have little to do with them. 
 
 Color materials for school purposes are bountifully 
 supplied in nature. The varying shades of green in 
 trees and grass, the blue of the sky, the hues of the birds 
 and the flowers, and the ever changing clouds furnish 
 a variety that will yield both information and enjoy- 
 ment. The splendor of the sunset amid fleecy clouds 
 and the glory of the autumnal foliage need only to be 
 pointed out to be appreciated by children of school age. 
 
 Taste in making combinations is acquired by ex- 
 perience and practice. It can be cultivated by arrang- 
 ing flowers into bouquets and by small bits of paper 
 of different colors cut into any desired shape; these 
 may be arranged in patterns, at first, from easy designs, 
 then more complicated as the learner advances. Small 
 pupils are often put to stringing these paper circles or 
 squares with a needle and thread with instructions 
 to put the colors in a certain order. 
 
 Distinguishing Form. — In addition to brightness and 
 color the eye also takes in the idea of form. The eye 
 
174 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 is no doubt greatly assisted in judging forms by the 
 experience of handling and measuring, but however 
 that may be, the fact remains that we learn to judge 
 of forms by the eye alone. The principal thing in train- 
 ing the judgment of children in this particular is to give 
 them plenty of experience together with the names of 
 many of the conventional forms as round, square, ob- 
 long, oval, spherical, cylindrical, examples always being 
 shown as the names are taught. Likewise they should 
 become familiar with the forms of leaves as hastate, 
 serrate, oval, indented, smooth, etc. The best time to 
 acquire names is in early youth, provided the objects 
 are presented at the same time and enough information 
 furnished to make an impression on the memor>\ If a 
 teacher will learn to recognize the world of educational 
 material within easy walking distance of his schoolhouse 
 and how to use it intelligently, he will thereby increase 
 by man}^ fold the value of his instruction. 
 
 The perception of three dimensions by sight alone 
 seems to be due to light and shade coupled with the 
 previous experience of the sense of touch. The appear- 
 ance of the third dimension in paintings and drawings 
 is brought about by shading. The idea of density is also 
 suggested by heavy shading. 
 
 Distance. — Distance is any definite or limited extent 
 of space. Just how space is comprehended by sight 
 is not easily explained. It is very vague in childhood 
 gradually growing more and more definite with ex- 
 perience. A child's horizon widens in proportion to the 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 175 
 
 investigations he is able or permitted to make. To 
 judge distances accurately requires much practice. 
 The units of measurements should be taught early, 
 and experiments with them carried on all through the 
 grades. Many persons go through life with only a vague 
 idea of feet, yards, rods, and miles. These might 
 just as well have had accurate conceptions if only 
 teachers had taken a little trouble to furnish informa- 
 tion and the opportunity for investigation. The units 
 can easily be provided, and the children will take a 
 great deal of interest in estimating distances and then 
 measuring them to determine the accuracy of their 
 judgment. 
 
 Incorrect Vision. — Faulty vision is quite common 
 among children even at the beginning of school age and 
 appears to increase rapidly through the grades. The 
 causes are numerous and varied, but a large percentage 
 of the cases of eye trouble is due to carelessness, neglect 
 of slight ailments, and ignorance of what the eye is 
 capable of enduring without injury. Tests carefully 
 made in many large schools show that, under the best 
 conditions of light and care, the number of children 
 afflicted with abnormal vision runs from eight to six- 
 teen per cent, while under the worst conditions the num- 
 ber runs as high as fifty per cent. 
 
 A few simple rules for the protection and the care of 
 the eyes should be steadily adhered to in every school 
 room. First, there should be an abundance of light as 
 evenly distributed as possible. " No one can afford to 
 
176 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 use his eyes in a failing or feeble light. Second, the 
 seats should be so arranged that the students will not 
 sit facing the windows; this is important for the reason 
 that when the eyes face the light the pupils grow 
 smaller and when they return to the book too little 
 light enters until the eyes are again adjusted. Fre- 
 quent repetitions of this weary the muscles and weaken 
 the organs. Third, the eye strain in long continued 
 study is very great and must be avoided or at least 
 ameliorated by frequent rests. The eyes of children 
 previous to entering school have not been accustomed 
 to looking at very small objects continuously, and 
 the transition should be made very gradually. Night 
 study should be entirely prohibited to students below 
 the high school. Much of the poor eye-sight of recent 
 generations is undoubtedly attributable to school work; 
 there are too many children wearing glasses, and too 
 many more that ought to be, to admit of any doubt in 
 the matter. Fourth, no books of fine print should be 
 allowed in the hands of pupils in the grades, neither 
 any whose pages are soiled or the tj-pe rendered ob- 
 scure in any way. In the olden days much was said 
 about the preservation of books and they were handed 
 down from child to child, and even from parent to child, 
 and made to do duty when the pages were yellow and 
 the words dim — and all this for the sake of economy. 
 Modern science has discovered that true economy does 
 not lie in the preservation of the books but rather in 
 saving the eyes and safeguarding the health. 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 1 77 
 
 The Sense of Hearing. — Civilization has probably 
 dulled the hearing of mankind. The savage depended 
 largely upon this sense for the detection of game and 
 for apprising himself of the approach or whereabouts 
 of his enemies, and so cultivated its acuteness to a high 
 degree. Both of these uses have practically been re- 
 moved and since the need for acute hearing is not 
 so great its cultivation has slackened. To the savage 
 every sound had a meaning. He studied the various 
 notes of the birds and the calls of animals until he knew 
 the meaning of each as well as they. All this, as well 
 as the keenest observation of sight, was necessary to his 
 existence; but to civilized man it is not so. If we wish 
 to keep our senses up to the standard of the savage 
 we must find the stimulus in some other source. 
 
 Fortunately there is sufficient if we will but look for 
 it. It is a part of the work of the scientist and student 
 of nature to recognize and interpret the sounds of 
 nature, beasts, birds, and insects; and the reward in 
 knowledge and appreciation is amply sufficient to repay 
 all the efforts required to master them. Civilized man 
 is far better able than the savage to appreciate the har- 
 miony and the music in the sounds of nature. The lore 
 of the woods is ever attractive to children, as witness 
 the popularity of Longfellow's Hiawatha and of nature 
 books in countless variety. There is no more delight- 
 ful way of training the hearing of children than to teach 
 them to distinguish the notes of birds and insects in the 
 varying seasons of the year. The knowledge they thus 
 12 
 
178 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 gather will materially add to their interest in nature 
 study and will give them a zest for the literature on 
 these subjects. 
 
 Voice Culture. — There are many little corrections 
 that can be made in children's voices so that they shall 
 not speak too loud or too low and that their tones shall 
 be pleasant to the ear. This instruction should be 
 given both in conversation and in reading. Taste in 
 hearing needs cultivation so that one may judge rightly 
 of tones made in reading, speaking, and singing. The 
 control of the breathing, the ready use of all the vocal 
 organs, and the cultivation of pleasing tones should 
 have much attention. When children have correct 
 standards before them and know what is desired they 
 will be quick in acquiring proficiency, but without an 
 adequate idea of what is right they cannot make prog- 
 ress. It is the teacher's duty to set the standard and to 
 furnish exercises that are interesting and helpful. There 
 may be defects in the vocal organs that will need to be 
 remedied; these will be spoken of in the next chapter. 
 
 The mind should be cultivated to appreciate good 
 music, both vocal and instrumental. Singing should 
 have a part in the exercises of each day in every school. 
 Every teacher should know how to sing and to lead 
 singing. The rudiments of vocal music should be 
 taught from the first grade onward. School song books 
 are easily obtained and a sufficient number should be 
 provided so that all pupils may take part in the singing 
 and in the vocal exercises. 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 179 
 
 Many corrections will be necessary in singing as well 
 as in reading and speaking. Some will be ver}^ timid 
 about making a noise at all, while others will have to 
 learn that singing does not consist in yelling. There 
 will be nasal tones and screechings and gutturals and 
 mumblings and other difficulties that will tax the pa- 
 tience and kindly efforts of the teacher, but the reward 
 will surely come. Most of the children will sing well in 
 spite of lack of early training, and the whole school 
 will soon know the difference between correct and in- 
 correct singing. 
 
 It is doubtful if the hearing can be cultivated to a 
 high degree of excellence without being accompanied 
 with a good voice; besides, a good voice, well modulated 
 and well trained, is a valuable acquisition, one that is 
 not common but might be possessed by nearly every 
 one if the means for its cultivation were provided in 
 early life. Many persons with excellent voice capacity 
 go through life missing a great deal of pleasure to them- 
 selves and to their friends because of this lack of early 
 training. 
 
 The Sense of Taste. — Taste is that power of the mind 
 acting through the sense organs that enables us to 
 recognize certain differences in the flavor of articles of 
 food and to test substances the edibility or the identity 
 of which we are in doubt; it also adds to the enjoyment 
 of eating. Many foods and drinks are sought more for 
 their pleasant taste than for any other qualities they 
 may possess. Tastes are divided into sweet, sour. 
 
l8o THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 bitter, and salt. Wliile there is an infinite number of 
 variations, every substance that has taste at all has one 
 or more of these four qualities. 
 
 The nerve of taste, called the gustatory nerve, is con- 
 nected b)^ numerous branches with little groups of 
 cells called taste buds situated on the upper surface, 
 the sides and the end of the tongue, and in the soft 
 palate. To be tasted, a substance must be in liquid 
 form and must "be brought into contact with the taste 
 buds. It does not appear that these buds all perform 
 the same office. The area for sweet and salt appears to 
 be on the tip and adjacent parts, for sour on the sides, 
 and for bitter on the back part of the tongue. 
 
 One would not suppose that the sense of taste could 
 have much to do with the training of the mind and the 
 character, but from a commercial standpoint, at least, 
 it outranks most of the other senses. The partiality of 
 civilized man for flavor is responsible for a large pro- 
 portion of the trade of the world. All climates and all 
 countries are combed for delicacies, which are brought 
 thousands of miles over sea and land to our doors, and 
 presented to us in forms that are most tempting to the 
 palate. Manufacturers of food products are every- 
 where pandering to taste, and fortunes are spent in the 
 indulgence of it. 
 
 The teacher may not assure himself that the cultiva- 
 tion of taste has nothing to do with the forming of 
 character, for it has much. Abnormal appetite and 
 over-eating are almost entirely due to the gratification 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS l8l 
 
 of this sense. Highly spiced foods and artificial flavors 
 are indulged in until they are craved and plain food is 
 no longer satisfying to the desires. The high cost of 
 natural flavors causes the morally weak trader to 
 stoop to adulterations, and life and health are endan- 
 gered. For the sake of appetite, or for the greed and 
 gain that it leads to, men will stultify their consciences 
 and every crime in the calendar is committed. 
 
 Next to the home, the school is the most potent factor 
 in character forming, and whatever can be done toward 
 the preservation of simple taste and plain living ought 
 not to be neglected. With most people, as riches in- 
 crease, luxury and extravagance are indulged in and 
 plain food and plain living threaten to become a badge 
 of poverty if not of disgrace. There are some of the 
 wealthy and refined yet remaining who preach and 
 practice the simple life ; but, unless parents and teachers 
 present the m.atter in its true light, they are likely to 
 be considered old-fashioned and out of date rather than 
 as examples to be followed. 
 
 The Sense of Smell. — The olfactory nerve is lo- 
 cated in the brain from whence it extends to the mu- 
 cous membrane of the nose, the nerve .ends covering but 
 a small area in the back part of the nasal cavities. 
 Any object which has odor is constantly giving off 
 small particles of its substance which float in the air; 
 these particles are drawn into the nostrils by breathing 
 or sniffing, and lodging on the mucous membrane are 
 brought into contact with the nerve ends and the stim- 
 
l82 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ulation is carried to the brain by the olfactory nerve. 
 
 Smells are named for the most part from the objects 
 from which they emanate and are classed as agreeable 
 or disagreeable. Those that are pleasant are often 
 further described as fragrant, delightful, delicious. 
 When we say an object smells sour we are relating the 
 smell with the taste, having tested both when the sub- 
 stance was in a fermented condition. 
 
 Smell has two uses, that of giving pleasure to the 
 sense and that of protection against poisonous sub- 
 stances. When things smell disagreeably, they are 
 likely to be poisonous and we are thus warned against 
 them. Bad smells are scarcely endurable, and for this 
 reason we are more particular than we otherv/ise would 
 be about pure air and cleanly surroundings. It is a 
 great safeguard against vitiated air in schoolrooms and 
 sleeping rooms, but one often needs to enter the room 
 from the pure air outside to be aware of its condition. 
 
 The value of the sense of smell to the commercial 
 world is not so great as that of the sense of taste, 
 nevertheless it is considerable. The industry of pro- 
 viding perfumery for the market is a large one. The 
 cultivation of flowers for perfumes, their manufacture 
 and sale, afford a means of livelihood to many thou- 
 sands of people. Cologne in Germany and Paris in 
 France are great centers for the manufacture and trade 
 of perfumes. 
 
 The study of the acuteness of this sense in animals is 
 very interesting. The powers of scent of certain breeds 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 1 83 
 
 of dogs is truly marvelous and is doubtless a much more 
 important feature in their lives than any other sense. 
 ]\'Iany others of the lower animals have a much keener 
 sense of smell than man, but that it can be greatly cul- 
 tivated in the latter when other senses are lacking is 
 well known. The blind, for instance, often obtain from 
 it a vast amount of information which others get with 
 their eyes. 
 
 The Sense of Touch. — ^This is the one sense that is 
 common to all living creatures and is never entirely 
 lost while life lasts. While the lingers are its special 
 organs all parts of the body are to a greater or less de- 
 gree sensitive to touch. On the surface of the body it 
 is dependent upon a multitude of very fine nerves that 
 are distributed everywhere through the skin but in 
 some places much more plentifully than in others. It 
 is also probable that nerves of touch in the fingers are 
 more sensitive from constant use than those in other 
 parts. The sense of touch includes the sense of temper- 
 ature but, while some parts of the body are more sensi- 
 tive to heat and cold than other parts, the fingers are 
 not special organs for its use. 
 
 The sense of touch is very fine when cultivated to 
 its full capacity. It is of the greatest benefit to those 
 who are blind. Through it they may learn to read, 
 write, play on musical instruments and do almost any 
 kind of work that does not require too much moving 
 about. The amount of skill acquired in a great variety 
 of occupations by many persons who have lost their 
 
1 84 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 eyesight is astonishing. The one thing needful for 
 children who are blind is that they should have the 
 best instruction obtainable while they are young. 
 When such instruction is provided they are often able 
 to keep pace with those who have the use of their eyes, 
 as witness the cases of Laura Bridgman and Helen 
 Keller. 
 
 Schools for the blind are provided in probably every 
 state in the Union, but many parents are averse to 
 sending their unfortunate children to these schools, 
 preferring to let them remain in ignorance rather than 
 trust their care to others and thus rendering the mis- 
 fortune of these little ones infinitely greater than it 
 need be. When a teacher finds a blind child in his dis- 
 trict he should use his utmost efforts to persuade the 
 parents to send such a one to the school provided for 
 his or her special benefit. Both the care and the in- 
 struction in these schools are usually far better than 
 the parents can possibly give. 
 
 The sense of touch has a commercial value. Most 
 people learn to judge of the texture of cloth by the 
 feel of it. We can judge of the qualities of many things 
 by the way they respond to the sense of touch. It is 
 little trouble to train pupils in the use of this sense if 
 only the materials can be provided. There is a strong 
 natural desire on the part of children to handle things. 
 There are so many things they can learn about objects 
 by getting their hands on them that they are prone 
 to carry the matter too far. In cultivating the sense 
 
THE SENSE ORGANS 185 
 
 of touch a part of the instruction should be not to 
 meddle with things that belong to other people, nor 
 to handle out of their own domain without express 
 permission. 
 
 Outside of the kindergartens and the primary^ de- 
 partments in the cities, there is little attempted in the 
 schools toward sense training. A book containing sim- 
 ple descriptions of sense training devices in the hands 
 of every teacher would be exceedingly helpful. It is 
 true that country children have superior opportunities 
 for this training, yet they need the help of the schools 
 in this as in all other lines of study. The material 
 while abundant enough is not organized and put into 
 form so that children can recognize it and apply it to 
 their needs. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 
 
 Far too little attention is paid to the care of the 
 special organs of sense. This is perhaps due to the 
 fact that they are not classed among the "dial organs. 
 We can lose any or all of them, except the sense of 
 touch, and still live and in other respects enjoy good 
 health. When the eyes, the ears, the nose or the throat 
 are afflicted we are usually more concerned for relief 
 from the suffering than we are for the preservation of 
 the organs themselves. We should remember that 
 pain is given expressly as a warning that some part of 
 the body is receiving more or less serious injury. 
 
 There are many infectious diseases incident to child- 
 hood that permanently impair the delicate sense organs. 
 These leave in their wake eye trouble, ear ache with 
 consequent dullness of hearing, difficulty in breathing 
 and a multitude of other evils, for any or all of ^^'hich 
 Providence is blamed,, when the fault lies entirely in 
 ourselves. It is well known to physicians that many 
 people lose their eyesight or their hearing from causes 
 that are easily avoidable and from diseases that are 
 readily curable if taken in time. 
 
 There is a strong prejudice against consulting special- 
 
 i86 
 
THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 187 
 
 ists, whose prices are thought to be beyond reason, 
 and home remedies and quack nostrums are apphed in 
 the hope of effecting a cure at little cost. It should be 
 remembered, however, that the specialist treats hun- 
 dreds of cases, and in ninety-nine out of a hundred he 
 knows almost at once what the trouble is and what 
 to do for it. His skill while costly at the time is likely 
 to be a great deal cheaper in the long run than guess 
 work and trusting to luck. Nature gives us these 
 priceless organs, but she makes the gift but once and 
 she cannot save us from the folly of our ignorance if 
 we mistreat or destroy them. 
 
 It is also known to those who have made a careful 
 study of the subject that, barring unpreventable acci- 
 dents, vision and hearing and the use of the other 
 sense organs can be preserved far into old age, to 
 eighty or ninety if life lasts that long, if proper care is 
 observed. It is a fact that care is the most urgent in 
 childhood and youth; that the ailments commonly 
 attributed to old age are mostly due to infectious dis- 
 eases that have left their mark, to excesses of indul- 
 gence, to overwork, or to underfeeding. In short, what 
 we sow in youth we reap in old age, but too frequently 
 we are obliged to reap what others sowed for us before 
 we were of an age to take care of ourselves. 
 
 Up to about twenty years ago the health of school 
 children in the public schools was left entirely to the 
 wisdom or guesswork of the teachers. Epidemics were 
 common and costly. The health of every child was in 
 
1 88 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 constant danger, and death frequently resulted from 
 contact with disease. In addition to fatality and ill- 
 ness, thousands of children were deprived of their edu- 
 cation on account of disabilities which the science of 
 medicine knew well how to remove; but neither teacher 
 nor parents being able to diagnose the cases, no medi- 
 cal or surgical aid was sought. Certain unfortunate 
 children were thought to be dullards and their educa- 
 tion given up, while epidemics were visitations of 
 Providence and nothing could be done for them. 
 
 In 1894, a series of epidemics in the city of Boston 
 proved so destructive that the citizens became alarmed 
 and remedial measures were called for. The board of 
 education acted promptly, the city was divided into 
 fifty districts, and fifty physicians were appointed to 
 regularly inspect the schools. The result was most 
 satisfactory. Every pupil in the city came regularly 
 under the immediate observation of the doctor who 
 was quick to discover symptoms of contagion and to 
 prevent its spread, to detect physical disabilities and 
 in most cases to remove them. 
 
 A large percentage of the dullards were found to be 
 suffering from some affliction of one or more of the 
 sense organs. They were not lacking in sense but in 
 senses. The disability removed, these children pro^•ed 
 to be perfectly normal, in many cases even catching up 
 with those of their own age who had gone on and left 
 them to all appearances hopelessly stranded. Who 
 can fneasure the value of such attention? 
 
THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 1 89 
 
 A child is slightly near-sighted and misses much 
 that normal eyes would see but he is not aware of his 
 weakness, and neither teacher nor parents knowing 
 anything about it, the child is considered dull-minded. 
 The doctor applies his tests, discovers the trouble, or- 
 ders glasses and lo, the little one is as bright as others 
 of his age. Another is slightly deaf owing to some ob- 
 struction of the eustachian tubes, but having no means 
 of measuring his ability to hear with that of other chil- 
 dren, he remains in ignorance of it. He is entreated, 
 scolded, punished for not carrying out instructions 
 that he did not hear, or for not paying attention when 
 he should have done so. No one suspects the real 
 cause until the doctor appears and tests his hearing 
 and the child is saved from a world of embarrassment 
 and backwardness. What a host of children have 
 been saved from absolute stupidity by having adenoid 
 growths removed from their nasal cavities! So much 
 energy was required for breathing through these ob- 
 structions that nothing was left for mental operations. 
 How easy the detection, how simple the removal of 
 the obstruction, to one who knows ! 
 
 Boston having set the example, other cities followed 
 until now most of the larger and many of the smaller 
 ones have medical inspection in the public schools, 
 and the custom is rapidly spreading because, in addition 
 to the mercy of it, it has been discovered that it pays. 
 
 It will probably be some time before such provision 
 will be made at the public expense for all our country 
 
IQO THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 schools. While country children have all the rights of 
 city children, the country is slow to adopt city methods. 
 In the meantime the teacher must do what lies in his 
 power, and he is not without expedients. Practically 
 everything that is done toward the promotion of edu- 
 cation is reported and described in the education jour- 
 nals some of which every teacher is supposed to take 
 and read. By means of these and by information 
 which he may readily obtain from the local physician, 
 he can himself become reasonably expert in detecting 
 physical defects, and when this is done it is his duty to 
 notify the parents and furnish such advice as he deems 
 wise. 
 
 It does not require extraordinary skill to detect the 
 normality or abnormality of sight, hearing or breath- 
 ing, but it does require a test. The trouble is that 
 teachers make no efforts at discoveries in these essen- 
 tials. Some even argue that they are employed only 
 to give instruction, not to do the work of a doctor. 
 This is but a poor excuse, wholly unworthy of anyone 
 who has been entrusted with an obligation so sacred 
 as that of the care of children. Where other means 
 are not provided, every teacher should make such a 
 test of the sight and hearing of all the pupils as the 
 best equipment obtainable will permit, and he should 
 constantly be on the lookout for any trouble in breath- 
 ing or for any affliction of nose or throat. 
 
 If charts are not obtainable for testing the eyes, the 
 blackboard will answer. If a pupil with good light 
 
THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 191 
 
 cannot readily read letters an inch high at a distance 
 of twenty feet there is something wrong. If a child 
 holds his book very close to his eyes, or farther away 
 than the ordinary, it is likewise an indication of weak- 
 ness. Headache and fatigue are often indicative of 
 faulty vision. All these things should be observed 
 and measures taken for their relief. But the teacher 
 should in no case trust himself to make a final diagnosis 
 of eye troubles, for that is the business of the occulist; 
 he should never prescribe glasses or attempt to fit 
 them, for that is the business of the optician; and 
 finally he should not prescribe for diseases of any kind 
 unless he is perfectly sure of their nature and of well 
 established remedies. 
 
 While he may not do any of these things he may do 
 what is next best, he may prescribe rules of health and 
 right ways of living. A well-fed and well-cared-for per- 
 son seldom has any serious ailment no matter what 
 the provocation. This is the most profound truth that 
 any doctor knows and yet it is patent to everybody. 
 Health is the greatest foe to disease that is known and 
 health is the natural condition of the human body. 
 All infections and chronic diseases and the long traifi 
 of evils that follow in their wake are the result of some- 
 one's ignorance or folly or wickedness. It may be due 
 to the person himself, or it may be due to his parents or 
 grand-parents or great grand-parents, but be the fault 
 where it may, it lies somewhere in someone's wrong- 
 doing. 
 
192 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 It should be emphasized in every way possible that 
 the nearest approach to a clean bill of health consists 
 in good morals and wholesome living, temperate habits, 
 good food, pure air, and plenty of exercise. To para- 
 phrase St. Paul, '^If there be any virtue or any praise, 
 think on these things." 
 
 Testing the Hearing. — The hearing may be tested 
 roughly by placing a number of pupils in a row in the 
 back part of the room and pronouncing words to them 
 in a low tone, requiring the pupils to write the words 
 just as they are pronounced, then allowing them to 
 read what they have written. It will be found that 
 the hearing of some will be much more acute than that 
 of others, and a few perhaps will scarcely catch any of 
 the words. A finer test can be made by carefully meas- 
 uring the distance each one can hear the ticking of a 
 watch. To make this test accurate the same condi- 
 tions must prevail for all, that is there m.ust be the same 
 degree of stillness and freedom from things that would 
 divert the attention, absence of fatigue, embarrass- 
 ment and the like. The watch must be kept in the 
 same place for all; if laid on an article of furniture it 
 can be heard farther than if held in the hand. It will 
 be better to keep each child out of hearing until his 
 turn comes, otherwise his attention may be strained 
 to the point of fatigue before coming to the test. To 
 prevent the play of imagination or ambition the con- 
 ductor should have the watch open to the works and stop 
 the ticking at intervals during a test, to make sure the 
 
THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 193 
 
 pupil is really hearing it and not imagining a part of it. 
 A record should be made and kept for each one tested. 
 
 These tests will give the teacher a good working knowl- 
 edge of the acuteness or dullness of the hearing of his 
 pupils. Those whose sense is dull should have every 
 advantage that position and care can provide, that is 
 they should be allowed to sit near the front and the 
 teacher should always make sure he is heard w^hen 
 speaking to them or to the class. In addition to this, 
 he should take such other precautions as each case 
 seems to require, inform the parents and advise the 
 services of a physician if that seems best. Very often 
 dullness of hearing is caused by chronic colds, or by 
 catarrhal or other nasal affections, and when these are 
 removed the dullness disappears. 
 
 Colds. — The remark that we do not catch cold, it 
 catches us, is more true than witty. There are two ways 
 in common practice of avoiding the disease known as 
 "cold." The first is to protect one's self in every pos- 
 sible wa}^ from exposure; draughts, dampness, night- 
 air, chilly atmosphere are carefully shunned, while 
 flannel clothing, heavy outdoor wraps and warm rooms 
 are insisted upon. Eternal vigilance is the price of 
 safety to those who practice this plan. The time comes 
 when we are caught unawares, or some unforeseen ac- 
 cident renders all our care unavailing, and the dreaded 
 "cold" is contracted. Then follow days and weeks 
 and perhaps months of suffering, of doctor's prescrip- 
 tions and druggist's bills, until at last the cold having 
 13 
 
194 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 run its course sullenly takes its departure and the 
 patient recovers, or thinks he does. 
 
 The second way is to keep the health and spirits up 
 to such a degree that it is impossible to catch cold under 
 an}^ ordinary circumstances. This is done by observ- 
 ing the rules of health as suggested above, good food, 
 good morals, pure air, plenty of outdoor exercise, sleep- 
 ing in cool rooms or in the open air. Those who follow 
 this plan have no fear of draughts or dampness or 
 chilly atmosphere or cold sleeping rooms. The only 
 things they fear are over-heated rooms and bad ventila- 
 tion. These they dread worse than contagion, knowing 
 that the strongest systems must sooner or later succumb 
 to them. 
 
 The Air Passages. — Teachers should ever be on the 
 alert to detect difficulty in breathing. Even a slight 
 affliction of this nature will hinder a child's progress 
 and may lead to something worse. Mouth-breathers 
 are almost certain to be suffering from adenoids or 
 some other removable torture. The skill of the physi- 
 cian should be sought without delay. 
 
 The country or village teacher might very well ask 
 a local physician to call at the school once a fortnight. 
 This he will doubtless do without extra pay. A few 
 minutes will suffice to show whether or not there are any 
 signs of contagion. Before adopting this plan, in order to 
 prevent unkind remarks it would be well to secure the 
 consent of the school officials. All people of sense will 
 at once recognize the wisdom and the mercy of it. 
 
THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 1 95 
 
 The Throat. — Any teacher should be able to look 
 into the throat of a child to detect inflammation, should 
 there be any. A slight cold may produce temporary 
 inflammation that is not of a serious nature, but it is 
 best to be on the safe side. If there is any doubt, the 
 child should be sent home with a note explaining the 
 situation and saying if the danger appears to be over by 
 morning the child may be returned to school. Whether 
 or not the parents appreciate this kind of attention, it 
 is for the good of the school as well as for the individual 
 and ought not to be neglected. It is needless to say 
 that when there is any sign of contagious disease the 
 case should be isolated at once, no matter of what 
 nature it may be. The only way to stamp out these 
 enemies of the race is to prevent their spread. In most 
 cases a doctor's certificate should be required before a 
 patient is allowed to return. 
 
 Habits of Cleanliness. — Everyone knows that clean- 
 liness is one of the rules of health as well as of decency, 
 but not everyone observes the rule. To know how to 
 make a complete toilet of hands and face, with all that 
 pertains thereto, is something of an art and must be 
 taught to children and practiced until it becomes a 
 habit. If parents do not attend to this important 
 matter it must be learned at school, or it is likely never 
 to be acquired at all. 
 
 One should know something of the qualities and the 
 effect of soaps upon the skin, and of water warm and 
 cold; how to trim the finger nails and keep them clean; 
 
196 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 how to wash out the ears; how to brush the teeth and 
 wash the mouth and throat; how to cleanse the nasal 
 passages ; how to wash the eyes without injuring them ; 
 how to wash and dress the hair; and how to keep the 
 scalp clean and in a healthy condition. Obviously the 
 teacher should set a worthy example in all these things. 
 
 But example is not enough, many children do not 
 understand the process. With them it is a question of 
 how it is done and there is no need of their remaining 
 in ignorance. If there is a trained nurse within reach 
 she will gladly come at a convenient time and spend 
 half a day in the school and give a few lessons on the 
 preservation of the health paying particular attention 
 to cleanliness. The doctor should also be asked to give 
 a short lecture now and then on the subject of health, 
 the prevention of disease, the care of the sense organs 
 and kindred subjects. But if neither of these are 
 available the teacher must do it. There is plenty of 
 information obtainable to supplement his own knowl- 
 edge, and he must not shirk either from acquiring the 
 information or from imparting it to the children. 
 
 The General Health. — With all this it must be 
 borne in mind that the healthiness and workability 
 of any special organ is largely dependent upon the 
 general health of the whole body. When the digestion 
 is at fault, or the system overworked, or the body en- 
 feebled in any way, the nerves cannot endure the same 
 amount of labor that they will when the body is in good 
 condition. At such a time it is easy to injure the eyes 
 
THE CARE OF THE SENSE ORGANS 197 
 
 or the throat or any other organ that is called into active 
 service. Digestion particularly plays an important 
 part. If that is at fault for any length of time the 
 whole system sufTers from it. Here again the rules of 
 health, as previously given, are the mainsta}'. 
 
 Convalescents. — When anvone is recovering from an 
 illness, the greatest care should be taken not to overtax 
 the delicate structures that have been recently added 
 or are being added for repairs. There is great danger 
 just here. "The convalescent finds himself behind in his 
 work, and his increasing strength tempts him to under- 
 take more than is good for him. The strength of one re- 
 covering from fever or any wasting illness is like that 
 of a growing child, it calls for exercise; and it should 
 have it, but not too much. Ambition to catch up often 
 brings about permanent injur>^ Time used in getting 
 strong is time saved. For a convalescent the first sign 
 of fatigue is a warning to rest. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 PERCEPTION 
 
 Perception is an act of the mind interpreting, or try- 
 ing to interpret the meaning of sensation (see delini- 
 tion under same topic in Part I) . The sense of smell is 
 aroused and we look about to discover the cause of the 
 sensation. If the odor is unfamiliar we pounce upon 
 the first object that excites our suspicion and bring it 
 closer to the olfactory nerve. If our guess is wrong, we 
 go on searching. If the object when found is still 
 strange, we bring other senses to bear upon it. We 
 subject it to touch and perhaps to taste observing its 
 various qualities. If we cannot identify it we try to 
 think what it is like. We make use of memor}^ to call 
 up images of other objects that are similar, and com- 
 pare these images with the object noting in what re- 
 spect each one agrees and in what respect it disagrees. 
 We carefully store up in mem^ory all its qualities that 
 we can discern, as size, shape, weight, color, taste, feel, 
 tissue, so that we shall recognize it hereafter and so 
 that we may describe it to others. 
 
 This whole process is called perception although it 
 involves other faculties as memory, imagination, judg- 
 ment, and will. The predominating feature of the 
 
 198 
 
PERCEPTION 199 
 
 act above described was perceiving or finding out the 
 meaning of the odor. The illustration also shows the 
 value of perception. By it we gain whatever ideas we 
 may have of the individual objects that are presented 
 to the senses. 
 
 Consciousness. — Before we can make an intelligent 
 study of the faculties of the mind it is necessary to have 
 an understanding of the term consciousness. Psychol- 
 ogists tell us that consciousness is hard to define be- 
 cause there is nothing else in all the world that is like 
 it. In that respect it is like life. There is nothing with 
 which we can compare life, for the same reason that 
 there is nothing like it. We can perhaps best under- 
 stand it by contrasting it with death which is its direct 
 opposite. We can get an idea of what is meant by con- 
 sciousness by contrasting it with unconsciousness, its 
 opposite. A person is unconscious when asleep, or 
 when knocked senseless by a blow on the head, when 
 under the influence of an anesthetic, or when some 
 severe pain or nausea causes "fainting." As when we 
 are unconscious we know nothing of what is happening 
 to ourselves or to anyone else, so in the opposite state 
 we are aware of what is taking place about us. This 
 gives us an idea of what is meant by consciousness. It 
 is the state of knowing what is going on in the world 
 around us or in us. 
 
 Life, so far as we know, is necessary to consciousness, 
 yet consciousness is not life. A person may be in an 
 unconscious condition for many hours or even days and 
 
200 THE TRAIXTXG OF CHILDREN 
 
 still be ali\'e. Trees and all plants have life but no 
 consciousness, or if they have any at all it is in very- 
 small measure, not to be compared to that which we 
 possess. We should consider life a blank if it were de- 
 prived of the quality of knowing. Yet a condition of 
 unconsciousness is frequently desirable. Sleep without 
 it would be robbed of most of its restfulness. The dis- 
 covery a few decades ago of anesthesia by which pa- 
 tients can be safely rendered unconscious of surgical 
 operations was one of the greatest blessings ever con- 
 tributed to suffering humanity. 
 
 Consciousness, as the term is used by psychologists, 
 is that condition of the mind which characterizes our 
 waking hours, by which we are aware of the objects 
 about us and of events as they transpire, and by means 
 of which we study our own mental states. 
 
 There is a mental condition somewhere between the 
 two states described above called sub-consciousness. 
 The mind is supposed never to be in a state of total 
 inactivity. Tt goes on working whether we are conscious, 
 of it or not, just as a clock goes on ticking whether 
 we take notice of the fact or not. We can tell by paying 
 attention that it is still running, and we can read the 
 story of its activity by observing the position of the 
 hands. So when attention is recalled from a lapse we 
 are aware that the mind is at work and we can often 
 tell what it has been doing in the interval b}' the im- 
 pression left. Such is the case in dreams and in fits of 
 abstraction. 
 
PERCEPTION 20I 
 
 Value of Sub-consciousness. — This state of the mind 
 is a valuable one. It is supposed to be ever on the 
 lookout for our safety when we are otherwise en- 
 gaged. It enables sleep-walkers to traverse dangerous 
 places in safety and to perform operations that are 
 m.arvelous to an onlooker. It cannot do this, however, 
 in strange places, places with which the mind is not 
 familiar in its waking hours. It is supposed that the 
 acts of the body when in this state are not willed but 
 are reflex. Probably a great deal more of our every 
 da}^ life than we realize is carried on by our sub- 
 conscious mind. Actions that are the result of invari- 
 able habit, like the winding of one's watch, are attended 
 to in this way. 
 
 It is important to the teacher as well as to the 
 ps}Thologist to understand the workings of the mind. 
 The teacher has directive power in the habit-forming 
 period, and knowing the power of repetition, can fore- 
 stall bad habits by preventing the occurrence that leads 
 to them, and can lay the foundations for stability of 
 character by causing acts to be performed that will 
 induce good habits. 
 
 Perception differs from sensation in that it involves 
 more mental activity. Sensation is merely the in- 
 formation the mind has when a sense organ performs 
 its function. Perception locates the sensation as to 
 time and place and, as has been previously explained, 
 interprets its nature and meaning by previous expe- 
 rience. We can explain an act of perceiving but we can- 
 
202 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 not explain a sensation, because it is a single operation, 
 cannot be separated into elements and needs no ex- 
 planation. An infant may have a sensation of pain or 
 discomfort and yet have no means of locating it or of 
 determining its nature or meaning; all this must come 
 by experience. 
 
 To obtain clear perceptions there are several condi- 
 tions that must be met. In the first place the sense 
 organs must be in good working order. If they are 
 injured or diseased or overstrained or excessively fa- 
 tigued they will not give clear and well defined im- 
 pressions. Second, they must be clear of obstructions; 
 the eye may be filmy or irritated by some small sub- 
 stance finding lodgment between the lid and the ball; 
 the outer ear may be obstructed by dirt or wax, or the 
 eustachian tube filled with mucous; the nose may be 
 stopped up. Every one is familiar with these disturb- 
 ances, which though for the most part of minor im- 
 portance are not to be neglected. Third, if a sensory 
 nerve is injured it is put out of commission just in 
 porportion to the extent of the damage, and the sense 
 organ with which it is connected can only act accord- 
 ingly. Fourth, the general health and bodily condition 
 is an important factor. Fifth, the mind must be free 
 from worries and anxieties and in good working order, 
 so that it may give undivided and forceful attention to 
 the object to be perceived. 
 
 .Percepts. — The product of an act of perceiving is 
 called a percept. We perceive that it is raining, that 
 
PERCEPTION 203 
 
 the air is cold, that the fire is out; these are percepts. 
 The percept differs from a concept in that the former 
 is a general idea of a class of objects while the latter is 
 a single idea of a particular object or group of objects 
 taken as one. We see an object at a distance and 
 presently perceive that it is a man; we see a group of 
 objects and perceive that it is a herd of cattle; it is a 
 single act of the mind obtaining an idea although it 
 may involve all the mental powers. The concept or 
 general idea will be studied later. 
 
 The Importance of Percepts. — The forming of per- 
 cepts begins in early infancy and continues as long as 
 conscious Hfe lasts. The infant perceives its mother's 
 voice, and knowing the meaning of it, is content ; it per- 
 ceives a strange voice, and not knowing its meaning, is 
 alarmed. The perceptions of an infant are very dif- 
 ferent from those of an adult. The child wants to 
 know about things merely in respect to his immediate 
 needs of eating, playing, or exercising his strength. 
 Later he will want to know the names, the uses and the 
 deeper meanings of things; he will learn to classify 
 objects and to look out for future as well as present 
 needs. It is in this way he becomes acquainted with 
 the world around him, it is his education. 
 
 What We Learn by Perception. — By perception we 
 learn the qualities of things. By the sense of touch we 
 learn whether an object is hard, soft, smooth, rough, 
 sticky, liquid, solid, warm, cold, and something of its 
 form, size, and texture; by sight we perceive it in re- 
 
204 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 spcct to its location, color, size or space occupied, and 
 its relation in time, space and use to other objects; by 
 the sense of taste whether it is sweet, sour, bitter, salt; 
 by hearing, whether soft, hard, metallic, or resonant; 
 by smell its odor. 
 
 Transferred Perceptions. — We acquire the faculty of 
 recognizing certain qualities by some other sense than 
 the one used in learning those qualities originally. 
 Thus we recognize the roughness or smoothness of the 
 surface of an object by the sense of sight, although we 
 could only learn these qualities in the first place by 
 touch. We recognize that the stove is hot because it 
 is red, having associated the redness with heat which is 
 sensitive to touch only. By associating the previous 
 experience of touch with light and shade we learn to 
 perceive the forms of objects by the sense of sight alone 
 although it is not unusual to be deceived in this. We 
 can judge of the sound an object will produce when 
 struck, by its appeafance to the sight. The taste of 
 fruit and other foods is often anticipated by sight, 
 though here again we are easily deceived. The sense 
 of smell is not so readily transferable. 
 
 Apperception. — When we perceive an object in the 
 light of previous experience it is called apperception. 
 In early childhood we are continually coming into con- 
 tact with things that are new and hence with no previous 
 experience that we can bring to bear upon them; but 
 in adult life this seldom happens. Even after the be- 
 ginning of school life, most perceiving is aided by past 
 
PERCEPTION 205 
 
 experience. Thus if a child should be given a pencil 
 different in some particulars from any he had previously 
 seen he would at once begin judging it by what he al- 
 ready knew of pencils. At the same time the qualities 
 with which he is unfamiliar will afford him the deepest 
 interest; he will want to know their meaning, the use 
 to which they can be put and whether they make the 
 pencil more valuable, or less so, than those that have 
 not these qualities. 
 
 This is the kind of perception that gives zest to life, 
 finding objects with unknown ciualities or parts and 
 determining these by means of the known. If the 
 things themselves are interesting, that is in som.e close 
 connection with our work or our play or our desires 
 and ambitions, we shall be all the more eager to find 
 out all about them. If an apple raiser should find a 
 new kind of apple tree that gave promise of superior 
 qualities it would be likely to absorb his attention 
 and he might watch it with careful scrutiny for years 
 in order to know all about it. On the other hand if 
 this same man were shown a new kind of squash he 
 might pass it by with indifference, it having no direct 
 connection with his interests. 
 
 This then gives us the key to the cultivation of per- 
 ception; if we wish to keep the faculty on the alert for 
 new discoveries and full of activity in finding out about 
 them, we must ascertain what things are interesting 
 and follow their lead. Every child of school age should 
 have some impelling interest, and if he has not there is 
 
2o6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 something the matter with him and his case should be 
 studied until the trouble is located and a solution 
 found for it. When a pupil's interest has once been 
 discovered it will not be difficult to gain his attention 
 to new things in connection with it and gradually to 
 lead him on to a new set of interests if that is desirable. 
 
 It requires a keen and penetrating perception on 
 the part of the teacher to read the thoughts and mind- 
 workings of his pupils. The easiest avenue of approach 
 to their hearts will be through the things that are most 
 vital to them. To be successful, a teacher must sacrifice 
 to a large extent any outside interests that he may have 
 and devote himself to those of his pupils. When he 
 knows the principal subjects of their thoughts and con- 
 versation he can select those that are most promising 
 and after winning the pupils' confidence in his hand- 
 ling of them he can guide their minds into almost any 
 proper channel that is desired. 
 
 The chief aims in training the perceptive faculties 
 are Keenness of Observation, Accuracy of Inspection, 
 Clear Definitions, and Wholesome Ambitions. These 
 qualities are indispensable to extensive and clear-cut 
 knowledge and to large usefulness. They are most 
 easily acquired in early life and should command the 
 strictest attention and care of the teacher. That their 
 meaning may be understood we shall consider them in 
 the order given above. 
 
 Keenness of Observation. — Under this topic we ma}'^ 
 first glance at the field. We find it a large one; there 
 
PERCEPTION 207 
 
 are myriads of objects about us everywhere that are 
 perceptible to the senses; all are in some way directly 
 or remotely connected with our lives; some are familiar 
 to us, others unknown. They are not placed in order 
 but are scattered about in the most promiscuous confu- 
 sion. To find out all about everything would require 
 more time than is allotted to man on earth; for the 
 limited years of school life, we shall have to select a 
 comparatively few and learn what we can about them. 
 Even then we shall not be able to confine ourselves to 
 the things we select because we can never tell where 
 they will lead to or what other things will become in- 
 volved. Rather we shall have to confine ourselves to 
 classes of objects that are safe and suitable to our pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The strongest proclivity of a growing mind is its 
 desire for knowledge. Sometimes we think a child is 
 indifferent to the acquisition of knowledge, but in this 
 we are mistaken. He is only indifferent to the kind we 
 offer or perhaps to the way in which we present it. The 
 lessons that we present, in the way that we present 
 them, do not add to his present happiness and hence do 
 not appeal to him. At this point he must be our teacher, 
 we must learn from him the things that contribute to 
 his happiness and bring them to his attention in a way 
 that will cause him to want to know more about them. 
 The work of the school very properly looks to the fu- 
 ture; but the child is concerned principally with the 
 present and the problem of the teacher is not how to 
 
2o8 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 turn his mind away from present interests and fix them 
 upon future prospects, but how to render these interests 
 of value in his training for adult life. Strange to say, 
 we are learning that the children are wiser than we in 
 knowing what is for their good. We are finding out 
 that the things that are most essential to their present 
 happiness are the very things that contribute most to 
 their future welfare. 
 
 The teacher, then, taking his cue from the children 
 themselves, will select those objects that are nearest 
 and dearest to them and use them as the basis of his 
 instruction. He will arrange the lessons in such a way 
 that each one will contain something new and helpful 
 in the everyday life of his pupils. He will see that 
 they learn the names of objects correctly and that they 
 master those qualities that are most significant to their 
 age and advancement. In short he will train their 
 perceptive powers in the things that are most conducive 
 to their growth. 
 
 Keenness of observation consists in the ready ability 
 to pick out from the whole miscellaneous field of per- 
 ceptible objects those that are connected with one's 
 general or one's particular interests; for everyone should 
 have both, that is he should be alert for any bit of knowl- 
 edge that would be of general interest to humanity 
 and at the same time always have on hand some special 
 subject for investigation and be on the watch for any- 
 thing that will throw light upon it. To acquire keen- 
 ness one must have a deep and abiding interest in the 
 
PERCEPTION 209 
 
 subject he is investigating, and it must be one that is 
 fruitful of thought so that he will ever be on the scent 
 of new information upon it. 
 
 Such subjects are not difhcult to find. Nature is 
 prodigal with materials that are practically inexhaust- 
 ible and that will repay the student tenfold for all the 
 labor he may put upon them. The study of any single 
 branch of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms 
 will afford a lifetime of research, will tax all the powers 
 of the mind and all the general knowledge one can ob- 
 tain, and still leave much to be discovered. 
 
 Accuracy of Inspection. — Inaccuracy is not only the 
 most common but the most fatal failing in perception. 
 There are multitudes of people who seldom see or hear 
 things exactly as they are. Their perceptions are biased 
 by what they were expecting, or what some one else 
 expected of them, by what they hoped to find, or by 
 previous inaccurate description. These are some of 
 the reasons why different people will perceive the same 
 things so differently. 
 
 When we are expecting to see certain qualities in an 
 object we have those qualities in mind and are likely to 
 think we see them when we do not. In such cases 
 slight differences are almost certain to escape us unless 
 we give the most careful inspection, which many will 
 not do, especially if it is to their interest to see only 
 what they were hoping for. 
 
 Accuracy in seeing and hearing is so important that 
 no pains should be spared in its cultivation in the pri- 
 14 
 
2IO THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 mary and intermediate grades, and for this training an 
 accurate and skillful teacher is invaluable. Costly 
 mistakes are common, and fatal ones are entirely too 
 frequent to permit any careless teaching in this partic- 
 ular. After an accident entailing heavy losses has 
 occurred it is poor consolation to hear the person re- 
 sponsible bewailing the fact that he didn't see, or that 
 he wasn't noticing, when a little care would have averted 
 disaster. 
 
 Clear Definitions. — Definition as used here means 
 boundaries and markings in the sense that microsco- 
 pists use the word when speaking of magnified views. 
 When a picture or image shows all the details clearly 
 and in proper proportions we say it is well defined. For 
 accuracy in perception it is necessary that each detail 
 of the object perceived shall appear in its place and in 
 rightful proportion to the other details and to the 
 whole. To secure this, the sense organs need to be 
 accurate and in good working order; this is the first 
 essential. The second is that one must be able to recog- 
 nize the relative merits and values of the details so that 
 the percept when complete will not be distorted. 
 Thirdly, sufficient attention must be given to fi.x the 
 whole and retain it for future use. 
 
 Wholesome Ambitions. — It is safe to say that every- 
 one has a desire to attain proficiency in something, and 
 this something, whatever it is, is called his ambition. 
 It is derived from his environment and heredity, from 
 what he sees, hears, reads, feels, and thinks. It is ex- 
 
PERCEPTION 211 
 
 ceedingly important in early life that the environment 
 be wholesome, abundant, and of a character that will 
 develop all the healthful powers of soul and body, and 
 this environment must be looked after by parents and 
 teachers because the young have not the judgment to 
 select the helpful and avoid the hurtful. 
 
 If a boy is to acquire wholesome ambitions he must 
 be brought into daily contact with right conduct and 
 worthy achievements and these must be in attractive 
 form. Whether right is more attractive than wrong, 
 or vice versa, depends very much upon the form in 
 which it is presented. We may see sin in hideous form 
 and it is repulsive, or we may see it in attractive form 
 and be tempted to fall in with it. Those who make it 
 their business to entice others into sin know well how 
 to make sin appear attractive, and those whose business 
 it is to guide the young into ways that are right should 
 be equally enlightened and skillful. Suppose that a lad 
 eight or ten years of age free from vice and evil thoughts 
 should be thrown into the companionship of a boy 
 about his own age or a little older who is bright and 
 handsome, well dressed and prosperous looking, but 
 who has contracted certain evil habits in speech and in 
 conduct. Will not these vices seem attractive to the 
 lad, and will not his amibitions be aroused to acquire 
 them and to become equally proficient with his com- 
 panion? Certainly they will, and that much more 
 quickly than if they were presented in a less attractive 
 wayo 
 
212 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 On the other hand if this same lad should have for his 
 companion a boy equally attractive but free from vice, 
 one who was ambitious to achieve proficiency in studies 
 and in manly sports; would not these qualities appear 
 quite as attractive as the vices of the first boy and 
 would he not be just as likely to adopt them? There is 
 little doubt about it. When a boy goes right or goes 
 wrong, it is not a question of his tendencies but depends 
 rather upon the things that are presented to him and 
 the way in which they are presented. It too often hap- 
 pens that righteousness is clothed in garments that are 
 stiff and conventional and repelling while sin appears 
 in a garb that is bright and easy and attractive. This 
 power of evil to array itself in false colors is what has 
 given to his satanic majesty his reputation for diabol- 
 ical cunning and ingenuity. 
 
 In addition to guarding against the above difficulties 
 and others that may appear, the teacher should see to it 
 that his pupils are furnished with abundant materials 
 for the exercise of their perceptive powers and afford 
 them daily opportunity for describing what they per- 
 ceive both orally and in writing. They should have 
 sufficient directions so that they will know in what 
 fields to search and how to use their senses, and then 
 skillful questioning of the results \\'ill bring out the 
 main points and show the missing links. They must be 
 taught to observe things exactly as they are and not 
 as they thought they might be, or even as they hoped 
 or believed they would be. Accuracy in perception 
 
TERCEPTION 213 
 
 will be conducive to the same quality in other things, 
 as truth and honesty, and will lay the foundation for 
 an upright character and for a useful and happy life. 
 
 The Co-ordination of Hand and Brain in Sense Per- 
 ception. — The schools have too long overlooked or 
 neglected the importance of training all the sense 
 organs simultaneously, and the rural schools have been 
 the greatest sinners in this respect. Eye-sight particu- 
 larly is so frequently assisted by the hands that each 
 must be trained to supplement the other. Deft ma- 
 nipulation of materials is necessary to accurate per- 
 ception in a multitude of ways, and children should be 
 given many tasks that require hand work. Gathering 
 raw materials, selecting, rejecting, classifying, arranging 
 into groups, and making designs, all these require 
 thought and are productive of skill in the use of both 
 sight and touch. There is no phase of educational 
 work that requires more thought and more painstaking 
 care on the part of the teacher and none that yields 
 more satisfying results than perception. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 MEMORY 
 
 We cannot cultivate one of the mental faculties to 
 the total exclusion of the others. They are all used 
 more or less in every mental operation, but not in the 
 same degree in any one act nor to the same extent in 
 the sum total of our acts. At one time we may be 
 chiefly engaged in perceiving, at another in remember- 
 ing, again in imagining, and still again in thinking out 
 difhcult questions. A mental act is classified according 
 to the faculty that is chiefly concerned. If it is perceiv- 
 ing and the other faculties are used as aids, it is called 
 an act of perception, and the product as before stated 
 is a percept. If it consists chiefly in recalling some 
 previous experience, it is called a memory act. 
 
 Again, we do not use all the mental powers to the 
 same extent at any one period in life. In youth we are 
 chiefly employed in perceiving, gathering, analyzing, 
 classifying, naming, and putting in order. In later life, 
 we are mainly occupied, or should be, in using this 
 material in thinking, planning, judging, and executing. 
 This must be true in the very nature of things; we must 
 gather materials before we can use them and when they 
 have been gathered they should be used. Moreover, 
 
 214 
 
MEMORY 215 
 
 the faculties develop in accordance with this truth; the 
 sense organs and the perceptive powers are bright and 
 active in youth, while the thinking power is active in 
 later life. It is necessary to know this so that we may 
 train each faculty and bring it to its best while it is 
 developing. 
 
 While, as just stated, we cannot cultivate one faculty 
 to the total exclusion of all or of any of the others, 
 we can pay attention to one and neglect or ignore the 
 others. The fact is, we should pay unceasing attention 
 to all, giving to each its due proportion of thought and 
 care in its time. Children can think, and they should 
 be taught to think according to their powers; but that 
 should not be their chief occupation. The first powers 
 of the mind to unfold are those just treated, sensation 
 and preception; and the one that immediately follows 
 and is almost co-incident with the other two is that 
 which forms the subject of this chapter. 
 
 The power to retain in the mind and then to recall 
 when needed, what we gather and what we learn, is 
 absolutely necessary to our advancement. Without 
 it we should never know anything except in the im- 
 mediate present, should never be aware of anything 
 unless it wxre immediately before the senses. By means 
 of it we store up as in a treasure house innumerable 
 .perceptions, and recall and think about them when 
 we choose. 
 
 The physiological basis for memory is the brain it- 
 self; there is no memory nerve like those of the sense 
 
2l6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 organs, neither is there supposed to be any particular 
 portion of the brain set aside for remembering as there 
 is for the different sensations; the whole brain is sup- 
 posed to be a memory organ. It is probable however 
 that different groups of brain cells are employed in 
 remembering different things; thus when we recall 
 an object of sight, it is supposed that the same group 
 of cells that recorded the original sensation are active 
 in bringing the image again before the mind. This 
 activity is similar to, but not exactly the same, as that 
 in the original instance, else we should not know the 
 image from the real object as presented to the senses. 
 The cells that record sounds would likewise be excited 
 when we recall something we have heard. 
 
 The power of thought is chiefiy located in the frontal 
 lobe of the cerebrum just back of and a little above 
 the eyebrows; from this portion there are tracts of 
 connecting lines to all parts, so that the thinking power 
 may always be in communication with v.hatever takes 
 place in the brain. When we wish to recall something 
 that is vague the mind searches along these connecting 
 lines until the right one is found, the sensations are 
 brought into mental view, the experience is located 
 as to time and place, the details or some of them are 
 made to serve their office, and the whole is considered 
 to our satisfaction; this is a complete act of memor}'. 
 
 Memory is called the representative power because 
 it brings to the mind again what had been previously 
 presented; it is also known as the retentive faculty 
 
MEMORY 217 
 
 for the reason that it retains what is committed to it. 
 What becomes of an idea after it has been committed 
 to the memory until it is again recalled has often been a 
 subject for speculation. Where is all our knowledge 
 when not im.m.ediately before the mind? We are ac- 
 customxcd to think of the mind as a storehouse where 
 all our knowledge is sorted out and put in place so that 
 we can find it when we need it, and when we leave an 
 idea for a long tim.e we are likely to have difhculty in 
 locating it. This does very well for an illustration, but 
 it must not be supposed that there is any such actual 
 mental storehouse. Some think the mind is more like 
 a musical instrument which is ready at any time to 
 make real the music that is in the composer's mind, 
 and upon which a player ma}^ produce with more or less 
 accuracy anything he has previously played. 
 
 It will not be profitable here for us to enter upon an 
 argum^ent as to the respective merits of either of these 
 views ; they are only illustrations at the best and we may 
 use them in any way that will aid us in understanding 
 how the mind operates in remembering. 
 
 The Work of the Memory. — It is worth our while 
 however to consider the enormous part the memory 
 plays in our education and in all the work of our lives. 
 Every bit of knowledge we acquire is committed to its 
 care; if it fails us we are helpless; if it is at fault we go 
 wrong and must find out over again, at loss of time and 
 expense, what we should have remembered. How often 
 we regret our lack of memory! If we did not forget so 
 
2l8 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 many things we ought to have retained, how much more 
 valuable our services would be. Let us take a look at 
 the work the memory has to do and then we shall see 
 how important is the matter of its cultivation. 
 
 First, we must remember thoughts. All the thoughts 
 that we think ourselves, and those that we hear and 
 read, year in and year out, must be retained for use or 
 they will profit us little. The main object of books, 
 magazines, sermons, lectures, is to transmit thoughts 
 that will be useful to us if we store them up and apply 
 them. 
 
 Second, think of the number of facts we must re- 
 member. A large part of the work of the school is de- 
 voted to the accumulation of facts. History, geography, 
 arithmetic, grammar, physiology are examples. If all 
 the facts that are expected to be learned in the first 
 eight years of school were put in order, what an array 
 they would make. Besides, there are multitudes out- 
 side of school that must be acquired as we go along. 
 
 Third, if we are to accomplish anything and-be com- 
 fortable about it, we must perforce store up a stock of 
 words and their meanings and shades of meaning run- 
 ning into the thousands, and they must be so thoroughly 
 committed that they Mdll come upon our tongue with- 
 out an instant's hesitation or effort, otherwise we shall 
 constantly be put to embarrassment and be at a loss 
 to express our thoughts. A large and well assorted 
 \()cabulary thoroughly committed to memory is a 
 fortune in itself. 
 
MEMORY 219 
 
 Fourth, we must remember the names of our friends 
 and of all the people we know, their faces, their voices 
 and appearance; events and when and where they hap- 
 pened; places, pictures, songs, sounds, sights, tastes, 
 odors, feelings, emotions, — bxit why try to enumerate? 
 The truth is, we must remember everything that is to 
 play any part in our lives. What we forget does us 
 little good. 
 
 The criticism is frequently heard that there is too 
 much memorizing and too little real thinking in the 
 schools. The criticism may be well founded in many 
 cases, but no thoughtful person has intimiated that the 
 memory should be neglected or that too much attention 
 has been given to its cultivation. It is only the methods 
 too commonly in vogue that have been condemned. 
 The memory should be cultivated to its utmost capac- 
 ity, and the best time to attend to it is in youth. 
 
 Memory is very active in childhood, develops rapidly, 
 and is said to come to maturity at about the age of 
 sixteen. After that it can be trained to many uses 
 not hitherto acquired, but it cannot be enlarged in 
 its capacity, it has attained its growth. 
 
 There is little doubt that some persons have better 
 faculties for retaining than others, but the only way 
 to determine what a child's capacity will be is by giv- 
 ing it all the training it is capable of taking; if any one's 
 capacity is below the average, that is all the more reason 
 for bringing it to its best so that he will not be un- 
 necessarily handicapped; if it is above the average, 
 
220 THE TRAINING OF CHILDRI'N 
 
 of one is "gifted" in the power to remember, it should 
 likewise be cultivated so that the gift may result in the 
 greatest possible usefulness. Ever}^ great man or 
 woman has had a good memor}^, either great in its 
 capacity or in its cultivation and control. 
 
 The Cultivation of the Memory. — The question then 
 as to how this important faculty shall be cultivated 
 is worthy of our deepest thought. Every child of 
 school age should have the best possible means available 
 for bringing his powers to their full strength. This is 
 what the schools are for. The mind is the greatest 
 possession any human being can have; that it is the 
 better for cultivation is beyond question, and that the 
 greatest progress can be made in early life is also well 
 known. For these reasons the character of the in- 
 struction given to children and the methods of im- 
 parting it should be most carefully considered. 
 
 The first thing to observe is that the memor}^ should 
 not be forced. If we overtax it we shall do it harm. 
 If any one will take the pains to review his own ex- 
 perience he will be surprised to find how many things 
 he has forgotten that he tried to remember, and he will 
 be equally surprised to discover that most of what he 
 remembers has been retained without conscious eft'ort. 
 How many times we have tasked ourselves to "get" 
 lessons that were assigned, only to find in a few weeks 
 or months that they have slipped away from us, while 
 some incident that came up voluntarily and attracted 
 our attention and which we took no pains whatever to 
 
MEMORY 221 
 
 remember stays with us and always will. In fact, for 
 the most part, it is the association of these interesting, 
 incidents that enables us to retain the hard lessons that 
 we do remember. 
 
 The secret of memory is to find things of sufficient 
 interest to attract and hold the attention ; if this is done 
 no thought need be given to its retention, that will take 
 care of itself. Nothing can be learned without attention, 
 and this will not be given unless some thread of inter- 
 est can be found. It is better not to tell pupils to re- 
 member this or that, but to tell them to see if they can 
 find something that is interesting, that is connected 
 with what they know or are anxious to learn. If a 
 hundred pupils are asked what their chief activity in 
 getting their lessons consists in, most of them will 
 answer at once that it consists in trying to remember 
 them, and they will add in the same breath that they 
 cannot do it. Such work is not only profitless, it is 
 detrimental to real progress. 
 
 This does not mean that memory is to be kept en- 
 tirely in the background. Every pupil" should be in- 
 formed of its value, its need for cultivation, and how to 
 go about it. Like every other growing thing the mem- 
 ory craves exercise and its chief requirepient is material 
 properly selected and in rightful quantities. In select- 
 ing and presenting the material the teacher plays a 
 prominent part. 
 
 Materials for the Cultivation of the Memory. — It has 
 been stated that children are not particularly anxious 
 
222 THE TRAINING 0¥ CHILDREN 
 
 about their future welfare; they have not 3^et come to 
 the laying-by period. They are interested just now in 
 the things that pertain to their little everyday child's 
 world, and it is these same things properly applied that 
 will best administer to their future good. Not only 
 must the materials used be appropriate to the learner's 
 age and habits of life but they must be so presented 
 that, as some one has expressed it, a unit of effort will 
 bring a unit of reward; that is, whatever new knowledge 
 a child acquires must be of. such a nature that he can 
 appreciate it, connect it with what he already knows 
 and use it. What materials has the teacher that will 
 be thus suitable for his work? 
 
 In the first place there are the books. The use of 
 books may be new to the beginners but that is no great 
 disadvantage, it should rather be an advantage. Chil- 
 dren like new things and if the books are what they 
 should be there need be no serious difficulty in arousing 
 their interest in them. School books are made in these 
 days with a special view to the needs and interests of 
 children and it only requires skillful handling to make 
 them exceedingly valuable for their training. 
 
 Let us examine a First Reader. Its object is that 
 the child who i^ses it may learn to read, and we might 
 suppose that words and sentences would be all that is 
 necessary. We find words and sentences there to be 
 sure, and they are printed large so that the eyes need 
 not be strained; but we find also that the lessons are 
 about things which are familiar and closely connected 
 
MEMORY 223 
 
 with the children's lives. They refer to the home, the 
 fields, the woods. There are beautiful pictures of 
 people, of familiar animals, of birds and flowers and 
 insects, of houses and playthings. These arouse the 
 child's interest and secure his attention; he wants to 
 know what they are all about, and the words and sen- 
 tences furnish the information. His learning proceeds 
 in the most delightful manner. Why should he not 
 want to learn to read when by that means he can find 
 out so many interesting things? 
 
 The more advanced readers are likewise full of things 
 adapted to the learner's needs. There should be no 
 trouble in teaching the children to read if we furnish 
 enough of such interesting matter. If we go over the 
 same matter time and again for want of new, it will 
 soon grow stale and scarcely any progress will be made. 
 We need fresh material every day and for every lesson. 
 We shall often refer to preceding lessons but we shall 
 always want something to add that will be different 
 from anything we have had before. When the book is 
 finished we lay it aside, we do not want to review it. 
 A new book, not much more difficult and using mostly 
 the same words, but with fresh material and a different 
 set of stories, this will keep up the interest and we shall 
 make more rapid progress than ever. 
 
 This is learning to read, but is it training the memory? 
 It is just what the memory needs, new and fresh mate- 
 rial told in a way that the mind can grasp, aided by 
 pictures that are closely connected with the objects 
 
224 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 themselves so that they appeal directly to the sight and 
 touch and hearing. Who forgets knowledge thus pre- 
 sented? If it is worth remembering it is seldom lost. 
 
 What about number work? Can it be made to con- 
 nect with the children's lives and apply to their needs? 
 The first step in arithmetic is learning to count. A child 
 wants to know how many pennies or marbles he has, 
 how many chickens are in the coop, how many birds 
 in the nest. There are so many things he will want to 
 count that he will hardly rest until he has mastered the 
 art. He will count his pennies and want to know how 
 many he will have left if he buys an orange at five cents. 
 When he learns from actual experience that five from 
 twelve leaves seven he will not soon forget it. He will 
 learn all he needs to know about the art of computing, 
 by the things around him and that are a part of his 
 everyday life. Any computations that are not thus 
 connected should wait until he grows up to them. Ad- 
 dition and multiplication tables have no place in this 
 kind of teaching. 
 
 Geography is a delightful mem.ory study when 
 rightly presented. Too often it is made too much a 
 matter of memory and not enough a subject for thought; 
 it is set as a task to be committed, is not connected 
 with present things and is consequently soon forgotten. 
 Every fact that is presented in geography should be 
 coupled with something familiar, and if any fact can- 
 not be, it should be left until it can. For example, 
 oranges come from, let us say, California; why should 
 
MEMORY 225 
 
 they be raised there when they are not here? This 
 leads to the climate of California and the things that 
 are adapted to that climate. Then the question natu- 
 rally arises why should it be w^arm all the year in some 
 countries when it is not so here? This will lead to 
 mathematical geography and we shall have to explain 
 about the shape and movements of the earth and about 
 oceans, currents, winds, and everything that can be 
 understood. 
 
 Histor}^ is classed with the memory studies and needs 
 the same care as geography to keep it from becoming 
 a task without present meaning and forgotten almost as 
 fast as it is learned. Yet there is no more interesting 
 study to children if it is presented in a form suitable to 
 their understanding. True stories of real people whose 
 pictures can be shown, like Washington, Lincoln, and 
 Franklin, will be full of interest as will the discoveries, 
 inventions, and writings, with something of the hves 
 of those concerned. The progress of civilization from 
 primeval dsiys to the present, comparing the industries 
 and the ways and means of doing things in the past 
 with the same in the present, is ever a fascinating study 
 and is closely connected with other phases of history. 
 
 Aside from the text-books, there is literature abound- 
 ing in information that is both entertaining and profit- 
 able, books, magazines, newspapers. A well selected 
 juvenile Hbrary is so valuable for children and so easily 
 obtained that the school which does Aot supply itself 
 with one is criminally negligent. There are books, 
 
 15 
 
226 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 and plenty of them and very cheap, that are adapted 
 to the several grades from the first upward and should 
 be read by the children; there are still others that the 
 teacher should read for his own enlightenment and for 
 the enrichment of his knowledge that his mind may be 
 like a nev^er failing fountain and not like a dried up well. 
 
 Lastly, there is the whole world of nature just at our 
 doors. There is no more interesting study and none 
 better adapted to the development of growing minds 
 than the study of nature, animate and inanimate. 
 Many teachers are afraid to even make an attempt to 
 give lessons from nature, because they know so little 
 about it themselves. Like the parents previously re- 
 ferred to, they have lived in the midst of birds and 
 flowers and insects without even learning the names of 
 more than a few of them; they therefore do not feel 
 competent to give instruction. Definite courses should 
 be mapped out, text books furnished, and instruction 
 required by law in all schools; until such is done this 
 subject is likely to be neglected. 
 
 The Law of Memory. — There is one great law of 
 memory that underlies all others and that is the law 
 of association. No event ever happens by itself, apart 
 from all other events. All the happenings of our lives 
 are connected and inter-connected so that they are 
 like a network every part of which is joined to every 
 other part directly or remotely. Any one of a hundred 
 different objects will call up some past event, and if 
 there were no connecting link between it and the pres- 
 
MEMORY 227 
 
 ent it could not be called up. There is no way of re- 
 calling any past experience except by being reminded 
 of it by something that is in the mind now and that 
 is or has been associated with it. 
 
 There are so many different ways of associating 
 events one with another that they cannot all be men- 
 tioned here. We shall need to consider a few of the 
 more important ones because they may be used as aids 
 in fixing things that we wish to remember. Although 
 we can control them to a certain extent and make use 
 of them, they are not man-made but are a part of the 
 general order of things; for this reason they are often 
 called the secondary laws. 
 
 First in order is the law of time. Things that happen 
 at the same time, or about the same time, are associated 
 in the mind, and when one is recalled others are re- 
 called with it. Thus, supposing there was a wedding 
 in the family and a meteor should fall in a nearby field 
 causing a great commotion. Every one present could 
 never thereafter be reminded of the one event without 
 recalling the other, although they were in no way re- 
 lated except in the matter of time. In fact, this link 
 would be so strong that no witness of the double event 
 could ever hear of a wedding without thinking of the 
 meteor, or of a meteor without thinking of the wed- 
 ding. 
 
 Great events are landmarks to the memory by which 
 we locate a number of smaller happenings. A great 
 storm, an unusual rise of the river, a political upheaval, 
 
2 28 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 a death or birth in the family, a trip to Europe, — any- 
 thing that in itself cannot be forgotten helps to keep a 
 multitude of minor matters from being lost or mis- 
 placed. It is well to have these landmarks and to make 
 them serve us in as many things as we wish to remember. 
 
 The Importance of Sequence. — When things happen 
 consecutively they are remembered on that account. 
 We can often recall an event by what happened just 
 before or just after it. Some persons are apt at arrang- 
 ing things in the order of their sequence, and when they 
 wish to recall a matter they will think what came first, 
 what second, and so on until they come to the place 
 of the thing sought when lo, it pops into the mind, 
 simply because its hiding place was found. 
 
 The Law of Similarity. — Next to the law of time 
 comes that of similarity. Objects that resemble each 
 other in sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell, naturally 
 group themselves in the mind and when one is present 
 the other is recalled. The mind is quick to note these 
 resemblances and the memory is often refreshed by 
 them. We catch a glimpse of a passing stranger and 
 are reminded of a friend we have not seen or scarcely 
 thought of for years perhaps, and the recollection often 
 brings with it a train of other matters that are good to 
 think about . Suppose the person recalled by the stranger 
 was a former schoolmate in some distant institution; 
 we recall other schoolmates, teachers, the grounds and 
 the buildings, the lessons we learned, the lectures we 
 heard, the pleasant times we had, our defeats, our 
 
MEMORY 229 
 
 triumphs, our joys; our life seems brighter and better 
 because of the reminiscence, all brought about by a 
 glimpse of a strange face. 
 
 It should be kept in mind that past events do not 
 re-present themselves without a cause, something must 
 bring them up. When we ask ourselves, "what made 
 me think of that?" it is a recognition o£ this fact. 
 The points of similarity in objects that otherwise differ 
 greatly are sometimes so subtle that it is often difficult 
 to locate them, nevertheless they are there. Some- 
 thing, we can scarcely tell what, reminds us of something 
 else and we proceed to revivify the matter thus brought 
 to the attention and make whatever use of it we choose. 
 It is a valuable power and should be cultivated. The 
 teacher may from time to time suggest a subject and 
 inquire of the class what ideas are associated with it. 
 Gradually they will learn to consciously associate more 
 firmly related ideas. 
 
 This law of similarity extends to ideas; we recall 
 former thoughts by the similarity of one expressed in 
 our presence, and by comparing the two we get more 
 comprehensive ideas. 
 
 The Law of Contrast. — Certain things are associated 
 in the mind because of their differences. The incon- 
 gruity of opposite qualities in objects of the same class 
 gives us momentary pleasure, as to see a dwarf beside 
 a giant, a veiy tall man with a very short wife, or vice 
 versa. When we see some striking characteristic in 
 man or object it often recalls the opposite extreme in 
 
230 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 something we have previously kno^^^l, and we enjoy 
 making the contrast. 
 
 The Law of Classification. — Things that belong in the 
 same classification are associated in the mind and are 
 most easily recalled by that association. If anyone 
 who had seen Jumbo should hear of a very large ele- 
 phant he would at once recall the time when he had 
 experienced the pleasure of looking upon that famous 
 animal. We classify objects according to their leading 
 characteristics, putting those that have the same qual- 
 ities in about the same degree together. In this way we 
 make a mental class of great statesmen, great generals, 
 poets and men and things of every sort; if one of the 
 class is before the mind, the others- are thought of; 
 if Milton's name should be mentioned, one would think 
 of Homer and Virgil and any others who in his opinion 
 belonged in the class with Milton. Many things are 
 remembered in this way and many more might be if 
 more people were expert classifiers. To classify in this 
 way a large number of people and things, requires the 
 acquisition of knowledge and the power to compare 
 the merits of one with the merits of another and to 
 judge in what class each belongs. Here again, the 
 teacher may assist the students by naming individuals, 
 animals, or objects and asking the pupils to classify them 
 according to the varieties with which they are familiar. 
 
 The Law of Special Interest. — To have a special in- 
 terest in certain things is a great aid to memory for 
 the reason that we pay closer and more prolonged at- 
 
MEMORY 231 
 
 tention to them. We acquire knowledge most rapidly 
 when we are deeply interested, and we retain it in the 
 same proportion. When one has chosen a certain line 
 of study because of his liking for it, he goes into it with 
 spirit and energ>% he takes in details, he studies pro- 
 portions, he investigates sidelights, he views it from 
 different points of advantage, he keeps at it until it is 
 stamped and impressed upon his mind in such a way 
 that he cannot forget it. 
 
 It seems unnecessary to furnish illustrations of this 
 important principle; it is so plain and obvious, so easily 
 discovered for oneself, it can be used in such a multitude 
 of ways that no one can plead ignorance of it. Yet many 
 people, perhaps the majority, never have any special 
 interest worthy of the name. They go through life 
 dabbling at this and that, and never settle down to an 
 abiding interest in some special line of activity with a 
 determination to master it. This special interest is 
 often seen in children in the way of making collections. 
 This should be encouraged and directed until some- 
 thing definite and worth while has been accomplished. 
 The value of a real live interest in one's occupation 
 is showTi by the following illustration : Two men start 
 out in the same occupation, let us say farming; one 
 determines to master the subject so far as lies in his 
 power, the other is content to plod along, trusting 
 mainly to luck. In a few years the first is a shining 
 light in the community, is looked up to as an authority 
 and as a man of intelligence, is bright, happy and pros- 
 
232 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 pcrous and is well-informed on a thousand things out- 
 side of his calling. His study of farming has made him 
 alert for other things, and his education and mental 
 training have gone on almost as rapidly as though he 
 were in college. He is delighted with his occupation 
 finding it increasingly interesting and profitable. The 
 other barely makes a li^'ing, looks upon his work as 
 drudgery, and blames his lack of success upon poor 
 soil, unfavorable weather, ravages of insects, or the 
 prevalence of weeds. He is unhappy and embittered 
 towards the world, and his opinions, if he has an}-, are 
 merely smiled at as of little consequence. 
 
 Is it possible that the mere matter of taking interest 
 could result in so wide a difference in two young men 
 of otherwise equal abihty and opportunity? There is 
 not the least doubt of it. It has been demonstrated 
 thousands of times. Either way it is taken, the result 
 is practically inevitable. 
 
 But if one must follow a certain calling and has no in- 
 terest in it, what can he do about it? Can the feehng be 
 acquired? As a rule, interest in a subject is not a gift 
 of the gods laid down at the feet of favored individuals; 
 it is a matter of training and determination. Any 
 subject that has complications is interesting if we will 
 set ourselves to study it. As its mysteries begin to un- 
 fold it becomes more and more interesting, more and 
 more fruitful of research until, by and by, we shall need 
 no other incentive than the satisfaction derived from 
 its investigation. 
 
MEMORY 233 
 
 The Law of Repetition. — Perhaps the simplest of all 
 rules for remembering is to repeat a thing over and over 
 again until it is fixed in the mind, for a time at least. 
 It is in this way declamations, quotations, memory 
 gems, and the like are committed to memory. It is what 
 the children call "learning by heart." Repetition is to 
 be commended in many instances. Whenever a first 
 impression fails to fix a matter that is desirable to re- 
 tain, repetition must be resorted to. It is the natural 
 thing to do; the mind takes pleasure in going over 
 many things again and again until the details are 
 mastered and all points securely fixed in their respective 
 places. 
 
 There is danger in too much repetition from the fact 
 that students will fall into the habit of reading care- 
 lessly with the idea that they will have another chance 
 at it. It is better in getting lessons to teach pupils 
 to go over them once with great care, with no expecta- 
 tion and no opportunity of repeating. Most of our 
 reading in adult life can only be done once, and the habit 
 of doing it so thoroughly that no second reading is 
 necessary will be very valuable. If a second reading 
 is allowed, it should not be for the mere sake of repeating 
 but with some distinct purpose in view different from 
 that in the first instance. This will create interest and 
 give substance for study that will be more beneficial 
 than mere memorizing, and at the same time it will be 
 more likely to stick. 
 
 The Law of Arbitrary Association. — This means that 
 
234 'J'HE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 we may arrange matters that we wish to remember 
 in any way that will suit our own convenience. Much 
 data can be associated with important events connected 
 with our own lives, and we can as well make use of 
 great events in the lives of our friends. If we say a 
 certain matter occurred so many days prior to, or so 
 many days after, some event that cannot w^ell be for- 
 gotten, it will be an aid to the memor}^ National 
 events can be treated in this manner. Historical dates 
 give trouble to many students of history. The time of a 
 few great events should be firmly fixed and less im- 
 portant matters clustered about them. Almost any 
 systematic arrangement is better than none. Most 
 people remember the number of days in the months 
 by the little rhyme beginning, "Thirty days hath Sep- 
 tember." Years ago parts of the geography were 
 chanted and thus fixed in the memor}^ for life. 
 
 The Law of Feeling. — Emotion has a great deal to do 
 with remembering. Many of the most lasting impres- 
 sions are those that were caused by events which were 
 accompanied by deep feelings. The most common of 
 these feelings are joy, surprise, fear or alarm, sympathy, 
 pathos, religious fervor, pity, love, hate, disgust, in- 
 dignation, grief, sorrow. Speakers often take ad- 
 vantage of this psychological feature to make their 
 points stick by illustrating them with stories that ap- 
 peal to the emotions. A good story has a two-fold use 
 in this connection, it secures the attention and plays 
 upon the feelings, sympathy, pity, humor, indignation, 
 
MEMORY 235 
 
 whatever the speaker desires, and if the story is closely 
 enough connected with the "point" to be made, the 
 desired result is effected. 
 
 Children's feelings are easily aroused and it is right 
 to secure their attention and deepen impressions by 
 appealing to them. It is essential however to exercise 
 care and judgment that it be not overdone and that 
 appeal be made only to the better class of emotions. 
 Those of joy, affection, reverence, may be called into 
 action frequently; sympathy, pity, surprise, occasion- 
 ally. It is seldom safe to work upon fear or hate ; these 
 should be avoided rather than called into action. 
 
 Physical and Mental Condition. — The same law that 
 holds in the cultivation of every other power is ap- 
 plicable to memory, that is, body and mind must be 
 in good condition to achieve the best results. The 
 principle of a sound mind in a sound body is old but it 
 is far from being worn out ; instead of losing its signif- 
 icance it is coming into wider recognition and more 
 diligent practice. 
 
 For the cultivation of any mental faculty, it is not 
 only necessary that the mind should be free from de- 
 pression caused by physical infirmity but, as previously 
 stated, it must be free from worry, fright, anxiety, and 
 from any and all diverting causes. No lasting im- 
 pression can be made when the mind is preoccupied 
 in any way or from any cause. It must be free to give 
 attention, to investigate, to consider, to reflect. When- 
 ever physical and mental conditions are not right for 
 
236 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 learning, it is the first duty of the teacher to take steps 
 to make them right. 
 
 Recapitulation. — For the purpose of better compre- 
 hension, let us sum up the suggestions made for the 
 cultivation of the memory. We find they are as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 1. The memory should not be forced. 
 
 2. The secret of remembering is interest and at- 
 tention. 
 
 3. The materials for the cultivation of the memory 
 at the command of the teacher are the text-books in- 
 cluding pictures, maps, chares, etc.; literature, and the 
 world of nature and art about us. 
 
 4. The laws of memory are as follows: 
 
 1. The great underlying law of association. 
 
 2. The secondary laws, including: 
 
 (i) Time 
 
 (2) Similarity 
 
 (3) Contrast 
 
 (4) Classification 
 
 (5) Special interest 
 
 (6) Repetition 
 
 (7) Arbitrary association 
 
 (8) Feeling 
 
 5. The physical and mental condition of the indi- 
 vidual should be duly taken into account. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 IMAGINATION 
 
 Imagination is the faculty that enables the mind to 
 construct images of things that are not present to the 
 senses (see definition in Part I). There are two kinds 
 of images. The first are those that are before the mind 
 when we recall anything of which we have previously 
 been conscious, as the faces of our friends who are 
 absent, the church we last attended, or a picture or a 
 book that we have recently seen; these are memor}' 
 images. The other kind consists in mental pictures of 
 things that have not been presented to the senses but 
 are the creations of the fancy, such as the mental 
 picture of heaven whatever it may be, of a friend we 
 have never seen, of a house we are proposing to build, 
 of how things will be in twenty or fifty or one hundred 
 years from now ; these are the kind referred to when we 
 speak of the products of the imagination. 
 
 A memory image is a more or less correct repro- 
 duction of what we have previously seen, heard, felt, 
 tasted, smelled, or thought. When we recall what 
 honey tastes like we have a mental image of that taste ; 
 when we recall the fragrance of a rose we have an image 
 of its odor; we have an image of the feel of velvet, of 
 
 237 
 
238 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the temperature of ice, of the sound of a violin. There 
 is no original thinking required for these images, they 
 simply appear whenever the object that produced them 
 is recalled to the mind. 
 
 To produce original images requires mental effort, 
 sometimes so little that it is scarcely noticeable, at 
 other times calling forth all the power of thought at 
 our command. All the progress of the world is due in 
 large measure to this power of the mind to create forms 
 that otherwise have no existence. The mind cannot 
 create new material, it can only conceive new forms, 
 new ideas, new ways of doing things. From this it is 
 plain that the gift of the imagination is a great one. 
 
 The imagination begins its development very early 
 in life. Memory images probably come first — a child 
 has an image of its mother's face and voice. The power 
 of imagery, distinct from memory, is seen in its simpler 
 forms in the play of children; a little girl imagines her 
 doll is sick and wants to administer medicine, or it is 
 naughty and must be punished; the small bo}' has his 
 stick horses which he puts through all the maneuvers 
 he has learned from his elders in the management of 
 real horses, and in scores of other ways the imagination 
 is manifest in the young. 
 
 Its Practical Uses. — It would be impossible to enu- 
 merate all the everyday uses in which the imagination 
 serves mankind; it plays its part in every walk of life. 
 A workman will take a rough piece of wood and make 
 an ax handle that is almost the exact image of the type 
 
IMAGINATION 239 
 
 he carries in his mind. If he were asked to make one 
 different from any he had ever seen, and were given 
 the specifications, he would form an image of the kind- 
 desired and make it according to that image. A bright 
 housewife will think of a score of conveniences and im- 
 provements that w^ould never occur to one devoid of 
 imagination. An employee who can improvise a tool 
 when one is wanting, or can think of a way to mend a 
 broken shaft, is much more valuable than one who can 
 only do what he has seen done. 
 
 The farmer will find no factor more productive than 
 an active, practical imagination. It will tell him what 
 to do with his fields, how to enrich his soil, the kind 
 of crops and stock that will be most profitable. The 
 mechanic can never become a master workman with- 
 out it ; the clerk cannot rise unless he can see a thousand 
 things with his mind that his eyes do not take in. Speak- 
 ers, writers, actors, inventors, all need vivid imagina- 
 tions. 
 
 It will occur to every thinking person that some have 
 this gift in far greater degree than others. It appears 
 to be very unevenly distributed and to be the cause, 
 more than any other faculty, of its possessor rising 
 into prominence, or, lacking it, remaining in obscurity. 
 It may be that this great divergence, which is so notice- 
 able, is due more to training than to natural endow- 
 ment. It is a part of the mind that requires a great deal 
 of material for its growth and many homes are barren 
 of the kind of food required. Another reason that 
 
240 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 doubtless accounts for much mediocrity, lies in the fact 
 that the imagination has never been in good repute 
 . in the minds of many otherwise excellent people. They 
 cherish the idea that it is impractical, foolish, danger- 
 ous, and try to squelch any indications they see of it in 
 their children. Ignorance of the real nature of one of 
 God's most gracious gifts is the only excuse that can 
 be offered for such wickedness. 
 
 Just how much anyone owes to environment and how 
 much to heredity cannot be determined, but we can 
 see all about us, in the lives of the people we know, the 
 effect of the former. Everything we see and hear and 
 experience leaves its impress upon our minds, becomes 
 the subject of our thoughts and our expressions, and 
 very largely determines the boundary lines of our 
 activities. A child, in particular, is bound to think in 
 terms of his surroundings, the things that make up his 
 life; he has no other material. The larger and more 
 diversified one's environment the more spontaneous, 
 free and untrammeled will be one's thoughts and imagi- 
 nations, the more is one likel}^ to discover the particular 
 sphere in which his soul finds the greatest freedom and 
 delight. 
 
 Better surroundings can hardly be conceived than 
 that afforded by country life in a good neighborhood, 
 that is, one that is provided with schools and churches, 
 and with literary and social advantages. Life on the 
 farm when it is rightly proportioned between work and 
 play, between muscular toil and mental exercise and 
 
IMAGINATION 24 1 
 
 diversion, is the ideal life. It accounts for the oft 
 quoted fact that so many of the leaders in the world's 
 work were brought up on the farm. With all nature 
 in constant evidence, with the great diversity of inter- 
 ests afforded, farming as carried on in America is the 
 one occupation freest from the degenerating influences 
 of in-breeding. The farmer's son has every opportu- 
 nity to see and to study other callings and is free to 
 choose any he may prefer, and his training on the farm 
 is the best foundation he could have for it. On the 
 other hand, there are so many attractions about farming 
 that many who were not so brought up become enam- 
 ored of it and the farm itself offers them the best chance 
 for a long and happy life. 
 
 Now, heredity is most likely to find the encourage- 
 ment it needs, and to come into its own, where the en- 
 vironment is free and untrammeled as above described. 
 One's hereditary tendencies are not confined to one's 
 immediate parents, but may hark back to grandparents 
 or great grandparents or even farther. The larger 
 the scope for one's imagination the more likely is one 
 to find his peculiar bent, if he has one; on the farm 
 also there is opportunity for observation and time for 
 reflection; hence, from it come teachers, preachers, 
 poets, artists, statesmen, and leaders in every calling. 
 
 But some of the conditions named above are too 
 
 often wanting in country life, namely, schools, churches, 
 
 social and literary advantages. Thousands of boys 
 
 and girls grow up in the country with their aesthetic 
 
 16 
 
242 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 and social instincts starved rather than cultivated, 
 with their mental and spiritual longings quenched 
 instead of developed. It is not for lack of mental 
 endowment but because the world of nature around 
 them is a closed book, they cannot read it, the social 
 life is either wanting or of a kind that is detrimental, 
 while books, pictures, music, the things that enlighten, 
 refine and arouse the ambitions are not provided. 
 
 Extraordinary Cases. — Some one may say these things 
 are not essential and cite in proof of their conten- 
 tion the lives of such men as Patrick Henr>% Henry 
 Clay, and Abraham Lincoln who were shut off in their 
 environment from these very things — that genius 
 will give an account of itself no matter what the en- 
 vironment. The answer is that these men were the 
 product of peculiar conditions that no longer prevail. 
 Patrick Henry, the fox-hunting youth of Virginia, 
 grew up in the soul-stirring period preceding the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, his freedom-loving spirit burned in 
 indignation at oppression of any sort. His fame as a 
 hunter brought him into frecjuent contact with many 
 of the brightest minds of the day, and the great topic of 
 discussion was the tyranny of George IH and the op- 
 pression of the colonies. In the depths of the forests 
 his meditations were undisturbed, while the works 
 of God about him gave him the clear ^'ision of the rights 
 of man in general and of the condition of the colonists 
 in particular. His was just the environment to pro- 
 duce the kind of man needed for leadership, whose 
 
IMAGINATION 243 
 
 clear vision could drive away the mists of doubt in 
 men's minds. 
 
 Henry Clay, "the Mill boy of the Slashes," was 
 brought up among the Cavaliers who settled in the rich 
 blue-grass lands of Kentucky, a people of intelligence, 
 culture and high spirit, w^ho believed in the schools 
 and churches and liberty of conscience, were intensely 
 patriotic and prone to take a hand in the politics of the 
 time. It was a time when oratory was the principal 
 medium of enlightenment; and here environment, 
 coupled with the inherited genius and the towering 
 ambition of the subject, brought forth the Great Pacif- 
 icator. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, the rail splitter, a child of the wil- 
 derness, had a good mother, and after her death a sym- 
 pathetic step-mother, a few of the best books the world 
 afforded, and the titanic struggle against poverty and 
 hardship which his great soul needed for its full develop- 
 ment. He had the social life incident to the clearing 
 up of a new, rich country, of keeping a country store 
 and post-office, the stimulation of a river trip to New 
 Orleans and seeing there the oppression of a race at a 
 time when his youthful, free-trained soul was most 
 impressible. Thereafter he had the powerful impetus 
 of his heaven-registered vow to "hit slavery hard." 
 He had the training of the Black Hawk war, and the 
 varied and extended experience of an itinerant country 
 la\^7■er. He acquired his ability to debate where con- 
 ventionalism counted for little, whUe knowledge of the 
 
244 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 subject, ready wit, power of retort, counted for every- 
 thing. All these and much more, united with the most 
 marvelous combination of mind and heart this country 
 has known, produced the great war president. 
 
 The combination of circumstances that produced 
 these men was peculiar to a new country and to strange 
 and rare crises and are not to be counted on in this 
 or any other age; and even if men of such remarkable 
 gem'us could afford to dispense with the customary 
 materials of education it does not follow that the great 
 mass of mankind can do so. Genius seldom reveals 
 itself in youth, and if it did it would not be safe to run 
 the chances of neglect, lest it develop into a Jesse James 
 instead of an Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 The Cultivation of the I]vl\glnation 
 
 There are three factors that have an important part 
 in the cultivation of the imagination, play, work, and 
 school. To these a fourth might be added, viz., social 
 life. It need not concern us which of these has the great- 
 est part to perform, they are all of sufhcient weight to 
 merit our careful consideration. 
 
 Play comes first in the point of time and affords the 
 greatest opportunity for the spontaneous activity of 
 the mind and body and the widest scope for originality 
 of thought and action. To bring about these desirable 
 conditions play should be arranged for, both in the 
 home and at school, so that it will not be interfered 
 with by unfavorable weather and not be delayed or 
 
IMAGINATION 245 
 
 postponed for work or other duties. Time, place, 
 materials, and methods should all be provided for with 
 the same care and attention that is given to study and to 
 work. 
 
 As stated in a former chapter the materials for play 
 need not be costly; plain, simple, home-made things 
 are the best, but care should be taken that there be no 
 lack either in quantity or quality. Ordinarily children 
 are not well supplied with means of amusement. They 
 are idle, restless, and inclined to fall into mischief sim- 
 ply because they have exhausted their sources of in- 
 teresting occupation. The}^ are scolded, punished, 
 made cross, irritable and perhaps vicious when a proper 
 attention to their wants w^ould have produced a very 
 different and most desirable result. 
 
 Boys, and girls too, should be furnished with such 
 simple tools as age and skill permit them to use. The 
 jack-knife will do very well for a beginning and will 
 serve many a useful purpose, but it should be followed 
 in good time with hammer and saw and these with still 
 others as they are needed. The constructive imagi- 
 nation will be greatly benefited by the ownership of 
 these tools. A child will think, plan, imagine, and ex- 
 periment for days together in the construction of a 
 bridge, a mill, a trap, or a kite. All his mental powers 
 are brought to bear upon it. Hand, eye, and brain are 
 being co-ordinated, each requiring skill in itself and 
 learning to do team w^ork with the others. The habit 
 of industry, the love of work is being formed while 
 
246 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the rewards of labor become apparent in the things 
 achieved. 
 
 Games played in groups or crowds are likewise bene- 
 ficial in the cultivation of the imagination. Every 
 child admires certain traits which he sees exemplified 
 in those older or further advanced than himself, such 
 as strength, skill, courage, endurance. He cultivates 
 these traits and sees himself winning laurels and re- 
 ceiving the plaudits of admiring crowds. He will 
 practice for days, weeks, and even years to bring him- 
 self to the standard he has set; and as one is achieved 
 new and more difficult tasks will be set. He will keep 
 striving and achieving until he has exhausted the pos- 
 sibilities for himself in this kind of life, when new am- 
 bitions will claim his attention and he will turn to them 
 with the same energy and determination that charac- 
 terized his earlier efforts. 
 
 Work as an Aid in the Cultivation of the 
 Imaglnation 
 
 Almost any kind of work divested of imagination 
 becomes the veriest drudgery; clothed with this power 
 it may rise to a seventh heaven of delight. The man 
 who has no imagination is a plodder, always at the foot 
 of the procession, never seeing anything but realities in 
 the things around him. To him a day's work is a da}''s 
 work, a dollar is a dollar; eat, drink, work, sleep, — there 
 is nothing else in life. On the other hand the ability 
 to let the imagination soar to the dizziest heights yet 
 
IMAGINATION 247 
 
 keeping it within the bounds of reason and of prac- 
 ticability makes an immortal missionary of Livingston, 
 a world renowned explorer of Stanley, a new- world 
 discoverer of Columbus, a powerful preacher of John 
 Wesley, a masterful poet of the plowman Robert Burns, 
 a military genius and founder of empires of an obscure 
 Corsican lad. But why multiply examples? All the 
 work of the world, of a progressive sort, is due to the 
 power of vision possessed by those who have been the 
 leaders in thought and action. 
 
 Children are particularly fond of using imagination 
 in their work. Henry is not cutting weeds, he is slaying 
 giants; an especially obdurate specimen gets an extra 
 whack accompanied with a "Take that for your tough 
 old stem." The "tough old stem" lies low while the 
 victor exults as though having triumphed in a personal 
 conflict. Mary is not hemming an apron for kitchen 
 drudgery, she is fashioning a silken gown wherein 
 she herself shall shine as the "belle of the ball." Tom 
 Sawyer is not whitewashing his aunt's fence, — he is the 
 rich contractor letting it out in sections to the highest 
 bidder, having a care not to demand more than his 
 eager visionaries can pay. 
 
 It is by this power of vision that work is glorified. 
 It is this that marks the difference between the "Man 
 With the Hoe" and the peasant girl listening to the 
 "Song of the Lark;" the one is sodden, the other is 
 enraptured. It was this same power of the imagination 
 that enabled the peasant girl, Jeanne D'Arc, to see 
 
248 THE TRAININCi OF CHILDREN 
 
 herself leading the armies of France, bringing order out 
 of chaos, winning victories and cro^^^ling the king at 
 Rheims, all of which when brought to pass were simply 
 her earlier visions materialized. 
 
 It is the right and should be the privilege of eveiy 
 growing boy and girl to have work. There is nothing 
 so stimulating as work, it is the source of all achieve- 
 ment; but for children it should be varied. If they are 
 kept at the same dull grind day in and day out, there 
 will be no inspiration or joy in it. For the purpose of 
 education at least, work should be chosen with a view of 
 its fitness for the mind as well as for the physical powers. 
 If this is done, children will enjoy it fully as much as 
 they enjoy their play and it will prove perhaps quite as 
 valuable to them from an educational standpoint. 
 
 What the School ]\l\y do tor the Imagination 
 
 School, like work, may be a place of monotony, dull- 
 ness and daily grind, of hard tasks and tiresome re- 
 quirements, a place disliked always and avoided when- 
 ever possible. "WTiere there is no vision the people 
 perish" is a truth that applies to the schoolroom about 
 as well as it applied to the Jewish nation in the day 
 of the prophets. 
 
 If there is any person in the world who should be 
 gifted with a lively imagination it is the school teacher. 
 The "Three R's" require a vast amount of toil for their 
 mastery in any case, but when reduced to mere drudgery 
 the task is appalling. If the child is to take any de- 
 
IMAGINATION 249 
 
 light in learning to read he must see visions that will 
 make his mastery of the art a triumph. Father reads 
 something aloud and mother is deeply interested; fre- 
 quently some one reads while all the older members 
 of the family listen; sometimes they find it very amusing 
 and join in laughter, sometimes they are moved to 
 tears, but always they are interested. Then what 
 beautiful stories mother reads to us out of the big 
 Bible where the pictures are! Teacher, too, reads us 
 stories of wonderful people and of children and ani- 
 mals and birds,— it must be delightful to be able to 
 read. When this state of mind has been reached (and' 
 the desire should always be implanted before the les- 
 sons are begun), the path of learning becomes smooth 
 and easy. 
 
 It is just as important that the lessons themselves 
 should have something for the imagination to play upon. 
 Almost any modern primer or first reader is a model 
 in this respect. With great care the lessons have been 
 made to touch child life at the most interesting points. 
 Since we read by means of M^ords, one might suppose 
 that words are all v/e need in learning to read. It is 
 not so. The child learns to know the words by means 
 of delightful little stories and the stories are made more 
 interesting by means of the pictures that accompany 
 them. By far the greater part of reading is the ability 
 to form correct and adecjuate images of the ideas for 
 which the words stand and this ability should be ac- 
 quired as rapidly as possible from the start; hence the 
 
250 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 desirability of the stories and the pictures in the first 
 lessons. 
 
 This power of forming images of the ideas in the 
 reading matter should be cultivated with much care 
 all through the grades. The study of all literature 
 whether of science or art or histor\' depends upon it. 
 If we read a description of a flower or of a sunset, we 
 must be able to form a mental picture of the one or the 
 other, else the description will mean nothing to us. 
 What benefit is it to read of a beautiful building, statue 
 or painting unless we can fill in every detail with our 
 own mental images? How shall we understand history 
 unless we can see every event described as though it 
 were taking place before our eyes? Not only must we 
 be able to see all that is suggested by the words but 
 we must be able to fill in with the imagination all that 
 is omitted in the word picture. In fact the word picture 
 will be the stronger if it leaves to the imagination suffi- 
 cient to tax it to considerable effort. 
 
 The Same Power used in Learning Numbers 
 
 It is true that in the end we must have a knowledge 
 of numbers in the abstract but it is equally true that 
 we should be a long time acquiring that knowledge if 
 we are compelled to gain it in that way. Some of us 
 who were taught in the old way remember what a task 
 it was to commit the multiplication table to memor}-. 
 We really never could remember the combinations until 
 we passed on to where they were exemplified in terms 
 
IMAGINATION 251 
 
 of Henry and James and John and Susan in connection 
 with pennies, marbles, tops, and apples. Even then the 
 doses were usually too large for us and we were obliged 
 to keep in communication with the table by means 
 of a surreptitious thumb or finger. 
 
 How different it all is in these days. Children are no 
 longer set the disagreeable task of learning the multi- 
 plication table but acquire their knowledge just as they 
 need it by means of interesting experiments and charm- 
 ing examples, no time wasted, no tears, scoldings, 
 threatenings, punishments, defeats, — it is the dawn 
 of the child's millennium. In the olden days the life 
 of the subject was taken out of it by tables, rules, and 
 definitions that were barren of imaginary possibilities. 
 No wonder the schools were not popular in those days 
 and that only a few of the brightest minds were ever 
 able to penetrate the dead shell with which learning 
 was incrusted and become infected with the lively 
 germs that were hidden within. 
 
 Every study in the curriculum will if given a chance 
 afford exercise for the imagination, and this power in 
 turn, growing by what it feeds upon, will help to master 
 many intricacies and will keep learning from seeming 
 what it really is not, — a drj' and uninteresting thing. 
 
 The Value of Certain Kinds of Liteila.ture in the 
 Cultivation of the Imagination 
 
 The question as to whether or not literature that is 
 based upon imagination is safe for the minds and morals 
 
252 THK TRATXIXC OF CHILDREN 
 
 of children has long been a vexed one and is still held 
 in doubt by many people. There is no denying that 
 children take vast delight in fairy stories and in fables; 
 but this fact was scarcely favorable to their use in the 
 olden da}'s when Satan was supposed to be at the root 
 of everything that was really delightful. 
 
 As to the value of such literature there is not in these 
 days so much doubt; but as to the manner of its use 
 there is still diversity of opinion. Shall children be 
 permitted to regale themselves with it, and be allowed 
 and even encouraged to believe in its literal truthful- 
 ness? Up to a comparatively recent date all the world 
 believed in spirits, goblins, spooks, witches, and ghosts. 
 Since children must in their development pass through 
 all the evolutionary stages of the race, should they not 
 have their period of fairies and giants? The Hebrews 
 had their Samson and their David and Goliath, the 
 Greeks had their Hercules accomplishing his twelve 
 tasks, the Anglo-Saxons had their Beowulf slaying the 
 great fiend Grendel, and even our own immediate an- 
 cestors had their St. George and the Dragon. Not 
 the children only, but the grown-ups of these races be- 
 lieved the wondrous tales; and shall not the children of 
 to-day have their Jack the Giant Killer and their 
 Cinderella and be permitted to believe in them, to be 
 thrilled, inspired and led on to supreme effort in imi- 
 tation of their admirable virtues? Will it do the little 
 ones irreparable harm to believe in the Big Bear, the 
 Little Bear, and the Middle-sized Bear? Will their 
 
IMAGINATION 253 
 
 morals and perhaps their eternal salvation be in jeopardy 
 if they have the utmost faith in dear old Santa Claus? 
 Or must this blissful realm of childhood be ruthlessly 
 invaded and destroyed for the sake of the literal ex- 
 actitude of a material and unbelieving age? 
 
 The chief objection perhaps to this childish belief 
 lies in the supposed shock that comes to the mind when 
 it discovers, as it must sooner or later, that these stories 
 are not literally true, that the characters that have so 
 wrought upon the feelings as to arouse the deepest 
 admiration and respect are merely the figments of the 
 imagination. Will all the delights of Fairyland be a 
 sufficient recompense for the loss of that perfect faith 
 that a child has in its elders when he learns that he has 
 been deceived, that the very persons who should have 
 preserved him from wrong beliefs, led him into them 
 and are now admitted that they knew all the time that 
 he was being deceived? 
 
 Such a shock would be disastrous enough if it should 
 really happen, but the fact is it seldom does, certainly 
 only in those cases when the children's inquiries have 
 been answered by the positive assertion that there is a 
 Santa Claus and that he really brings the gifts. Most 
 parents are wise enough to treat Santa as the spirit 
 of Christmas and let the children draw their own con- 
 clusions as to his reality or nonreality. 
 
 It is difficult to draw hard and fast lines and say here 
 lies safety on the one side and here lies danger on the 
 other. It will probably not lessen their enjoyment 
 
254 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 but be a sufficient safeguard to their credulity if they 
 are told, for example, that a "fable is a story in which 
 birds and other animals are supposed to talk, although 
 they never do so." The childish imagination will leap 
 to the appeal of the stor}' about as well in the one case 
 as in the other. The great stories that have survived 
 the ravages of time come down to us bearing no com- 
 ment as to whether they are literally or only spiritually 
 true. It may be a disappointment to us to learn that 
 William Tell is merely a fictitious character, but yet 
 that knowledge cannot strip the story of its beauty 
 or lessen its moral value. One may have read the 
 parables of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan 
 with absolute belief in their literal reality, and he 
 may then be brought to the opinion that they are 
 products of the imagination used as illustrations of 
 profound principles, and yet regard them with no less 
 reverence or look upon their author with no less faith 
 than before. 
 
 The one thing that will be insisted upon here is that 
 children should not be deprived of imaginative liter- 
 ature and that in sufficient quantity to meet all reason- 
 able demands. Such literature should be chosen with 
 the same care that would characterize the selection 
 of other types. Only that which is standard or approved 
 by the best authorities should be admitted. Neither 
 this nor any other one type of reading matter should re- 
 ceive more than its fair share of attention. A healthful 
 variety should always be provided. 
 
imagination 255 
 
 Social Life a Strong Factor in Developing 
 Imagination 
 
 It is doubtful if there is any phase of hfe that has 
 more to do with the growth of the imagination than has 
 the exercise of the social instincts. This is especially 
 true after the age of twelve to fourteen years has been 
 reached. The average boy or girl does a great deal of 
 mental picturing as to the part he or she shall play in 
 society both in the immediate future and in the years 
 to come. The part actually played at the present may 
 have little to do with the character of these mental 
 pictures. If for any reason one is handicapped in his 
 actual experiences he is apt to construct a set of con- 
 ditions where no such handicap exists. 
 
 As a rule, parents and teachers are not taken into the 
 confidence of the children in this particular kind of 
 imagining. The incongruity of these mental pictures 
 is almost certain to provoke laughter and often ridicule 
 which the sensitive nature of the young will not bear, 
 and restraint is practiced. It would be vastly better if 
 the elders would refrain from anything savoring of ridi- 
 cule but would rather encourage complete confidence in 
 bringing all such imaginings to light. Then they would 
 have an opportunity to guide the young minds in their 
 aspirations and set them right in many a matter where 
 their inexperience is leading them astray. 
 
 There is little danger that too much attention will be 
 paid to the cultivation of this important faculty. So 
 
256 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 far the fault has all been in the opposite direction . When 
 we reflect what wonderful achievements are wrought 
 by the imagination and how little data we have for 
 gauging the possibilities of the undeveloped powers of a 
 child we can see how necessar}^ it is that each one should 
 have every opportunity for the cultivation of those 
 powers so that the very zenith of possibility may be 
 reached. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 The Thinking Power 
 
 Thinking is the highest power bestowed upon mortals. 
 Upon it depends all our progress in social life, in govern- 
 ment, and in religion. In order to think we do not need 
 the object of our reflections before us; we may call 
 upon memor}' and imagination to supply the materials, 
 pass them in review before us, compare them with past 
 experiences and come to a conclusion. 
 
 If a friend presents an idea to us proposing a certain 
 line of conduct which we cannot at the moment fathom, 
 we may say we will consider it and decide later. This 
 is because we cannot at once summon a sufficient 
 number of past experiences and in the light of them 
 judge wisely as to the probable outcome of new com- 
 binations. We reflect that a certain thing or state of 
 things produced certain results in the past; here are 
 similar conditions; the result will therefore be about 
 the same. This is the course of reasoning the world 
 over, and though it seems very simple and easy there 
 are multitudes of complexities and the task is often ex- 
 ceedingly difficult. 
 
 We can see how memory is a prime aid to thought 
 because without it we cannot call up for review our 
 17 257 
 
258 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 past experiences and what became of them. Imagi- 
 nation is just as necessary^, for it not only presents to 
 us in pictures the past but enables us to see new com- 
 binations and the results they are likely to bring. 
 
 The power to think does not manifest itself so early 
 in life as those we have been considering. Sensation, 
 observation, perception, memory and imagination 
 must in the nature of things precede it. Neither does 
 it mature as early as the others. Wlien the power to 
 memorize is at its height the thinking powder is yet in 
 the early stages of its growth. This is because expe- 
 rience must supply the data for thought, and youth 
 lacks experience. 
 
 Yet a child is not without the power to reason. WTien 
 the little one turns his head at a familiar sound and, 
 not catching sight, turns in the other direction it is an 
 indication of thought. When he discovers that crying 
 brings attention he reasons, unconsciously, of course, 
 in this fashion: "Before when I cried I got what I 
 wanted: if I cr>^ now I will get what I want; therefore 
 I will cry." The child sees a light and tries to grasp 
 it; if he succeeds it burns him. The next time he will 
 avoid it. This is his reasoning: "The light hurt me 
 when I touched it; this is a light, therefore it will hurt 
 me if I touch it; I will not touch it." 
 
 Observe that there are three parts to this reasoning: 
 the first part is called the major premise; the second, 
 the minor premise; the third part is called the conclusion. 
 Deciding upon a course of action with respect to the 
 
THE THINKING POWER 259 
 
 conclusion is not a part of the reasoning but the re- 
 sult of it. 
 
 There are two principal chances of reaching wrong 
 conclusions. The most likely chance lies in the major 
 premise. The child thinks that because the nurse 
 has always come at his call she will always do so. But 
 the nurse decides that his crying has become a mere 
 whim to secure her attention and does not come. 
 The child finds his reasoning at fault, cannot under- 
 stand it and grows very angry. The trouble lies in the 
 fact that his major premise was not thoroughly estab- 
 lished. He will now have to revise it something after 
 this fashion: ''Crying may or may not bring the nurse; 
 it is or it is not worth trying." 
 
 It will take many years of experience to overcome the 
 fault of relying on poorly established major premises. 
 The great majority of people never do overcome it 
 entirely. It is otherwise known as generalizing with- 
 out having examined a sufficient number of individual 
 cases. It is also called jumping at conclusions. We 
 see a thing happening in a certain way two or three 
 times and jump at the conclusion that it mU always 
 happen that way. If we should discover three mer- 
 chants cheating and knew nothing of other merchants 
 we might conclude that all merchants cheat. The next 
 time we dealt with one, we should probably reason in 
 this way: "So far as my knowledge goes all merchants 
 cheat; this man is a merchant, therefore he will cheat 
 me if he can." When we find on several occasions 
 
26o THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 that our judgment is wrong our major premises go 
 through a series of revisions, the first of which is that 
 not all merchants are dishonest but most of them are: 
 finally we say merchants are just like other men : some 
 are honest while others are perfectly reliable. Thus 
 experience helps us in our reasoning. Intelligent think- 
 ing, however, might have saved us from going wrong 
 in the first instance. It would be better to reason thus : 
 "So far as my know^ledge goes all merchants are dis- 
 honest. I see no reason for this however, and as I know 
 but three it would not be fair to judge the whole class 
 by them." 
 
 The second chance to go astray is in the minor prem- 
 ise. Suppose w^e have established the major premise 
 to a reasonable certainty that wood will burn. We see 
 an object and we say this is wood therefore it will burn. 
 Upon investigating we find the object will not burn. 
 The question now is to find where the fault lies. Either 
 it is not true that wood will always burn or else this is 
 not wood. One or the other is inevitable. If it is per- 
 fectly certain that wood will always burn then we may 
 be just as certain that this object no matter how much it 
 resembles it in other respects, is not wood. In this mat- 
 ter of identity w^e are just as likely to be deceived in 
 thinking a thing is not what it is as we are in thinking it 
 is what it is not. This brings us to the law of identity. 
 
 The same thing or quality is always the same thing or 
 quality no matter in what form it may appear. 
 
 This is important to remember, as those who think 
 
THE THINKING POWER 261 
 
 themselves wise in detecting are prone to be deceived. 
 The "gold brick scheme" has been worked in scores of 
 different ways yet it frequently happens that shrewd 
 business men are caught by it, even those who are sure 
 they would recognize it in any form. 
 
 The first element in thinking is comparison — the 
 ability to see differences and likenesses in the objects 
 presented to our senses. When we find two or more ob- 
 jects are alike in important particulars, we put them in 
 the same group ; other objects essentially different from 
 these but resembling each other in certain points, we 
 put by themselves : this is called classification. We may 
 now make a study of each group looking for differences, 
 and make new divisions remembering that each new 
 group comes under the class from which it was taken. 
 We then proceed to name our classes and sub-classes. 
 We may now go on examining object after object, plac- 
 ing each one where it belongs. 
 
 For illustration, suppose we should make a study of 
 the animals that we see around us. Our first aim 
 should be to find some important difference that would 
 enable us to put them in two classes. This may re- 
 quire much careful searching. So far as our observation 
 extended we might decide that all animals had either 
 two or four feet, and make our main classes accordingly. 
 Soon we should discover that some animals had more 
 than four feet while some had none at all; we should 
 then be compelled to discard our classification and look 
 for some other distinction. 
 
262 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 Eventually we should discover that some animals 
 have backbones and others have not; and readily de- 
 ciding, no matter how far our observation may extend, 
 that we shall never find an animal but what either has 
 or has not a backbone we might properly make that our 
 main classification. In fact it is the one that has been 
 adopted by scholars the world over. 
 
 We may now formulate a second law of thought, 
 namely: In respect to any particular that the mind can 
 conceive a thing either is or is not. 
 
 An object is either black or not black, white or not 
 white. It might be neither black nor white but this 
 would not affect the law. 
 
 We may now proceed with our study of animals, 
 placing each one in the class to which it belongs by 
 simply observing that it has or has not a backbone. 
 Science has named these two divisions vertebrates 
 and invertebrates. The next step is to subdivide these 
 two main classes. Here we shall meet the same diffi- 
 culty as before and it may require a great deal of search- 
 ing. We must find an important difference that will 
 hold good under any and all conditions. Suppose we 
 begin with \^ertebrates. We might say some are large 
 and others small, and make that the basis. But here 
 our law of thought comes in. When we have adopted 
 a standard of size we shall find many that are neither 
 large nor small, therefore we cannot make that a basis. 
 After much hard thinking and comparing one quality 
 with another, we should discover that some vertebrates 
 
THE THINKING POWER 263 
 
 suckle their young while others do not. This conforms 
 to the law above stated and is again the division that 
 scientists have adopted. 
 
 Thus we may go on as long as we live comparing, 
 separating, collecting, analyzing, classifying, and nam- 
 ing. The field is wide, the world of knowledge still in 
 its youth, and every step gives pleasure. The man who 
 extends his knowledge further than his fellows becomes 
 famous and every new discover)^ adds to his renown. 
 He may also become rich if he will, but his main delight 
 will be in the search for and acquisition of knowledge. 
 
 We have spoken of the study of animals but knowl- 
 edge cannot make headway in one line alone. If we 
 would understand animal life we must also under- 
 stand plant life, for animals depend upon plants for 
 their food. Plants in their turn depend upon minerals 
 while heat, light, and air are necessary to all. A com- 
 plete investigation of any one thing would lead us into 
 all the realms of knowledge in the universe. Added to 
 the infinite variet}^ of objects is the fact that nothing 
 remains as we find it. There is constant change going 
 on in everj'thing and these changes must be studied. 
 There is life and death, regeneration and degeneration, 
 development and decay. There is no danger of ex- 
 hausting the field of knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton was 
 a very wise man yet he compared himself to a child 
 playing on the beach, selecting a pebble here and there 
 brighter than the others around it, while the great 
 ocean of truth lay unexplored before him. 
 
264 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 Unclassified knowledge has little usable value. A mass 
 of facts or materials may be valuable to the collector be- 
 cause of the time and labor spent in collecting them but 
 until they are assorted and put in order they are little 
 better than rubbish. Collecting, analyzing, and classi- 
 fying become then a large part of one's education, and 
 no better field can be found than that which is all about 
 us, namely the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. 
 
 Before making a special study of any one of these 
 kingdoms it is best to have a wide general acquaintance 
 with all of them. When children first enter school they 
 know the names and some of the characteristics of a 
 vast number of objects. They have reasonably cor- 
 rect ideas, although they cannot define them, of classi- 
 fication so that they can readily tell to what kingdom 
 an object belongs. An attempt to classify very closely 
 in their earlier years would not be wise. Youth is 
 chiefly concerned in gathering a wealth of general 
 ideas so that as the mind matures it may have an 
 abundance of material for thought. 
 
 How We Acquire General Ideas or Concepts. — ^We 
 learned in a previous chapter that when an object is 
 presented to one or more of the senses and the mind 
 takes notice of it, it is called perception and that the 
 complete act is a particular idea known as a percept. 
 The forming of percepts is the first step toward the 
 concept or general idea. We may perceive an object 
 and not be able to determine what it is. This brings 
 us to the second step which is comparison. 
 
THE THINKING POWER 265 
 
 When the mind takes knowledge of an object the 
 first question is, what is it? If the answer is not forth- 
 coming the next question immediately follows, what is 
 it like? In either case the mind at once proceeds to call 
 up by memory other objects for comparison. For ex- 
 ample, a certain odor is perceived; we say, mentally per- 
 haps, " What is that? It smells like an orange." Here 
 we have called to mind a previous impression and recog- 
 nize this as similar. If we are not entirely satisfied 
 we may seek out the object and verify our impression 
 by other senses as touch, sight, and taste. If the object 
 is entirely new to us, that is, if we never had any knowl- 
 edge of an orange before, we proceed to test it by all 
 the senses, comparing it with the things we know. It 
 is something like an apple in shape and size; it is also 
 pleasant to the smell and to the taste; but it is not an 
 apple because so far as our knowledge extends all apples 
 have a smooth surface. However, since it has some of 
 the qualities of an apple it may be a fruit. Its color is 
 yellow; but color, that is any particular color, is not an 
 essential quality to fruit. We further discover that it 
 has a covering, a juicy pulp, an acid or sweet taste, and 
 without further hesitation we classify it as a fruit; 
 M'hen we have named it and examined enough different 
 specimens to give us a good general idea of what oranges 
 are, our concept, for the time being, at least, is complete. 
 
 Let us now examine this concept more closely to see 
 exactly how it was formed. The first and second steps 
 have been sufhciently explained. The third step was 
 
266 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 taken when we were compelled to take away color from 
 our general idea of fruit. This process of taking away 
 qualities not common or necessary to the class is called 
 abstraction. 
 
 When we found that the object possessed all the 
 general qualities contained in our conception of fruit 
 we at once put it in that class. Thus classification is the 
 fourth step. The fifth and last step was taken when we 
 named the object an orange. This is called denomina- 
 tion. 
 
 It is to be noted that our concepts are subject to 
 change as our investigations extend. Our concept of 
 orange while complete was not necessarily perfect. 
 We observed that the orange was yellow, and that 
 quality formed a part of the concept. If we ever find 
 a red, white, or black orange we shall be compelled to 
 abstract the quality yellow from the concept. Thus we 
 see that a concept is not an image of a particular ob- 
 ject but a general idea of a class of objects and must 
 contain only the qualities common to every member 
 of the class so far as our knowledge extends. A complete 
 concept can be obtained only when every member 
 of the class has been examined. 
 
 When a child has known but one dog his concept goes 
 no farther than that. If the one of his experience is a 
 shepherd and the next one he meets is a pug, he will 
 at once recognize it by generalization as a dog, but his 
 concept will undergo a number of changes to correspond 
 with the different qualities he obser^■es. The next one 
 
THE THINKING POWER 267 
 
 will require still further modifications, and there is no 
 telling when, if ever, his concept will be complete. 
 
 In the light of these explanations the value of a wide 
 range of experience is readily seen. The concepts of a 
 child are so imperfect that his reasoning is of little 
 value to any but himself. His love of generalizing leads 
 him into many errors but as a rule they are not serious. 
 When he calls a furry glove a "kitty" he knows it is 
 not a kitten; he is simply classifying it to the best of 
 his knowledge. If you should offer him the glove when 
 he called for the kitten, he would quickly convince you 
 that he was not to be deceived. When such errors 
 are real they are best corrected by extending his ob- 
 servation except where danger is involved. He might 
 classify a poisonous substance as food and proceed to 
 act upon his judgment. In such cases there is no doubt 
 about the course to pursue. 
 
 In childhood and youth perception is ever on the 
 alert and memors^ is strong to retain impressions while 
 reasoning" is difficult. In after life perception is not so 
 sharp nor memory so reliable while reasoning becomes 
 a second nature. Middle-aged and old people reason 
 upon everything and are always drawing conclusions 
 many of which are wrong because of lack of knowledge. 
 This gives us the key to education; youth is the time 
 to gather, classify, and store away knowledge, maturity 
 is the time to use it. 
 
 Children should be taught to observe closely so that 
 their perceptions shall be accurate. Oral and written 
 
268 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 descriptions and drawing are great helps to accurate 
 perception. Children should also be given much prac- 
 tice in comparing objects and making a list of differences 
 and likenesses. Ask an untrained child the difference 
 between a dog and a cat and he will name only a few 
 particulars, while one who has been trained to observe 
 closely and compare sharply will readily name a score 
 or more. Many people cannot tell beef from mutton, 
 cannot distinguish one color from another, cannot re- 
 member faces, and this is not because their powers of 
 mind are lacking but from want of training. 
 
 Two objects may be compared by writing down all 
 the qualities of each in separate columns; write in a 
 third column the qualities that are common to both 
 and in a fourth those that are not common to both. 
 This will show at a glance in what respects they are 
 alike and in what they differ. In this way compare a 
 potato and an apple, a flower and a weed, a horse and a 
 cow, a boy and a man, and so on. It will be astonishing 
 how quickly the mind will learn to detect and name 
 peculiarities. 
 
 Such a procedure will materially aid the child in 
 forming accurate concepts. For instance a careful 
 comparison of fruits and vegetables will give clearer 
 concepts of each. likewise of plants and animals, 
 of birds and reptiles, of land and water, etc. 
 
 Seeing relations between objects apparently dis- 
 similar is a most valuable acquirement that comes by 
 long practice and deep thought. None but a thinker 
 
THE THINKING POWER 269 
 
 could see the relation between a swaying chandelier and 
 an instrument to measure time ; between a faUing apple 
 and the sweep of the heavenly bodies; the failing sight 
 of age and a bit of glass. The successful man is the 
 one who can see relations where others cannot. 
 
 Children may be taught to see relations by easy 
 stages. They can see the relation between idleness and 
 want; between industry and plenty; between the cold 
 of winter and the wool on the sheep's back; between 
 scarcity in one part of the world and means of trans- 
 portation; between the raw material and the finished 
 product. By numerous illustrations the child should 
 early be taught to see the relation of ignorance to want 
 and crime; of education to enlightenment and pros- 
 perity and righteous living; of the petty wrongdoer to 
 the criminal, and so on. 
 
 Reading with a proper amount of time for meditation 
 is an excellent aid to thought, in fact there is none 
 greater. It extends our knowledge and widens our 
 acquaintance. It keeps us in touch with the thoughts 
 and actions of thousands of people of whom we should 
 otherwise be in ignorance. By reading we make our- 
 selves the heir to all the wisdom of past ages. It 
 furnishes us with an abundance of material for thought. 
 It enables us to profit by the experiences of those whom 
 we never saw, to enjoy the bright sayings of the wise, 
 to take warning from the evil ways of the wicked. In 
 short it affords us the privilege of living in the whole 
 civiUzed world instead of in our own little corner. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 THE FEELINGS 
 
 Every mental act from the merest sensation to the 
 highest t>pe of thinking is accompanied by feeling. 
 One defines feeling as the agreeable or disagreeable 
 side of ever)^ mental act or state; another describes it 
 as the interesting side of all mental activity. It is co- 
 incident with consciousness ; in fact consciousness could 
 not exist without it, or if it could it would be without 
 attraction or desirability. 
 
 Feeling in its lowest or most animal terms is mere 
 sensation, as hunger, cold, pain, or physical comfort; 
 in its highest terms it is expressed in wonder, awe, ado- 
 ration; between these two extremes occur all the ex- 
 periences that man is capable of having. 
 
 For the purpose of study from the standpoint of the 
 teacher, the Feelings may be divided into three groups, 
 viz. I. Sensuous feelings, or those that are strictly or 
 mainly physical in their nature; 2. Intellectual, those 
 that accompany the acquisition of knowledge for its 
 own sake and reflection thereupon; 3. Associated feel- 
 ings, the emotions as they are popularly understood, as 
 love, fear, hate, etc. 
 
 Feelings, as suggested above, have been defined by 
 
 270 
 
THE FEELINGS 27 1 
 
 some as the agreeable or disagreeable side of every 
 mental act. This is true so far as the quality of feel- 
 ings is concerned, at least all feelings are either agree- 
 able or not agreeable, and we will allow the extremes 
 to go as far in either direction as the sensibilities of our 
 natures will permit; but such a definition does not go 
 far enough since it does not cover the real reason for 
 the existence of many of our feelings. Physical pain 
 is not a pleasant feeling and yet its value is so great 
 that without it we should be in constant danger of 
 physical destruction. Hunger is not an agreeable sen- 
 sation yet without it animals would neglect to keep 
 themselves alive. It is safe to say that all feelings 
 are useful and necessary either to life itself or to our 
 ultimate happiness. 
 
 Sensuous Feelings 
 
 The first knowledge of this world acquired by any 
 individual comes through feeling and is at first and for a 
 time vague and indefinite. If an infant's finger should 
 be crushed he would not be able to assign the pain 
 occasioned thereby to any particular part of the body 
 not having yet realized himself as having limbs or parts. 
 Let us nov/ observe how this knowledge of one's self is 
 acquired. 
 
 The Quality of Feelings. — The attribute that enables 
 us to recognize one kind of feeling from another, or one 
 sensation from another, is known as quality. If all 
 feelings were alike we should remain as helpless as the 
 
272 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 new-born infant, we should never be able to identify 
 any. Each sense organ as the eye, the ear, the nose, 
 has its own peculiar qualities of feeling not attributable 
 to any other organ. Each spot on the surface of the 
 body has qualities distinct from every other spot, else 
 we should not be able to locate it when touched. This 
 provision is necessary to our welfare. If we could not 
 tell by the quality of the pain in a finger whether it be- 
 longed to the right or the left hand we should be likely 
 to make the discovery through other means too late 
 to avoid serious injury. 
 
 Some parts of the body are much more sensitive and 
 consequently more quickly and easily located than 
 others. The fingers are more sensitive to touch than 
 the toes, the palms of the hands than the back of the 
 hands, the face than the back of the neck. Those parts 
 that are most exposed to danger or subject to constant 
 use are, as a rule, the most sensitive. The qualities 
 of the feelings of many of our internal organs are so 
 little known to us that we cannot identify them. We 
 may suffer pain as the result of some internal injury 
 and yet not be able to identify the organ which is 
 responsible. 
 
 Quality of Feeling in the Sense Organs. — Each of the 
 sense organs, as before stated, has its own distinct qual- 
 ities of sensation but some far more than others. This 
 great difference may be due, in part at least, to the dif- 
 ference in the source of the sensations. The eye is sen- 
 sitive to light carried by vibrations of ether, the vi- 
 
THE FEELINGS 273 
 
 brations breaking upon the retina at the rate of many 
 milhons per second. The ear is sensitive to vibrations 
 of air that strike the tympanum at the rate of a few 
 hundreds or a few thousands per second. It is easy 
 to see that there may be a great difference between the 
 two, but why one should result in sight and the other 
 in sound we cannot tell. The organs of touch respond 
 to the vibrations of matter, and here again the dis- 
 tinction is obvious, but why it should be just what it is 
 is beyond us. The sense of smell is due to the impact 
 of molecules of matter upon the olfactory nerve, while 
 the sense of taste is similarly due to the contact of 
 molecules with the taste buds, though with this differ- 
 ence that in the latter case the molecules must be sol- 
 uble. As one would expect from their sources, the qual- 
 ities of the last named senses are much more alike than 
 any of the others and are in fact not always discernible 
 the one from the other. 
 
 The Effect of Quantity upon Sensuous Feelings. — 
 Perhaps the most important feature of quantity is its 
 relation to the agreeable or disagreeable side of feelings. 
 Of the various stimuli that are agreeable, the degree of 
 pleasure is frequently in direct proportion to the amount 
 involved. This is true within certain limits only. An 
 amount of light that one can merely grope about in is 
 painful to the eyes, a little more is pleasurable, and 
 up to the point of abundance the increase of pleasure 
 practically keeps pace with the increase of the amount 
 of the stimulus. Beyond the point of abundance pain- 
 18 
 
274 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 fulness sets in and steadily increases, up to the last 
 l)oint of endurance. Pain likewise increases with the 
 amount of the stimulus up to a certain point above 
 which the sense organs are mercifully dulled and any 
 increase in the quantity of the stimulus only tends to 
 deaden the pain. This analogy of pain with pleasure 
 does not hold good on the descending scale to the point 
 that pain is converted into pleasure as pleasure is con- 
 verted into pain. One can conceive of torture increas- 
 ing up to a point where the nerves would refuse to re-' 
 spond further and any increase would only serve to 
 deaden the pain and make it more endurable, but one 
 cannot conceive of that pain turning into pleasure. 
 
 This principle, or perhaps it might better be called 
 this general impression, that the amount of pleasure is 
 directly proportional to the quantity of the source of 
 that pleasure is responsible for much of the striving 
 of mankind after wealth and happiness, though the re- 
 sult when the desired quantity has been attained is 
 often disappointing. When a boy receives his first 
 dollar it affords him a vast amoimt of pleasure, and he 
 thinks what wonderful happiness would be his if he had 
 a hundred dollars, not doubting but that his pleasure 
 would be increased accordingl}^ Experience, however, 
 abundantly proves that such is not the case. Enjoy- 
 ment is of such a character that one's greed for it usually 
 far outruns his capacity. 
 
 It is the duty of those who instruct the young to 
 point out this divergence between appetite, or desire, 
 
THE FEELINGS 275 
 
 and its gratification. A reasonable amount of the good 
 things of hfe is infinitely better than an over-supply. 
 An over-abundance clogs the appetite and defeats the 
 very purpose for which it was acquired. This is the 
 reason that temperance in all things is always more 
 fruitful of enjoyment than over-indulgence. 
 
 The Usefulness of Sensuous Feelings. — This phase 
 has often been overlooked in discussion of the feelings 
 though its importance cannot be questioned. There 
 *is no doubt but that every feeling implanted in man 
 has now or has had its useful and even its necessary 
 qualities. We have seen that this is true of pain, hunger, 
 thirst, and the like, and we may be sure that it is 
 equally true of fear, terror, embarrassment, and similar 
 feelings that are anything but pleasurable in their ex- 
 periencing. That they were more essential to existence 
 in a savage or primitive state than in a highly civilized 
 age is obvious, but that fear, for instance, is a healthy 
 deterrent from many dangers, especially in childhood 
 and youth, is just as evident. 
 
 Here again, it is the duty of the instructor to point 
 out the danger of going beyond reasonable limitations, 
 A wholesome fear is natural, right, and desirable. It 
 has played an important part in the achievements of 
 the race. But its control and subjection to reason is 
 fully as important as the control of the appetites above 
 alluded to. Excessive fear is physically, mentally, and 
 morally deleterious to one's well-being. Senseless fear 
 inevitably leads to cowardice. If there is a tendency 
 
276 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 to either condition it should be combated with courage. 
 Any one in a state of abject fear loses the noble virtues 
 that have been acquired by many generations of train- 
 ing, is incapable of mental or moral effort, and sinks in 
 a moment to the lowest depths of degradation. 
 
 Embarrassment and bashfulness are the signs of 
 modesty which is a most desirable virtue. In limited 
 quantities they are beneficial, as they prevent certain 
 types of forwardness and boldness that are unbecom- 
 ing in the young; but indulged to excess, they become 
 unmitigated evils as they prevent any advancement 
 whatever and condemn their victims to perpetual 
 obscurity and ignorance. In all cases where the feelings 
 are concerned, temperance, control, and reason are the 
 watchwords that lead to safety and to the highest 
 achievements. 
 
 The Effect of Attention upon Sensuous Feelings. — It 
 is a well-known fact in the practical world that before 
 an impression can be made upon the mind by any ex- 
 ternal stimulus the attention must be gained. As to 
 the amount of stimulus required for this purpose much 
 depends upon the state of mind, the bodily condition, 
 and the amount and kind of other business that the 
 subject happens to be engaged in. If a person is very 
 angry he is not likely to listen to an appeal for charity; 
 if he is very hot or very cold he finds it difficult to give 
 attention to a sermon. Salesmen will not attempt to 
 sell a customer a bill of goods when he is tired, fretted, 
 or hungry. They also know better than to interrupt 
 
THE FEELINGS 277 
 
 when other important business transactions are in 
 hand. 
 
 The power to give or to withhold attention is the key 
 to the cultivation, or the repression and control, of 
 feelings of all kinds. Many people are tempted to give 
 more attention than is meet to the gratification of 
 appetite. Those that yield to this temptation become 
 gluttons or voluptuaries. They lose their taste for 
 simple or plain things and pander to unnatural cravings. 
 
 Children need to be taught not to give too much at- 
 tention to physical discomfort, such as is caused by a 
 slight excess of heat or cold, and not to give full rein 
 to expressions of pain in case of bodily injury. In fact 
 if one will give attention to means of relief he will im- 
 mediately find the pain less acute. 
 
 There was in ancient Greece a school of philosophers 
 called Stoics, who steadfastly trained themselves to en- 
 dure pain without showing the least sign of suffering, 
 likewise never to give any expressions of joy when 
 experiencing pleasure. From the name of this school 
 is derived our word "stoicism," meaning the habit of 
 enduring pain without flinching. A reasonable displa}' 
 of stoicism is admirable and if applied to the endur- 
 ance of pain only, may be wholly desirable; but its 
 application to pleasure very properly did not com- 
 mend itself to mankind. The legitimate pleasures of 
 life, taken as they come, are not too many, nor are they 
 likely to be too keenly enjoyed. It is only when pleasure 
 is sought as an end in life rather than as a means to 
 
278 THK TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 lighten the burdens of occupation that it becomes 
 detrimental. 
 
 Intellectual Feelings. — Under this head may be classed 
 those feelings that are not mainly sensuous but are 
 yet impersonal in their nature, such as the desire for 
 knowledge, the contemplation of the beautiful, and the 
 delight taken in that which is practical or useful. 
 
 The desire for knowledge comes early in life and is 
 retained well on into old age. The means for the grati- 
 fication of this desire should be furnished about as 
 rapidly as the demand for it will justify. The eager- 
 ness of children for knowledge is shown by their eternal 
 questioning, when not repressed, and by their tireless 
 investigations of every object within reach. Until they 
 have learned to read they have only two means of ac- 
 quiring knowledge, first by being told and second by 
 discovering for themselves. Hence the great importance 
 of giving heed to all their questionings and to supply- 
 ing them with an abundance of materials for investi- 
 gations; but perhaps enough has been said about this 
 elsewhere. 
 
 The love of the beautiful should likewise be cultivated 
 from its inception, and its indulgence in nature at least 
 may be freely permitted. The intellectual feelings differ 
 from the sensuous in that they are much less likely 
 to be indulged in to excess or to lead to injury. The 
 only common exception to this general rule is the love 
 for artificial beauty as expressed in fine clothes and per- 
 sonal adornments. This kind of vanity unless carried 
 
THE FEELINGS 279 
 
 to an extreme is usually looked upon as more foolish 
 than wicked. 
 
 Love of the beautiful as represented in the highest 
 forms of art, sculpture, painting, music, architecture, the 
 drama, is much the same as the love of the beautiful 
 in nature, and the cultivated mind finds a high degree 
 of pleasure in its contemplation. To cultivate a taste 
 for art in its best forms should be a part of the educa- 
 tion of every individual. All schools should be equipped 
 with the best representations of works of art that can be 
 obtained, and these should be explained from time to 
 time both as to their origin and their meaning. If, 
 after having been liberally taught concerning the lead- 
 ing works of art, one can visit the great galleries of the 
 world and see the originals the sacrifice of time and ex- 
 pense will be amply repaid. 
 
 The pleasure derived from the practical may be less 
 keen but is scarcely less satisfying than is the love 
 of the beautiful. Deep satisfaction is likely to be ex- 
 perienced from the construction of almost any kind 
 of practical contrivance and this satisfaction is found 
 apart from any money value that may or may not at- 
 tach thereto. A boy takes vast delight in fashioning 
 a top out of a spool. A little girl is equally pleased when 
 she constructs a hat for her doll, and it would be a dull 
 grown-up who would not take some pride in turning 
 out a creditable piece of work even though it were 
 nothing more remarkable than a drinking trough. The 
 highest form, perhaps, of intellectual feeling manifests 
 
28o THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 itself in the desire to produce something of real worth 
 in the line of the practical, the beautiful, the senti- 
 mental, or the instructive. This desire in its highest 
 form becomes a passion that overtops every considera- 
 tion in life. To it we are indebted for many of the finest 
 examples of painting, sculpture, architecture, and music. 
 The motive for such production is neither a desire for 
 fame nor for pecuniary gain, though both of these may 
 result incidentally; it lies rather in the laudable desire 
 to create something that shall be lasting and that shall 
 be held in esteem for its intrinsic worth. 
 
 Another fine example of what may grow out of in- 
 tellectual feeling is found in modern science. The de- 
 sire to discover truth and to add to the world's store 
 of knowledge grows into a powerful incentive to labor 
 as is evidenced by the fact that there are no more per- 
 sistent or determined toilers than the scientists. Like 
 the artists these men pay but little attention to finan- 
 cial profits. The discoverer of anaesthesia conferred a 
 priceless boon upon mankind, but was not concerned 
 when his discovery failed to bring wealth with it. Most 
 of the great discoveries in astronomy, chemistry, medi- 
 cine, and in fact all lines of science have been of this 
 unselfish kind, they have been sought and found to 
 satisfy the thirst for knowledge. 
 
 Associated Feelings 
 
 These are the feelings that have to do with our fellow 
 men and with the Deity, and are therefore of a personal 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 281 
 
 nature. They are what are popularly known as the 
 emotions. They differ from those that have just been 
 described as intellectual in that they are less due to 
 abstract thought and more to impulse and to social 
 environment. It requires patient investigation and 
 much time for calm and quiet thinking to make ad- 
 vancement along scientific lines, but these factors are 
 not so much required for the arousement or the exer- 
 cise of admiration, love, hate, or even revenge. These 
 and others of their kind are often engendered in a flash, 
 appearing suddenly in sufiicient power to take complete 
 possession of the person involved. If they are of a 
 harmful nature, tending to injustice or injury, calm 
 thinking and reasoning is their best antidote; if they 
 are right and beneficial, reflection may temper their 
 violence but will serve to establish their hold and in- 
 sure them an abiding place. 
 
 Personal feelings may be divided into three classes, 
 namely: social, moral, and religious. The line of de- 
 marcation is not always distinct but for the most part 
 the grouping is sufficiently clear to make it helpful 
 in our study. 
 
 Social Feelings. — Alan like many other animals is 
 gregarious by nature. Frequent contact with his fel- 
 lows is necessary both to his happiness and to the 
 development of his powers. Without it there could be 
 no emulation or friendly rivalry, the two leading in- 
 centives to achievement. Also, without it there would 
 be no env}% jealousy, hatred, murder. Society is re- 
 
282 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 sponsible for all the evils of humanity as well as for all 
 the good, and the higher the degree of civilization the 
 more complicated and entangled becomes the web of 
 social unity and consequently the sharper and fiercer 
 grows the battle between good and evil. 
 
 The leading emotions that are responsible for the 
 social fabric in all its extensions and ramifications are, 
 I. Family ties, the love of parents for their offspring, 
 the dependence of the offspring upon their parents 
 and later their sense of obligation to them, and the feel- 
 ing of kinship between blood relations. 2. The feelings 
 of pleasure and satisfaction derived from friendship 
 with those who are not immediate kinsfolk. This 
 group which is numerous finds its outlet in the various 
 functions of "society," receptions, banquets, enter- 
 tainments, fairs and what not. 3. The desire to trans- 
 act business with one's fellows, to trade, to barter, to 
 get gain, to extend one's operations in all directions 
 as far as possible. 4. The passion to bear rule, to have 
 a share in the making and executing of the laws, to 
 occupy the most prominent places, to enjoy the praise 
 and plaudits of those less exalted. 5. The feeling of 
 patriotism. This includes love of home, of community, 
 of state and nation, respect for those in authority, pride 
 in the achievements of one's fellow countrymen, and a 
 willingness to sacrifice one's personal interests for the 
 general good. As these are all of high importance to 
 the welfare of the body politic it becomes a ]:)art of the 
 teacher's business to have a clear understanding of 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS " 283 
 
 them both in thought and in practice. Hence it is well 
 to consider them more in detail. 
 
 The Family Life. — It is agreed by all who make a 
 study of economic conditions that a good, strong, 
 wholesome family life and government, believed in and 
 practiced generally throughout the country, is the foun- 
 dation of all government and is the chief bulwark of 
 society. WHiatever therefore affects the family hfe 
 of the nation for its weal or woe is of \'ital importance 
 to the nation itself. 
 
 The first essential towards good citizenship, then, 
 is to impress upon children the duties they owe to 
 parents: love, respect, and obedience to parental 
 authority. Filial piety is to a certain extent natural 
 and spontaneous, but none the less it needs the most 
 careful nurturing in both the home and the school. 
 There are many loose ideas concerning the amount and 
 kind of control parents should exercise over their 
 children, and these ideas are promulgated by persons 
 who have a ver\' poor conception of what training 
 really is. They mistake harshness for proper atten- 
 tion, and neglect for gentleness. 
 
 ]Many parents whose souls revolted at the harsh 
 punishments of a past generation would be surprised 
 and confounded if confronted with the truth that their 
 gross neglect to train their children to obedience and 
 to reverence authority is infinitely more cruel than the 
 harshness of their ancestors. It should be kept in mind 
 that the fact of training is more important than the 
 
284 ■ THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 method of training. If any parent or teacher finds him- 
 self so constituted that he must use either gentle means 
 or no means at all, and if he also discovers that the 
 gentle means are not sufficient to enforce his teachings, 
 he should give up the idea of parenthood or of teach- 
 ing, as the worst evils are likely to result both to the 
 children themselves and to society. 
 
 The sense of obligation to parents should be most care- 
 fully nurtured in children, and the teacher has the van- 
 tage point for this rather than the parents as his ad- 
 vocacy could not be attributed to personal motives 
 while that of the parents might. Any disrespectful 
 allusion to parents should not go unnoticed, but whether 
 any such are caught or not, the proper instruction should 
 not fail of being given. Both in history and literature 
 there are many fine examples of filial respect and de- 
 votion and these should be used from time to time 
 through all the grades. 
 
 llie feeling of brotherly kindness is likewise one to 
 be cherished. In certain rural communities this feeling 
 becomes too narrow, confining itself to the members 
 of one's own immediate family and looking upon all 
 others as outsiders toward whom there are no obliga- 
 tions of helpfulness. The obligations of kinship doubt- 
 less come first, but brotherly kindness should by no 
 means be so limited. Those persons are most Christ- 
 like whose ready sympathies extend to all men of what- 
 soever race or religion yet without losing any of the ten- 
 derness and helpfulness due to kinsfolk and neighbors. 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 285 
 
 Friendship Feelings. — Next to the ties of family and 
 of blood the holiest bond among mortals is that of 
 personal friendship. For one man to say of another 
 "he is my friend," is to speak the last word of intimacy 
 and helpfulness, and such a claim is recognized every- 
 where as sacred. To come to the highest fruition it 
 should be between persons of similar tastes and condi- 
 tions and it must have no commercial value, must not 
 be traded, bartered or presumed upon ; it must be wholly 
 unselfish. Moreover, outside of family ties, a close 
 personal friendship is permissible only between persons 
 of the same sex. 
 
 The finest example of personal friendship in history 
 or literature is that between David and Jonathan in 
 which the latter comes very near to exemplifying the 
 highest conceivable type of nobility of character. Per- 
 haps the next best known example is the friendship of 
 Damon and Pythias; but there are many other well 
 authenticated cases in history that are beautiful in 
 themselves and possess a high value as examples to be 
 used by the teacher. 
 
 In the encouragement of personal friendships the 
 same caution should be observed as in brotherly kind- 
 ness, namely, to guard against exclusiveness. If one 
 has a special friend for whom he would sacrifice every- 
 thing, even to life itself, that fact should not interfere 
 with his having a host of other friends for whom he 
 would sacrifice something and who would sacrifice 
 something for him. This means that one should not 
 
286 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 habitually withdraw himself from the society of the 
 many for the sake of enjoying the exclusive com- 
 panionship of one who is particularly dear. 
 
 Feelings that Lead to Business Relations. — The joy 
 of transacting business with one's fellows is very keen 
 in some individuals and is doubtless in greater or less 
 degree universal. In rather rare instances the desire 
 to trade for the sake of outwitting one's opponent and 
 of obtaining possession of articles that appeal to one's 
 cupidity becomes a consuming passion and leads to 
 much that is deplorable. This trait may appear very 
 early in life and if soon discovered should not be difficult 
 to cure. If a boy is devoting his energies to trading 
 with his fellows, those energies must be turned into 
 other channels and some wholesome instruction given 
 to offset any wrong impressions he may have ac- 
 quired. 
 
 The principles of fair dealing, of looking out for the 
 rights of the other fellow in the trade, of never deceiv- 
 ing a customer or palming off a bogus or an inferior 
 article, are more attractive and more certainly re- 
 munerative in the long run than any of the forms of 
 dishonesty. These principles should be taught in all 
 schools with a vigor and with a persistence that will 
 not only produce a lasting impression but will result 
 in character that will stand the stress and the strain 
 of actual practice in after years and through life. 
 
 The Passion for Ruling. — A limited number of people 
 seem to be natural-born leaders. In school life they are 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 287 
 
 the persons that propose the games to be played and 
 the rules that shall govern them. They appear to 
 see at a glance what should be done and take a keen 
 pleasure in doing it or telling others to do it and over- 
 seeing them. If an emergency arises they are quick to 
 see what should be done; if trouble occurs they know 
 how to avoid it or to remedy it. 
 
 The highest type of leadership is found in those who 
 have what is called "initiative," the power to start 
 things, to think of something new. There are many 
 who can carry out plans already made but who cannot 
 make them. Such make good assistants though they 
 may be helpless when it comes to originating plans or 
 movements. The great mass of human beings are 
 wanting in leadership either of the higher type where 
 initiative is in evidence, or of the inferior sort that can 
 carry out plans that others make for them. They are 
 willing to be led, and instinctively look to those who 
 have the power to think and to command. 
 
 Every one should have an opportunity to cultivate 
 whatever spirit of leadership there is in him and the 
 public school is an excellent place for this cultivation. 
 The playground is unsurpassed as a means for testing 
 the qualities of boys and girls. Here conventionality 
 is lacking and every one may put his powers to the test. 
 Play offers an outlet for budding genius of almost any 
 sort and there is no place where freedom of thought and 
 expression is more untrammeled. The boy or girl who 
 fails to get his or her share of bringing up on the play- 
 
288 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 ground misses one of the most valuable factors that 
 can be supplied in training for life. 
 
 But the school room should have its part also in this 
 important work. The principles of government should 
 be thoroughly taught and as many of them put into 
 practice as the routine of school will permit. When 
 our schools are based upon a broader plan than they 
 now are, when work in the shop and in the field shall 
 have the attention that their importance in child- 
 training justifies, then there will be a much better op- 
 portunity for boys and girls to exercise any talents they 
 may have for legislating and bearing rule. A case in 
 point is the George Junior Republic, an institution 
 where boys and girls between the ages of fourteen and 
 twenty-one both make and administer all rules for 
 conduct, electing officers from their own number by 
 ballot. In this admirable institution ever>^ one must 
 earn his own living and at the same time contribute to 
 the fund which procures him his schooling. 
 
 If young people everywhere could have a similar 
 opportunity to learn the practice as well as the theory 
 of government and early in life learn the value of 
 honesty and uprightness in public matters, we should 
 have less occasion for the muckraker in literature and 
 the grafter in politics. We are just finding out that in 
 a republic the art of government should be a part of 
 every one's education, that the time to acquire it is in 
 youth and the way by actual practice. 
 
 Patriotic Feelings. — Patriotism is always classed among 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 289 
 
 the highest and noblest virtues. It is considered to 
 be the bounden duty of every man to be loyal to his 
 country, to contribute of his substance to her needs, 
 to stand up for her laws and customs, to promote her 
 welfare by act and deed, and to defend her when called 
 upon even to the sacrifice of life itself. The extreme 
 opposite of patriotism is sho^vn when a person betrays 
 his country, turns against it, joins its enemies or gives 
 them aid or comfort. Such a one is "branded" as a 
 "traitor," is looked upon with the deepest execration, 
 and is visited with the severest punishment that the 
 laws provide. 
 
 Real patriotism means more than the common slack 
 practice of the virtue would lead one to suppose. A 
 considerable number of people regard themselves as 
 patriotic yet shirk their duties as citizens. A loyal 
 subject should serve his country in whatever capacity 
 he may be called upon, whether in contributing of his 
 means to its support or in rendering personal service 
 in some office of trust. Men are usually very ready to 
 render the latter service when it offers inducement in 
 the way of salary, position, and honor, but when it 
 comes to paying taxes or the duties imposed by the 
 ofhcer of customs they are not so willing. 
 
 If the patriotism of every citizen were measured by 
 his faithfulness in giving his rightful amount of property 
 for taxation and otherwise performing every pubhc 
 duty devolving upon him, very many would be found 
 wanting. Yet that it would be infinitely better for the 
 19 
 
290 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 whole country if every one would bear his rightful 
 share of her burdens no one can deny or doubt. The 
 country is always seeking to discover a way whereby 
 an equal distribution of taxes shall be assured, but up 
 to the present we are far from having reached that 
 desirable condition. 
 
 The teachers of the country have a great and enviable 
 duty to perform in giving such instruction as will lay 
 a broad and lasting foundation for a love of country 
 that will cheerfully render every service that can be 
 rightfully required. We need a patriotism that will 
 take delight in promoting the public welfare but at 
 the same time will brook not the least dishonesty in 
 the handling of public funds; that will be more zealous 
 for a high standard of purity in the transaction of the 
 public business than for party victory at the polls; 
 that in case of need will offer more, rather than strive 
 to give less, than the law demands of money or service ; 
 that will rejoice in every triumph of right over wrong 
 in public affairs whether at the moment it seems to be 
 in the interest of "good business" or otherwise; in 
 short, a patriotism that is unselfish and is active in all 
 movements that have for their object the greatest good 
 to the greatest number. 
 
 Patriotism is taught by song and story and by the 
 celebration of national holidays; by paying tribute to 
 the deeds of our heroes living and dead; by the exal- 
 tation of soldier, sailor or citizen who sacrifices himself 
 upon his country's altar. No child should be allowed 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 291 
 
 to pass through school without having studied civil 
 government and the history of his country, not so 
 much for their enlightenment as for their influence upon 
 character. And as previously suggested, actual practice 
 should go hand in hand with whatever knowledge is 
 instilled into the mind. 
 
 So many duties devolve upon the schools that some 
 of them are pretty sure to be either slighted or wholly 
 neglected, and from appearances patriotism does not 
 receive the attention that it should; besides, many boys 
 are not in school at the very time of life when such in- 
 struction would be most suitable. The need is so ap- 
 parent that certain organizations have been effected 
 outside of school life largely for the purpose of implant- 
 ing a broader and more practical patriotism in the 
 minds of boys. The Boy Scouts and the World Scouts 
 are examples of these. 
 
 Moral Feelings. — Those that obviously come under 
 this head are honesty, truthfulness, fairness, justice, 
 frankness, honor, purity of character, and their oppo- 
 sites, cheating, lying, deceiving, gambling, oppression, 
 and impurity of every kind and character. Generosity, 
 kindness, neighborly helpfulness and their opposites 
 have moral bearings but are perhaps more properly 
 understood as social feelings. If, however, the term 
 moral feelings embraces all that carry with them obliga- 
 tion to our fellow men these latter must be included. 
 
 The basis for instruction in this class of feelings lies 
 in the formation of right ideals of citizenship, of man- 
 
292 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 hood, and of womanhood. We must have high ideals, 
 else we shall have nothing worthy at which to aim, and 
 unless there is something definite for which to strive 
 we shall get nowhere. Every one must have this ideal 
 of what a statesman should be, a lawyer, a merchant, 
 a farmer, a plain citizen, and these ideals should be of 
 such a kind that everything they are and everything 
 they do may be justified by the strictest rules of char- 
 acter and conduct. 
 
 Every one forms his ideals according to the standards 
 that are set before him and according to the knowledge 
 and wisdom he possesses. Too frequently in the homes 
 the standards of honesty and truthfulness are not of a 
 high order, and as a consequence no right ideals can be 
 formed from them. In all such cases the schools must 
 act as a corrective, and in place of low standards and 
 wrong ideals set up those that are worthy. How can 
 this be done? 
 
 Pupils of the grammar grades should have frequent 
 opportunity for judging conduct and for expressing their 
 approval or disapproval; and this conduct should ema- 
 nate from those who are approximately their equals in 
 age and advancement. It will not be well for a time 
 at least for them to pass judgment upon the conduct of 
 those who are beyond them in age or station. Some 
 form of self government will afford the best opportunity 
 for this work. 
 
 Religious Feelings. — One of the peculiarities that 
 serve to distinguish man from the lower animals is his 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 293 
 
 tendency to religion. Man has been defined as a reli- 
 gious animal. The feehng that there is a Higher Power 
 to whom man is indebted for his existence and to whom 
 he is under obHgation for life here and hereafter appears 
 to be universal. Belief in the immortality of the soul is 
 also well nigh universal. Upon these feelings and be- 
 liefs are founded the various religions of the world. 
 
 Perhaps the most basal of all is the feeling of adora- 
 tion. Man instinctively desires to worship a Supreme 
 Being. He has a feeling of helplessness amidst a 
 world of mysteries and powers beyond his control, and 
 consequently he recognizes the need of an alliance with 
 the great Controller of all things, One who shall be 
 able to protect and preserve him both in this life and 
 in the life to come. 
 
 Man's idea of what God is and his relation to earthly 
 creatures varies greatly from the vaguest notions of 
 the savage to the most enlightened conceptions of the 
 philosopher and scholar; and his manner of worshiping 
 God and imploring his aid differ quite as decidedly as 
 his conceptions of what God is. Out of these varying 
 conceptions have grown the many forms of religion 
 that are now known and practiced by the human race. 
 
 Since the feelings of awe, reverence, and wholesome 
 fear are common to all races and religions, they may be 
 and should be taught or encouraged in all schools. We 
 stand in awe of the mystery of life, of death, of what 
 becomes of the spirit of man, of the forces of nature, 
 of the mighty power that moves the stars and guides 
 
294 THE. TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the planets in their course. Reverence for "the Hand 
 that made us" is becoming in both old and young, and 
 should be cultivated, while irreverence and scoffing 
 at that which is Divine is rightly held in abhorrence by 
 all sane minded people. 
 
 Beyond these primal virtues it may not be wise for 
 the public schools to go. In our country every one is 
 permitted to practice whatever form of religion he 
 may choose (providing no cruel rites or indecent prac- 
 tices are introduced under the guise of religion), and 
 may worship God in whatever way his conscience re- 
 quires. As there are many different organizations 
 representing the Christian religion, each one having its 
 own cherished doctrines, the sacredness of which must 
 be respected, and as all other religions are entitled to 
 equal rights and privileges with the Christian religion, 
 it therefore becofhes necessary in the public schools 
 to avoid all instruction that would be either for or 
 against any particular form or system of religion. 
 
 While this is clearly obvious there could scarcely be 
 any valid objections raised to the teaching of any par- 
 ticular faith where all the patrons of the school were 
 agreed upon it and desired it, and in fact in many pub- 
 lic schools some simple forms of the Christian religion 
 are observed where a large majority are either actually 
 or nominally of that faith. On the same terms the use 
 of the Bible as a means of worship or of teaching re- 
 ligion is prohibited or permitted. Considered purely 
 as literature it might be offered as an elective study 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 295 
 
 in the higher grades of the pubhc schools, but could 
 scarcely be required even then on account of the preju- 
 dice that would be likely to exist. 
 
 It is needless to say that all sects, systems and faiths 
 may have their own schools and teach their doctrines 
 to their heart's content so long as they do not interfere 
 with or encroach upon the rights and duties of others. 
 It is the policy of the country that all such schools shall 
 be considered "private" and shall have no money for 
 their support appropriated from public funds neither 
 shall their owners and patrons be exempt from taxation 
 for the support of the public schools. 
 
 All this is pertinent to the subject when we consider 
 how great a part religious sentiment plays in the social 
 and political as well as in the religious life of our country. 
 It is necessary for the teacher to know the bounds 
 and limitations of instruction so that he may not trans- 
 gress them. That they are being constantly trespassed 
 upon no one can deny; that they need to be guarded 
 with the utmost diligence is equally beyond question. 
 
 Aside from the forms and ceremonies of religion 
 there are certain practical teachings found in the Bible 
 that no one can object to whatever his faith and that 
 should be universally taught since by them some of 
 the best emotions that flesh is heir to can be cultivated. 
 How can brotherly kindness be better expressed than 
 in that unequivocal commandment "Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbor as thyself?" The dignity and grandeur 
 of this simple statement make a deep impression upon 
 
296 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the mind while the value of the underlying principle 
 to the human race is beyond cavil. Similar!}- great 
 both in meaning and expression is that other law of 
 kindness, known as the "Golden Rule": "WTiatsoever 
 ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so 
 unto them." Any religion that repudiates such teach- 
 ings as these would not be worthy of respect in this 
 enlightened age. 
 
 A Further Word About Feelings in General. — The tre- 
 mendous influence of feeling upon human action is not 
 suihciently understood. Men think their actions are 
 governed by reason when they are really impelled by 
 feeling. We know how difhcult it is to persuade a 
 person to act according to reason when his feelings urge 
 him to an opposite course; and we know equally well 
 how necessary it is to arouse certain feelings in the minds 
 of those whom we wish to influence. Again, we observe 
 how smoothly things go and what rapid progress is 
 made when desire and reason are in accord; but how 
 different the case when they point in opposite directions. 
 
 Feelings as Incentives to Action. — Most of the work 
 of the world that is known as "common labor" and is 
 paid for by the day or by the week or by the piece is 
 done from a feeling of necessity. The dread of hunger 
 or cold or nakedness drives men to work. The fear of 
 arrest and imprisonment deters the evilly inclined 
 from violence and crime. Go a step higher up in the 
 social scale and we see men driven to work, some by the 
 desire for riches, others for influence, power, position. 
 
ASSOCIATED FEELINGS 297 
 
 The very highest deeds of daring or of sacrifice have their 
 roots in feeling. Men will risk their lives in mortal 
 combat to avoid the mere implication of suspicion upon 
 their honor; they will face death upon the battlefield 
 for the love of country; they will leave friends and 
 home and native land and endure hardships unspeak- 
 able for "sweet rehgion's sake." 
 
 In spite of laws, of courts, of jails, of penitentiaries, 
 of gallows or electric chairs, in spite of the disgrace 
 that accompanies detection and the infamy of being 
 branded criminals, men, for the sake of revenge, for 
 paltry riches or for fleshly lust, will commit the most 
 dastardly crimes against the property, the virtue, the 
 lives of their fellow beings. In short as the Good are 
 impelled to the noblest deeds of heroism by "right" 
 feelings, so the Bad are led on into the worst acts of 
 infamy by "wrong" feelings. 
 
 Seeing that these things are indisputably true, how 
 important it is that feelings should have a place in the 
 curriculum of instruction in all schools. All virtues, 
 such as love, honor, chastity, are as their names im- 
 ply, but right feelings, which expressed in action pro- 
 mote peace, good-will, and righteousness upon the 
 earth; while vice consists in feelings gone astray, which, 
 likewise expressing themselves in action bring about 
 the disorder of society. Furthermore faith, courage, 
 hope, and all the emotions that are holy tend to the 
 promotion of health and happiness; while envy, fear, 
 hate, despondency, and all the unholy passions inju- 
 
298 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 riously affect the circulation of the blood, interfere with 
 the secretion of the glands, and engender poisons in the 
 system. 
 
 Right feelings are easily induced in the young, and 
 these feelings should be given an opportunity to express 
 themselves in action as often as possible so that they 
 may early resolve themselves into habits of life; they 
 should be encouraged by every form of precept and ex- 
 ample that is known to, or can be contrived by, teachers 
 and parents. Children should be fully instructed as 
 to the evil effects that are certain to follow the in- 
 dulgence of anger, hatred, revenge, and all evil passions. 
 Not until all has been said that ought to be said against 
 wrong and in favor of right, and all done that can be 
 done to overcome evil with good, may the teacher be 
 acquitted of responsibility in the conduct of his pupils 
 not only while they are under his care but as long as 
 they shall live. The penitentiaries would be less crowded 
 and the sorrow of the world would be less extensive 
 if all teachers were faithful to warn their pupils against 
 vice and give them instruction and practice in virtue. 
 The evil doings of the wicked are properly laid at the 
 doors of parents and teachers while the good deeds of 
 those who were trained into righteousness are placed 
 to their lasting credit. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE WILL 
 
 MINOR ACTIVITIES 
 
 It has long been customary to study the mind un- 
 der three more or less distinctive phases of its func- 
 tions, namely, Thought, Feeling and Will. The term 
 "Thought" as thus presented includes all the so-called 
 "faculties" of the mind, sensation, perception, mem- 
 ory, imagination, and thinking in its more technical 
 sense; the meaning of the word "Feeling" has been de- 
 fined in the preceding chapter and is understood here 
 in its broadest sense; it remains to explain what is 
 meant by "Will." Evidently, since the whole mind 
 of man is included in these three terms, all mental or 
 physical, or physico-mental activities that do not come 
 under the first two must belong to the third. 
 
 Stated in this broad fashion, every act that requires 
 mental or physical energ}^ whether that energy is con- 
 sciously exerted or not, comes under the head of will. 
 According to the common understanding of its mean- 
 ing the term \\dll is applied to those actions and inactions 
 that are decided upon or chosen to be performed or not 
 performed. For example, a person may decide to rise 
 at a certain hour in the morning and the act follows 
 
 299 
 
300 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the decision; or he ma}' decide that he \vi\\ not rise at 
 that hour and inaction results; the one is as much a 
 case of "wilhng" as the other, also the latter is an 
 "act" as well as the former. Such acts are called 
 voluntary because having once been taken into con- 
 sideration they can neither be performed nor inhibited 
 without the consent and determination of the mind. 
 
 Now there are many activities of the body that are 
 not of this t}^e. Breathing is an example. Here is a 
 physical activity that is carried on coordinately with 
 life, and one that requires considerable energy, yet is 
 not the result of deliberation or determination. It 
 began and was well established long before conscious- 
 ness appeared and therefore before choice could have 
 anything to do with it. The pulsation of the heart, 
 the circulation of the blood, the partaking of food, lis 
 digestion and assimilation, and many other operations 
 of the body are involuntary, yet they are closely re- 
 lated and in many respects similar to voluntary acts; 
 consequently they come under the head of Will. 
 
 The Divisions of the Minor Activities. — All acts that 
 are of a physical rather than an intellectual nature are 
 here classed as Minor Activities. These are subdivided 
 into Reflex, Instinctive and Impulsive. All these are 
 similar to each other and the lines between them can- 
 not be sharply dra\\Ti, yet there are enough of each class 
 that are quite distinct from the others to make their 
 separate study profitable. 
 
 Reflex Actions. — When the end of a sensory nerve 
 
THE WILL 301 
 
 has come in contact with a stimulus a report of the con- 
 tact is flashed along the nerve to the nearest reflex 
 center and is immediately flashed back along a motor 
 nerve to the muscles that protect, control, or regulate 
 the part affected by the stimulus, or if not to the part 
 affected to some other part that coordinates with it. 
 Thus, when we are walking in the dark and stub the 
 right foot a message corresponding in vigor to the force 
 of the blow is sent to the spinal cord and is reflected 
 without loss along a motor nerve to the muscles of the 
 left leg, causing that member to go into violent action 
 resulting in a leap that saves the body from falling. In 
 such a case the mind is conscious of the whole per- 
 formance but only from the standpoint of a spectator; 
 it had no part in the happenings. The whole thing 
 was over before the mind had time to act. 
 
 All the organic functionings of the body are of the 
 reflex type of actions. When the stomach is empty 
 its muscles and glands are at rest, but when food en- 
 ters they spring into activity and the operation of 
 digestion is begun and carried on. Similarly the heart 
 acts from the stimulus of blood, the lungs from air, and 
 so in all the internal processes of the body there is an 
 exciting cause and a corresponding reaction. 
 
 Reflex actions are of two kinds, organic and ac- 
 quired. All the internal processes of the body from the 
 beginning of growth to the period of decay belong to 
 the former. These processes are multitudinous in 
 number and have a tendency to act involuntarily 
 
302 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 though some of them may be partially controlled or 
 regulated by the will. Thus, we can temporarily regulate 
 or modify the breathing, to a certain extent also the 
 hours of sleeping and waking, the times for eating and 
 drinking, etc. 
 
 It is well known to science, and the knowledge should 
 be made universal, that the condition of the mind has 
 much to do with the organic processes of the body. 
 Grief, anger, bitterness of mind, disappointment, malice, 
 despair, all emotions that are mentally unwholesome, 
 are likewise physically unwholesome, and interfere with 
 and derange the functions of the bodily organs; thus 
 fear will make the mouth dry, cause the flesh to creep 
 and the hair to "stand on end." 
 
 Acquired reflex actions are those that are learned, 
 perhaps with the utmost care and attention and with 
 long practice, as walking, running, leaping, the move- 
 ments of the fingers in piano playing, and many others. 
 The power man has of turning a great number of rou- 
 tine and necessary operations over to sub-conscious 
 processes is an exceedingly valuable one. Were it not 
 for this we should be constantly having to give our 
 attention to mechanical operations of the body and 
 thus have our minds diverted from important matters 
 that really require attention and thought. 
 
 Instinctive Actions are those that are prompted from 
 purely physiological conditions yet are gone about and 
 carried on with as much care, attention, and skill as 
 though they were wholly voluntary. Often they are 
 
THE WILL 303 
 
 preceded by a mental state that anticipates the action 
 for a considerable time. Instinct may be defined as a 
 tendency to action implanted either by Nature from 
 the beginning or b}^ the custom of many preceding 
 generations of ancestors. It is readily observable in 
 plants. Who has not noticed that trees will grow much 
 taller in a cove than will the same species on the up- 
 land? It is their instinct to seek the light that makes 
 them stretch their tops so high. Every one who has 
 had the care of flowers has remarked their tendency to 
 turn toward the sun and follow it in its course. 
 
 Instinctive actions are most in evidence in the lower 
 animals as they seem to be guided almost wholly by 
 them. The tendency of young animals to seek their 
 food, to recognize the calls of their kind, to hide or flee 
 in time of danger are too well known to need more than 
 passing mention. Each kind of bird or beast has its 
 own peculiar set of instincts according to its manner of 
 life. Most forms of life, either plant or animal, have 
 three great objects for which to strive with a suitable 
 set of instincts for each. These three objects are first, 
 to secure a living, second to avoid danger and third, 
 to reproduce their kind. The variety of instincts that 
 cluster about these three objects furnish a vast number 
 of highly interesting phenomena to the thoughtful 
 observer. 
 
 Instinct is doubtless most nearly perfect in low orders 
 of life. The worm lives its narrow prescribed life with- 
 out gaining anything from experience or training. Com- 
 
304 THE TKAININC; OF CHILDREN 
 
 ing higher up, whether practice makes the bee any more 
 expert in gathering honey is doubtful. Its services are 
 probably as valuable the first w^eek as the second or tenth. 
 The cat is supposed to teach her kittens the art of mous- 
 ing, and the play of puppies and young foxes appears 
 to be a training for their adult life; but this training 
 is merely supplemental to the instinct already existent. 
 As for the instinct for avoiding danger, for self pro- 
 tection and defense, the ways and means provided by Na- 
 ture are so many and so varied that they may scarcely 
 be touched upon here. These contrivances and appli- 
 ances, from the ink bag of the squid to the branch- 
 ing antlers of the noble stag, are among the wonders of 
 creation. 
 
 The instinct for reproduction is the one that is com- 
 mon to all forms of life whether plant or animal and 
 is the one great duty that every created thing owes to 
 the world. Not ever}^ individual of every species of life 
 is endowed with the means of taking a prominent part 
 in the reproduction of its kind, nevertheless the means 
 are usually abundant. Occasionally there are individual 
 plants that are incapable of producing either pollen 
 or seed but the exception is too infrequent to endanger 
 the perpetuation of the race. Among bees and ants 
 perpetuation is left to a very few males and females, 
 the great body of the tribe being neuters. These do 
 their part by supporting the kings and queens and in 
 providing food and shelter for the young. 
 
 Human instincts while numerous are not so much 
 
THE WILL 305 
 
 in evidence nor so easily traced as in the lower orders 
 of life. The conventionalities of society and the higher 
 reign of reason have put even the strongest instincts 
 more or less in the background. For example the in- 
 stinct to secure a living is so far beneath the crust of 
 stern necessity on the one hand or of a never sleeping 
 passion to acquire wealth on the other that we can 
 scarcely be sure that it plays any part in man's com- 
 mercial activities. 
 
 Mother love in many of the lower animals is very 
 strong so long as the progeny requires the mother's 
 care but appears practically to cease at the end of 
 that period. It is doubtful if the mother brute even 
 recognizes her child as hers for more than a few days 
 or weeks after the end of the care-taking period. The 
 human mother love lasts with little diminution through 
 life and, while there may be just as much instinct in it 
 in the beginning, there is so much to fear, to hope for, 
 and to rely upon that her affection even at the start 
 far outruns the bounds of instinct. 
 
 Similar to the above is the human instinct of self- 
 preservation. There is no doubt but that the instinct 
 is there and holds sway up to a certain point but just 
 where it begins to be lost in the onrush of other m^otives 
 it is difficult to tell. Man's actions are governed, even 
 where life is concerned by love, hate, pride, revenge, fear 
 and other emotions. It is quite likely that human in- 
 stincts would quickly return to their original power if the 
 higher motives of reason and society were taken away. 
 20 
 
3o6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 Instinctive actions are much more noticeable in 
 children than in adults for the reason that they have 
 not yet learned to reason, are not hampered by the 
 conventionalities of society, and have not yet acquired 
 habits that would seriously obstruct hereditary traits. 
 Those most in evidence are anger, fear, affection, jeal- 
 ousy, imitation, and acquisitiveness. Laughter is 
 partly reflex but is also instinctive. Play at the begin- 
 ning and for several years thereafter is wholly instinc- 
 tive. These are seen in varying degrees of prominence 
 in different individuals but in normal children are 
 certain to be present in some degree. 
 
 Impulsive Actions. — According to common usage the 
 word Impulse means some vague or sudden feeling 
 within that prompts to immediate outward action. 
 An impulsive person is one who is prone to act -without 
 reflection or premeditation. To act upon impulse is 
 the opposite of acting from deliberation. There are 
 other and more intricate meanings used by many writ- 
 ers on psychology but the ordinary meaning will be 
 the most profitable to consider here. 
 
 Taken in its common usage the idea is still very closely 
 connected with instinctive action as the latter is urged 
 on by some impelling force that is not the result of 
 choice or deliberation. A bird in building its first nest 
 probably has no definite idea of the end, yet it works 
 with as much skill as though it had had previous train- 
 ing and experience and with as much precision as though 
 it had definite knowledge of the ultimate purpose. 
 
THE WILL 307 
 
 Moreover each individual is affected in the same way 
 as every other individual of its class and race. This is 
 instinct. Impulse properly so called is not so. There 
 is not so much certainty in the stimulus and a much 
 greater variety among individuals in the resulting ac- 
 tion. 
 
 Types of Impulse. — When one unexpectedly hears a 
 clap of thunder and glances about to ascertain the 
 point, direction, and probable violence of any storm 
 that thus threatens; when one hears a scream of pain 
 or fright and dashes in its direction to render aid; when a 
 person is overwrought and feels strongly like sinking 
 down or screaming or flying from all responsibility, 
 these are impulses. We may now examine each in- 
 stance separately determining if we can its origin and 
 manner of working. 
 
 In the case of the clap of thunder there is no previous 
 preparation either physiological or mental. The body 
 is in its usual state of health and vigor, the mind is en- 
 gaged in attending to its ordinary duties when it is 
 startled by the sudden roar which it instantly recog- 
 nizes. The glancing for direction and other details 
 is involuntary, there is no waiting to deliberate whether 
 it were better to look first and make preparations after- 
 wards or to make certain preparations first and look 
 afterwards. Immediately following the glance the 
 mind takes in the situation and assumes control and any 
 succeeding actions are the result of more or less de- 
 liberation. 
 
3o8 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 The second instance is similar to the first except that 
 it contains a personal element, and the circumstances 
 and conditions of this phase of the cr\' will greatly 
 modify the effect upon the hearer. Thus if one were in a 
 strange countr>^ where he knew no one and was without 
 resources he w^ould be affected and startled, but would 
 probably do nothing; if he were in a crowd of his own 
 countrymen and heard the cry and did not recognize 
 the voice he would be aroused and would hasten to 
 discover the cause and render assistance if needed; if 
 he were in his own house and recognized the voice as 
 that of his own child he would be struck as by a blow, 
 his heart would almost stop beating, he would rush at 
 once to the rescue. In each case after the first im- 
 mediate impulse, whether acted upon or resisted, de- 
 liberative thought comes to take the place of impulse. 
 
 The third case differs from the other two in that the 
 stimulus is from within rather than from without and a 
 physiological condition is involved. The person con- 
 cerned has become over-wearied or his nerves over- 
 wTought and his attention is brought to bear upon him- 
 self, and his suffering discovered to be so acute, he wants 
 either to succumb or to run away from it. His natural 
 instinct is for immediate relief. 
 
 These cases differ alike from instinct in that their 
 causes lie in accidents and not in prearranged physio- 
 logical or environmental conditions. The situations 
 that brought on the tendency to act impulsively came 
 on suddenly and were wholly unexpected, as even 
 
THE WILL 309 
 
 in the third case where the stimulus was within; al- 
 though the tenseness that brings the final crash is 
 some time in gathering, its work of preparation is below 
 the surface of consciousness, and its dawning upon 
 consciousness comes almost with the same shock as 
 in the other cases. For these reasons they cannot be 
 classed as instincts. 
 
 They are not reflex since they are neither intra- 
 organic nor the result of habit ; and finally they are not 
 deliberative since but one course of action was open 
 in the way of responding to the stimulus. They are 
 simply the result of an impelling force that, while great 
 enough, offered but one outlet, hence the term "im- 
 pulsive action." 
 
 Some psychologists classify the various actions that 
 come under this h'ead according to the mental power 
 which is mainly involved. Thus some are due to sen- 
 sation and are classed sensational, and similarly some 
 are perceptional and some imaginative. To follow each 
 of these up with illustrations and explanations would 
 lead deeper into psychologic analysis than is designed 
 in this work. They are merely mentioned here so that 
 the learner may expect them in his further researches. 
 
 The Significance of the Minor Activities to the Teacher. — 
 It is necessary for the teacher to study all actions that 
 have any bearing upon mental or moral life; and these 
 include all except those that are purely physiological 
 and pertain solely to the mechanism of the body. All 
 reflex actions that are acquired become reflex only 
 
3IO THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 as they grow into habits, and habit forming is an ex- 
 ceedingly important part of one's education. We may 
 now consider briefly the habit forming proclivities 
 of each of these minor activities. 
 
 Some habits are short-lived because they have their 
 origin in sources that are themselves temporary. Many 
 that belong to infancy and childhood are of this nature 
 and for this reason even though they may be undesir- 
 able give little anxiety to parent or nurse. The habit 
 of putting everything in the mouth is useless and carries 
 with it a considerable element of danger from dirt and 
 germs and sharp instruments. It gradually passes 
 away as the child learns what articles are food and what 
 are not without the test of the mouth. Sucking the 
 thumb becomes inveterate in some babies, but is aban- 
 doned in due time as the use of the hand is required 
 in other things that are more essential. Habits like 
 those of crying when hurt, of eating and sleeping at 
 short intervals are outgro^\^l as the need for them passes 
 away; or if they show signs of lingering, a little attention 
 on the part of the attendant will hasten their departure. 
 
 There are certain tendencies that should be averted 
 as soon as they appear by having the cause removed 
 and by giving positive instructions to the child to use 
 his will power. Breathing through the mouth either 
 when awake or asleep is one; giving way to anger, 
 throwing himself down upon the floor and kicking and 
 screaming is another. The last mentioned is the most 
 serious because it might grow into a strong defect of 
 
THE WILL 311 
 
 character. It may best be remedied by avoiding as 
 much as possible the exciting cause and by never per- 
 mitting the kicking and screaming to bring any aid or 
 comfort. How to proceed in cases of mouth breathing 
 has been treated in a previous chapter. 
 
 So far we have spoken only of habits that are tem- 
 porary or that need to be suppressed. There are many 
 more that should be encouraged. For example all acts 
 of personal care, of cleanliness, neatness and regular- 
 ity of life should be cultivated and attendance to them 
 insisted upon until their performance becomes a fixed 
 habit requiring only reflex conditions for their consum- 
 mation. Many of the niceties of life that make for hap- 
 piness and that go far toward putting the possessor into 
 a desirable class of society may be easily acquired by 
 young children if those who have them in charge will 
 but take pains to give suitable instruction. Polite 
 manners, forms of etiquette, cheerfulness of disposition 
 are of this order. 
 
 Habits More Strictly Due to Instinct. — Instinct is some- 
 times called inherited memory and again it is termed 
 hereditary habit. Whichever way it is regarded it 
 forms in very many instances an excellent basis for 
 building an exemplary character. The instinct for 
 mating and love for off-spring lays the foundation for 
 family life ; likewise the instinct for fair play is account- 
 able for much of our regard for justice. The well 
 ordered life of a colony of ants, their divisions of labor, 
 their provisions for ' cleanliness, for defense against 
 
3 1 2 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 the inclemency of weather, their laying up of stores 
 in time of plenty against a time of need, all these and 
 many other marks of high intelligence Nature has be- 
 stowed upon these tiny creatures. If Nature has done 
 so much for the ant may it not be so that much of 
 man's boasted achievement is but a super-structure 
 built upon a knowledge that was either bestowed or 
 acquired ages ago and is what we know as instinct? 
 
 It is the duty of teachers to be on the lookout for 
 good instincts and impulses and to build upon them. 
 A character so formed will be enduring. We must find 
 out how Nature does things and imitate her. All the 
 great teachers of the world have recognized this and have 
 acted upon it. In our super-structure we may go far 
 from where we started, but we must start right. In- 
 stinct taught man to grind his food with his teeth. 
 The greatest mills in the world that turn out thousands 
 of barrels of flour and meal per day are but an extension 
 of this principle. Instinct taught man to pull up grain, 
 to rub the kernels out in his hands and blow the chaff 
 away with his breath. From this idea has come the 
 splendid reaper that cuts, threshes and winnows 
 hundreds of bushels of golden grain in a day. 
 
 So education should keep stride with the commercial 
 industries. Having gotten our start from nature we 
 should not be content to follow the methods of our an- 
 cestors. They made progress and we should make 
 greater. The methods of yesterday should but furnish 
 inspiration for improved models for to-day. This is 
 
THE WILL 313 
 
 true in the commercial world where success, distinction, 
 and wealth await the man who can produce a better 
 quality of goods with the same or less effort, or who can 
 double the output without doubling the cost. Should 
 it not be true where the product of his thought results 
 in character and efficiency, in increased happiness and 
 usefulness? 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE WILL 
 
 MAJOR ACTIVITIES 
 
 The main word of distinction between these and the 
 preceding activities is Dehberation. As to the classifi- 
 cation of minor and major activities the former is more 
 essential to physical life than the latter and is shared 
 equally or to a greater extent by the lower animals. 
 To the latter, to deliberative thought and voluntary 
 action, is indebted all the progress of the world, its 
 wonderful achievements in the arts and sciences, and 
 still more its rich experiences in the realm of the mental 
 and the spiritual. 
 
 The basis of voluntary action is Desire. We do things 
 because we desire to do them, or we refrain from doing 
 them because of an opposing desire. This is not true in 
 a narrow sense. We voluntarily perform many acts 
 that we would prefer to omit but they are acts that 
 either contribute to some desired end or are necessary 
 to the avoidance of something still more disagreeable. 
 Thus a lad may walk several miles in a broiling sun, a 
 thing he dislikes, for the pleasure of a half hour's swim in 
 a cool pond. He may later invent any number of ex- 
 cuses, also disliked, for the sake of avoiding punishment. 
 
 The Nature of Desire. — We may define desire as a 
 
 314 
 
THE WILL 315 
 
 longing for something that we know or imagine will 
 contribute to our welfare, comfort, pleasure, or happi- 
 ness. Desire goes out toward some object in the achieve- 
 ment of which it culminates. It is as varied and far 
 reaching as the mind's capacity will permit. The ob- 
 jects of our desires may be near at hand, easily attained, 
 quickly utilized and forgotten, or they may be years 
 ahead, far away in place and doubtful of attainment. 
 They may be worthy of our highest ambitions and 
 efforts or they may be so unworthy as to degrade us in 
 the estimation of all right minded people. 
 
 How Desires are Acquired and What Becomes of Them. 
 — Before an object can arouse desire it must present 
 one or more attractions and these may come through any 
 or all of the senses. We may see a beautiful flower and 
 go to considerable pains to secure it for the mere pleasure 
 of possessing it and feasting our eyes upon it, or its 
 perfume may attract us and we strive to secure it that 
 we may enjoy its fragrance. Desire is bounded in 
 large measure by the range of the senses. The mind 
 cannot definitely crave anything that it knows nothing 
 about. If we see Httle, hear Httle, taste Httle, we shall 
 want little. As our horizon is enlarged so are our de-, 
 sires increased. On the other hand attractions once 
 seen or heard may be kept alive for years by memory 
 while imagination may carry us far beyond the bounds 
 of sense and set the mind aflame with desire that can 
 scarcely be controlled. 
 
 Desires gain in strength and influence by the amount 
 
3l6 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 of attention bestowed upon them, that is by being dwelt 
 upon. This gives us the key to their control. We can 
 greatly increase almost any desire by constantly pic- 
 turing the delight in its gratification, while contrari- 
 wise we can cause it to diminish by driving it out of our 
 minds and givijig attention to other things. Like most 
 other rules there are exceptions to this. Many youth- 
 ful desires are outgrown and there comes a time in old 
 age when "desire shall fail." Also in many cases the 
 gratification is disappointing causing the desire to 
 diminish and fall away. However the safe course to 
 follow in all wrongful desires is to withdraw the at- 
 tention and fix the mind upon other things. 
 
 Conflicting Desires and Choice. — Our desires are so 
 exceedingly numerous that a very large number of 
 them cannot be gratified. Some eliminate themselves 
 by being too remote in time or place or by being too 
 difficult of attainment. Of those that remain we must 
 make choice and here comes in the great factor in 
 voluntary action, namely, Deliberation. This means 
 that the mind sets itself to the task of investigating 
 its desires, sorting them out, comparing them one with 
 another, and finally selecting those that shall be in- 
 dulged in or striven for. A person may have a number 
 of desires at the same time but cannot possibly attend 
 to all of them. He may desire to perform certain tasks 
 that when performed will bring satisfaction or reward; 
 or he may wish to write letters to his friends, or to go 
 hunting or boating or fishing or visiting. He must 
 
THE WILL 317 
 
 take these up one at a time and weigh the arguments 
 for and against each one. Finally he comes to the con- 
 clusion that some certain one will give more pleasure 
 or satisfaction than any of the others and accordingly 
 choice is made of that one. 
 
 Two Alternatives in Choice. — It should be observed 
 that there are always two ideas and only two in actual 
 choosing: choice actually consists in deciding for or 
 against a certain course of action. In the examples 
 given above, the person concerned must decide to write 
 to his friends or not to do so, to go hunting or not to go 
 hunting, etc. Wherever there are conflicting desires 
 no rational minded person can avoid making choice. 
 When a number of objects like those suggested above 
 present themselves he may decide not to perform any 
 of them but in so doing he is choosing quite as definitely 
 as though he had decided upon a certain one to the ex- 
 clusion of all the others. 
 
 The Elements that Enter into Choice. — These are as 
 various as the feelings themselves, in fact all desires 
 are prompted by feelings, while all feelings when 
 brought to fulfillment result in desire or in aversion 
 which is the negative of desire. Since, as one author 
 puts it, desire stands at the threshold of every voluntary 
 action it will be well for us to consider which desires 
 are worthy and which unworthy, how to cultivate the 
 one kind and how to repress the other, in short how to 
 arm ourselves with knowledge on the one hand and 
 with the power of control on the other. 
 
3l8 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 The Question of Self Control. — Every normal minded 
 person who comes to the age of accountability is con- 
 fronted with the great question of self management. 
 How shall my life be regulated? Shall it be governed 
 by the laws of reason, righteousness and religion, or 
 shall there be no plan of regularity or system about it? 
 Before taking any important step shall it be carefully 
 deliberated upon and the end as clearly foreseen as it 
 may be, or shall I be guided by impulse, pay heed to the 
 pleasure of the moment only and let the future take care 
 of itself? Shall I control circumstances and shape my 
 destiny according to the best possibilities within me, 
 or shall I be controlled by my environment, drift with 
 the general current and take chances on the outcome? 
 
 Strange as it may seem the vast majority of people 
 appear to have adopted the latter of each of these al- 
 ternatives. They are not guiding their lives carefully 
 and thoughtfully as a pilot would guide a ship through 
 dangerous waters, but are simply letting their daily 
 circumstances control or determine their daily actions. 
 In fact it is not very strange that it should be so. Cir- 
 cumstances are very powerful agents, especially when 
 they take the form, as they frequently do, of stern 
 necessity. The call for food and clothing and shelter 
 is an urgent call, and even though a man may have lofty 
 inclinations and ambitions, if he is compelled for a con- 
 siderable time to sacrifice them in order to obtain the 
 necessities of life, they are pretty sure to grow weaker 
 and weaker until the mind has become sodden and the 
 
THE WILL • 319 
 
 weary grind of life has robbed the soul of its aspira- 
 tions. 
 
 What is the Remedy? — The first and best remedy is to 
 avoid the situation just described, to escape the clutch 
 of the bread and butter problem until one has gotten 
 such a grasp upon himself that he shall be able to solve 
 that problem and still have time and strength left for 
 other matters. In fact this is largely what the schools 
 are for, to give every child an opportunity to discover 
 himself, to learn what his powers of mind and body are, 
 to be given an insight into the great fields of usefulness 
 wherein lie wealth of knowledge, extensive and help- 
 ful friendships, and ideas for reflection of which that 
 other life ground down by poverty and hardship never 
 even dreams. The State realizes that the schools must 
 provide this revelation of self and this insight into the 
 possibilities of life, hence our free schools and compul- 
 sory attendance laws. But the teachers must realize 
 their responsibility in furnishing the right kind of 
 instruction and inspiration else the provisions of the 
 State shall be of no avail. 
 
 Agencies Outside of the Schools. — When a man has 
 had aspirations to be more than a mere wage earner, a 
 machine to grind out a meager living, has once settled 
 down into that dull routine is there any chance of his 
 extricating himself or being extricated by some friendly 
 hand? If he has formed the habit of thinking, of com- 
 paring, contrasting, testing, weighing, his very con- 
 dition may dawn upon him and awaken him to sufficient 
 
320 • THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 efforts and sacrifices to enable him to rise to higher 
 planes whereon he may get control of circumstances 
 and follow plans of his own. If he has not acquired 
 the thinking habit but is still capable of learning he may 
 be rescued by some friend, relative, pastor or philan- 
 thropic worker. Even in such instances much depends 
 upon the home conditions, the encouragement or lack 
 of it that is to be found there. Aside from such hopeful 
 cases as the above, which it is to be feared are not over 
 abundant, there is not much chance of rescue for those 
 who have been caught in this kind of semi-hopeless toil. 
 
 The Study Between Good and Evil. — This great prob- 
 lem comes for solution to all mankind regardless 
 of wealth or position or any other consideration. It 
 is possible that the human mind might have been so 
 constructed that each individual would fit into the 
 body politic wherever he happened to strike and in- 
 variably choose to act the part that would be best 
 for himself and for the social fabric as a whole, but it 
 is certain that it was not constructed upon that basis. 
 Man desires to do many things that are neither for his 
 own good nor for the good of society in general ; and the 
 entire moral code of the world, so far as it has been 
 evolved, whether expressed in law or in the teachings 
 of religion, is for the purpose of eliminating, checking, 
 controlling, punishing or reforming evil. We may now 
 notice some of the phases of this great problem. 
 
 The Nature of Evil. — In a broad sense anything 
 that disturbs the adjustment of man with his environ- 
 
THE WILL 321 
 
 ment is evil. Taken in this sense cold and heat, flood, 
 famine, storm, and all destructive phenomena are evils. 
 Moral teaching cannot include those evils for which 
 Nature alone is responsible, but concerns itself only 
 with those for which man is accountable. From an- 
 other point of view, evil is good perverted. Appetite 
 for food is a good thing, without it the race would fail 
 to keep itself alive. But appetite used for the sake of 
 its own indulgence, eating merely for the pleasure it 
 affords, is evil. Again many things are wrong because 
 Society so decrees. For example one may not carry 
 a concealed weapon, not because there is harm in the 
 act itself but because harm is likely to come of it, there- 
 fore it is forbidden. Some things are regarded as 
 wrong now that were formerly not so recognized, for 
 example one human being enslaving another. 
 
 Why Wrong is Chosen in Preference to Right. — It is the 
 nature of desire to seek gratification and when the right 
 of another comes in the way either the gratification 
 must be given up or the right of the other must be 
 sacrificed. It is human nature to look upon one's own 
 interest with favor rather than upon the interest of 
 another, hence the other's good is most frequently 
 sacrificed and one's own desire gratified. The world 
 has been a long time in coming to regard all men as 
 brothers and to look upon another's rights as sacredly 
 as upon one's owti and comparatively few have yet 
 reached that point. But man's natural tendency 
 is to sin against himself almost as frequently as against 
 21 
 
322 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 his neighbor. Why is this? It is because the grati- 
 fication of desire that is injurious is immediate and 
 pressing while the evil that goes with it appears to be 
 remote and perhaps may be altogether escaped. Then 
 again great offenses that would bring calamity are not 
 committed in the beginning. Only small sins are risked 
 at first and while the gratification is considerable on the 
 one hand the evil consequences are either nothing at all 
 or very slight on the other, and so the transgressor is 
 encouraged to go on. Gradually it becomes the habit 
 to yield to temptation and in the ver}^ face of danger 
 and with the realization that serious consequences are 
 certain to follow gross evils are indulged in. Finally 
 the associates of the evil-doer are of his own kind and 
 use all their influence to drag him down. 
 
 The Forces that Combat Evil. — The foundation for 
 all good in one's life should be laid in the early years 
 before the age of accountability is reached. The strong- 
 est opponent that can be matched against evil tenden- 
 cies is a first class home training. A child before he 
 knows the right from the wrong must be put in the right 
 way and kept there until it is easier and more natural 
 to him to do right than to do wrong. As early as pos- 
 sible he should be shown why he should not yield to 
 wrongful inclinations and taught to inhibit them. If 
 the home training all through his minority is what it 
 should be he is pretty certain to be so firmly established 
 that for the remainder of his life he will choose the right. 
 If the home training is poor, bad, or wanting there is 
 
THE WILL 323 
 
 still a chance providing other good influences get hold 
 of iiim in time. 
 
 The Efficacy of the Church. — Religion is a mighty 
 power for good in the world. It appeals to men through 
 their consciences. Its object is threefold, (i) to prevent 
 sin, (2) to teach mankind to become the embodiment 
 of all the virtues and graces of life, and (3) to save them 
 in a future world from the consequences of their short- 
 comings in this life. Religion in its organized form is 
 represented by the various churches most of which 
 in this country at least, work along lines of morality 
 and pay particular attention to uprightness of conduct. 
 The limit of the church is the world itself. It there- 
 fore becomes the duty of the church not only to look 
 after its own votaries and dependents but to reach out 
 to the neglected ones everywhere, rescue them from 
 any and all forms of evil and by kindness, attention 
 and love win them into ways of righteousness. 
 
 The church has a powerful appeal to make, the appeal 
 of a satisfied conscience, selfrespect, the esteem of others 
 and the hope of immortal glory. Where it works in 
 conjunction with the home its efforts are pretty sure to 
 result in a high grade of moral and useful citizenship. 
 The church should supplement the home training while 
 the home should back up the teachings of the church. 
 Where the homes fail to come to the help of the church 
 there is still a chance through the Sunday School, 
 rescue bands, and the like; but the probabilities are 
 greatly lessened. 
 
324 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 The Province of the School. — The school also is a 
 powerful factor in helping children to choose the right 
 instead of the wrong. The aim of the school is different 
 from that of the church in that the school seeks to de- 
 velop the child physically, mentally, and morally to the 
 point where he shall be his own mentor, guide, and 
 ruler, and shall be able to make the most of life in what- 
 ever lines he may choose. It does not appeal particu- 
 larly to the conscience nor to the spiritual phases of 
 existence but rather to the practical. Its watchword 
 is efficiency in all directions. Its standards are high, 
 it brooks no slackness of effort in any of its undertak- 
 ings. It is, or should be, as avowedly concerned for the 
 moral and physical as for the mental welfare of its 
 pupils. That the schools are beginning to realize their 
 responsibility for physical fitness has been clearly 
 shown in a previous chapter while the responsibility 
 for their morals has been recognized for a much longer 
 period. 
 
 The Power and Meaning of Law. — Society as a whole 
 is concerned for the welfare of every citizen. Her first 
 duty is to look after the little ones, to supplement the 
 home training by providing for ever}^ child an education 
 that shall as far as possible fit him for the duties and 
 responsibilities of citizenship. For this purpose schools 
 have been provided, the efficiency of which has just 
 been shown in the preceding paragraphs. But society 
 goes further than this and undertakes to control not 
 the desires but the actions, so far as they are against 
 
THE WILL 325 
 
 the good of society, of all who in spite of all agencies 
 made and provided have not learned to control them- 
 selves. To this end laws that carry with them a penalty 
 for each violation are enacted and to a considerable 
 extent executed. 
 
 Laws are enacted for a threefold purpose, (i) as a 
 deterrent from crime, (2) for the protection of society, 
 and (3) to reform the evil doer. A great majority of 
 the citizens of any civilized country have no desire to 
 commit acts of violence against their neighbors, and 
 were there no laws would not do so. But always 
 there are those who for the sake of selfish desires will 
 violate the sacredness of property rights, the sanctity 
 of the home, and will even take life itself. Society 
 recognizes this, and for these the laws are made. 
 
 Of the agencies here considered the law is doubtless 
 the least effective. St. Paul, Gal. 3:24, describes it as 
 a Schoolmaster, but it must be admitted that it makes 
 a rather poor teacher because its appeal comes most 
 strongly after it has been violated and hence too late 
 to affect the character of the individual concerned. 
 To be sure respect for law is potent but this comes 
 more from the teaching of the home, the school and the 
 church than from observing the operations of the law 
 itself. 
 
 The Effects of Heredity and Environment upon the Will. 
 — We have now considered the influence upon the 
 will of the family, the school, the church and of society 
 in general as represented by the law and we can see 
 
326 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 that these agencies taken as a whole have vety much 
 to do with the formation of character. It is important 
 to observe in connection with these the influence of 
 the two forces mentioned in the heading of this para- 
 graph. Let us take them in their order. 
 
 I. Heredity means far more than many people sup- 
 pose. We seldom stop to think how much of what we 
 are is owing to our ancestors, and when we do give it a 
 thought we are likely to assign too much to our im- 
 mediate forbears and too little to those farther back. 
 In the first place, we inherit not only the color of hair 
 and eyes but the hair and eyes themselves; not only our 
 complexions and features but our whole bodies. And 
 we inherit not only our bodies but a myriad of nice 
 adaptations for the life we are to lead. Also, we in- 
 herit our minds, with a thousand tendencies which we 
 call instincts already provided against the time of need. 
 Moreover, we inherit our physical tendencies to be 
 strong or weak, our mental dispositions and powers 
 and our spiritual longings and aspirations. 
 
 That heredity goes a long way back is proved by 
 national and racial types. Peculiarities and character- 
 istics that have been handed down for hundreds of 
 generations are still plainly in evidence and w^e readily 
 identify members of the various races by these well 
 known characteristics. We know an American Indian 
 wherever we see one, because they all conform to the 
 original type. An Indian in California and one in 
 Wisconsin are probably no kin to each other and their 
 
THE WILL 327 
 
 ancestors have been along separate lines for several 
 hundred years back, yet they look alike for the reason 
 that each has inherited the peculiarities of a common 
 ancestor somewhere back in the distance possibly the 
 founder of the race. The same is true of all races and 
 to a great extent of nationalities. In fact, heredity 
 changes very little from generation to generation. The 
 type of the Anglo-Saxon is much the same now as it 
 was a thousand years ago. 
 
 Moreover, we are the heirs of many things that have 
 not come from our direct ancestors. We inherit the 
 customs of society, for example that of eating three 
 meals a day and of wearing clothes. In a very large 
 and real sense we are the "heirs of all the ages." Al- 
 most everything that we shall ever use is already pro- 
 vided for us when we come into this world. We do 
 not have to invent a language, all we shall need in 
 that line is in common use and we could scarcely avoid 
 learning it if we tried. Schools, churches, forms of 
 government, books, music, all the arts and sciences, 
 in short all that the world has acquired is ours to use 
 or to enjoy. 
 
 "But," exclaims one, "what is there left? If we in- 
 herit our bodies, minds, souls, and surroundings every- 
 thing is included." Aye, truly it is. We sometimes 
 think we have wills of our own but these we inherit 
 too. But with our wills we also inherit the power to 
 choose, and with that power we can at least do some 
 things not determined by our other inheritances. 
 
328 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 Here is where education comes in. There is about 
 every person an individuality that is distinctly his 
 own, that gives hirn the power of self direction. Ee 
 may accept or reject a great many things regardless 
 of what others would do under like circumstances. 
 The teacher cannot change the heredity of his pupils, 
 that is fixed, but he can train the mind to look differ- 
 ently upon its surroundings and to use to greater ad- 
 vantage its inheritances. We have inherited this world 
 and all that it contains, but we are not compelled to live 
 in any one spot or use only certain things. We may 
 choose to remain in the neighborhood where we were 
 brought up or we may remove to the north, east, south, 
 or west. We may make our home in the United States 
 or go to England or any other country. 
 
 Effect of Environment. — A certain man had his home 
 in a community where education was at a discount, re- 
 ligion at a low ebb, and the morals of the community 
 low. His son fourteen years of age almost unavoid- 
 ably fell into bad company and was brought home one 
 night in a state of intoxication. The father at once 
 made up his mind that it was not a fit place to bring 
 up his children; so he sold his possessions and moved 
 into another state where there were good schools and 
 churches and where a much higher standard of morality 
 v/as maintained in the neighborhood. The result 
 abundantly justified the father's judgment. 
 
 The Power Within.— Young people should be en- 
 couraged to exert their wills frequently in favor of the 
 
THE WILL 329 
 
 right and against the wrong. The struggle is pleasing 
 in itself, the winning is a source of satisfaction and each 
 victory increases the strength and the skill and gives 
 assurance of larger triumphs in the future. A human 
 being making his way in life should not be like a log 
 drifting in a stream and being carried wherever wind 
 and tide direct; he should be like a steamship that pays 
 little attention to wind or tide but goes in whatever 
 direction the captain desires because the power is 
 within. We show our superiority, our likeness to divin- 
 ity, when we direct our own lives and do it wisely. 
 
 Worthy Motives Essential. — No man can achieve any- 
 thing worth while without a motive, some end or aim 
 that when attained will pay back, measure for meas- 
 ure and more, all that was put into the struggle of 
 effort, longing, patience, sacrifice. On the other hand 
 a worthy motive held steadily before the mind will en- 
 able one to go through almost any kind of hardship 
 and achieve whatever is possible to human effort. 
 
 Unworthy motives are a liindrance to all that is good 
 and must be got rid of or life will be a wreck. We hear 
 it occasionally expressed that the chief aim of Americans 
 is to make money, acquire wealth, roll in luxury. This 
 is probably by no means the prevailing motive though 
 it is common enough. Such a motive unless it is sub- 
 sidiary to some higher aim is base and low and if it is 
 cultivated or permitted to have first place in one's 
 thoughts it will bring in its train other low ideals. A 
 man so possessed is not likely to have any fine ideas 
 
330 THE TRAINING OK CHILDREN 
 
 of honesty in dealing, he will not be philanthropic, 
 generous, whole-souled. It often happens that men 
 start out to acquire wealth with the full intention of 
 being honest in their dealings but as the struggle goes 
 on and difficulties and disappointments are met and 
 the goal seems a long way off with the desire for riches 
 increasing, the temptation to cheat is yielded to once 
 and then again and again until cheating, lying and de- 
 frauding become a part of the game. No matter how 
 rich such a man becomes he is wrong in his views, he is 
 narrow, his soul is shriveled, and he is a failure so far 
 as the higher ideals of life are concerned. 
 
 The Test of Motives. — Anything that savors of 
 selfishness is low even when not accompanied wath 
 other evils such as those mentioned above. The grasp- 
 ing, penurious person is not imbued with high motives. 
 He is not greatly concerned for the welfare of his neigh- 
 borhood or his country; his soul is not burdened with 
 the ills of humanity, his heart is not stirred at the dis- 
 tress of the poor, his ear is not bent to catch the cry 
 of the needy, his hand is not open to appeals for char- 
 ity. If, on the other hand, one's heart goes out to the 
 needy, if one is ready to lend a hand in all good work, 
 if he is ambitious to be of service to his community, 
 his country, and the whole world, if his chief desire 
 is to help to bring about the brotherhood of man with 
 the full recognition of the Fatherhood of God, he may 
 know that his motives are worthy. He may then strive 
 with all his powers to achieve great results, to realize 
 
THE WILL 331 
 
 his highest desires. He will enjoy putting forth effort 
 and even moderate success will seem like triumph. 
 
 The Effect of Worthy Motives on Character. — When 
 one's mind is filled with a great and lofty purpose there 
 is little room for evil thoughts or plans. Cheating, 
 lying, and deceiving do not appeal to one whose heart 
 is set upon that which is noble. There is no better way 
 of driving out evil inclinations than the setting up of 
 worthy motives and adhering steadily to them. Very 
 bad habits, such as the use of tobacco or intoxicants 
 or even lying and stealing, can be broken off and for- 
 ever discarded in this way. Worthy motives stimulate 
 to industry, and industry is a great sagefuard against 
 temptation. The busy man is seldom a dangerous 
 man, and if he is engaged in enterprises that are es- 
 pecially planned for the benefit of mankind he is almost 
 certain to be good at heart. 
 
 Doubtful Motives. — It is true that men from selfish 
 or evil motives occasionally choose high callings. One 
 may elect to preach the gospel and still be moved by 
 the very worst aims, merely using the robe of his sacred 
 office as a cloak for his wicked purposes. Such men are 
 the only real hypocrites. The person who stumbles 
 and falls because he is weak but who keeps his mind 
 upon a main purpose which is right, is not a hypocrite. 
 Again there are those who have no fixed motives. 
 They halt and hesitate and are in doubt whether to 
 follow this desire or that. A conflict rages between 
 the desire to yield to pleasure on the one hand and to 
 
332 THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN 
 
 obey the call of duty on the other. Such people have 
 no real happiness and their only chance for a peaceful 
 state is to make up their mind to forsake the wrong 
 and to follow the right. If they take the opposite 
 course they will either suffer permanent remorse or 
 degenerate morally, and losing their sense of right and 
 wrong, fall into a state that is infinitely deplorable. 
 
 The Main Thing is to have strong purposes and to 
 keep one's mind steadily fixed toward their attainment. 
 Those whose business it is to train the young should 
 see to it that worthy and attractive aims are kept be- 
 fore their minds, and these aims should be of a per- 
 manent kind that will result in character and never 
 grow less desirable or less worthy of striving for. They 
 should also cultivate pure desires. This can be done 
 by frequently calling their attention to those who have 
 achieved greatness of character, and by always setting 
 an example of willing righteousness and cheerful striv- 
 ing for the mastery over e\'ery evil tendency and for 
 the attainment of the highest type of character. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Accuracy of inspection, 209. 
 Acquaintance, the period of, 21. 
 Activity of children, 22, 65. 
 Allegiance, 81. 
 
 Ambitions, worthy and un- 
 worthy, 210. 
 Anger, 32, 15 5- 
 Apperception, defined, 204. 
 Attention, effect of, 276. 
 
 Beginnings, the period of, 136. 
 Bible stories, 49. 
 Blunders of children, 40. 
 Books for children, 119, 327. 
 Breathing, correct and incorrect, 
 194. 
 
 Child, the, 22, 126; his first day 
 at school, 127; his ignorance, 
 132; his blunders, 40; his curi- 
 osity, 38, 88; his games, 45, 
 244; his books, 119, 227; his 
 health, 186; his industries, 65; 
 his plays, 245; his sensitive- 
 ness, 40; his moral sense, 29. 
 
 Choice, 316, 320. 
 
 Church, efficiency of the, 292, 323. 
 
 Classification, laws of, 230. 
 
 Clay, Henry, 242. 
 
 Cleanliness, habits of, 195. 
 
 Clothing, care of the, 47. 
 Colds, causes and cures of, 193. 
 College education, the period of, 
 
 145- 
 
 Colors, 173; materials for school 
 use, 174. 
 
 Concepts, defined, 193; how ac- 
 quired, 274; conception and 
 perception, 275. 
 
 Consciousness, defined, 199; sub- 
 consciousness, 201. 
 
 Contrast, the law of, 229. 
 
 Convalescents, 197. 
 
 Corporal punishment, 114. 
 
 Curiosity, 38, 88. 
 
 Deceit, 34. 
 
 Desires, 315. 
 
 Discipline, 36; jerkiness, 112. 
 
 Distance, comprehension of, 174. 
 
 Duration of time, 165. 
 
 Elementary training, period of, 
 141. 
 
 Emotions, why studied, 19; de- 
 velopment of 32. 
 
 Environment, influences of, 240; 
 
 effects of, 325, 328. 
 Evil, nature of, 320; opposing 
 
 forces, 322. 
 
 333 
 
334 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Experience, value of, i6o. 
 Extensity and intensity, 167 
 
 Fables and fairy stories, 51. 
 
 Fairy talcs, their value and in 
 fluence, 52, 252. 
 
 Fear, 3^. 
 
 Feeling, the law of, 234. 
 
 Feelings, special study of, 270 
 sensuous, 270; intellectual, 278 
 associated, 281; social, 282 
 business, 286; patriotic, 288 
 moral, 291; religious, 292. 
 
 Games for children, 45, 244, 246. 
 
 Gardening as a child's industry, 
 66. 
 
 Geography as a memory study, 
 224. 
 
 Government, parental, 69; prin- 
 ciples of, 71. 
 
 Group, the power of the, 99. 
 
 Growth, conditions of, 26. 
 
 Habits, influence and impor- 
 tance of, 310, 311. 
 
 Hand and brain, coordination of, 
 213. 
 
 Health, inspection in schools, 
 186; general care of, 196. 
 
 Hearing, 15, 139, 173; the sense 
 of, 177; tests of, 192. 
 
 Henry, Patrick, 242. 
 
 Heredity, influence of, 241 ; effects 
 
 of, 325- 
 History as a memory study, 225. 
 
 Imagination, nature and im- 
 portance of, 17, 27; special 
 study of, 237; cultivation of 
 the, 244. 
 
 Imitation, 95; from outside in- 
 fluences, 97. 
 
 Impulsive actions, 306. 
 
 Industries, children's, 65. 
 
 Instinctive actions, 302, 311. 
 
 Instruction, materials for, 43. 
 
 Intellectual feelings, the, 278. 
 
 Intensity and extensity, 167. 
 
 Interest, the law of, 231. 
 
 Investigation, children's pro- 
 pensity for, 88. 
 
 Kindergarten, The, 117. 
 
 Language, correctness of, 39. 
 
 Laws, rules, and regulations, 76; 
 promulgation of, 79. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 242. 
 
 Literature, for children, 119, 227, 
 252; in cultivation of the im- 
 agination, 261. 
 
 L^'ing, the habit of, 92. 
 
 Materials for instruction, 43. 
 
 Memory, importance and in- 
 fluence of, 17, 26; special study 
 of, 214; cultivation of, 220; 
 law of, 226. 
 
 Mental activity, the physiolog- 
 ical basis of, 148. 
 
 Mind, the nature of, 12; con- 
 ditions at birth, 14, 21. 
 
 Motives, test of, 330; doubtful, 
 33^- 
 
INDEX 
 
 335 
 
 Music, 55; its value in character 
 training, 56. 
 
 Nature, study of, 226. 
 
 Nervous system, 148; care of 
 the, 153; effect of fatigue upon 
 the, 156; nervous disorders, 157. 
 
 Numbers, the study of, 250. 
 
 Obedience, 30. 
 Observation, 16, 206. 
 Offenses, nature of, 83. 
 
 Parents, their knowledge of 
 psychology, 12; agreement be- 
 tween, 31 ; must keep promises, 
 35 ; firmness in disciphne, 36; 
 parental government, 69. 
 
 Pedagogy, the field of, 20. 
 
 Percept, defined, 6; importance 
 of, 203. 
 
 Perception, 6, 14, 16, 24; special 
 study of, 198; transferred per- 
 ceptions, 204; compared with 
 conceptions, 275. 
 
 Pictures, influence of, 61. 
 
 Play, materials for, 43, 245; and 
 games, 45, 244, 246. 
 
 Property, the rights of, loi. 
 
 Psychology, a difficult study, 11. 
 
 Punishment, 84; object of, 108; 
 improper, 109; corporal, 114. 
 
 Quality, perception of, 162. 
 Quantity, 164. 
 
 Reading as a means of training, 
 119, 227, 250; as an aid to 
 thought, 269. 
 
 Reasoning with the will, 28. 
 
 Reflection, 18. 
 
 Reflexive nerve actions, 151, 
 300. 
 
 Religion, 58, 323; religious feel- 
 ings, 292. 
 
 Repetition, the law of, 233. 
 
 Right and wrong, 320. 
 
 School, the first day at, 126; 
 school life, divisions of, 136; 
 how to make school pleasant, 
 248; agencies outside of school, 
 319; province of the school, 
 
 324- 
 
 Secondary training, the period 
 of, 143. 
 
 Seeing and the sense of sight, 15, 
 139, 170, 184. 
 
 Self-control, 318. 
 
 Sensation, 16, 159; attributes of, 
 162. 
 
 Sense organs, quality of, feel- 
 ings in, 272; cooperation of, 
 161; special study of, 169; 
 care of, 186, 191. 
 
 Sensitiveness of children, 40. 
 
 Sight, sense of, 170; incorrect 
 vision, 175, 189. 
 
 Similarity, law of, 228. 
 
 Smart sayings of children, 41. 
 
 Smell, sense of, 181. 
 
 Society, how formed, 99. 
 
 Stories for children, 48. 
 
336 
 
 Subconsciousness, 201. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Truthfulness, 94. 
 
 Taste, the sense of, 179. 
 Teacher, the country, 125; his 
 
 business, 11; cooperation with 
 
 parents, 121; should know how 
 
 to study, 139, 147. 
 Thinking power, the, 12; special 
 
 study of, 157. 
 Throat, care of the, 195. 
 Touch, the sense of, 183. 
 Travel, the value of, 63. 
 
 UNTRUTHrULNESS, 92. 
 
 Voice culture, 178. 
 
 Will, the, defined, 19; special 
 study of, 299; minor activities, 
 300; major activities, 314. 
 
 Work and imagination, 246. 
 
 Worship, forms of, 60. 
 
AUG 3 ISir