ings and capabilities, and confers mentally and morally a more perfect observation, a nicer assimilation, a finer expression. The endeavor of this book is to select the most essential, vital questions pertaining to this progress, to urge the better way with an earnestness that will move some thoughtless mother, and to offer a few practical suggestions to some aspiring one. If it succeeds in the least degree, it is its own excuse for being; if it does not, it is a misjudgment. Some of the thoughts may not appear directly applicable to the child's education, but these indicate the line of his development. Parents must lead the child, but they cannot do so in advance of their own enlightenment and appreciation. If, by any suggestion, a single home is made the living fountain of health and happiness that it should be, if one girl or boy is inspired to a truer, more cultured womanhood or manhood, the author will account herself privileged. Child Culture I THE EMOTIONS EMERSON has said that the great difference between men is in their power of feeling. Feeling is universal and becomes an element of weakness or strength, as it is allowed to riot or is wisely directed. Unallied with the moral sense and the intellect, it degenerates into appetite and passion, in the exercise of which man is outdone by the brutes, to whose vehemence he seldom attains and then only revoltingly. But purified by the intellect and by true aspiration, judiciously harnessed, it becomes the strength of strengths, the fire which sets in motion the will, the energies and the mental faculties. The emotions are a prime factor in the spiritual life, and when balanced by the judgment into perfect harmony with it, create the ideal To achieve this blending of the emotions and the intellect, requires a lifelong study for natures that are born, as most natures are, man. with a predominance of one over the other. It is difficult for the strongly emotional temperament not to permit itself to be swayed by its desires and impulses; in fact many lives are thrown off the track altogether by ignorance of the necessity or means of curbing their emotional impulses, and of constantly submitting them to the control of their reason. This ignorance converts a great power into a great weakness. The man lacking emotional vitality is equally imperfect, for a cold intellect unsoftened by a warm heart lacks one of the best inspirations to virtue. It is easy to awaken the childish heart, and the emotions should be educated before the intellect. Read the children stories, or relate circumstances to them which will call forth their sympathies, but only for worthy objects. One can easily go too far and cultivate a spurious feeling, a sickly sentimentality that would be as objectionable as a lack of susceptibility. It is found that children who come from the slums, the offspring of the uncultured class, require much stronger appeals to touch their emotions than the children of highly developed families. The latter are apt to be too highly organized. Experienced kindergarten teachers understand the point perfectly. A teacher who had had charge of a phlegmatic class in a tenement district, and had been obliged to use some effort to arouse its sensibilities, undertook to fill a temporary vacancy in a class in a better neighborhood, where the children of more cultured families attended. Several mothers complained to the superintendent that their children seemed excited, could not sleep at night, and the mothers were unable to quiet them or to account for this unusual condition. The experienced superintendent considered the matter and divined the cause; she attended one of the school sessions, when her conjecture was confirmed. The teacher was employing the same methods with these more sensitive children that she had found necessary with the impassive class. The superintendent suggested a selection of more quieting songs and games, and the difficulty was corrected. Study the child's temperament, and try the following method to counterbalance excess or lack of emotion. Give the highly organized child simple pleasures, phlegmatic attendants, quiet surroundings. Give the child lacking in sensibilities more stirring pleasures, a livelier maid, a little more exciting environment. It is easy to guide in the right direction the heart of a little child, its nature is so impressionable. A teacher tells of a little four year old boy in one of the kindergartens, who used so many "swear words," that for the good of the others he was compelled to sit apart. He was per |