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 Southern Branch 
 of the 
 
 University of California 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
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 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 APR 7 1926 
 
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 Form L-9-15m-8,'24
 
 EDUCATION BY LIFE
 
 u-<^' 
 
 EDUCATION BY 
 
 LIFE 
 
 A Discussion oi the Problem of the School 
 Education of Younger Children 
 
 -1 7 /^ 7 g 
 
 BY VARIOUS WRITERS 
 
 Edited by 
 
 HENRIETTA BROWN SMITH 
 
 Lecturer in Education, Goldsmiths' College, 
 University of London 
 
 It is life that educates." — PestalozzL 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 BALTIMORE Md. 
 WARWICK & YORK, INC. 
 
 1914.
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The idea of this book was conceived and the original plain 
 was drawn up by Miss M. M. Penstone, in the summer of 
 1910 ; and only her death in December of that year prevented 
 her carrying it out ; but it was her strong wish that it should 
 be finished, and she asked the present Editor to undertake 
 the task. Her plan has been adhered to, as far as circum- 
 stances have permitted, and the Editor's belief is that the 
 general spirit of the book is what Miss Penstone would have 
 desired it to be. 
 
 The various contributing writers have all been selected on 
 the basis of wide practical experience, as well as for more 
 individual reasons ; and the Editor has left them free to 
 express their own views on the applications of their work. 
 
 There are two points which may strike readers of the book 
 as requiring some explanation. 
 
 (i) As the book is the combined product of a number of 
 minds, the views put forward may not always exactly coin- 
 cide, in the application of a principle, or in its adjustment to 
 difficult conditions. 
 
 (2) As education by life must be a complete thing, rather 
 than a collection of subjects, overlapping must be expected 
 in connection with the different aspects treated. 
 
 Both these things are inevitable and even desirable. 
 
 The intention of the book is to gather together some of 
 
 V
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 the most important principles concerning early education, 
 that have stood the test of time and experience, and to appyl 
 them to modern conditions and in the light of modern know- 
 ledge, but with the intention of giving a point of view, rather 
 than of formulating definite method. 
 
 The bibhography attached to most of the chapters should 
 form a background and amplify what is said in the book. 
 It is presumed that readers are acquainted with Froebel's 
 Education of Man. 
 
 The Editor is very grateful for the help given to her by 
 Miss N. Catty, M.A., and Mr. F. Storr. 
 
 HENRIETTA BROWN SMITH. 
 January, 1912,
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WHERE WE ARE i 
 
 The General Editor 
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER ... 13 
 
 Miss E. M. Minhinnick, The Pestalozzian School, Plymouth 
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOP- 
 MENT 21 
 
 Miss'E. R. Murray, Maria Grey T/aining College, Brondes- 
 bury 
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 44 
 
 Miss A. Home, Lecturer in Hygiene, Home and Colonial 
 College, Wood Green 
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 60 
 
 Miss E. B. Cole, Lecturer in Education 
 
 LITERATURE [a) Stories and Story Material . • • 75 
 
 {b) Poetry 88 
 
 Miss E. M. Minhinnick, The Pestalozzian School, Plymouth 
 
 HANDWORK, [a) The Cultivation of Artistic Tendencies 
 
 IN Young Children . . . . . 96 
 
 Miss C. von Wyss, Lecturer on Nature Study 
 and Art 
 
 (6) Industrial Handwork , , . . 104 
 
 The General Editor 
 vii
 
 viii CONTENTS 
 
 MUSIC I20 
 
 K. T. White, Mus. Doc, Goldsmith's College, University of 
 London 
 
 GAMES . . . . . . . . . .138 
 
 The General Editor 
 
 METHOD OF APPROACH IN NATURE STUDY . .150 
 
 Miss C. von Wyss, Lecturer on Nature Study and A rt 
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 158 
 
 Miss A. L. Wark, B.A., Lecturer in Education 
 
 READING AND WRITING 174 
 
 Miss E. R. Murray, Maria Grey Training College, Brondes- 
 bury 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE BASIS OF HISTORY TEACH- 
 ING 195 
 
 Miss C. Legg, B.A., Byron House School, Highgate 
 
 SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE BASTS OF GEOGRAPHY 
 
 TEACHING 203 
 
 J. F. {Instead, M.A., Lecturer in Geography, Goldsmiths' 
 College, University of London
 
 WHERE WE ARE 
 
 'Z 7 <^ 7 S- 
 
 This is the eighth year of the performance of Pete^' Pan. 
 Fifty years ago that play could not have been written, for 
 children had not then revealed themselves to the extent 
 to which under present conditions we see them revealed. 
 Nor would its very wide appeal have been possible at that 
 time, for children were suffered rather than understood or 
 enjoyed. 
 
 The newspapers of January igi2 described a Christmas 
 present given by an American millionaire to his little son : 
 it is a play house which has cost £6,000, and is said to be com- 
 plete in all its arrangements. This also would have been 
 impossible fifty years ago, even if millionaires had been as 
 common as they are now ; for if people lacked sympathetic 
 imagination with regard to children, they had, at least, a 
 strong sense of moral responsibility. 
 
 These extremes help to demonstrate our present position. 
 We know now the importance of early years, and the children's 
 need for liberty and right surroundings in order to grow ; but 
 we shut our eyes to the harm that is being done by those 
 parents who gratify themselves in their children's pleasures, 
 and by those teachers who glorify themselves in making 
 children fit a theory. This does not, of course, apply to all 
 parents and teachers, but to the extreme cases. And it is 
 from extremes that we learn the tendencies of our time. 
 
 In this book we are concerned with the more limited sphere 
 of the teacher's work, and the teacher of young children is 
 one of the most zealous persons alive ; but she is the victim 
 of an overwhelming number of new theories concerning the. 
 nature of children, and without the test of time and experience 
 it is very difficult to sort out the true from the false. And 
 the zeal of the teacher is not always her best guide in this 
 difficult task. 
 
 The past has given us a great legacy of ideas, and a smaller 
 
 1 B
 
 2 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 one of practice, and it would be useful to set out quite definitely 
 what help it has given us, and how we have used it. 
 
 It may be fairly assumed, even by those who are not alto- 
 gether in agreement with them, that the principles of Frocbel 
 have had the most lasting influence, whether for good or 
 evil, on the education of young children. In the first place 
 his theory and practice went hand in hand ; in the second 
 place he was more deeply impressed than any previous edu- 
 cator had been, with the importance of a child's early years, 
 and in the third place he had a deep and real knowledge of 
 young children, derived partly from a long study of their 
 natures, and even more from a kind of maternal instinct with 
 which he seems to have been endowed. 
 
 Froebel was a borrower and an originator — in both capa- 
 cities he showed his genius. In borrowing he transformtd 
 and illuminated what he had borrowed, as, for example, in 
 the case of handwork. With Pestalozzi handwork was httle 
 more than a useful subject which helped to make children 
 better fitted for their life after school, and formed a means 
 towards a HveUhood. With PYoebel it was a means of develop- 
 ment towards one of the highest phases possible to man — 
 that of creativeness. 
 
 There is httle doubt that Froebel was greatly influenced 
 by both Rousseau and Pestalozzi, and took freely of their 
 experiences ; at the same time there is no crude hteralism in 
 his borrowing, but rather an originahty as great as in his 
 individual work. 
 
 As an originator we owe more to Froebel in theory and in 
 practice than to any other educationalist of the past, in 
 relation to the education of young children ; and though 
 much of his work is spoiled by confusion of style, and exces- 
 sive symbolism, and many of his applications are strained 
 and unpsychological, yet we inherit from him certain great 
 and outstanding principles that have stood the test of time 
 and experience, and a spirit that still inspires his followers. 
 
 It is difficult to estimate the value to us of his practice or 
 application of principle. On the one hand it is strained and 
 often very far from reaching the children for whom it was 
 intended — as, for exam})le, the scheme of Gifts and Occupa- 
 tions with all their bye-laws : and on the other hand without 
 this application we should not have had the strong confidence 
 in his work, nor should we have been so conscious of the spirit 
 in which his work was done. By means of a material medium
 
 WHERE WE ARE 3 
 
 he has been able to inspire his followers much more effectively 
 than if he had simply written the Education of Man — and 
 yet between the education of man and the Kindergarten 
 system there is a great gulf. 
 
 Professor Dewey, one of Froebel's most enhghtened followers, 
 has given a very probable explanation of the circumstances 
 that drove Froebel to the rather narrow and symbolic appli- 
 cation of his work, and of the logical rather than psychological 
 treatment of much of the material of the gifts and occupations. 
 
 " It must be remembered that much of Froebel's sjonboHsm 
 is the product of two pecuHar conditions of his own life and 
 work. In the first place, on account of inadequate knowledge 
 at that time of physiological and psychological facts and 
 principles of child growth, he was often forced to resort to 
 strained and artificial explanations of the value attaching 
 to plays, etc. To the impartial observer it is obvious that 
 many of his statements are cumbrous and far-fetched, giving 
 abstract philosophical reasons for matters that may now 
 receive a simple every day formulation. In the second place 
 the pohtical and social conditions of Germany were such 
 that it was impossible to conceive continuity between the 
 free co-operative social hfe of the Kindergarten and that of 
 the world outside. Accordingly he could not regard the 
 " occupations " of the schoolroom as hteral reproductions 
 of the ethical principles involved in community Ufe — the 
 latter were often too restricted and authoritative to serve 
 as worthy models." 
 
 The following is an attempt to set out, in summary, the 
 most universally accepted of Froebi I's principles, and to 
 examine the nature of our acceptance of them, in the practice 
 of to-day. It does not pretend to be any consecutive account 
 of his psychology or philosophy. 
 
 " Education consists in leading man, as a thinking intelH- 
 gent being, growing into self-consciousness, to a pure and 
 unsullied, conscious and free representation of the inner law 
 of Divine Unity, and in teaching him the ways and means 
 thereto." 
 
 This definition of education gives the keynote to Froebel's 
 work, and it would be impossible to understand it without 
 such a guide. It is from this that we gather the constant 
 stress he lays on the education of the individual, his behef 
 in the innate goodness of the individual, and the high place 
 he gives to the teacher's work.
 
 4 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 In his sketch of the developing hfe of children in infancy 
 and early childhood he is probably the first to emphasize, 
 if not to discover, the importance of the recognition of instincts, 
 and to show their value as educational factors. 
 
 It is to him that we owe the discovery of the value of play, 
 and it is he who makes us see the wider meaning of the word, 
 and the importance of the fact that " play and speech con- 
 stitute the element in which the child lives." 
 
 Continuing his investigation of a young child's life he 
 realizes the part played by experience, and how the self- 
 taught child follows his own natural way of learning. He 
 notices also that what the children learn is their surroundings, 
 and the method is chiefly the method of doing. He realizes 
 that at this stage children have the right conception of life, 
 i.e., as a whole, a unity ; and that to break up this unity 
 is to interfere seriously with the growth of both knowledge 
 and religion. He points out that, side by side with their 
 absorption of the world without, must be the expression of 
 the world within the child, else his knowledge will be merely 
 external. He gives to expression one of the most important 
 places in the whole of education, because through it man 
 reaches one of the highest phases of his existence, that of 
 creativeness. 
 
 He speaks strongly against the fallacy of regarding a child's 
 development as always parallel with his age — " Each succes- 
 sive stage depends on the vigorous, complete, characteristic 
 development of each and all preceding stages of life." And 
 he has spoken no less strongly against the education which 
 is " prescriptive, categorical, interfering," leaving no place for 
 the individual, instead of the education in which the educator 
 is " passive, following (only guarding and protecting)." 
 
 He regards each individual as fundamentally good, and 
 declares that " a good tendency, only repressed, misunder- 
 stood or misguided — lies originally at the bottom of every 
 shortcoming in man." 
 
 His conception of the work of the mother and of the father 
 is a very beautiful and natural one — each at the right time 
 guiding the child to work out its own development. His 
 whole sketch of family life shows how it may merge into school 
 life and form an unbroken existence for children. He regards 
 family life as the foundation of the religious sentiment. His 
 conception of religious education is very closely connected 
 with Nature teaching ; it goes more deeply into the founda-
 
 WHERE WE ARE 5 
 
 tions of religious life than do most schemes of religious teaching, 
 and it does not seek to hasten externals. 
 
 Now most educators accept all of this, and a good many 
 of them endeavour to practise it. But it has not yet been 
 universally adopted with that reahty and conviction which 
 would make it the foundation of the whole plan of the educa- 
 tion of young children : instead, it has been adopted in parts, 
 and applied to an already existing scheme. 
 
 We do not as a State educate individuals, but masses ; and 
 though year by year this is being amended, it will take many 
 years for teachers to shake off those habits of teaching whole 
 classes, which they have both inherited and acquired. 
 
 We do not really make the theory of play the foundation 
 of our Infant Schools. We have " games " and " free play " 
 and " lessons." We should not as a matter of fact be allowed 
 to do so by most inspectors, even if the teachers, as a body, 
 were prepared to grasp all the meaning and sacrifice all the 
 results. Groos' tremendous maxim, " Animals do not play 
 because they are young, they have their youth that they 
 may play," leaves most teachers and inspectors cold, and 
 with no apparent increase of responsibility. 
 
 We do not understand " free self-expression." We think 
 we are applying it when we put in our time tables such terms 
 as " free drawing," " free movements." The very need to 
 make such statements condemns us : the freedom is an 
 attachment to existing organized work : want of courage 
 to face real childish results and mistakes bars the way to 
 freedom as a principle. We have not studied its meaning 
 sufficiently to see the whole of its bearing on our work. Crea- 
 tiveness is still a sin ; someti^nes it is called disobedience, 
 sometimes rudeness, sometimes destructiveness. It is seldom 
 welcomed, and often not recognized. 
 
 In spite of the wordy enthusiasm with which the idea of 
 motor activity has been taken up by Educational Authorities 
 all over the country, our schools are still furnished " forHsten- 
 ing " and not for doing. We have stiU children under eight 
 seated at rigid desks, in monotonous rows, for nearly every 
 kind of " activity " : now and then they stand at the wall 
 for drawing, and now and then go to the hall for a game, but 
 for most of the day they remain rigid. Until suitable furni- 
 ture is provided for all children under eight, it is foolishness 
 to talk of motor activity. 
 
 The promotion scheme of 1910 for L.C.C. Schools, by which
 
 6 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 a child can be rushed through the school by leaps and bounds, 
 leaping over stages of work and experience in order to fill 
 up empty desks, has sufficiently proved that the law of 
 development is entirely ignored by those in authority. Formal 
 skill in mechanical arts is considered a sufficient test for pro- 
 motion — " Yet the boy has not become a boy nor has the 
 youth become a youth by reaching a certain age, but only 
 by having lived through childhood and further on through 
 boyhood, true to the requirements of his mind, his feelings 
 and his body." 
 
 We break up the child's world for him into what we call 
 " subjects, "and then try to piece them together by a ridiculous 
 process called correlation. It is enough to realize how the 
 chapters of this book overlap to prove to ourselves how real 
 is the unity of the beginnings of things. No false system or 
 correlation will piece together a unity that has never been in 
 the teacher's mind. 
 
 Perhaps the worst fault of which we, as a bod}- of educators, 
 have been guilty has been that of hteral interpretation. 
 
 This is due partly to the fact that many of Froebel's dis- 
 ciples took his applications, rather than his principles, with 
 an uncritical and undiscriminating eagerness : and in spite 
 of the fact that all Froebel's work is progressive they have 
 acted as if he had said, "To be time FroebeUans you must 
 follow at all costs my methods, use only such materials as I 
 have prescribed and in the way I have directed, think along 
 my lines only, and adopt my words as an inspired gospel." 
 
 That many have gone beyond this stage of blind disciple- 
 ship is obvious, if we compare some of the earher questions 
 set by the National Froebel Union with those of the last few 
 years. 
 
 Compare. Which of the Kindergarten gifts and occupations 
 specially lend themselves to the teaching of geometry ? Enumerate 
 the various angles, plane figures, and solids with which a well-trained 
 Kindergarten child should be familiar, and state in each case the gift 
 or occupation through which that knowledge has been gained. 
 
 With. Give six concrete instances of how ideas of quantity, size, or 
 number can be formed, by means of something made or arranged. 
 
 Compare. What kind of influence ould sticklaying have on an 
 imp.iticnt child ? 
 
 li iih. What has been your experience of the educational value of 
 handwork in the case of mentally deficient children ? 
 
 Compare. What are the difficulties to be overcome in a first sewing 
 lesson to a class of babies ? Show how you will do this, and give an 
 outline of the lesson.
 
 WHERE WE ARE 7 
 
 With. Describe a first course of sewing based on children's interests 
 and needs. Point out its educational value. 
 
 Compare. Give in outline a first course of nine lessons on Gift IV, 
 and state what knowledge might be gained in each lesson. 
 
 With. Suggest in detail suitable material lor constructive work in 
 building, and show how children might, use it naturally and profitably. 
 
 We are therefore at a critical time when we are flinging 
 off certain shackles, distrusting certain tests and changing 
 our aims , many of us must feel rather bewildered by a vague 
 sense of responsibihty, and the necessity of coping with the 
 overwhelming number of new theories that come with every 
 new book or inspector. 
 
 It is hopeless and wasteful to attempt to try them all 
 because they are new ; only a kind of intellectual and moral 
 dissipation can result from that. It is necessary to have 
 some sort of permanent and steady aim by which we can 
 test or judge new theories, to see on what kind of foundation 
 they rest. 
 
 Most of the educational aims seriously put forth by thought- 
 ful people, past and present, have in common a tendency 
 to Hnk education in some way to life. Comenius by his, 
 curriculum would prepare the young child for life. Rousseau 
 would simply let him live, and trust Nature for the rest ; 
 Pestalozzi formulated the same idea by his famous maxim, 
 "It is hfe that educates " ; Froebel based his plans on the 
 natural developing life of the child ; and one of Froebel' s 
 most enhghtened followers, Prof. Dewey of Columbia Univer- 
 sity, New York, has put this into practice in connexion with 
 industrial work as a starting point, in such a way that it is 
 safe to infer one of his most fundamental ideas to be, that 
 education is to help a child to live fully, through direct contact 
 with Hfe. 
 
 Though expressed differently this idea is accepted as a 
 fundamental maxim by most educators, even if they do not 
 always recognize it in its application. The more utilitarian 
 see in the infant even, the future specialized worker. They 
 see him prepared for a trade in the handwork of his early 
 years. The less materially minded are satisfied that it is always 
 useful to have a store of general knowledge and be " clever 
 with the hands." But these people forget that education 
 cannot be regarded as a preparation for hfe, because children 
 are living very fully and intensely during these early years. 
 Education is Hfe, and must assimilate itself with the life of 
 children at the particular stage of their development. The
 
 8 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 school, to a young child, must be both in atmosphere and 
 organization as nearly as possible a reproduction of his 
 natural life, and this must be kept in view very clearly by 
 teachers, and by those who have authority over teachers ; 
 then there will be no sharp division between the life of the 
 school and the life of the family and social world : the conduct 
 should be the same, and the interests continuous. 
 
 Now all of this is implied and often actually set out in 
 the Education of Man : but it has not been always under- 
 stood or practised in the Kindergarten system. Parents 
 have complained that children have no desire to make things 
 at home, because they miss the help of the teacher : they 
 forget the exact way of doing the thing, and they have not 
 the " proper materials." Children have been known to 
 express very frankly their sense of boredom at the ramifica- 
 tions of correlation in no uncertain language. Others have 
 complained that " you neither play nor work," and they 
 would rather do the one or the other. These are the bolder 
 spirits : there must be many unspoken criticisms besides. 
 It is not difficult to discriminate between the schools and 
 Kindergartens where the children live, and those where they 
 are educated on a system. 
 
 It is the aim of this book to attempt to set out how the 
 various subjects of the curriculum may be put to this test 
 and regarded rather as aspects of life than as subjects. 
 
 For the first eight years or so, a child is like a stranger 
 in a new country : all his surroundings are unfamiliar and 
 important, and instinct drives him to get to know them and 
 to acquire some power over them. The school, then, must in 
 the first case provide, as far as it can, such surroundings as 
 shall arouse and satisfy developing interests and stimulate 
 initiative. The various aspects of Hfe that interest a child 
 must form the basis of the school plan — and the methods 
 should be those followed naturally in life. This is the only 
 true correlation, where the child is the centre and his various 
 interests the radii from the centre. He is not ready to regard 
 life as a unity yet, he is only seeing small connexions : to 
 force others is false and foolish work. But it must be a 
 unity in the teacher's mind. 
 
 It is easy to discover his interests and to provide suitable 
 surroundings ; at least it is easy to suggest what these suitable 
 suiroundings ought to be in order to satisly his growing 
 interests.
 
 WHERE WE ARE 9 
 
 (a) He is interested in all the things of Nature, including 
 the sky, the weather and the varying seasons. To satisfy 
 this there should be living things to care for both inside and 
 outside the school, and some of the dreary asphalt playground 
 should be broken up for garden borders and sand heaps, not 
 in a school here and there but universally ; it is probably 
 needless to say that each Kindergarten should have its own 
 garden. Inside the School a very necessary piece of apparatus 
 in each class-room is a very large zinc or zinc-lined tray for 
 nature work. There should be plenty of window ledge space, 
 tables and shelves for plants — so that each child has a place 
 for his pot of growing things. 
 
 (b) A child is interested in many inanimate things which 
 he can use and exercise his growing power : by means of 
 them many of his elementary fundamental ideas come to 
 him, e.g., those of form, size, balance, weight, motive force. 
 For this plenty of toys must be provided, as well as plenty of 
 constructive material, and preferably toys which every indivi- 
 dual can use, and use with ease. The gifts of Froebel were 
 the first step in this direction, and form a suggestive basis : 
 but there is no need to pursue an exhausted application to its 
 death : many of his bricks are too small and too uniform to 
 gi\'e sufficient scope. Life is psychological and presents itself 
 haphazard : the gifts are logical in plan and application and 
 do not, so to speak, keep a neck to neck pace with children's 
 experiences. Besides toys there should be a constant stream 
 of odd things, often acquired by chance, brought by both 
 teacher and children for general observation. 
 
 (c) Children are keenly interested in other people, and this 
 is seen in their passion for stories. As far as surroundings 
 go plenty of pictures and picture books- should be provided 
 in this connexion. 
 
 {d) They are fond of music and rhythmic verse, and this 
 suggests that at any rate a piano, and if possible a vioHn, 
 should be included in school furniture : a small band of chil- 
 dren with toy instruments can be formed to head the hne in 
 marching, and play in time to the music. 
 
 (e) They are interested in construction and in representa- 
 tion in either action or material : for these surroundings 
 should provide space, materials and tools, the latter of the 
 simplest order. This is more fully dealt with in the section 
 on Industrial Handwork. 
 
 (/) They are interested in all varieties of physical activity.
 
 10 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 and again the most requisite necessity is space, both inside 
 and outside the school. Balls, reins, skipping ropes, etc., 
 are useful here. 
 
 The curriculum naturally follows the developing interests : 
 it should be regarded simply as aspects of life, and at this stage 
 it is often difficult to discriminate between a subject and a 
 method, notably in the case of games and handwork. Briefly, 
 however, the interests may be set down in the order previ- 
 ously followed for surroundings : {a) Nature work ; {b) 
 number and form work, with possibly some experimental 
 science and geography ; (c) hterature incli'dmg poetry ; (d) 
 music ; {e) constructive handwork and dramatic representa- 
 tion ; (/) physical exercises ; (g) religious ideas. 
 
 Reading and writing are not aspects but conventions or 
 acquired arts of hfe, and so they do not form a part of the 
 developing interest. They are necessary, but should not be 
 prematurely forced upon children when time is needed for 
 more valuable and important work. They are not a test of 
 intelHgence, but simply of memory and mechanical skill. 
 Yet ithey form an important consideration in the promotion 
 of children. Up to the age of seven, the normal child evidently 
 feels no desire or need to learn either. He may appear to 
 do so from simple desire to imitate an elder child, but he is 
 not naturally anxious to do anything so formal. The desire 
 to work for a future need is not possible for a young child, 
 and unless reading is so bound up with extraneous interests 
 as to be almost unrecognizable it is a bitter p J to swallow. 
 This is dealt with more fully in the chapter on that subject. 
 The constant practice both incidentally and consciously in 
 language, and the building up of the vocabulary is the best 
 of preparations, and this is referred to in the chapter on stories 
 and on games. 
 
 The methods indicated in the following chapters are as far as 
 the writerscansce the methods of hfe — but only general indica- 
 tions, and a point of view are given. The details must be 
 left to special conditions, and the teacher's own personality. 
 
 The best method can be spoilt by people whose indivi- 
 duality does not fit it, or whose want of intelligence keep 
 them from discriminating between device and principle. Pro- 
 grammes of work, except as exemplifications of a principle, 
 sliould never be given to teachers in general. They presup- 
 pose a lack of individuality and discrimination, indeed a kind 
 of professional indolence and want of spirit, in those who
 
 WHERE WE ARE ii 
 
 adopt them to any large extent. Both special method and 
 plan of work should be markedly characteristic of the profes- 
 sional individuality of any teacher. 
 
 If it is hfe that educates, then the methods of teaching 
 should be the methods of life. Man first learnt because he 
 felt a great need, and to know certain things or not know 
 them meant life or death to him. In early times he learnt 
 to know first by doing, by active experiment, by constant 
 trials, and he gradually handed down his experience, as ii 
 was needed, to his successors. Children must in some way 
 follow this path ; in fact they do so outside school, where 
 they acquire their most fundamental and lasting knowledge. 
 If the need is not always there, naturally, it is easy for a teacher 
 to arouse one, but she has to learn to control herself as she 
 follows the children, in the way the early man followed his 
 son in his first hunting experiments, letting him try his own 
 skill and only supplying experience when it was needed. 
 
 Children must make mistakes if they are to learn the real 
 things of hfe. To guard a child from this is to bUnd and 
 cripple him, and send him out unfit for life. Material may 
 appear to be spoilt and time may appear to be wasted, but 
 the appearance is fallacious. By the other method powers 
 are wasted, initiative killed. The discipline will be more of 
 an atmosphere than an achievement, and no class can be in 
 any sense level, but rather a collection of individuals. The 
 question of disciphne forms no special section in this book, it 
 is rather a reSi'lt of following the methods of life as far as the 
 children are concerned, and is implied in the section on the 
 personality of the teacher. 
 
 The sections on reading and writing, and on history and 
 geography, and much of the section on music, are intended 
 largely for the child from seven to eight, though the reading 
 article may imply earlier possibilities. Up to eight the 
 average child's school life should be unbroken, and in one 
 atmosphere. From seven to eight they are, so to speak, 
 changing their skins, they are beginning definitely to master 
 certain difficulties, to show some material and outward pro- 
 gress ; when this stage is complete they are more ready for 
 a new kind of world such as the girls' or boys' school, but 
 they are not girls or boys until they have reached this stage, 
 and they should not be placed in conditions where they are 
 officially or virtually regarded as such. 
 
 In a recently published book, What Is and What Might
 
 12 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Be, by Mr. E. G. Holmes, a Utopian school is sketched 
 where nothing but what is ideal ever seems to happen. 
 We cannot hope or even wish to become Utopians, and 
 according to Lowell " We cannot bring Utopia by force." 
 It is hfe at its best, with all its human possibilities and diffi- 
 culties, that we must aim at reaching, and allow for, in our 
 plans; and we must shun, as we would shun any form of 
 untruth, the highly organized " up to date " school, where 
 there is a glamour perfection as false as it is pernicious. 
 
 But while we may never reach Mr. Holmes' very beautiful 
 but somewhat unreal school, we may hope in time to have 
 more human and homehke schools, beginning with the nursery 
 in those districts where conditions demand the early care of 
 children, and ending with children who have fulfilled the 
 conditions necessary for real development, without undue 
 haste, and ready for the more organized and controlled atmo- 
 sphere of the girls' and boys' school, where it is to be hoped 
 that education will still consist in leading them " to a pure 
 and unsullied, conscious and free representation of the inner 
 law of Divine Unity." 
 
 Henrietta Brown Smith. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 Froebel's Education of Man, Hailmann's translation. Inter. Ed. Series. 
 
 Autobiography. Appleton. 
 Comenius' School of Infancy (Heath's Pedagogical Library). 25. 6d. 
 Pestalozzi's How Gertrude Teaches Her Children (Swan Sonnenschein). 
 The Child's Inheritance. Greville Macdonald. 125. 6d. 
 What Is and What Might Be. E. Holmes. 45. 6d. net. Constable. 
 The School and Society. Dewey. University of Chicago Press. 5s.' 
 The School and the Child. Dewey. Blackie. is. 
 Infant Schools. Salmon & Hindshaw. (First Part.) Longmans 
 
 Green. 45. bd. * 
 
 Articles in Child Life. Geo. Philip & Son. 
 Studies in Childhood. Sully. Longmans, Green. 12s. 6d.
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER 
 
 Education means giving the child the necessary oppor- 
 tunity to develop its best self. Fitness to do this on the part 
 of the educator demands sympathy, insight and power. To 
 become really forceful in the child's highest development 
 makes exacting demands upon those whose life work it is, 
 and the influence of the teacher's personality in this process 
 cannot be over-estimated. 
 
 Personality sums up what we are and includes heritage 
 and individuality, together with the resulting effects of their 
 interaction upon the varied conditions of environment — 
 the great modifiable factor in education. By force in an 
 educational sense is meant an influence, direct or indirect, 
 which induces a re-action of some kind in the organism being 
 operated upon — the child. The force of the teacher becomes 
 operative in inducing desirable and suitable re-actions : 
 first, by improving conditions of environment apart from 
 self ; secondly, by direct, appeal, because she is what she is. 
 From all points of view the study of environment is of deep 
 interest, but especially to those who believe in the vitalizing 
 power of the personal force, a force which can make livable, 
 and even helpful, an environment of a seemingly most hope- 
 less type. To gauge this influence, to state exactly in what 
 it consists, is difficult, because as a force it is so impalpable, 
 so unconscious, so much a part of one's everyday life that 
 one passes it by. 
 
 At times, however, there crosses one's path a nature of 
 so striking and vivid a type that its appeal is insistent, and 
 demands recognition. Then it is that we feel the meaning of 
 the personal element. The far-reaching effect of personaHty 
 has been fully recognized in the past, but its general recogni- 
 tion as a vivifying power in helping the best in us to become 
 better, has not been so widely accepted. To most of us has 
 come the expeiience of contact with one of so uplifting and 
 inspiring a nature, that even after the lapse of years, the
 
 14 EDICATION BY LIFE 
 
 recall of that influence has been to impel to deeper and fuller 
 effort. Others may have touched one's life for just an hour 
 or two, but that passing touch has left an ineffaceable record, 
 kindling to finer issues some undreamt of power within our- 
 selves. Life's great teachers have been those who have be- 
 gotten within the sphere of their influence an unquenchable 
 hunger for goodness, truth and beauty. 
 
 Occasionally power of this kind is met with in the class- 
 room, when the gifted teacher makes everything of living 
 service to the chidl. Nothing must stand in the way of 
 helping to make us more worthy of our work. The enrich- 
 ment of personality is an absolute duty, possible to all, even 
 to the dull, the commonplace. No one can be either if filled 
 with the desire to be of the greatest service to the children. 
 To be so actuated dignifies outlook and makes the rut of the 
 commonplace impossible, and such genuine feeling at the 
 back of effort may be safely trusted to find a right means of 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Belief in the unconscious influence of taste by surroundings 
 demands the improvement of environment in all ways ; the 
 utmost would be done to render the children more sensitively 
 responsive to beauty, and hurt by the harmful and ugly things 
 of life. Especially would attention be directed to elevate 
 the standard of cleanliness, the hunger for fresh air, and an 
 appreciation of and desire for order and neatness in one's 
 self and one's immediate surroundings. The school or class- 
 room reflects the teacher — its- freshness, homeliness, comfort 
 and tasteful arrangements indicate what she is. This is the 
 outcome of absolute belief in the vital importance of what 
 is being attempted, coupled with a personality so discriminat- 
 ing and intelligent, as to realize the possibilities of the environ- 
 ment within its control. Every inducement is there, which 
 makes for sensitiveness of response. 
 
 1 f we agree that each one of us is an unconsciously modifying 
 influence in hfe, it naturally follows that each should con- 
 sider by what means that influence can be made of greater 
 value to the community as a whole, particularly so by those 
 who are brought into such close relationship with the young. 
 " A spirit communicated is a perpetual blessing. The best 
 teachers cHmb beyond teaching to the plane of Art. It is 
 themselves and what is best in themselves that they com- 
 municate. Every man or woman is one of mankintl's dear 
 possessions, to his or her just brain or kind heart and active
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER 15 
 
 hands, mankind entrusts some of its hopes for the future ; he 
 or she is a possible well spring of good acts and source of 
 blessings to the race." 
 
 This brings us to the direct appeal. That appeal which 
 emanates from the teacher because of the personal touch — 
 that subtle something which begets in those coming under its 
 sway an unconscious reflection of itself. The personalities 
 with whom we are brought into daily contact offer material 
 for study which is both valuable and interesting, valuable as 
 throwing light upon the effect of personal influence upon 
 children. 
 
 The following notes taken from actual experience may 
 illustrate this. 
 
 A. is the calm, self-reliant, gentle teacher, full of enthusiasm 
 for her work, heedless of self, devoted to the children whose 
 good points she always discovers and makes the best of. 
 She has them really in the hollow of her hand. Their respect 
 and love for her never fails, and it lasts even into manhood 
 and womanhood. 
 
 B. is the born leader, clever, keen, richly endowed with the 
 power of sympathy and human appeal. A sense of humour 
 that is irresistible, and with all this, ability to command and 
 a sufficiency of force and good sense to carry her followers 
 intelligently along. There is devotion and slavish following, 
 but this is the misfortune rather than the fault of such a 
 leader. 
 
 C. is another born leader, clever and keen in many ways, 
 but full of conceit and an overpowering belief in self. Lacking 
 in breadth, only able to see things from one point of view. 
 A decided autocrat in government. Obtains good immediate 
 superficial results, but holds and trains with such a tight 
 hand that her work shows nothing suggestive of a fuller life 
 ahead ; rather is there a tendency to distaste for the very 
 things in which such apparently good work is being done, and 
 an intention on the part of the workers to have a good time 
 as soon as they are unfettered. 
 
 D. is a calm, self-reliant nature ; clever, restrained, most 
 patient. A slave to duty and excellence, whose work with 
 the children is always more for the future than the present. 
 Influence a matter of very slow growth, but abiding in its 
 nature. Her pupils always respect her, but few of them 
 realize what she has been to them until they have left school 
 some distance behind.
 
 i6 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 E. is enthusiastic, interesting, and in certain ways, capable,- 
 but erratic and unstable, sustained effort is not easy to her. 
 constantly getting into difficulties because of this and her 
 lack of method. Influence strong with children at the mo- 
 ment, but not abiding. 
 
 F. Not clever, diffident of her own power, absolutely honest 
 and true, most persistent, succeeds because of her doggedness, 
 charming in many ways, and very appealing to children. 
 
 Personality shows itself in manner and bearing which should 
 be its unconscious expression. When it is not, when there is 
 the faintest trace of artificiality or insincerity, then something 
 is wron?, and the influence or lack of it upon the children is 
 proportionately bad. The majority of young teachers would do 
 well to give this side of their work more attention than they 
 do. Too many are either on stilts, so superior that they never 
 get near enough to the children in sympathy to know much 
 about them, or to be of any real use to them, or so apologetic, 
 so flabby, so weak, that they fail to inspire with confidence 
 or anything strong and stimulating. The superior people 
 must get off their stilts and be natural. The apologetic must 
 stiffen and try to cultivate that habit of self-forgetfulness 
 which thinks only of the work. If the young teacher feels 
 the sanctity of her work, that will give her the right kind of 
 bearing. Daily experiences must be broad, inspiring and 
 educative, permeated throughout with a thoughtful regard 
 for the child's future good. Respect, admiration and belief 
 in the teacher should deepen with closer intercourse, and 
 they do deepen if the teacher is honestly doing her best. 
 Devotion to duty, and unselfish regard for the welfare of 
 the child, tells, although due recognition may never be made 
 to the doer. To prepare for this work and to maintain the 
 ideal with which one starts is not easy. There are frequent 
 disheartenments. One rarely sees any result for one's best 
 effort, and visible results are grateful to all. But the teacher 
 has to put much of that aside, and sustain herself with the 
 bcUef that nothing good is ever ineffective or ever lost. \\ ith 
 that conviction, it is possible to be a happy worker without 
 regard for results. This possibility is kept alive in us in all 
 sorts of ways, depending largely upon tin; needs of our indivi- 
 dual natures. No two people are influenced or affected in 
 quite the same way, or by the same stimulus, and it is neces- 
 sary to find the things in life which make the highest appeal 
 to us, and keep alive that steadfast belief in the value and
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER 17 
 
 purpose of what we are doing. We want to be responsive 
 to the best, to be fitting and worthy of the privilege of service. 
 
 This must be the constant aim. " The crowning grace of 
 personahty is in the power to invest the conditions of hfe 
 with meanings emanating from ourselves." Right choice of 
 the source of enrichment is not always the easy thing it would 
 seem to be. Just as " Each child must find his own mode ol 
 expression," so the teacher must find his or her own mode of 
 inspiration. Youth is the time of optimisin and undaunted 
 beHef in possibility, and it is just as hard to realize one's 
 hmitations then, as it is later to do all that one sets out to do. 
 Because of this, it sometimes happens that time and energy 
 are both misspent in trying to acquire a taste that is con- 
 sidered desirable in the main, but which makes no strong 
 personal appeal. We need courage and wisdom. The courage 
 that insists on being true to one's own individual needs and 
 the wisdom to recognize limitations, and to put aside the 
 apparently unattainable. " To be what we are and to become 
 what we are capable of becoming is the only aim of Hfe." 
 All those influences which make for strength and purpose in 
 action, for lofty ideals, and for readiness of response to truth 
 and beauty, are essentials in the deepening of personahty. 
 The initial step in this process, the deepening of the personality 
 of the teacher, demands that one should fall in love with one's 
 work. Its importance must overshadow all else, its value 
 must stand out clearly as the most desirable thing in life. 
 This attitude of aspiration and desire renders welcome any 
 training, however arduous, for approximate approach to the 
 ideal. For equipment in personal fitness, the first and most 
 essential factor would be the means to be taken for the strength- 
 ening of character. There must be due recognition of the 
 moral law, acquirement of self-control, and cheerful response 
 to the call of duty. 
 
 The recognition of the moral law, and the means to be 
 employed for its fulfilment, is of unique importance in one's 
 deahngs with children. " Between educator and pupil, 
 between request and obedience, there should insensibly rule 
 a third something to which educator and pupil are equally 
 subject. This third something is the right, the best. The 
 child has a very keen feeling, and rarely fails to distinguish 
 whether what the educator or father says or requests is 
 personal or arbitrary, or whether it is expressed by him as a 
 general law or necessity." Any failure on our part to recog- 
 
 c
 
 i8 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 nize this, and to live in harmony with its teaching, lessens 
 our value as educators. It is never unwise to apologize to 
 a child or to a class when hastiness in temper or judgment has 
 made one unjust. Children are very generous on such occa- 
 sions, and are alwa3's ready to go half-way to meet one. 
 
 Social service living with and for others is another means 
 of development in the personal hfe. Such service broadens 
 sympathy because it brings one into closer touch with human 
 needs and failings. It should make insight keener and anxiety 
 greater for the welfare of the children. The difficulties of 
 life are more real, and the disciplinary value of such work 
 is great. It makes for efficiency in thought and action. No 
 member of a community can live the life fully without gaining 
 power on the side of insight, discriminating judgment and 
 balanced action. 
 
 In the attempt to enrich the personal life, and make the 
 setting more worthy, care must be taken to keep a sensible 
 balance between work and leisure. The over-zealous are 
 inclined to use up more energy than can be afforded, and 
 physically to lower their standard of efficiency, which makes 
 them practically less fit to do well the work they have most 
 at heart. 
 
 On the other hand there are the slack people, and quite a 
 good number of them. Such are inchned when their course 
 of training is done with, to settle down and just be satisfied 
 with what they have — a hand to mouth policy which is fatal 
 to good work. It must never be forgotten that teaching is 
 an organic process, and is influenced by the developing forces 
 which underhe all vital activity. To stand still is impossible 
 — one must do one of two things — go on or go back. So that 
 it is imperative to take advantage of all the opportunities 
 within reach ; but it is equally imperative to do so with 
 reasonableness and good sense. The wise use of opportunity 
 means training one's self to see things in right perspective, 
 to have a due sense of proportion and fitness. This gives a 
 well balanced outlook which is of priceless value to the teacher. 
 
 A child's questions relative to motive and conduct make 
 severe demands upon readiness of thought, and the power of 
 bringing conflicting elements into right focus. What, for 
 example, is the right thing to do when a sinall child asks, 
 " Why may 1 play ludo in the drawing-room on Sunday 
 when my brother may not play croquet on the lawn ? " In 
 treating such a question as this the teacher must think of the
 
 THE PERSONALITY OF THE TEACHER 19 
 
 relationship of the parent to the child, and do and say nothing 
 that will in any sense lessen the child's respect for father and 
 mother. The child has to be satisfied, and the teacher has 
 to give an answer that shall be in harmony witli the law of 
 right. Personality largely determines how this shall be done. 
 The child's difficulties are considerably lessened when the 
 teacher's point of view is sufficiently intelUgent, broad and 
 sympathetic to include that of the child. The question of 
 government is equally influenced. When to see and when 
 not to see are matters of detail in class management, largely 
 dependent upon outlook. The more we have thought and 
 read and experienced, the less Ukely are we to make mistakes. 
 In dealing with rewards and punishments, in seizing the 
 opportunity of the moment for furnishing experiences that 
 will last, wisdom in meeting any of these conditions is largely 
 the outcome of that power which solves the problems of the 
 moment on a basis of culture and experience. 
 
 The exercise of personality is fraught with possible danger, 
 both to teacher and taught. Strength of character is accom- 
 panied by a sense of power, the use of which is both natural 
 and enjoyable, and in this pleasure is its temptation. The 
 teacher may become an autocrat in government — superior 
 and opinionated, scornful of those with less strength, impa- 
 tient and irritable when in contact with opposition, cruel 
 even to the sensitive in her manifestation of that impatience, 
 and conceited. 
 
 The working conditions of a teacher's life have in them 
 elements conducive to the development of these unfortunate 
 traits. There is the constant attitude of authority, which is 
 decidedly bad ; then we are dealing with minors, who are 
 dependent in many ways upon us, and are, for the most part, 
 at our mercy. All this gives to the position a fictitious value. 
 Hence it is absolutely essential to keep a strong check upon 
 the use of this power, and to try to be in right perspective. 
 
 Upon the child the effect of dominating power, unless 
 wisely used, is even more disastrous. Many strong natures 
 do harm thio'igh sheer thoughtlessness. It has never occurred 
 to them to consider what effect they may have upon the 
 children whom they are trying to educate. The kind of 
 domination varies with the individual, but of whatever type, 
 unless used with care, it harms the children, because it weakens 
 their attitude in some form or another, and tends to make 
 them less able, less confident, less self-reliant. The children
 
 20 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 must do their own thinking, formulate their own judgments, 
 and be as free and independent as is consistent with com- 
 munity life. 
 
 It is a great temptation to a forceful teacher to let the 
 children rely too much upon her. As a result of this, they 
 acquire a habit of looking for a mental and moral prop. The 
 enormity of this is rarely felt until adult life is reached, when 
 the ability to think and act for one's self should be fully 
 matured, but in many instances is lamentably wanting, be- 
 cause of this cripphng domination in early life. Nobody 
 means to do this, but few of us grasp the importance of intel- 
 lectual and moral freedom for the child. We are too eager 
 to hasten development on lines that seem good to us, forget- 
 ting the fact that the child must develop along the lines of 
 its own peculiar needs. Any attempt to force it in an opposite 
 direction ends in weakness or disaster. The personal element 
 must never, under any circumstances whatsoever, swamp 
 individuahty. 
 
 So much for the forceful people. To those less strikingly 
 effective — and there are many such — might one suggest 
 that earnestness and beUef in our high calling is one of the 
 best means of gaining efficiency and power ? Be really 
 interested in what you are doing, and show that interest. 
 Use your own judgment, get hold of principles, and think out 
 their application in your own way. The effort involved in 
 all this produces a stronger mental attitude, and begets a 
 sense of capability and power — an excellent antidote for 
 ineffectiveness. If you possess any gift — a cheerful habit of 
 mind, a more than usual care for orderliness, both of mind 
 and the material things of the class-room — use it. By its 
 exercise you become stronger and of more value. Whatever 
 your gift, cultivate it, make it of use to your children. Do 
 not be afraid of such use because it may appear to you to 
 be trivial or outside of the curriculum. The use of a gift 
 which you yourself realize, will help you to self confidence, 
 and will react on your work with the children for efficiency 
 and enjoyment. 
 
 E. M. MiNHINNICK.
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND RELIGIOUS 
 
 DEVELOPMENT 
 
 \\'hen we speak of religious teaching or of religious training, 
 we usually mean religious instruction only. As a rule, for 
 younger children this consists in the telhng or reading of 
 Bible stories, the repetition of hymns and Bible texts, and 
 possibly of some catechism. Any discussion on the subject 
 is apt to confine itself to the right choice of these to suit 
 different ages or stages. 
 
 Before we come to this, one question, it seems to me, ought 
 to .be honestly faced and honestly answered. In all other 
 directions we are nowadays agreed, that the proper proceed- 
 ing is to provide right conditions for development. We give 
 much thought to the natural tendencies through which it 
 is possible to guide development, in what we consider to be 
 the right direction. Now the question is, whether we are 
 to deal with religious teaching in the same way, or whether, 
 in this particular subject, we are to go on putting before 
 children what we know they cannot yet understand, but 
 what we hope they will find valuable in after days. 
 
 It is surely a mistake to treat what, we are all agreed, is 
 the most important subject of all, according to methods 
 which in all other subjects are now considered ineffective. 
 
 It is no easy task to decide what material has most religious 
 value for little children. Most writers refer to this as a diffi- 
 cult point, and leave it unsolved. In religious teaching, 
 little help can be gained from following the course of race- 
 development, though the Herbartians have attempted it in 
 a half-hearted way. To do so is to ignore Froebel's warning 
 that the child is the child of the present as well as of the 
 past, it is to ignore the force of the suggestions which pour 
 in upon him from his surroundings. 
 
 We cannot let our children invent a terrible Being to 
 account for the thunder. We do not wish them to believe 
 in Thor and his chariot, except with the " conscious self- 
 
 21
 
 22 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 delusion " which is said to underlie art. Nor is it wise to 
 let them believe that in the thunder, which the instinct of 
 self-preservation causes them to dread, they hear the voice 
 of God. We cannot let them imagine beings of superior 
 strength who must be propitiated. Though children are 
 ready enough to personify the sun, the wind and other natural 
 phenomena ; though they may often treat a doll or a favourite 
 stone as a fetish, yet such occurrences have nothing to do 
 with the religious life of a modern child under ordinary con- 
 ditions. It is possible that such things might assume different 
 proportions in the case of a child from whom all religious 
 teaching was carefully withheld. This, however, is hardly 
 possible, for every child sees churches, hears church bells, 
 and asks questions, and from the most meagre of answers 
 can construct for himself something undreamt of by primitive 
 man. 
 
 Dr. Hayward, in his Reform of Moral and Biblical Educa- 
 tion, follows the Herbartian ZiUer in suggesting, only as he 
 says tentatively, certain fairy tales as the right instruction 
 material for children under seven. He also follows Ziller 
 in giving as the psychological principle to be kept in vie.\ : 
 " That the teacher's chief duty at this stage is to kindle 
 the imagination, for the moral judgment of the child is 
 undeveloped, and the teacher should not try to force it 
 prematurely." For his second stage, and here he tells us 
 he speaks with confidence, the psychological principle to be 
 kept in view is, " That the special moral interests of children 
 at tiiis stage do and ought to centre round duties within the 
 family circle." 
 
 There is something strange in this order. It seems 
 somewhat extraordinary that the family circle is not con- 
 sidered in the case of the younger children. The fairytales 
 and the other material spoken of, such as JEsop's Fables 
 and certain specified fairy tales, not only have no religious 
 value, but many of them are far beyond the range of ideas 
 of a young child. The error here seems to be somewhat 
 fundamental, namely, the taking for granted that morality 
 precedes religion, which is as untrue in the case of children 
 as it is of primitive men. 
 
 In Froebel's Training Course the teachers were to be 
 " trained to the care and observation of the earliest germs 
 of the religious instinct in man," and this is surely the right 
 course to pursue.
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 23 
 
 If we take this view we shall probably agree that religion, 
 religious development and religious training neither can nor 
 ought to be confined to a set period per week or per day. 
 There is far too much direct religious instruction given to children. 
 It must re(]uire real genius to give a Bible lesson to the same 
 children every morning without letting it become a matter 
 of routine wJiich fails to excite any emotion. 
 
 We do not always reahze where the religious element 
 ought to come in. We do not, for instance, bring reverence 
 into our Nature lessons as we ought to do. It is Artliur 
 Thomson who, speaking of the time when our forefathers 
 held the oak as an emblem of what was sacred and heard 
 God speak when it rustled, adds : "We seem to go to the 
 other extreme now, for we pass a noble oak tree without 
 looking at it." Froebelians at least will not agree with one 
 statement in Miss Ayres' helpful Suggestion for a Syllabus 
 in Religious Teaching, where she speaks of the aim of the 
 religious course being " to bring the child into relation with 
 God through His works," and then says that " this aim and 
 that of Nature teaching are quite distinct." 
 
 No one except Froebel, has, so far as I know, given any- 
 thing like a full account of the beginnings of religious develop- 
 ment in a child. His accounts seems quite in accordance 
 with modern psychological ideas, and we may with much 
 profit consider what he had to say on a subject to which he 
 attached the utmost importance. 
 
 To Froebel " religion is the endeavour to raise into clear 
 knowledge the feeling that originally the spiritual se^f of men 
 is one with God." Religious instruction, he says, " quickens, 
 confirms and explains the feehng that man's self, his mir.d 
 and spirit proceed from God ; it gives an insight into the 
 being and working of God, into the relation of God to man, 
 it apphes this knowledge to life and to the progressive develop- 
 ment of mankind." 
 
 To the question, \^'hen does rehgious development begin ? 
 he answers that as with the spring to life of seed or plant 
 it is there long before it is outwardly visible, and he protests 
 against the frequent " it is much too early." It is the " how," 
 not only the " when," he tells us to consider. StiU he gives 
 us help in recognizing the earliest stages. 
 
 I. The very beginning he finds in the relations between 
 the child and the parents : " This feeling of community first 
 uniting the child with mother, father, brothers and sisters . . .
 
 24 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 is the very first germ of all true religions spirit, of all real yearning 
 for perfect union with the Eternal." 
 
 2. This beginning is fostered by the religious, that is the 
 reverent atmosphere of the home, which, says Froebel, children 
 understand with the heart, not by the thought. And surely 
 this is really true, though it may not be expressed in exact 
 psychological terms. Emotion is communicated with httle 
 need for thought, and however enhghtened it maybe, religion 
 to be religion must be largely an emotion. 
 
 3. Froebel considers also the gesture of reverence, the 
 closed eyes, bowed head and folded hands, usually taught 
 to Httle children, " the outward appearance of gathering 
 together the innermost force of life." 
 
 4. Very early, too, begins the child's " life with Nature 
 and with the fair silent things of Nature." In the Mother 
 Songs, the baby in its mother's arms is told that a kind but 
 unseen spirit put into the flowers the colour and sweetness 
 which give him so much pleasure. " Some one put it there 
 for baby, some one baby cannot see." So the sun sends its 
 hght to please the child, the moon and stars love him : " Love 
 is what they wish to show," says Froebel. " In Nature's 
 every word God's own Father voice is heard," and as the 
 child looks at the starry sky he is to feel the Being of its 
 Creator. The wind again is a great Force unseen, effects 
 only can be seen. 
 
 Nor is this all mere sentiment ; to Froebel as to Goethe 
 the Time Spirit " weaves for God the garment " we see 
 him by, and this he desires to put before a child in such form 
 as to make appreciation possible. 
 
 5. Akin to the importance of the home atmosphere is the 
 joining in the religious life of others. " The coming of people 
 together in an assembly " attracts the child, and his pleasure 
 in an occasional church going arises " from the speaking and 
 singing being done by all . . . it is the entrance in a common 
 life that makes him enjoy going to church." Those who 
 have to deal with young children would do well to notice 
 how Froebel's " mother " answers her child's questions about 
 church going " out of the range of his own experience, feelings, 
 and ideas, his own intellectual development and necessities." 
 He is told tliat there he will learn " Why flowers bloom and 
 birdies sing, And why we still remember Christmas Day, And 
 why you feel so happy when you play >A'ith flowers and little 
 lambs in spring : Or see the moon and stars and sunset-glow."
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 25 
 
 He is to be told, too, of the music of the organ, deep and 
 grand. 
 
 6. Another fundamental note is the interdependence of 
 the community and the inter-relations of the whole universe. 
 The family comes first ; it " affords the first opportunity for 
 the child to notice the bond whereby humanity's life is bound 
 up together." The family is " more than school and church." 
 But the baby is taught, too, that he has to thank Jenny the 
 cook, and Peter who mows the grass for the cow: " Stronger 
 grows my baby tender by the service people render ! " When- 
 ever opportunity occurs, the mother is told to " make this 
 inner dependence of life clear and impressive, until you come 
 to the last ring that holds all the rest, God's Father love for 
 all." The baker must have flour, the miller must have corn, 
 " the field can yield no crop if nature does not work towards 
 it, if God did not place in her power and material, if His love 
 did not guide everything to its fulfilment." But, Froebel 
 says to the mother, " it is not directly and at one blow that 
 you can make this clear, it must come about with very gentle 
 steps. The way lies through the imaginative and emotional 
 observation of nature and of man's Hfe, and by expressing 
 by representation what he thus takes in." So the child's 
 sympathy is aroused by the helplessness of the young birds, 
 and his own relation to his mother is shown to him " in the 
 looking glass of outer life," as he watches the mother bird 
 caring for her young, and he turns to her with the cry of how 
 he loves her. 
 
 7. And then immediately follows the necessity for expres- 
 sion : " For even a child's love, left unsought, unfostered, 
 droops and dies away." 
 
 Froebel does not omit the necessity for expression in words. 
 He says little of prayers for very little children, but he does 
 say of the age of six : " At this juncture it is most beneficial, 
 strengthening and uphfting for the child to receive words, 
 a language for his feehngs, that these may not be stifled and 
 vanish away for lack of expression." \Vhat he emphasises 
 here is that " the words must give expression to what is 
 already in the boy's soul, he must not be expected to give 
 life to them." 
 
 In the verses describing the ideal child, " The mother 
 kissed upon his brow her blessing, Then his love for her ex- 
 pressing. Off he starts his mother serving, All he can do she's 
 deserving." As the child sees flowers and plants and animals
 
 26 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 do their part, so he too " even as a child should fulfil his calling ; 
 every age has its duties, and duties are not burdens. Every 
 healthy child likes doing his small duties, and the consciousness 
 of duty done gives independence. See how happy he is in 
 this feehng, he feels his i.inship with you thereby." 
 
 8. This takes us straight to the desire for approbation 
 from others, and finally to desire of approval from the voice 
 \\athin, " the fore-runner of one-ness even with the highest." 
 For the child, says Froebel, " must be roused to good by 
 inclination, love and respect, through the opinion of others 
 about him." The Clnistian religion is the recognition of the 
 true Fatherhood of God, and " the child attains true sonship 
 only by making the father's nature and aspirations the motives 
 for all his thoughts and actions. . . . Therefore Jesus is 
 the first-bom of God." 
 
 9. Froebel speaks also of the necessity for presenting true 
 ideals and for avoiding half-truths. Instead of teaching 
 that " the good will be happy," meaning an inward happiness 
 which is not yet plain to the child, let us rather, he says, show 
 that " whoever truly seeks the good must needs expose him- 
 self to a life of outer anxiety and care. . . . The conscious- 
 ness of having hved worthily should be our highest reward 
 ... we ought to hft and strengthen human nature, but we 
 degrade and weaken it when we seek to lead it to good conduct 
 by a bait, even if this bait beckons to a future world." 
 
 We have, then, to consider in more or less detail how we 
 can best help religious development by fostering such early 
 beginnings. 
 
 Right relations between mother and child are usually, we 
 thankfully recognize, provided for by Nature, though by 
 friendly talks, and meetings for parents, the teacher can 
 often help to a fuller understanding of child nature and its 
 needs. Those teachers whose work lies among the ciiildren of 
 worthless parents often do most noble work in the attempt to 
 supply the elements of sympathy and tenderness which are 
 lacking in the homes. 
 
 To create a religious or a reverent atmospliere in the home 
 is out of our power, but we can at least see to it that this exists 
 in the school. First of all, the reverence must be in the 
 teacher, and it must be real, not conventional. The teacher 
 who is more occupied in seeing that the children keep their 
 eyes closed, while an opening prayer is said or sung, than
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 27 
 
 she is in asking God's help in her own life work, can create no 
 right feehng. One hears of teachers, earnest no doubt, but 
 sadly mistaken, even interrupting the " Our Father " by 
 which she should be consecrating her own day, to call naughty 
 children to order. There would probably be no disorder if 
 the teacher's soul were in her prayer, but if any should arise, 
 it would surely be better to call the un-impressed child apart 
 and tell him gently, not angrily, how she herself feels about 
 speaking direct to God, and that not God Himself can help 
 him unless he wants that help and tries to get it. 
 
 If children have the chance of feeling that clergyman or 
 priest, parent or teacher is speaking simply and straight to a 
 Great Unseen, that perhaps is the deepest religious lesson 
 they can receive. It should be no lesson of fear, but one of 
 faith in the Unseen : nay, it is more than a lesson ; as those of 
 us can testify who remember such a happening in very early 
 days, it is an experience. 
 
 This school opening will take different forms according to 
 the individuaUty of the teacher. With young children it 
 should always be short, but that is no reason why it sliould 
 be unimpressive. Some teachers will have prayers only in 
 the form of hymns, the meaning of which is plain to the chil- 
 dren. Some, again, will have the Lord's Prayer repeated, 
 however little the children may understand of words whose 
 full meaning few of us may ever learn, with the desire that 
 it may be associated with the child's earliest recollections. 
 Some will read or repeat a verse or verses which seem to them 
 appropriate, some will extract the simplest of ethical or 
 religious lessons from the words of the hymn. It is not at 
 all necessary that the proceeding should be stereotyped, 
 but it must be earnest. 
 
 It may be a help to some to hear of an experiment made 
 lately in letting children make up a prayer for themselves. 
 The opportunity arose at our little Harvest Festival, when 
 the children were asked if they would hke to make up a prayer 
 of thanks for themselves. They were told to think it over 
 by themselves. Next morning a little girl's hand went up, 
 " I've thought of something for the prayer. Thank God for 
 fathers, mothers and brothers." She, of course, had no 
 sisters, but other relatives were promptly suggested and we 
 settled on, " brothers and sisters and all our friends." For 
 several days there was a frequent, " I've thought of something 
 more for the prayer." Once it was " Fred (an old boy) and
 
 28 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 me was talking about it in bed, and Fred thinks we should 
 say. Thank God for the moon and stars." It was a very small 
 boy who insisted on having " the evening star " as well as 
 " all the stars," and one still smaller who desired " our houses " 
 as well as " our nice homes." The result is given as an 
 example of what is in the minds of children. It should cer- 
 tainly not be handed on to other children. My only con- 
 tribution was to suggest that we should put like subjects 
 together, and that after thanks we should think of doing. 
 The children suggested, " Help us to be kind to each other 
 in the playground," and I said it seemed a pity to stop being 
 kind when we came indoors. I beheve I was wrong, and that 
 the children themselves knew best where the temptation 
 was strongest. The language is the children's own : " Thank 
 God for fathers and mothers, for brothers and sisters and all 
 our friends. Thank God for the earth and for the harvest, 
 and for the corn and for our food. Thank God for our not 
 being so poor as some people are. Thank God for the winter 
 and summer. Thank the Lord for the sunshine. Thank 
 God for the moon and the stars and the evening star, and for 
 the trees and the flowers. Thank God for our nice homes and 
 for our houses, and for our school and the teachers. Thank 
 God for the sea and for the sand. Thank God for making 
 Christmas come. Thank God for making birthdays come and 
 for the toys we get." (Response) "Help us to be kind to each 
 other all day long." 
 
 Whatever is done, the little ceremony must be reverent. 
 That it may be so, for the children it must be brief, and for 
 the teacher it must be an act of worship. Only if she herself 
 enters into it, can the gesture of reverence count at all, only 
 then can the feehng of a common hfe under one great Father 
 enter the minds of the children. 
 
 We can with the youngest have the moment that is 
 sacred, set apart. But the minds of children are not set in 
 conventional grooves, and they do not keep to set times and 
 seasons for talking on religious matters. Their remarks, 
 references and questions come at all sort of unexpected mo- 
 ments. The sayings, which to our sophisticated ears sound 
 so quaint, may occasion smiles when the children are not 
 present. But at the moment, the simphcity and directness 
 of the child must be met by an equal simplicity and directness 
 on the part of tlie teacher. There should be no sanctimonious 
 lengthening of face when the name of God is introduced ;
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 29 
 
 but that teacher who feels inclined to laugh at a child is only 
 an outsider, she is not one with her children, nor is her sense 
 of reverence very real. 
 
 We can learn from such teachers as Kingsley or George 
 ]\Iacdonald, how real reverence may underlie childlike thought 
 or attitude. The verses, " Where do you come from, Baby 
 dear? " and indeed the whole story At the Back of the North 
 Wind, in which they occur, breathe a spirit which it is only 
 possible to describe by some such expression as reverent 
 playfulness. Kingsley's " Water Babies " has the same tone; 
 and that Froebel well understood this, is shown in such 
 a passage as that in which he refers to children saying grace 
 over their toy feast. " Do not disturb them," he writes, 
 " but rather avoid noticing it, if you cannot identify yourself 
 with the charm that underhes it. It is no drawing down of 
 the sacred into outer life, it is the germ which gives the outer 
 actions of hfe their meaning and consecration. For how is 
 your child to cultivate innocently a vital feeling for what 
 is holy if you will not grant that it takes form for him in all 
 its purity even in his innocent games ? But it must be done, 
 in this innocence, called forth unsummoned from the sacred- 
 ness of childhood's Hfe and not. for show." 
 
 Those teachers of little children, who are obliged to spend 
 the first half hour of each day on a so-called Bible lesson, 
 would do well to occupy most of the time in the teaching 
 and singing of suitable hymns. This is better than spoiling 
 beautiful Bible stories by teUing them too early and making 
 them matters of routine. 
 
 Here, then, we reach naturally the question of providing 
 children with words by which they can express their feehngs. 
 This is no easy matter. 
 
 It is impossible for us always to know why certain children 
 are so fond of certain hymns, especially as these seem at times 
 most unsuitable. My own favourite at a very early age began, 
 " I once was a stranger to grace and to God, I knew not my 
 danger, I felt not my load." The general tenour of the words 
 affected me not a whit, the charm lay in the last line of each 
 of its many verses, where the words " Jehovah Tsidkenu " 
 occurred. Those strange sounding words seemed to me most 
 solemn and beautiful, and it was no small pleasure to find 
 that R. L. Stevenson had had the same experience. On the 
 other hand, hymns specially written for children may entirely 
 fail of their purpose. One child said, " My favourite hymn
 
 30 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 is the one about the hoods and laces," and this turned out to 
 be, " For He is our childhood's pattern." \\ hether she 
 thought tlie hymn referred to the hood she wore, and tlie 
 pattern of the lace on her pinafore no one knows; but if so, 
 an apparently suitable and beautiful hymn was somewhat 
 useless. Most children have wondered why a green hill 
 should have a city wall, and why a grave the same size as 
 their beds is particularly to be dreaded. One child disliked 
 that hymn because she supposed it to convey a hint that 
 even children die, that little graves do exist. 
 
 It is clear that we cannot always avoid misconception, 
 and the mere inversion of the sentence which is necessary to 
 rhythm is a stumbling block. We should not, however, try 
 to limit the words of all hymns to such words as we imagine 
 they can grasp. What we must do is to teach carefully in 
 order to make sure that the words have some meaning, and 
 that the meaning is of a religious value. Even if children 
 could understand it, they should not look upon themselves 
 as simple : " Pity my simphcity " is written from the adult 
 standpoint, it is not a child's prayer. He who said, " Except 
 ye become as little children " respected. He did not pity a 
 child's simphcity. 
 
 In such a hymn as " God, who hath made the daisies," 
 the smallest child is associating God, the great Father of all, 
 with the daisies that all may pluck and enjoy. He knows 
 that God made the daisies, and that he is giving thanks for 
 the pleasure they bring to him. Even here the second verse, 
 " Tho' we are young and simple. In praise we may be bold," 
 could well be omitted, and we must take care to explain. 
 " Suffer the httle children." 
 
 The best collection of hymns for children that I have seen 
 is C iild Songs for Primary Departments, edited by Carey 
 Bonner (Pilgrim Press). Both words and ideas of the two 
 following are childlike and are not introspective : — 
 
 God, whose name is Love, 
 
 Little ones are we, 
 Listen to the hymn 
 
 Which we sing to Thee. 
 
 Help us to be good, 
 
 Always kind and true 
 In the games we play. 
 
 And the work we do.
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 31 
 
 Bless us every one 
 
 Singing here to Thee, 
 God, whose name is Love, 
 
 Loving may we be. 
 
 The other is still more simple : — 
 
 " Thank you ! " for the world so sweet, 
 " Thank you ! " for the food we eat, 
 " Thank you ! " for the birds that sing, 
 " Thank you ! " God, for everything. 
 
 One word as to the teaching of the hymn once it is chosen, 
 for there is no doubt that hymns should be carefully taught. 
 Careful teaching does not necessarily mean drill in accurate 
 repetition. With the youngest children it is better for the 
 teacher to sing the words till the children pick them up, and 
 join in of their own accord, chiming in at first as children 
 do, with the latter bit of each Hne. It may be as well to let 
 the children say over the words at first, to see that they 
 have caught them correctly, but anything like drill should 
 be avoided ; the singing should be pure pleasure. 
 
 All through the day, everything which fosters the social 
 instinct, which deepens the feeling of community, has a reli- 
 gious bearing. All little acts of helpfulness and kindness, 
 all signs of consideration for others, should be encouraged. 
 The desire to help others arises very early : "So draw we 
 nearer day by day, each to his brother, all to God." Not 
 that children ought to be praised for every right action, but 
 without the occasional " That's right ! " to the child who 
 is helping the weaker or controlling himself, no standard 
 would be set up. And real efforts to be unselfish or courageous 
 ought to be noticed, though an approving look may be quite 
 enough. Virtue, some writer has said, thrives best in a 
 bracing atmosphere, where right action is taken for granted. 
 
 As to the child's " life with Nature, and with the fair silent 
 things of Nature," as Froebel puts it, it is surely time for us 
 to realize more fully that our Nature Lesson is part, and no 
 small part, of our religious instruction. It is because we do 
 n<jt yet acknowledge that God can and does speak to us all, 
 and especially to children, in clearer ways than the one way of 
 the written word, that Miss Lee {Neie) Methods in the Junior 
 Sunday School) has felt obliged to hide away in an appendix 
 what her knowledge of child nature tells her is the mcjst suit- 
 able religious teaching for them. It is probably in the same 
 way that Miss Ayres {Suggestions for a Syllabus in Religious
 
 32 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Teaching) suggests that much of the Nature teaching may 
 be contil.ited with the year's course of religious instruction. 
 The fact is, tliat we must correlate our religious instruction 
 with our Nature teaching if we correlate at all. We have 
 no choice. God spoke and speaks to man through Nature 
 long before He spoke, as He still speaks, through human 
 language. Springtime and harvest come in due season, and 
 bring in their wake our hymns of praise and thankfulness. 
 Man had to rejoice in the warmth and safety brought by the 
 sun's return, before he could say, " God is Light, and in Him 
 is no darkness at all." He had to Hve in a thirsty land before 
 he could write of the shadow of a great rock and of the waters 
 of life. 
 
 It is surely plain that if learning to know the Great Father 
 through His works is the end of our Nature teaching, we 
 must pluck from our minds the idea that knowledge is the 
 aim of our lessons. A means it most certainly is. 
 
 It needs no knowledge of astronomy, but it needs apprecia- 
 tion of beauty to call forth " The heavens declare the glory 
 of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork," with 
 its description of the sun coming forth Hke a bridegroom 
 from his chamber. The writers of the Psalms watched and 
 loved everything in Nature. That poet who wrote, " It is 
 the glorious God who maketh the thunder," had also watched 
 with pleasure equal to that of a child how the httle calves 
 skip. The writer who speaks of the valleys, so thick with 
 corn that they laugh and sing, had watched the " Httle valleys" 
 of the furrows, and each drop of rain doing its work of softening 
 the earth. How much feeling for beauty there is in " Con- 
 sider the Hlies ... for Solomon in all his glory was not ar- 
 rayed like one of these." 
 
 " Must we talk about them, they are so pretty ! " said a 
 child one day at the beginning of a lesson on some flowers. 
 Must we, that is, count the petals and learn hard names ? 
 And yet the question, " Are they all the same ? " after due 
 time has been given for enjoyment of colour and smell, sends 
 the children to look more closely, and to find more beauty 
 in the variety, or in the wonder that they are all exactly the 
 same. There is rapture over the tiny pod which succeeds 
 the withered sweet pea, over the colour and smell 6i wall- 
 flowers, o\er the dainty chambers in the three cornered 
 seed case which swells out as the tulip withers. But all is 
 lost when the teacher's aim is wrong, and when her voice.
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 33 
 
 pouring forth her adult knowledge, prevents the fair silent 
 things speaking for themselves and for their Maker. 
 
 One step in the teacher's preparation for her Nature lesson 
 might well be the reading of the " Benedicite, Omnia Opera," 
 the Song of the Three Children, in the Morning Service, 
 where everything, " all the green things upon the earth " are 
 called to "praise and magnify the Lord for ever." 
 
 Miss Lee, as a good Froebelian, takes mother-love as her 
 starting point for the baby class, starting with the love of 
 animals for their young. By letting the child enter into 
 this, Froebel says, we make his own life objective, and so 
 help him to become conscious of that through which he must 
 reach out to Fatherhood. The young and tender things, 
 the nestling, the kitten, the lamb appeal to the feelings of 
 little children. Helplessness is something with which they 
 can sympathize, it belongs to their own experience. We 
 want to fill our children's minds with these evidences of 
 Divine Love, with which Miss Ayres wisely begins her year, 
 emphasizing always the love of parent for child and child 
 for parent, to bring to full consciousness that most important 
 of evidences. 
 
 The story is surely the way in which we may most fully 
 accomplish this end. Every story which helps children to 
 recognize more clearly the love of one human being for another 
 is in itself religious instruction. 
 
 Certainly there is the story of the Babe that came to its 
 father and mother in the homely inn, wondering cattle standing 
 round ; the Babe who was a King to its parents as all babes 
 should be, a Prince, to cherish for the work, however small, 
 he too must strive to do for humanity. Nothing is easier 
 than to show really beautiful pictures of that Holy Family, 
 pictures which speak for themselves. 
 
 On the whole, however, the Herbartians are probably right 
 in saying that most Bible stories are beyond the grasp of 
 the average child under six, and that these will ultimately 
 prove far more effective if not introduced too soon. We 
 are not, however, reduced to such substitutes as are suggested 
 by Ziller. Such folk-tales may well serve as food for the 
 imagination, and no doubt they have their place, but we 
 can feed imagination also on finer material. The grotesque 
 is not suitable for the baby-room. In their choice of stories 
 the Herbartians ought surely to have apphed Herbart's own 
 words, " From the parents idealized, the child learns the 
 
 D
 
 34 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 attributes of the Deity." For religious atmosphere, they 
 seem to have depended chiefly on the child's participation 
 in the religious rites of those about them. \\'hat seems a 
 curious Hne of division is made for younger children, who 
 are to be told stories from the life of Jesus, " not as instruc- 
 tion material, but as enhghtening narratives, connected 
 with church feasts." One wonders if Herbart himself would 
 have approved of this line of separation. 
 
 Probably the most suitable stories for little ones are Miss 
 Lindsay's well known Mother Stories. The love of father, 
 mother and child, love and care for animals, love of beauty 
 of sound, and smell and colour, the dependence of human 
 beings upon each other ; such are the ideas that Miss Lindsay 
 succeeds in bringing to the children, in good language, with 
 sufficient incident, and with an absence of foolish sentiment, 
 or anything likely to lead to the wrong kind of self-conscious- 
 ness or precocious introspection. In addition to Miss Lind- 
 say's stories a few of Miss Laura Richards' beautiful stories 
 are simple enough to use. Fairy tales, important though 
 they are, inculcate morality rather than religion. In most, 
 kindness is rewarded, while greediness or ingratitude is pun- 
 ished, and kindness is far more real a virtue to a child tlian 
 obedience. Some stories like the Ugly Duckling and the 
 Sleeping Beauty may have a deeper touch. There is an old- 
 fashioned story called Susie and her Six Birthdays, which 
 might be useful in the baby room, as bringing out family 
 love in the relations of the little girl to her mother, father, 
 little brother, cousins and grandparents. It is very simple 
 and well told, and can be had in Collins' Penny Library. 
 Adaptations can also be made for little children of Water 
 Babies, At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and 
 the Goblins. The relations between mother and child can 
 be well brought out, too, in such a myth as that of Persephone. 
 Mrs. Gatty's Parables from Nature have too littie incident 
 for children, but Earth's Many Voices (S.P.C.K.) is an old 
 and beautiful collection of Nature parables. 
 
 On children over six or seven, well chosen and well told 
 Bible stories make a deep and lasting impression. No other 
 stories stir a child's feeling, and stimulate him to ethical 
 judgments, as do the Bible stories. No other stories show so 
 clearly the consciousness of having lived worthily. For children 
 under eight, ho ' e\'er as indeed for any age, we must select. 
 One great simpHfication is to begin with the story of Abraham.
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 35 
 
 If our aim is to bring home to modern children the Fatherhood 
 of God, we shall do well to omit the earher stories. Otherwise 
 whatever we may ourselves beheve, we may land ourselves 
 in difficulties. 
 
 I believe that many young teachers will here be glad of 
 a little help as to how to treat these and other difficulties. 
 One sometimes hears the suggestion made that the teacher's 
 own behef need not influence her telling of Bible stories, 
 that as she tells her fairy stories and myths, which are only 
 true to her for the spiritual truth wrapped up in them, so she 
 can tell her Bible story. " Let every man be fully persuaded 
 in his own mind," but let neither man nor woman tamper 
 with his or her own honesty, or set up a wall of silence between 
 teacher and child. To young teachers I should like to say, 
 Deal honestly with your child. Tell him you do not under- 
 stand, yet you believe, if that is your position ; or tell him 
 that the stories are from an ancient book, not written down 
 till long after they happened, and some of them copied from 
 older books which are lost, and that what seems to you im- 
 portant is — and then emphasize whatever truth you wish to 
 impress. If the child still presses, " Do you believe ? " then 
 tell the truth in this, as in other matters. There is only one 
 way in which we can still believe that God selected one people 
 for His special favour. The Bible contains the traditions, 
 the history and literature of a great people, of the people 
 with the keenest God-consciousness. It shows us how that 
 God-consciousness developed from the time God walked in the 
 garden and spoke with a human voice to the cHmax of " God 
 is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in 
 spirit and in truth." We cannot beheve in a God who sent 
 bears to devour naughty children, who sent fire from Heaven 
 to punish not only the presumption of certain men, but all 
 their innocent offspring. But we can well beheve that the 
 Israelites saw God's wrath in some catastrophe, as do all 
 primitive people and many who are not primitive. We do 
 believe that interference with God's purposes brings destruc- 
 tion and suffering, not only to those who err, but to many 
 who are innocent. 
 
 The teacher who is ready to approach serious questions 
 with respect for the opinions of others, and with humility as to 
 her own, is not hkely to find much diificulty. She will have 
 no desire to show off her own intellectual superiority by 
 flippant treatment of what is sacred to others, and she will
 
 36 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 have still less desire to make children question the wisdom 
 of their own parents. One useful hint is that we need never 
 be in a hurry to teach to children what is new to ourselves. 
 What is new to us bulks so largely in our minds, that it is 
 apt to seem much more important than it really is. It need 
 not, for instance, hurt a child to believe that disobedience, 
 the eating of a forbidden fruit, put Adam and Eve outside 
 the happy garden of Paradise where sin puts us all every 
 one. No parent is hkely to object if the teacher should add, 
 that if God sent an angel to keep them out, it was only until 
 they had made themselves good enough to go back, and that 
 some time He would send another angel to guide them, that 
 they might " enter through the gates of the city," where 
 " they that do His commandment have a right to the tree 
 of hfe." 
 
 One must realize too, that there still exist certain per- 
 sons, who recognize no halting place between belief in a 
 literal Garden of Eden and utter immorality. And honesty 
 does not consist in keeping in the background important 
 points of agreement, and printing in large letters un-important 
 points on which people are likely to disagree. One would 
 not willingly tell children the story of the Flood, but a modi- 
 fied, or rather a shortened version might be given in con- 
 nexion with the sight of the rainbow. Here, however, we 
 want no picturing, we want no vivid imaging, far less do we 
 want the realistic picture which called forth the remark : 
 " Eh ! there's a wee laddie droonin' ; eh ! what a shame, what 
 had he done ! " 
 
 The story of the Creation is a beautiful poem, and when 
 one has been told that a child in an elementary school in 
 London, on being asked who made the world answered doubt- 
 fully " The County Council ? " one feels that the first chapter 
 of Genesis may be called a mine of truth, as well as of beauty. 
 The words in the margin, which seem to be a literal transla- 
 tion, " and the evening was, and the morning was," can be 
 substituted for, " And the evening and the morning were the 
 first day." If any stickler for orthodoxy, and such can 
 exist among little children, wishes to discuss the " days," 
 it can at least be pointed out that these could not be days 
 like ours, which are measured by the sun, as the sun is not 
 created till the fourth day. Perhaps here he might be taught 
 that " A thousand ages in Thy sight are but as yesterday 
 when it is past." I would repeat, tell no story that does
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 37 
 
 not seem to you to have a moral and spiritual value, and 
 concentrate your efforts on bringing out that truth. 
 
 I have always begun with the story of Abraham, and here 
 the only difficulty is the intended sacrifice of Isaac ; the story 
 of Hagar and Ishmael we may leave out altogether. The 
 children must first be given some idea of the meaning of a 
 sacrifice. We can tell them that just as we show our love 
 to our friends by giving them of our best, so did people in 
 days long gone. But how could they give to God, whom 
 they could not see ? They could at least give something 
 up, so they took of the best of their flocks, killed the animal, 
 and burnt its flesh on an altar or table of stones. The smoke 
 rose to the heaveni?, and God would understand, because He 
 knows what we all mean. Abraham did this as others did ; 
 but one day a thought came to him — it seemed like a voice 
 speaking to him, telling him that he should show his love by 
 giving up his very dearest. And so we follow the story — the 
 words are perfect in their simphcity — till the crisis comes, 
 and then the new thought comes to him, that God, who was 
 his Friend, who had made the world so beautiful, from whom 
 comes love itself, could not want a father to kill his son. In 
 two ways, from two points of view, we may use the expression, 
 " God spake." We may believe what we are never told, 
 that a hteral voice spoke from a hteral Heaven of cloud and 
 blue space. Or we may beheve that the Great Spirit wrought 
 within the soul of Abraham, as within the soul of every one 
 of us, bidding us struggle to do the best we know, and struggle 
 for our very lives to know the best. 
 
 We are none of us inclined to care for Jacob the Supplanter, 
 and the children, to whom people are either wholly good or 
 wholly bad, are sadly disappointed when the beautiful Re- 
 becca, whose story they have loved, actually suggests to her 
 son that he should deceive his blind father and cheat his 
 brother. " We thought she was nice, and now she's horrid." 
 The poetic justice by which Jacob is cheated in his turn 
 appeals to them, and they become sorry for him and admire 
 the great love he bore for Rachel. 
 
 Robert Bird's Joseph the Dreamer (Nelson) should be in 
 every infant and junior school, and it can be followed pretty 
 faithfully. Though the story is much expanded, it is so 
 beautifully told and so suitable that it can be followed all 
 the way. It will supply a background for all the stories 
 that follow.
 
 38 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 It is extraordinary that a writer so appreciative of the 
 story of Joseph as is Dr. Hayward, should have said that the 
 story of Moses is virtually useless for school purposes. That 
 story of the devoted mother, who would risk everything to 
 save her baby, and whose love made her conceive a way of 
 escape, which resulted in the saving of the whole nation, 
 useless for school purposes ! Not only the love of the mother, 
 but the womanly instinct of the princess and the picture of 
 the httle sister eagerly watching on the bank, and best of 
 all the return of the baby to its mother, " paid wages for 
 nursing her own baby ! " all these dehght the children, and 
 are full of human interest. 
 
 Even children of six to seven can be struck with the fact 
 that the monstrous and inhuman order to kill the infants 
 was the first act in the great deliverance, that through this 
 one of the despised slaves became learned in all the wisdom 
 of Egypt. Children think far more than is generally allowed 
 by the theorists. It was a girl of seven, whose mother had 
 passed from riches to poverty, who said : " I always think 
 when people lose money and things, it must be right because 
 God does it." " Oh, yes, because some veiy poor person 
 might fijid it," said a little boy. No more was said till a 
 fortnight later, when in the story Joseph revealed himself 
 to his brethren witli the words : " Be not angry with your- 
 selves . . . for God did send me before you to preserve 
 life." Then the child struck her hand on the table, saying : 
 " Now I know why wrong things happen — good comes out of 
 them ! " 
 
 That man proposes and God disposes is most strongly 
 brought out in the whole story of the Exodus, without any 
 undue dwelling on the plagues of Egypt. That one man, 
 verily inspired of God, should brave the whole power of Egypt 
 and lead forth a nation is surely far more wonderful, and 
 miraculous means wonderful, than that he should vie with 
 " sorcerers " in producing frogs or turning rods into serpents. 
 " The magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments." 
 Many commentators show that the plagues had natural 
 causes, and perhaps Moses with his long sojourn in the wilder- 
 ness knew even more than the wise men of Egypt. That he 
 should, by God's help, transform a rabble of slaves, who 
 murnuired over every hardship and despaired over every 
 difiiculty, into a nation before whom " the inhabitants did 
 melt away," at the sound of whose trumpets the walls fell
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 39 
 
 down, these are the real miracles, the true wonders, which 
 fill our hearts with awe, which make us realize that within 
 man and woman dwells the power of the Almighty. 
 
 The children should at some time be led to see that God 
 still inspires to all great deeds, and the very best story for that 
 is the story of the inspiration of Joan of Arc. 
 
 The rest of this story, up to the final settlement in the Land 
 of Promise, is dealt with in Help in Telling Bible Stories, and 
 the question of making these stories real by the aid of good 
 illustrations is fully discussed in its introduction. If the 
 story of Joseph has been taken from Bird, and if favourite 
 stories have been re-told when asked for — a very different 
 matter from revision for the sake of impressing facts — possibly 
 no more Old Testament stories may be wanted in the Infant 
 School. But a few words may be said for those who wish to 
 go on further. The story of Ruth we tell annually at the time 
 of harvest. There is little that is suitable in the Book of 
 Joshua and in the Book of Judges ; the most suitable stories 
 are those of Deborah and of Gideon. In the first, one would 
 wish to bring out how the bravery of one, whether man or 
 woman, can create bravery in others. Children are quite 
 capable of understanding that Jael thought she was right in 
 killing the enemy of her people, and the ghastly details need 
 not be given. The story of Gideon brings out well the use- 
 lessness of those that are feeble hearted, and of those who are 
 wanting in self-control. As to the story of Samson, it need 
 not be told till the children are old enough to understand a 
 very different state of society from that to which they are 
 accustomed. Or it may be told as the story of a man who 
 was dedicated in his early youth, as they themselves have 
 been, but who made friends with the enemies of his people to 
 his own undoing. One class of children were told of Samson 
 as a man who could not keep his love for one wife, but always 
 wanted a new one, and a girl of eight made the only 
 remark, a somewhat surprising one, " I should not like to 
 have his nature." His death is a fine example of " man's 
 high sorrow over his own failure." 
 
 The stories of Samuel and Saul, of David and Jonathan 
 are much more easy to deal with. All teachers should read 
 Browning's Saul for their own inspiration. 
 
 lurning to the New Testament, aU, teachers will desire to 
 tell of Him who went about doing good, of Him who showed 
 us the Father. Besides the stories of the birth, the flight
 
 40 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 into Egypt and the home at Nazareth, it may be enough to 
 tell of the blessing of the children and of the cures wrought 
 on those who had faith. Such simple and beautiful stories 
 as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan should not be 
 left out, and young children can understand something of the 
 parable of the talents and of the merciless debtor. For 
 children of tender years it is surely better to suppress all 
 such details as are terrible and tragic. A lesson may be 
 taken from the answer given by a child of eight to her little 
 sister of five. They were playing church, and the little one 
 stopped in the middle of " There is a green hill far away," to 
 ask, " What's c'ucified ? " "Oh, nothing," was the first 
 answer; "do go on." Persistence brought out, "You're 
 too httle to understand," but that was met by, " How'd you 
 like mammy to say that to you ? " and then reluctantly 
 came, " Well, it just means killed." " Why couldn't they 
 say killed, then ? " said five-years-old, and resumed her 
 singing. The child of eight knew better than many adults, 
 that for her tender little sister this was enough, but who knows 
 how much she herself had suffered in gaining that knowledge ? 
 
 There are nowadays many most helpful books, and among 
 them are those that have been written for the reformed 
 Sunday Schools of different denominations. In this con- 
 nexion, perhaps a word of protest may be allowed. 
 
 We are not, of course, obliged all to think ahke, but it 
 does not seem to me that the ordinary forms of expression, 
 which are used in every Kindergarten, are quite the right 
 methods in which to express what has been giveij as a religious 
 lesson. The right form of expression for everything ethical 
 is surely, " Go thou and do likewise." The story of the 
 Child in the manger should result in more effort to do loving 
 service for the mother and baby at home, its spirit is not 
 expressed in free drawing or modelling. Our own children 
 have never been seen to go to the sand tray to represent a 
 Bible story, as they do constantly and quite spontaneously 
 for other stories. Assuredly this is not from want of interest. 
 Is it not right even for children to have something in which 
 they breathe a different and a rarer atmosphere ? No one 
 would interfere with the spontaneous representations of 
 children unless these were clearly harmful. But that a class 
 of children in school should be taught to act out the Good 
 Samaritan, as has been done, grates on one's feelings. A 
 touching story is told of some children, one of whom was
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 41 
 
 hopelessly paralysed, playing at Christ curing the lepers. 
 Suddenly the little Christ paused, held up his hand and said, 
 " Stop ! Freddie, I'm going to cure you. ' Arise and walk ! ' " 
 There was bitter disappointment at the failure, of irreverence 
 not a whit, but it was a child's own thought and act. On 
 the other hand, when some children had been told the story 
 of Water Babies, it was a young teacher who set them to 
 model in clay the chair of Mother Carey, thus making concrete 
 what should never have been materialized. And it was a 
 young child who, when she heard how Tom found Mother 
 Carey sitting so still, and she explained to him that she made 
 things make themselves, said quickly, " Oh, I know who 
 that was, that was God." 
 
 To set children, for instance, to model a horn after the 
 story of the anointing of the shepherd David does not seem 
 to me to deepen the desired impression. The story tells of 
 an ordinary shepherd boy, suddenly called away from his 
 daily task to be set apart for a great work for his people. 
 Let us do our daily work well, God might use one of us, is 
 what we want to impress ; the horn is but a minor matter, 
 and while modelling, how can we keep the children's minds 
 from wandering to all sorts of things ? In the day school, 
 I would rather, after necessary exercise, pass on to 
 something recognized as work, and in the Sunday school 
 after, perhaps, singing, " Help us to be good," let the chil- 
 dren go home to try. 
 
 The learning of texts by rote is not necessarily part 
 of religious teaching, and is often most irreverent. But 
 the learning by heart of all beautiful things has a religious 
 bearing. " Only be thou strong and very courageous," 
 are words to repeat again and again in the story of 
 Joshua. The words of Ruth to Naomi are perfect in their 
 beauty and simplicity. If the children have heard the story 
 of the shepherd boy David, then is the time to teach Psalm 
 xxiii., and there is a booklet. The Song oj our Syrian Guest 
 (Drummond's Tract Depot, Stirling), which gives beautiful 
 and enlightening details about shepherd life. When the 
 story of the Good Samaritan has been told, then is the time 
 to teach the first and greatest commandment, and the second 
 whicli is like unto it, the two commandments on which hang 
 all the law and the prophets. There is no use trying to teach 
 to little children the whole of the Ten Commandments, but 
 the first, the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth, and even the tenth,
 
 42 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 can be explained and repeated frequently, till they are fairly 
 well known. Psalm c. is easy, and can be learnt at any 
 time, especially at a time of thanksgiving. When the Israel- 
 ites cross the Red Sea, Psalms xxxiii., xxxiv. and xlvi., Ixxv. 
 and cxxiv. can be read, and one or more of the most suitable 
 passages learnt, e.g., " Our soul is escaped, as a bird out of 
 the snare of the fowler, . . . Our help standeth in the name 
 of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth." 
 
 This little article is far from complete, and it is intended 
 to be far more suggestive than prescriptive. The beauty of 
 holiness will always attract far more than the fear of punish- 
 ment will deter. There is a German word Gott-einigkeit, 
 Oneness with God, which appealed to Froebel more than the 
 word Religion. It is Oneness with God that we seek for our 
 children, and it will not come to any of us who keep our religion 
 apart from all else. It will at least come nearer to those who 
 give to religion the meaning Froebel gave, " a continually 
 advancing endeavour." 
 
 E. R. Murray 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 The Bible for Home Reading. Part I. C. G. Montefiore. (Macmillan, 
 
 4s. td. net.) 
 Joseph the Dreamer. Robert Bird. (Nelson & Son, 5s.) 
 Jesus the Carpenter. Robert Bird. (Nelson & Son, is.) 
 The Jewish Church. Dean Stanley. (Murray, 3 vols., 2s. 6(?. net. each.) 
 Help in Telling Bible Stories. Isabel Murray. (Froebel Society, is. td. 
 
 net.) 
 Telling Bible Stories. Louise S. Houghton. (Bickers & Son, 3s. gd. 
 
 net.) 
 The Old Testament Story Told to the Young. Gladys Davidson. (Werner 
 
 Laurie, 6s. net.) 
 Stories and Storv-Telling in Moral and Religious Education. Edward 
 
 Porter St. John. (Pilgrim Press, Boston.) 
 How to Tell Stories to Children. Sara Cone Bryant. (Harrap & Co., 
 
 2s. 6d. net.) 
 Suggestions for a Syllabus in Religious Teaching. G. B. Ayre. (Long- 
 mans, Green & Co., is. net.) 
 Bible Manners and Customs. G. M. Mackie. (A. & C. Black, 6d.) 
 Egypt. Peeps at Many Lands Series. (A. tS; C. Black, is. 6d.) 
 British Museum Guides, The Egyptian Collection. (Harrison & Sons, 
 
 St. Martin's Lane, is.) 
 Froebel's Mother Songs, trans, by F. and E. Lord. (William Rice, 
 
 2s. 6d.) 
 The following rhymes with their explanations : " Mowing Grass," 
 " Pat-a-Cake." " The Nest." " The Flower Garden." " The Pigeon
 
 RELIGIOUS TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT 43 
 
 House," " The Family," " Brothers and Sisters," " Boy and Moon," 
 " Light Bird," " The Bridge," " The Knights," " The Church Door," 
 " Closing Thoughts." 
 
 Froebel's Education of Man, trans. Hailmann. Sections 10,11,21,51, 60, 
 61, 63, 64, 75, 88, 98, 99, 105.
 
 THE HEALTH OE CHILDREN 
 
 During the first few years of life the mother is the most 
 potent agent in training the child. She inculcates those 
 habits which may be termed fundamental, since on them 
 depends the welfare of the child. Such are the habits that 
 impress the comfort of cleanliness, the regularity of meal times 
 and of bodily functions, and that determine the duration of, 
 and time for, sleep. 
 
 When the child is of an age to attend school the teacher 
 shares with the mother the responsibility for its well-being ; 
 indeed, upon her devolves the major portion of the respon- 
 sibihty, since the greater part of the child's conscious life is 
 passed under her care. The child now leaves the freedom 
 of home for the disciphne of school. His day is mapped out 
 for him, and the arrangement if a judicious one will render 
 him happier, and he will not feel this life of control irksome. 
 It is for the teacher to remember that immature muscle and 
 immature nerve cells soon tire and demand frequent change. 
 
 Right Conditions for Healthy Childhood. 
 
 Sleep. — Part of the afternoon session in the lower classes 
 of the infant school should be given over to sleep. Children 
 of seven years of age and under need at least thirteen hours 
 sleep a day. Sleep tioiie is the time of growth — it is then 
 that the waste products, the products of muscular and mental 
 work, are removed. The heart beat is tlien quieter and less 
 frequent, since less force is needed to drive the blood over 
 the recumbent body, and the breathing is slower and deeper. 
 So both iieart and lungs, as well as brain, get more rest. Sleep, 
 then, must be sufficiently long and if jiossible dreamless. A 
 child can better stand deprivation of food than curtailment of 
 the hours of sleep. In both cases the result will be seen 
 in stunted growth, but the effect will be more marked from 
 loss of sleep. 
 
 M
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 45 
 
 The children who attend the Infants' school or Kindergarten 
 should be in bed at six o'clock at night. The hours before 
 midnight are the most valuable ; it is then that the child falls 
 into the deepest and most refreshing sleep. Many children 
 in the lower classes of the infants' school need a sleep of an 
 hour's duration in the afternoon ; and provision should be made 
 for this. In some schools a light wooden framework has 
 been fitted with a number of small hammocks. Such an 
 apparatus is easily removed and easily cleaned. Some chil- 
 dren feel no need for this rest; but all should be made to lie 
 down and remain quiet. In a few days' time it will be found 
 that the majority fall asleep. Those who do not acquire 
 the sleep habit should be allowed to play quietly. 
 
 For the child of the slum this siesta is often an urgent 
 necessity. At night he either sleeps in the common sitting 
 room or shares a bedroom with adults. In the first case his 
 bed will not be prepared until a late hour, because it must not 
 encroach on the scanty space, and in the second case his sleep 
 may be disturbed by the entry of late comers. Sometimes 
 the child is locked out in the street until the return of his 
 mother with the key. Owing to such untoward circumstances 
 rarely does he get an adequate amount of sleep. The after- 
 noon nap goes to make up the deficit. 
 
 The position taken during sleep is of importance. The 
 child should rest on his right side. If he rest on the left 
 the work of the heart is impeded. If he sleep on his back 
 the blood tends to congest in the region of the spinal cord, 
 and bad dreams will be the result. The child should not be 
 allowed to sleep in a sitting posture with the head bent over 
 the chest. Such a position impedes breathing, narrows the 
 chest and causes headache. 
 
 Food. — The length of the school morning fixes to some 
 extent the time for meals. It would be well here if cause and 
 result could change places, and the time for the midday meal 
 fix the length of the morning session. For the youth of fifteen 
 five hours should be allowed to elapse between two meals. 
 Younger children should be given meals at intervals of from 
 four to four and a half hours. If the child rises at six (the 
 hour at which most children wake), he must have breakfast 
 no later than half-past seven. This fixes the dinner hour 
 at twelve or half-past twelve. If the interval between meal 
 times be too long, one of two things will happen. Either 
 the child comes to table so hungry that he " bolts " his
 
 46 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 food, or he comes exhausted, and with exhaustion the desire 
 for food passes away. 
 
 One of the fatilts of the modern school is that it places 
 the dinner hour too late in the day. The young girl 
 attending a High School gets her dinner at half-past one, 
 far too late an hour. To compensate for this a small 
 luncheon is taken about eleven o'clock ; but with well- 
 arranged meal times this lunch would not be necessary. 
 Many httle children, however, feel the need of such a light 
 luncheon as a small mugful of milk taken about ten o'clock 
 in tJie morning. Some digest their food rapidly ; others, the 
 nervous ones, make but poor breakfasts. Delicate children 
 such as those who have a tendency to rickets, or who are 
 prone to catch cold, derive much benefit from this daily feed 
 of milk. It gives them the fat they need, and gives it in a 
 digestible form. 
 
 Neither highly seasoned dishes nor fried and greasy foods 
 should be given. They are indige.^tible and they vitiate the 
 child's palate, causing it to reject plain, wholesome fare. Some 
 people give children bread fried in bacon fat instead of bread 
 over which bacon fat has been pom'ed. The one dish is indi- 
 gestible, the other digestible and nutritious. So an egg that 
 has been fried has far less food value than one that has been 
 lightly poached. In the first case the larger part of the white 
 of the egg has been converted into a horny material that will 
 give no nourishment, but will, on the other hand, irritate the 
 intestinal tract. 
 
 The child's craving for sweets should be satisfied ; it is a 
 natural one. He needs a food that readily supphes him with 
 energy — sugar is such a food. Sweets should be taken at 
 meal time, preferably at the end of the midday meal after 
 hunger has been appeased. The sweets given should be of 
 a wholesome kind, such as toffee or chocolate. Sweets con- 
 taining nuts are very indigestible. 
 
 Children should be trained to eat slowly, and to chew food 
 thoroughly. Food well crushed by the teeth is easily attacked 
 by the various digestive juices. Much water should not be 
 drunk at meal times, it should rather be drunk at the end 
 of a meal. The child is inclined to drink deeply, so distending 
 the stomach with water that it is unable to take the requisite 
 amount of food. Children are always more thirsty than 
 adults. 'I hey are growing fast, and water is needed to aid 
 in the tissue changes that are occurring. Most of the
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 47 
 
 children in the Infants' School need a drink in the 
 course of the afternoon. They should be trained to drink 
 slowly, ^^'ater hastily gulped does not quench thirst, and 
 the restraining of the desire to drink greedily is an effort of 
 self-control. Cocoa is the only form of stimulant which 
 should be given to children, as its stimulating properties are 
 mild, and it has definite food value. 
 
 In some of the poorer districts of our large towns it is not 
 uncommon to see a child making an alfresco meal of bread 
 and jam. This is but a poor meal. Jam is no substitute for 
 butter or dripping. Fat in some form is an essential part of 
 a child's diet, and if it be omitted the child will develop rickets. 
 A child suffering from this disease is known by a pale face, 
 stunted growth, thin dry hair, swollen wrists and ankle joints, 
 prominent abdomen, flat feet and bowed legs. He is prone 
 to catch cold. Sometimes the voice becomes thin and weak, 
 and the child will appear so dull that the teacher classes him 
 among those who are mentally deficient. Only in extreme 
 cases ho\\ever will a child exhibit all these symptoms. The 
 probable origin of the trouble is some digestive disturbance 
 caused by injudicious or insufficient feeding and it is thought 
 to arise from a lack of fat m the diet. The remedy is to 
 add some easily digested fat to the child's daily fare ; such a 
 fat is cod liver oil or cream. The child should have plenty 
 of milk to drink ; the red gravy from the meat should be 
 reserved for him. Twice or thrice a week he should be 
 given a lightly boiled egg. He should be warmly clad, and 
 hve as much as possible in the open air. 
 
 Habits. — One of the fundamental habits that should be 
 formed during infancy is regularity in the bodily functions. 
 Never should a child be suffered to become constipated. If, 
 at any time, this state should arise the mother must 
 carefully diet the child. An apple eaten before break- 
 fast, whole-meal bread, stewed fruit all act as correctives. 
 Castor oil is a safe drug to administer. It acts as a lubricant, 
 making it easy for the congested material to pass along the 
 intestines. Sometimes constipation is caused by a deficiency 
 of fat in the diet, the fat being needed to act as a lubricant. 
 Sometimes the condition is due to want of exercise. 
 
 The child who suffers from this complaint is known by a 
 sallow skin and dark, puffy lower eyehds. Material that 
 should have been excreted has been reabsorbed into the 
 system, and is the cause of the unwholesome appearance.
 
 48 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 The child wfll be lethargic, will be subject to headaches, and 
 its sleep will be disturbed by dreams. If the condition be 
 not altered, other and more pronounced troubles will follow. 
 
 A fairly common childish ailment during summer time is 
 diarrhoea. In this case the food is hurried through the diges- 
 tive tract and sufficient nourishment is not absorbed. The 
 cause of the trouble should be ascertained. If it is due to 
 an error in diet, say the taking of unripe fruit, a dose of castor 
 oil should be given to remove the irritant. After this treat- 
 ment the intestines will often return to their normal conditions 
 with perhaps the lapse of a day. If the trouble continues, 
 a food should be given that is so readily assimilated that it 
 leaves httle to be expelled. Such a food is arrowroot. The 
 intestinal tract is thus given little work to do, and is given 
 time to regain its tone. In cases of prolonged diarrhoea 
 the child may become so exhausted that it is hardly able to 
 take nourishment. A strengthening food that may be 
 administered in this case is made of white of egg solution. 
 Two whites of eggs are poured into a half pint of water, 
 a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of brandy are added to 
 the mixture. This food may be given at short intervals of 
 time. 
 
 Cleanliness. — Another fundamental habit that can be 
 fostered at school is the desire for personal cleanhness. All 
 the surroundings of the child should express order, and should 
 be kept scrupulously clean. The child who comes to school 
 unwashed and untidy must be made to realize that he is 
 " out of the picture " in that class room. 
 
 In large families it is the work of the elder children to 
 wash and dress the younger ones. The proper performance 
 of this might well be taught practically to the children of the 
 upper standards in the course of the lessons on mother-craft. 
 It would impress upon them the importance and dignity of 
 the work. They should understand the need for delicate 
 handling of the ear, and for keepmg the nasal passage free. 
 If this last fact were emphasized, the number of children 
 suffering from adenoids would be lessened. 
 
 Dress. — The difficulty to be faced here is to supply a dress 
 that will satisfy the needs of the child and be within the 
 purchasing power of a slender purse. 
 
 The mother requires that the fabric may be durable and 
 easily washed, and that the number of garments may be 
 as few as possible compatible with v/armth. The fewer the
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 49 
 
 number of garments the less the amount of mending, and 
 the fewer garments will there be in the weekly wash. 
 
 The English cHmate is changeable, and the material chosen 
 for wear next the skin should prevent the wearer suffering 
 from the variations in the weather. Wool is thought to 
 be the best material for the purpose. It is a non-conductor 
 of heat, and so will not permit the bodily heat to be dissi- 
 pated. It is elastic, and adapts itself to the shape of the 
 wearer. It is hygroscopic, and by taking up the water of 
 perspiration saves the body from becoming chilled after 
 vigorous exercise and in hot weather. Wool is costly to buy : 
 but washed carefully, it is durable and therefore cheap in 
 the long run. 
 
 For a girl the following dress will satisfy all requirements : — 
 
 A knitted woollen vest coming down well over the hips 
 and having sleeves. Such a vest the child is taught to 
 knit at school. A pair of dark serge knickers held into the 
 waist by an elastic band. These should be provided with 
 removable washable hnings. Flannelette is inflammable 
 and should not be used for outer garments, but used for 
 hnings under the knickers there can be little danger of its 
 catching fire. A serge skirt attached to a petticoat bodice 
 and worn with a woollen jersey forms the over dress. A 
 washable pinafore should always be worn. In summer time 
 a cotton smock could replace the serge skirt and jersey. 
 
 Foot gear is important. Chilled and wet feet are responsible 
 for many serious colds. 
 
 Worsted or woollen stockings should be worn. Good boots 
 are expensive, and yet to buy cheap boots is false economy. 
 The clogs of the North country children are cheap and 
 durable, but they are noisy. 
 
 In the schools of the future, arrangements might be made 
 for the children to change their clogs, on coming to school, 
 for a pair of the string-soled shoes worn by Spanish peasants. 
 These are cheap and light, almost soundless, and are pliant 
 to the growing foot of the child. Children could be taught 
 to walk gracefully in such shoes. 
 
 The boy needs a woollen vest similar to that worn by the 
 girl. His serge knickers should be supported by braces and 
 have removable hnings. He should wear a flannel or flannel- 
 ette shirt and a woollen jersey. His foot-gear will be similar 
 to that worn by the girl. 
 
 The part of the dress often omitted is the knicker lining, 
 
 E
 
 50 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 and this is a most essential part. Commonly the serge 
 knickers are worn many weeks, sometimes months, before 
 they are washed. If they are worn next the skin they must 
 become fouled on the inner surface. This renders them 
 harsh, and they will chafe the child. Rarely will the child 
 be unconscious of the irritation caused by them. This 
 condition is often the origin of the malpractice to which some 
 little boys are addicted. 
 
 Some of the Common Ailments of Childhood. 
 
 Adenoids. Many children are afflicted with a growth of 
 glandular tissue in that part of the air passage that hes behind 
 the nose and soft palate. This growth is known as adenoids. 
 It may so close the passage through the nose as to cause the 
 child to talk as if he had a cold in the head. It often blocks 
 the opening of the tube that leads from the throat to the ear, 
 and so causes partial deafness. By broadening the face near 
 the bridge of the nose and so obHterating curves, and by forcing 
 the child to keep his mouth open, it gives him a stupid, vacant 
 look. It presses upon certain bloodvessels, lessening the 
 supply of blood to the head, with the result that the child 
 becomes as dull as he looks, and he suffers from headaches. 
 Adenoids are often accompanied by enlarged tonsils, and these, 
 by further blocking up the air passage, render breathing 
 still more difficult. Children suffering from these growths 
 are troubled with colds in the head and chest ailments. The 
 whole tone of the child is lowered by them. Fortunately a 
 small operation will remove them. As a consequence of the 
 openition, the child will be ill for a day or two only, but 
 the improvement that will then take place in its health, ap- 
 pearance and mental capacity is often httle short of astound- 
 ing. The growth may recur ; as a rule, it does not. Apart 
 from any question of an operation the growth of adenoids 
 may be checked, and mav even be prevented altogether 
 by making the child breathe through its nose. As the air 
 passes through the nose dust particles are removed from it 
 by the minute hairs found within the nose ; the gummy 
 secretion of the nose acts as a germicide, and the air is warmed 
 and rendered sufficiently moist. 
 
 To keep the nusal passage free the mother must cleanse the 
 infant's nostrils each day, and the teacher in the Infants' 
 School must make all the children in her class blow their noses 
 once or twice each day.
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 51 
 
 There are always some cases of adenoids in every large school, 
 and considering how a child may be handicapped mentally 
 and physically by the continuance of the growth, teachers 
 should make it their business to become acquainted with 
 the symptoms of the disease. Any child who often suffers 
 from cold in the head, or who shows two or three of the signs 
 given, should be examined by the school doctor. 
 
 Gatherings and Swollen Glands. Whenever harmful 
 germs find entry into the tissues the part affected becomes 
 swollen and inflamed. Here a battle is in progress between 
 the germs and certain cells in the body. If the germs win 
 the day the inflammation and swelling extend ; if the cells 
 triumph the germs disappear since the cells devour them. 
 We can come to the aid of these cells by cleansing the wound, 
 and by treating it with an antiseptic lotion. In the first 
 place we free it from that material in which the germs multiply ; 
 in the second case we aid in killing the germs. 
 
 If the inflammation appears below the skin, and is not 
 deep seated, it is easy to deal with. The part can be washed 
 with warm water to which has been added boric acid powder, 
 a teaspoonful to every pint of boiling water, or a 3 per cent, 
 solution of lysol may be used. In neither case should the 
 solution be hot enough to burn the child. A piece of medi- 
 cated hnt that has been dipped in the clean hot solution 
 should be placed over the sore, and kept in position by a 
 light, firm bandage. A small gathering should be dressed 
 night and morning. The lotion that has once been used 
 should be thrown away, and the lint should be burnt ; neither 
 should be used again. In most cases the gathering will heal 
 in two or three days. If it occurs in a limb, and the part is 
 very swollen and painful, it would be weU to put the hmb in 
 a sling to prevent its being used. Antiseptic treatment and 
 rest will probably effect a cure. 
 
 Some children are prone to swelling in the glands of the 
 neck. Here, again, is evidence of the entry of harmful 
 germs. The glands have retained the germs, thus preventing 
 them from passing into the blood stream and being distributed 
 over the body. Within the glands are numbers of those cells 
 that devour germs. The fact that the glands have swollen 
 shows that so far the germs are getting the better in the fight. 
 
 The germs that infect the glands of the neck come there 
 by way of the mouth. Chilaren who are mouth breathers 
 are more likely to be attacked than those who breathe through
 
 52 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 the nose. Or the germs may have been put into the mouth 
 on a dirty " comforter." 
 
 The child affected should live an open-air life and sleep 
 in a room with windows wide. He should be given plenty 
 of nourishing food, such as fresh milk, cream, eggs, be warmly 
 clad and have sufficient sleep. On no account should the glands 
 be rubbed. To do so would be to inflame them still more. 
 The child should sleep by himself, as there is fear of his in- 
 fecting those who come in close contact with him, and he will not 
 have such fresh air if others live in the same room with him. 
 
 Ophthalmia. — This is the name given by most people to 
 the inflammation of the thin skin covering the eye and lining 
 the eyelids. As this skin is very sensitive, a rough cold wind 
 will cause it to inflame, or it may be inflamed by overstrain 
 of the eye. Children who are in a poor state of health through 
 insufficiency of food or of fresh air are most hkely to be 
 sufferers. The inflammation is often accompanied by a 
 discharge which mats the eyelashes together. Sometimes 
 the lashes fall out and the eyelids become swollen at the 
 edges. If the condition becomes chronic the eyelids will 
 permanently assume red, swollen edges. 
 
 The eyes may be bathed with a weak solution of an anti- 
 septic lotion. The child must be seen by a doctor. If the 
 inflammation is not arrested it may extend to the cornea, 
 the clear transparent tissue through which rays of hght pass 
 to the interior of the eye, and the cornea may be rendered 
 partially or wholly opaque, bringing partial or entire blindness 
 to the eye. 
 
 The discharge from affected eyes is extremely contagious, 
 and the disease spreads rapidly through a school. The child 
 who is suffering rubs its smarting eyes with its fingers, and 
 then handles some book or piece of apparatus that another 
 cliild will handle later on ; or the child uses the washing 
 basin and towel that is common to a number of children. 
 Thus the disease is spread. Clnldren who show signs of 
 ophthalmia must be excluded from school. 
 
 Diii-ECTiVE Eyesight. — When the vision of children in a 
 school is tested the examiner flnds that the number of cases 
 of short-sightedness increases steadily as he passes from the 
 classes in the Infants' School to those of the upper standards. 
 There is nothing inherent in the eye causing this rapid 
 deterioration. It is our business to find out the conditions 
 that are responsible and alter them.
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 53 
 
 The young child is long-sighted : he sees best those objects 
 which are twenty feet and more away. To see nearer objects 
 certain muscles are brought into action. Attached to the 
 eyeball are three sets of muscles that turn it within the socket. 
 When near objects are viewed the muscles that turn the eye 
 towards the nose are contracted. If the child looks at things 
 that are very near he squints. 
 
 This pull of the muscle puts a strain upon the tough, white 
 coat of the eye, the sclerotic, to which one end of each muscle 
 is attached. In youth, the tissue of which this coat is com- 
 posed will yield to constantly recurring or continued strain, 
 and the eyeball will be stretched. This elongation of the 
 eyeball places the sensitive retina on which the rays of Hght 
 fall, out of focus for rays from a distant object. Concave 
 lenses must in such case be worn to aid the eyes. 
 
 It is evident that children must not be given occupations that 
 exact near eye work if the eyesight is to be preserved. Young 
 children, if taught to read at all, which is a doubtful advantage, 
 should be taught to read from the blackboard. If coloured 
 chalks are to be used they should be light in tone. Children's 
 books should be printed in clear, bold type (double pica), 
 upon cream-tinted paper. The reading lessons for young 
 children when books are employed should not last longer 
 than ten minutes. Drawings should be made with chalk 
 held at arm's length. Children up to six years of age should 
 not be made to write between ruled lines, nor should they 
 be taught needlework or knitting. 
 
 Certain signs show that a child's eyesight is not good. 
 He suffers from headaches ; he frowns and knits his brows ; 
 peers or squints at his work. Sometimes he holds his head 
 to one side and looks with half-closed eyes. He makes mis- 
 takes when reading from the blackboard. For a time he 
 reads well, then mistakes occur, and the mistakes become 
 more frequent. This is not due to inattention, but to fatigue 
 in some of the eye muscles. He complains that the letters 
 dance. 
 
 If a child often suffers from headache or shows any of the 
 symptoms named above, the teacher must test his ej^esight. 
 Each teacher should keep a card printed with two lines of 
 different kinds of type, of a size and clearness that can be read 
 by a person with normal eyesight at distances of twenty feet and 
 forty feet respectively. This card must be kept out of sight 
 Df the children, lest they become familiar with the letters.
 
 54 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 It must be kept clean. When used for testing it should be 
 placed in a good light, and the child to be tested should 
 stand at a distance of twenty feet from it. He should be 
 questioned as to the letters of the smaller type. Should 
 he answer correctly he may be classed as having good sight. 
 If he fail, he should be tried with the hne of larger type. 
 Should he pass this test, he may be classed as " second " as 
 regards sight. Should he fail to read both hues he may be 
 ranked in the third class. 
 
 Children with either second or third class eyesight must be 
 seen b\' the doctor as soon as possible. They should be placed 
 near the front of the class and excused from lessons that 
 involve near eye-work. Children who rank as " third class " 
 should be taught in special schools where manual work takes 
 a prominent place in the curriculum, and in which little 
 writing or reading is done. By such treatment these children 
 may be saved from drifting into the ranks of the blind. 
 
 Defective Hearing. — The child who is deficient in hearing 
 is generally inattentive. Perhaps in the past he tried to hear, 
 but has been discouraged into wilful inattention. He has 
 rather a vacant look. Lessons that are interesting to others 
 do not appeal to him. Sometimes in an effort to hear he 
 sits with his mouth open, turning the less deaf ear towards 
 the speaker. He asks that words and sentences may be 
 repeated. He, himself, repeats incorrectly. 
 
 The child's hearing should be tested by the teacher in a 
 quiet room. The teacher must first find out how far away 
 a child with normal hearing may stand and yet hear her 
 whisper. The child to be tested is to stand at this distance, 
 with her back turned to the teacher. The teacher will then 
 whisper distinctly such words as twenty-two, forty-nine, 
 any word that has forceful consonants, and the child must 
 write down or repeat the words whispered. Each ear is to 
 be tested separately ; a small pad of cotton wool should be 
 placed in the ear that is not tested, and the child must be told 
 to close its mouth. 
 
 The teacher must ascertain the distance at which the child 
 can hear, and report to the doctor. 
 
 The deafness may be due to a collection of hardened wax 
 in the ear. The child should be told to lean its head on its 
 hand, so that the affected ear comes uppermost. Into this 
 the teacher should then pour a few drops of warm, not hot 
 sweet oil. 1 his will soften the wax, which can then be removed
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 55 
 
 by syringing. The doctor or school nurse should do the 
 syringing. The amateur nurse may inflict serious injury 
 upon the child. 
 
 An attack, of measles or scarlet fever, or a throat affection, 
 is not uncommonly followed by inflammation of the middle 
 ear. This has reached the ear from the throat by way of the 
 Eustachian tube. It is attended with much pain, and there 
 is usually a discharge from the outer ear. This shows that 
 the membrane which divides the outer from the middle ear, and 
 which acts as a receiver of sound waves, has been pierced. 
 A child who has discharge from the car should be seen by the 
 doctor as soon as possible. Serious results may follow neglect. 
 The hearing of that ear may be lost, and the brain may be 
 affected. 
 
 Sometimes deafness arises from a defective hearing appar- 
 atus. In some cases there are outward signs of this in mal- 
 formed outer ears. Children who are deaf must attend the 
 special school where they wiU be taught lip-reading. Chil- 
 dren who ha\-e learned lip-reading are often know^n by their 
 particularly bright, animated appearance ; for directly a 
 means of communicating with them has been estabhshed, 
 the vacant expression gives way to one of intelligence. 
 
 Bleeding at the Nose. — Cases of this kind are most hkely 
 to occur during hot summer weather. The child should be 
 taken to a quiet room and placed in a rechning chair. A 
 pad of cold wet rag placed on the bridge of the nose and 
 something cold at the nape of the neck will often stop the 
 bleeding; raising the arm above the head also helps to 
 check it. The child should not be allowed to bend forward 
 over a basin, and it should be discouraged from blowing its 
 nose just then, as both actions tend to bring the blood to the 
 nose. If the bleeding continues, the child must be seen by 
 the doctor. Sometimes the bleeding is caused by constipa- 
 tion ; the child needs a purgative. 
 
 Sprains and Bruises. — These should be bathed with water 
 as hot as can be borne. This treatment is good when the 
 harm is recent. After this cold wet rags may be applied. 
 For a sprain a firm, not tight, bandage will do much to reduce 
 the swelling and give support to the injured part. Rest is 
 an absolute necessity for a sprain. 
 
 Children rarely hurt themselves when they tumble. If a 
 child is sick after a fall it should be made to he down in a 
 quiet room, and cold wet rags should be put upon its head.
 
 56 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 If it remains dazed by the fall a doctor should De sent for. 
 It is suffering from more or less severe concussion of the 
 brain. 
 
 Burns and Scalds. — A bottle of Carron oil should alwa5^s 
 be at hand for the treatment of burns and scalds. This is 
 made by mixing equal quantities of linseed oil and Ume water. 
 If the injury is severe the clothes should not be drawn or 
 pulled off the damaged part. They should be cut away. 
 Lint soaked in Carron oil should be applied, and over this 
 should be put a layer of cotton wool, and these dressings 
 should be kept in place by a hght bandage. 
 
 The burn has been a nervous shock to the child, who must 
 be kept as quiet as possible. 
 
 Cold in the Head. — People are too prone to regard 
 nasal catarrh from the fatalist's point of view. It comes : 
 it must be endured. This is wrong. The recurrence can be 
 prevented, the intensity diminished by the use of a nasal 
 douche and warm salt water. The nasal douche is small, 
 cheap, and easily used. The douching does not take five 
 minutes, and is not unpleasant. If those who are frequent 
 sufferers would use the douche once a week, they would be 
 surprised to find what immunity it gave them from this un- 
 pleasant malady. Frequent colds in the head cause a thicken- 
 ing of the mucous membrane lining the nose, and this in its 
 turn will make colds in the head more frequent. 
 
 Infectious Diseases. — The infectious diseases most com- 
 mon to childhood are measles, whooping cough, chicken pox 
 and scarlet fever. The premonitory signs of these are cold 
 in the head, headache and sickness, and a rise in temperature. 
 All of them are infectious in the early stages, when as 
 yet no rash has appeared. 
 
 Measles. — An epidemic of measles occurs in our large 
 towns every two years or so. It breaks out most violently 
 in the Infants' School, where the children from three to six 
 years of age fall victims. Most of the elder children have 
 been through an attack, and this has rendered them im- 
 mune for the future. The majority of people are infected 
 once in their lives. 
 
 When an epidemic occurs, the children to be most closely 
 watched are those whose medical record shows that they 
 have not yet been infected. Herein lies the importance of 
 keeping a medical record. At such a time these children 
 should be excluded from school if they show signs of a bad
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 57 
 
 cold in the head. Every fresh case acts as a new centre of 
 infection. 
 
 Children in the convalescent stage need especial care. 
 They are prone to such chest troubles as bronchitis and 
 pneumonia. 
 
 Whooping Cough. — The child who has caught whooping 
 cough does not always give the characteristic in-drawn 
 " whoop." For some time he appears to be suffering from 
 a bad cold. He occasionally coughs, and these coughs become 
 more frequent and more prolonged as the disease pro- 
 gresses. He may cough until he is sick. During the whole 
 of this period he is very infectious. Children who have 
 sudden violent fits of coughing should set the teacher on 
 the alert. 
 
 Scarlet Fever. — The premonitory signs of scarlet fever 
 are those we associate with a bilious attack. The child has a 
 cold and a headache. He is feverish and feels drowsy. 
 Sometimes he vomits. The throat is usually sore. 
 
 After scarlet fever, as after measles, the child needs the 
 greatest care. Chest troubles, inflammation of the middle 
 ear, kidney disease are among the ills that may come through 
 neglect during convalescence. Again, let us utter a word 
 of warning as to the danger of using the eyes much while 
 they are still in a weak state. Short-sightedness is sure to 
 result from it. 
 
 We can see how much these diseases affect children if we 
 notice the teeth of a child who had a bad attack of fever about 
 the sixth year of age — that is, during the period of dentition. 
 The teeth will probably show a transverse ridge, denoting 
 arrested development at this period. The teeth are not the 
 only parts of the body affected. All the system suffers at 
 the time. And yet we still meet mothers who dilate on the fore- 
 thought they showed when they allowed an infected child to 
 associate with those of the family who as yet had escaped. They 
 explain that in this way they were saved much trouble 
 and expense, as the course of infection was expedited, and the 
 same physic and diet were equally good for all the sufferers. 
 They are ignorant of the fact that every illness from which 
 a child suffers lowers its vitahty, and that the danger is not 
 past when the period of convalescence is reached. With 
 one child ill and another convalescing at the same time, how 
 can the mother give to both the care they need ? The 
 children pay for the mother's lack of knowledge.
 
 58 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 The Cleaning of the Schoolroom. 
 
 Every schoolroom should be swept daily. Dry sweeping 
 is to be condemned ; it sends a cloud of dust into the upper 
 layers of the air, and this settles on walls, furniture and floor. 
 Sawdust should be scattered over the floor before sweep- 
 ing begins. This sawdust should have been watered some 
 hours previously, so that it may be thoroughly damp ; and 
 the sawdust and dust that are swept up should be burnt. 
 Dusting should be done with a damp duster, and this duster 
 should be washed after it has been used. To let it dry is to 
 set free some of the dust upon it. After the floor has 
 been swept it should be wiped with a wet mop that has been 
 dipped into a disinfectant solution. 
 
 The schoolroom windows should be flung wide both evening 
 and morning, so that the children come into fresh and not into 
 stale air. Many caretakers keep the windows shut after the 
 room has been dusted, for fear that dust may blow in and 
 necessitate a second dusting of the room. '1 he teacher might 
 arrange for a child to do this second dusting, provided that 
 the room were aired. Windows should be more often 
 cleaned than is usually the case. They should be cleaned 
 as soon as they are dirty. How much hght a dirty window 
 can arrest the amateur photographer can ascertain when he 
 prints from behind a dirty and a clear window respectively. 
 
 During the long holidays the whole school should be dis- 
 infected. 'I he walls should be spraj'ed from below upwards 
 with a forty per cent, solution of formalin. By spraying in 
 this way the walls become damped equally all over, and are 
 not disfigured or damaged by streams of the solution. The 
 furniture and floor should be washed with hot soapy water 
 to which a small amount of paraffin has been added — two 
 or three tables])oonfuls to a bucket of water. 
 
 After an epidemic in addition to this cleansing, all books 
 and school apparatus should be disinfected. Modelling 
 clay should be first burnt and then thrown away. Here is 
 one of its advantages over plasticine. It is so cheap that 
 the sacrifice of a quantity does not involve much loss. Books 
 can be treated at a disinfecting station. It would be wiser 
 to have them burnt, for they are difficult to disinfect, and 
 manv of them are so cheap that their replacement is not 
 costly. 
 
 In schools that are subjected to this periodical disinfection
 
 THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN 59 
 
 there is a notable freedom from infectious illnesses ; the number 
 of cases of colds in the head are considerably reduced. 
 
 Annie Home. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 
 
 Manual of Elementary Physiology. Leonard Hill. (Ed. Arnold, 6s.^ 
 
 Hygiene for Students. Willoughby. (Macmillan, 4s. 6d.) 
 
 Child Nature and Nurture. Drummond. (Dent, 15.) 
 
 Elementary Physiology. Drnmmond. 2S. 6d. 
 
 Children in Health and Disease. Forsyth. (John Murray, los. 6d.) 
 
 School Hygiene. Newsholme & Pakes. (Swan Sonnenschein.) 
 
 School Hygiene. Lyster. (University Tutorial Press, t,s. 6d.)
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 
 
 There is a danger of considering work in the Baby-room 
 as sometliing separate, something apart from the rest of 
 school hfe ; less important, because here less formal instruc- 
 tion can be carried on. This is probably because the teacher's 
 ideal is an ideal of instruction rather than one of education ; 
 because the result of work in the higher grades is more easily 
 measured, can even sometimes take concrete and visible 
 form, whereas the results of Baby-room work are entirely 
 intangible, can never be tested or examined. 
 
 To understand the importance of Baby-room work teachers 
 must realize that education is to be measured in terms of 
 growth, and not in terms of mental content. This point of 
 view of the child as something growing, and, moreover, as 
 something which must do the growing for himself, is essential 
 to teachers of all grades. Without it the school is apt to 
 become solely an institution for handing on formulated race- 
 e.xperience, whereas social development ^ — the ultimate end 
 of all education, including in its wider scope all minor aims — 
 demands that the child be educated as a social being, and for 
 this purpose brought into contact with a miniature world 
 of people and things. In deahng with large numbers, and for 
 purposes of instruction, it is necessary to divide the school 
 into classes, but it is contrary to the social ideal that these 
 should work entirely in isolation, as is too often the case. 
 Child should help child, class help class, and the school should 
 be a real community. 
 
 Each stage in child life demands its own peculiar experi- 
 ences, and it is the special work of education to provide these 
 as the need for them arises. In the Baby-room this is essential. 
 The best place for a baby below five years is a good home. 
 If teachers would picture to themselves the day of a fortunate 
 baby in such a one, and then contrast it with a day spent in 
 
 ' See Bagley on the Social Aim, Educative Process, ch. iii. 
 
 60
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 6i 
 
 the average Baby-room, they would find an explanation for 
 the restlessness and listlessness too often apparent among our 
 school babies, and perhaps be led to modify the demands 
 made on these undeveloped infants. 
 
 At home the baby is free. He toddles up and down with 
 his mother, or sits on the floor at her feet playing often with 
 toys which are imitations of the very things she uses. 
 The mother makes a pudding, or cuts out material, or 
 washes and irons, and the baby spasmodically imitates. The 
 mother chatters to him about their doings, putting quite 
 naturally his active experiences into words, so he learns 
 in the only natural way what these vague sounds mean, uses 
 them himself, and his power over language grows. The 
 mother sings to him, or tells him about other children or 
 about animals, keeping always in touch with his experience, 
 yet widening it, and so the happy day is full of real experience, 
 and therefore of real learning. It is hardly necessary to 
 picture the average school Baby-room. The weary babies 
 seated in rows, hands behind their backs or at least under 
 the desks ; the weary teacher, endeavouring to teach by words 
 with the help of an illustration or an object, shown to the 
 children ; her constant appeals to the babies to attend, or 
 to listen, or not to fidget. No wonder so many teachers 
 would " rather not undertake babies," or that so many 
 children learn to be lazy. 
 
 The baby who comes to school is a real baby— a toddling, 
 tottering, uncontrolled, inarticulate bud of a person, only just 
 beginning to know himself as separate from the vast world 
 of wonderful new things around, and certain only in one direc- 
 tion, namely that he, the centre of it all, wants to do, to make, 
 to control. At this age baby is essentially a httle egoist. 
 The idea of himself as a power is beginning to dawn, and is 
 necessary to his development. Naturally he spends all his 
 time exerting his power, often of course in wrong directions, 
 as he discovers from the consequences. In school this sense 
 of power is generally crushed, and then its development goes 
 on unguided in playground and street with undesirable results. 
 
 The most noticeable characteristic of a young healthy 
 child is ceaseless activity, activity involving the whole self. 
 The homelike environment which the teacher will provide 
 will stimulate the child to be purposefully active, but she 
 must look for the result of this activity in the child himself, 
 and not in the things done or the objects made: these will
 
 62 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 and should be crude and inartistic, but they mark a stage, 
 and the study of racial development will show their import- 
 ance.^ 
 
 Again, the child's interests centre round things rather 
 than ideas, and especially round things which move or change. 
 His attention is passive, therefore drudgery and drill have 
 no place at this stage. It is natural for a young child's interest 
 to flit from one thing to another — especially where unchanging 
 objects are concerned — but as soon as he is able to modify 
 these objects, make them active, or be himself active upon 
 them, his attention is held for longer periods. If teachers 
 could encourage and guide, instead of checking this activity, 
 children would more readily gain the power to concentrate. 
 
 Since growth is the chief need of life at this stage, what 
 conditions must be fulfilled if the child is to grow healthily ? 
 
 I. He must be occupied in playful activity which will 
 bring him a variety of experiences and also allow free expres- 
 sion. 
 
 II. He must be provided with healthy physical conditions. 
 Play in the Baby-room may be considered under three 
 
 chief headings : — 
 
 (i) Constructive and movement plays — including hand- 
 work, free play, imitative and dramatic plays, rhythmic 
 plays and romps. 
 
 (2) Nature work — care of animals and plants and gardening. 
 
 (3) Language expression — story, song and chat. 
 
 I. PLAY ACTIVITIES. 
 
 (i) Handwork. — Babies' handwork should be of the very 
 simplest, and much freedom must be allowed. Teachers 
 who look for accurate or artistic work will do well to consider 
 the child at this stage in the light of his relation to racial de- 
 velopment. Another point to be remembered is that the 
 work of very young children should chiefly involve the use 
 of the larger muscles, and not require fine co-ordinations 
 of the smaller muscles. 
 
 Sometimes in occupational play the teacher Umits the 
 choice of material and defmitely suggests and guides the chil- 
 dren's work ; at another time each child or group of children 
 chooses materials or toys and directs its own activity. Occu- 
 pational play may be individual, each child making a similar 
 
 * See Chamberlain, The Child.
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 63 
 
 object, or it may take the form of group work, where several 
 Of all of the children unite to carry out different pieces of work 
 to illustrate a common idea. In both guided and free play 
 several kinds of material and toys can be used together. 
 Among those occupations most suited to the children will 
 be the playful imitation of activities carried on in the home, 
 such as the care of babies (doll play), cooking, washing, and 
 house cleaning. The aim here is twofold : the representation 
 of life around and the getting of experience through activity 
 —doing for a purpose. The children must not be expected 
 to formulate their knowledge on the subject, and no direct 
 teaching should be given. The children play, and in the 
 play come to know more of their environment, thinking and 
 acting upon it in a natural purposeful way. 
 
 Sandu'ork. — The value to young children of digging and con- 
 structing with sand is well known, but provision made for this in 
 school is not always satisfactory. Sand trays, if used, must be 
 sufficiently wide and deep to allow free handling of the material. 
 Small trays — about 10 in. by 12 in. — supplied with a thin 
 layer of dry sand are totally inadequate ; it is better for two 
 or three children to share a larger tray and to have plenty 
 of damp sand. Better still is a sand pile in the play garden, 
 and in the room a trough or box, such as those described below 
 in the paragraph on furniture of the Baby-room. 
 
 Brick-building is too often limited to the use of Froebel's 
 " Gifts " ; surely it would be an advantage for the children 
 to have larger bricks of varying lengths ; for example, cubes 
 with 1 1 in. faces, and bricks resembling Tillick's, but again 
 with i| in. base and no graduation marks. This variety in 
 size will give a wider experience and greater scope to the 
 children's activity. It is unwise at this stage to expect the 
 children to keep the bricks neatly in boxes, as fine muscular 
 adjustments are required to do this, baskets or larger boxes 
 where no arrangement is necessary might be used. In the 
 next grade (children over 5 years of age) the same kind of 
 bricks may help the children to form their first ideas of ratio, 
 and make their first measurements,^ and now the orderly 
 arrangement of the bricks will help to centre attention on the 
 relation of one to another. 
 
 Toymaking. — Babies can only make very rough and simple 
 toys, such as the following, all of which have been attempted. 
 Rag or paper dolls — prepared shapes may be stuffed by the 
 1 See Dewey, Speers, and Tillick.
 
 64 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 children, or a small ball (for a head) can be covered with 
 material, the ends being left to form body and limbs, or a 
 clothes peg can be used in the same way. Again, dolls can 
 be dressed in paper or material, paper trumpets, scrap- 
 books, paper kites, cardboard carts (without wheels), flags, 
 etc., can all be made. Match boxes are useful for dolls' beds, 
 boats, chests of drawers, punch and judy shows, etc. When- 
 ever possible waste material such as cotton reels, wall-paper, 
 tram tickets, etc., should be used. 
 
 Free-play is a very important factor in child life, because 
 in the free choice and control of his play the child is learning 
 to think and act independently. What is now baby play 
 will gradually develop into self-directed work. A period 
 in both morning and afternoon sessions might well be devoted 
 to free-play, the children choosing their own toys or material ; 
 but having once made the choice they should be encouraged 
 to abide by it for the time being. Some may choose dolls, 
 others dolls' houses, others again toy animals, trains or go- 
 carts, or sand, bricks or colouring materials ; in this way the 
 Baby-room will approximate as nearly as possible to an ideal 
 nursery. The teacher's chief work is now to observe the 
 children, notice the bent and peculiarities of each, their 
 powers and limitations, and to help those who are lacking in 
 initiative. She will do well to give little actual direction to 
 the play, making suggestions only when really needed. 
 
 Rhythmic Plays. — It is often felt that there is a scarcity of 
 suitable games and plays for the Baby-room. Surely this is 
 only because teachers are looking for something elaborate, 
 something which expresses a definite sequence of ideas, some- 
 thing which is effective, and pleasing for the adult to witness. 
 But these are not the natural games of little children. At 
 this early stage pleasure comes largely from physical move- 
 ment, it is not necessarily the expression of an idea. Jumping, 
 hopping, dancing about, clapping, and use of the vocal organs 
 are the child's natural games. Here is the teacher's oppor- 
 tunity to use this impulsive activity, and by introducing the 
 controlling power of music, help the children to regulate and 
 gradually develop this wild energy till it becomes the rhythmic 
 and purposeful expression of ideas. Instead of attempting 
 to teach set dances and steps, would it not be far better 
 to play simple music, and encourage the children to move 
 quite freely in response ? The music of the Baby's Opera 
 and Baby's Bouquet, published by Warne, and a book
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 65 
 
 of Scotch dance music — Kerr's collection — are excellent for 
 this purpose, being simple yet good in quality. Such simple 
 games are Lubin Loo, Oranges and Lemons, Ring of Roses, 
 Mulberry Bush, Blue Bird, etc., if taken simply and naturally. 
 
 Imitative Plays. — These range from the simplest spon- 
 taneous imitation of animal noises and movements, to the 
 more elaborate dramatizations of life around, or of the ideas 
 conveyed by story, song, or rhyme. 
 
 In the early stages the child seizes upon one prominent 
 feature of its model, and acts out that. For instance, he 
 neighs, mews, or roars ; next he may imitate the movement 
 of the interesting object, uniting this with the noise, as when 
 playing trains he shuffles along, using his arms for pistons 
 and making the whistle and puff of the engine ; or in being a 
 dog he runs on all fours, barking and pretending to bite. A 
 still later stage shows a series of complex activities ; he will 
 play at tea parties ; at brushing, stabling, and feeding his 
 horse ; at travelling in tramcar or train, and many also of 
 the home industries are imitated in this simple way. Thus 
 the child comes into touch with his surroundings, and so by 
 actually living out in this way the experiences of others, does 
 he reach a true understanding of and sympathy with life 
 around. In the Baby-room these simple imitative plays are 
 sometimes neglected ; teachers will do well to encourage, 
 suggest and lead the children in such imitations, playing 
 freely with them as one of themselves. The dramatization 
 of story or nursery rhyme is often attempted ; and if babies 
 are ready for it, this is excellent — but when it is found necessary 
 to teach the actions, either the children are not sufficiently 
 advanced, or else their originality has not in the past been 
 given opportunity to develop. Dramatization must always 
 be free and original, however poor the apparent results : 
 the teacher's work here is to help by suggestion and guidance, 
 and by herself taking a part in the play. 
 
 Music and words are not always an advantage in games. 
 The former is sometimes helpful as an accompaniment, for 
 example, when children dramatize sleep, or fairy life, or 
 soldiers marching; but usually the words written for young 
 children hinder rather than help free representation of their 
 ideas. 
 
 Ring Plays and Romps. — In these it is the simplicity and 
 vigour of the movements rather than the expression of ideas 
 which gives pleasure. Words, if used, should be simple ; 
 
 F
 
 66 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 children often enjoy nonsense syllables in these games. Songs 
 which introduce ideas foreign, and therefore harmful, to little 
 children, such as love-making and parodies on death, are 
 unsuitable and should be rigidly avoided. 
 
 (2) Nature Work. — Little children are naturally very 
 fond of animals and plants, but at this stage they are workers 
 rather than observers, so that they love to take care of and 
 play with their pet animals, but do not notice structure. 
 Structure is the result of use, therefore the activity should 
 first be known ; until this is understood, knowledge of structure 
 will have no meaning or value. Let the children live as much 
 as possible with Nature, provide them with pet animals, 
 growing plants and a garden. The question of the keeping 
 of pet animals by children in school is a much debated one. 
 Some Nature lovers feel that far from there being any benefit 
 from such a practice, it may not only bring suffering to the 
 animal, but physical and moral harm to the children. When- 
 ever this is the case, it arises from grave fault or misunder- 
 standing on the part of the teacher in charge. If the keeping 
 of pets can only be undertaken at the cost of injury to the 
 children and animals, obviously it is wrong, and must at once 
 be abandoned. It is essential that teachers should under- 
 stand the needs of both children and animals in order that 
 this danger be avoided. The points of view of the lover of 
 children and that of the lover of animals are not antagonistic, 
 they are one and the same. If life is ever to be cared for and 
 reverenced as it should be, we must bring children into 
 sympathetic relations with living things during their most 
 impressionable years — while anthropomorphism is at its 
 height. If we let children grow through the infant stage 
 without personally caring for and tending animal life, we shall 
 find them at the girl and boy stage interested, no doubt, 
 but along the lines of curiosity and inquiry without the back- 
 ground of intimacy and love, to lack which is to lack the 
 greatest essentials of the Nature lover. They will bring to 
 the study of Nature the head without the guidance of the 
 good heart. 
 
 Again, it must be remembered that children do come in 
 contact with animals in the home and in the street, a contact 
 which is generally extremely detrimental to them morally, 
 for the home cat, or dog, or rabbit is too often merely the 
 plaything of the children, to be tormented and worried regard- 
 less of its nature or happiness.
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 67 
 
 It is for the teacher, then, to choose whether she allows 
 this point of view to colour the children's attitude towards 
 animal hfe, or whether in her devotion to both children and 
 animals she will take the necessary trouble, great though it 
 may be, to ensure a happy life for the pet animal and beneficial 
 contact with it for the children. This is already being admir- 
 ably done in a few of our Infant Elementary Schools, where 
 only one or two permanent pets are kept, which enjoy almost 
 complete liberty. 
 
 Certainly the most real Nature study can only be carried 
 on by going to the habitat of the creature and studying it 
 in its free native environment, but neither his own nature 
 nor circumstances permit such a study for the four-year-old 
 child ; his observation comes only as a result of close personal 
 contact, he cannot long be still and watch and wait, but by 
 taking care of his pets and helping to provide for their comfort 
 he comes to love them. The necessity for personal contact, 
 for living with his possession, is fundamental to the child's 
 real interest in it — a comparison with his social relationships 
 will show the same need here. 
 
 The baby's interest in animal life will centre on his personal 
 pets, the dog, cat, hen and chickens, rabbits or guinea pigs, 
 goldfish, frogs, tadpoles, and perhaps a dove or canary. Any 
 of these may be kept easily and comfortably, provided the 
 teacher realizes their needs, and is sufiiciently enthusiastic 
 to take the necessary trouble. It is far better to have one 
 or two pets, give them large cages, plenty of liberty and con- 
 stant care, than to attempt more, with less comfort for the 
 animals and a less intimate contact between children and 
 pets. Wild native animals or birds should never be caged 
 or kept ; in such cases the cost in suffering to the animals is 
 in no way compensated for, and the harm to the children is 
 great. 
 
 To children below the age of five years plant life has not 
 the same attraction as animal life, but flowers are enjoyed 
 for their colour, and the Baby-room should always be supplied 
 with these, to be arranged and re-watered daily by the chil- 
 dren ; bulbs and the larger seeds, such as chestnuts (of both 
 kinds), acorns, sycamores, etc., may be grown indoors. The 
 interest here, as with the animals, will be largely personal, 
 not scientific. 
 
 In the playground the Babies' garden is important ; narrow 
 strips of bed with Httle paths between are convenient. The
 
 68 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 gardening at this stage does not aim at artistic effect, it is 
 rather a purely educational occupation, its chief values being 
 the joy and the life experience it brings the children. 
 
 If the class is large, all the babies together cannot water the 
 plants, make holes, or put in seeds ; those who must be onlookers 
 for the moment can " pretend," imitating the activity to the 
 accompaniment perhaps of such a song as, " In my Uttle 
 garden bed " (E. E. Poulsson — Finger Plays), or an adapted 
 version of " The Mulberry Bush," " This is the way we sow 
 our seeds," etc. If it is impossible to have a garden, boxes 
 and pots can be substituted. Whatever the disadvantages 
 under which a school labours, it is always possible to provide 
 some gardening, and the culture which results to children of 
 all ages from this activity makes any effort it may cost, 
 worth the trouble. Under the heading of Nature work may 
 be classed those plays with water, colours, sunhght and 
 shadow, which, suggested by Froebel in his " Mniiey und 
 Rose Lieder," are still to many teachers an unexplored region, 
 but one which gives scope for much thought and originality. 
 
 (3) Language Training has an important place in the 
 Baby-room, but it is incidental, a part of the environment ; 
 and any formal teaching of the subject is out of place. We 
 are too apt to rush children through this important stage, 
 imagining that the making and translating of symbols is the 
 foundation on which language is built, whereas gesture and 
 speech, used to convey ideas, are the real foundation. Ideas 
 to be expressed and freedom to express them are essential 
 for language culture. Actual experiences are in the early 
 years more potent factors in language teaching than even 
 story, rhyme and song, though they, too, have an important 
 place. Children should be encouraged to talk very freely 
 about the things which interest them. The language of the 
 story, above the level of the children's own powers of expres- 
 sion, must yet be simple enough for them to realize the ideas 
 which it conveys, so that new ideas and new forms of expres- 
 sion are gained. Of course, stories for this stage must be 
 very short. In song and rhyme it is not necessary that every 
 word shall be understood by the children, so long as the ideas 
 are either within their comprehension and of a kind interesting 
 to them, or, if incomprehensible, such that delight is caused by 
 the mere jingle of nonsense words, for example, " Hickory 
 dickory dock," or " Hey diddle diddle." 
 
 Number Work. — What has been said regarding the place of
 
 THE BABY- ROOM 69 
 
 language teaching applies equally to number. The only 
 number work that babies are ready for is the counting of 
 actual objects of interest, and the ideas of form and size 
 that underlie all play with toys. To count small groups of 
 these is a legitimate activity on condition that it is done in 
 play, and that there is a purpose which appeals to the child 
 as real. The teacher should use the many natural oppor- 
 tunities which arise for the children to count their toys, etc. ; 
 for instance, their soldiers when setting them out to march, 
 the children on the rocking-horse, the number of bricks 
 carried in the toy-cart, the visitors at their tea-party, the 
 plates and cups to be set for them. Number plays and 
 rhymes may be helpful, provided the counting is spontaneous 
 and natural as in : " This little pig went to market," " Five 
 little dickybirds," " Thumbkin says, I'll dance," "The merry 
 little men," etc. 
 
 The teacher in the Baby-room, if she introduces number 
 work at all, must reahze that it has its beginning in measuring 
 by counting jor a purpose, and a purpose which is realized 
 by the individual who counts.^ 
 
 II. PHYSICAL CONDITIONS. 
 
 Sleep. — In considering the child's physical needs, the 
 teacher must not lose sight of the home conditions; she 
 must treat the child's hfe as a whole, doing her best to com- 
 pensate in school hours for deficiencies in home life. One of 
 the most neglected conditions of child life at present is the 
 need for abundant and peaceful sleep, a neglect which is 
 noticeable in all classes of society. 
 
 It is difficult to prevent the over excitement and over- 
 stimulation from which children too often suffer, but teachers 
 can do something to counteract it by giving to all the younger 
 children opportunities for sleep during school hours. In the 
 Baby-room a period in both morning and afternoon sessions 
 may well be devoted to sleep ; for children of five years the 
 afternoon rest should be regularly continued ; while it should 
 be possible for any older child, who may temporarily or occa- 
 sionally need sleep, to join the younger ones in this daily rest. 
 When it is remembered that the majority of children waken 
 with dayhght and spend about fifteen hours in incessant 
 activity, often amidst noise and confusion, it cannot but be 
 
 1 See Dewey, Th$ Psychology of Number. 
 
 \
 
 70 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 considered beneficial to ensure that they should have periods 
 for absolute rest and quiet. A lullaby sung or soft music 
 played while the children are settled to rest, will help to 
 ensure peaceful sleep and add to the children's enjoyment. 
 
 LuNXH. — ^Time may well be spared in the Baby-room to 
 make the lunch a dainty meal. If the authorities will provide 
 inexpensive cloths, plates and mugs, the children can arrange 
 these and place flowers on the tables. The lunch, provided 
 by the school where possible, or by some arrangement of 
 small payments, can be handed by the children, and in this 
 way refined and courteous habits will be formed. The clearing 
 away and washing of the articles should be done by the 
 children under the supervision of the teacher and with the 
 help of an older child, who may be invited by the little ones. 
 
 Furniture and Appointments. — We, are now prepared 
 to consider the room, apparatus and playgarden suitable 
 for the use of a babies' class. Remembering the importance 
 of early impressions in the formation of ideals, taste and 
 habits, and their influence on physical and mental health, 
 we realize the necessity of careful choice in the surround- 
 ings of young children. 
 
 With regard to situation, a south aspect is best, with large, 
 low, clear glass windows looking on to the garden, and a door 
 leading directly into it. Plain short curtains can be drawn 
 across the lower part of the window when the older children 
 are using the garden and playground. 
 
 Besides the usual heating apparatus, it is advantageous 
 to have an open fire with a secure high guard before it. The 
 walls of the room may be painted in some suitable light, soft 
 colour, with an enamelled dado of a corresponding darker 
 shade : the colour determined by the aspect of the room. 
 The glazed brick dado found in many Baby-rooms in ele- 
 mentary schools, though cleanly, is too cold for such young 
 children. The most satisfactory floor covering is thick cork 
 carpet ; it is both warm and hygienic. Where this cannot 
 be provided a large piece of floor cloth, with a shiny surface 
 from which dust is easily removed, should be laid on the floor 
 at times, so that groups of babies may sit on it to play in the 
 position most natural at their age. Some schools already 
 make use of a cheap straw matting for this purpose ; they 
 have two or three dozen mats of this material, which are warm 
 for the babies to sit on, are easily rolled up, and can be washed. 
 Small tables and chairs, light enough for the children them-
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 71 
 
 selves to move easily, are the most convenient furniture ; 
 for cupboards, long low ones will be found useful where the 
 babies keep their toys and materials, the top of which, 
 being not more than three feet high, can be used as a side 
 table for flowers, growing seeds, plants, or other interesting 
 possessions of the children. 
 
 A piano is a necessity. 
 
 In large classes the difficulty of accommodating many 
 sleeping children has to be faced, and there are various arrange- 
 ments for this. Perhaps the most satisfactory is the provision 
 of a small hammock for each child. Hanging to a hook in 
 the wall is a canvas hammock, the opposite end of which is 
 fastened to an upright rod, which is held in position by being 
 let into a deep socket in the floor. When not in use the rod 
 is lifted out of its socket and hung, together with both ends 
 of the hammock, on the hook in the wall, while the socket 
 hole in the floor is covered by a sHding Hd. When in use the 
 hammock should be not more than ih feet from the floor. 
 In this way, without encroaching unduly on the floor space, 
 it should be possible to accommodate all the children for 
 their daily rests. 
 
 A sand trough 18 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and ij to 2 
 feet high, fixed along one wall and filled with damp sand, is 
 a valuable addition to the Baby-room. Penny buckets, 
 spades and wooden moulds of different shapes will add to the 
 children's inteUigent experimental play. 
 
 Pictures. — Practical experience shows that children of this 
 age are not attracted by pictures which are more than four 
 feet from the floor. One sometimes sees a Baby-room crowded 
 with pictures — this gives a confused impression harmful to 
 the children ; it is far better to have a few — perhaps three 
 or four — good pictures illustrating the chief interests for 
 the time being, and change these as the interests change. 
 Could the Caldecot pictures be enlarged to a suitable size, 
 some of these would answer the purpose admirably. The 
 excellence of the Caldecot illustrations wiU be realized if 
 teachers compare his " Sing a song for sixpence," for example, 
 with those pictures often used, where the whole setting is 
 matter of fact, and artistic imagination entirely wanting. 
 In the one case the imagination is stimulated and uplifted, 
 as is possible only under the inspiration of an artist, while in 
 the other the onlooker's thoughts are hampered by the com- 
 monplace, or at best left just where they were.
 
 72 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Toys. — ^Toys must be simple. One of the great dangers 
 of the present age is the over-stimulation of young children. 
 This is partly caused by a super-abundance of playthings 
 and their lack of simphcity. Elaborate toys put the child 
 into the position of spectator rather than of operator. In 
 this way the play loses its value, and becomes a mere amuse- 
 ment instead of an educational process. Toy play should 
 be a great feature of the Baby-room. The child should 
 have material which he can understand, mould, alter and 
 with which he can carry out activities. This is a plea 
 for the simple and " natural " toy; for example, instead of 
 one expensive factory-made dolls' house, several smaller 
 houses made from boxes or small packing cases, and furnished 
 with a few pieces of strong rough furniture, would be infinitely 
 more valuable. When one house only is provided it is impos- 
 sible for many children to have the experience of playing 
 with it, and when at last his turn comes, the child cannot 
 plan and organize for himself, as the toy has to be shared by 
 several. Besides this, the introduction of expensive toys 
 spoils the child's taste and hmits his imagination. The 
 following toys are suggested as suitable for baby-room play: — 
 a safety swing if space and supervision allow, rocking horse, 
 wheel-barrows, dolls (one for each child), cradles, dolls' 
 perambulators, horses, carts, trucks, go-carts, engines, milk- 
 carts, stables, farms, balls, boats, reins, teddy bears, toy 
 animals, soldiers, skittles, Noah's arks, etc. Nearly all 
 these can be made by children in the upper classes, giving 
 opportunity for a united school hfe, giving purpose to the 
 handwork lessons, and enabling the children to use waste 
 material which many homes provide and shops are often 
 willing to give for such a purpose. 
 
 The needs of the Baby-room offer other opportunities 
 for community life in the school as a whole. In the cookery 
 class biscuits can be made for lunch ; overalls and table- 
 cloths made in the needlework lessons can be washed in the 
 laundry class, the making and mending of felt slippers and 
 of toys is suitable work for the handwork classes : in this 
 way the work of the school will be more closely in touch with 
 real life and real needs, and become increasingly educational. 
 
 The Playground. — Any playground which is to be of educa- 
 tional value to young children must include a garden, even 
 if it should be necessary to rail this off as a special place in 
 which the rougher forms of play may not be indulged. There
 
 THE BABY-ROOM 73 
 
 should be grass — if possible partly shaded by trees, and in 
 fine, warm weather the babies should bring out their tables 
 and chairs, so that many of their plays may take place in the 
 open air in a more natural and healthful environment than 
 the best planned room can provide. The children's gardens 
 will be here, the sand pile, and possibly a long sand-trough 
 at which many children can play together. 
 
 Time Table. — The time table, if existing, should be ex- 
 tremely elastic. A general scheme will help to ensure variety 
 in the children's experience, but the teacher should be free 
 to prolong, shorten or omit any activity when her observation 
 of the children makes her realize the wisdom of this. Below 
 is given a scheme for a Baby-room time table, not in any 
 way as a model, but to indicate the hues on which the sug- 
 gested ideas could be carried out. A break of five minutes 
 has been arranged after each period to be used at the teacher's 
 discretion for play, singing, games, or, on the other hand, for 
 lengthening a period if this has proved too short to satisfy 
 the children's needs. 
 
 9-9.20 \\ ash hands, etc. Register. Singing and 
 morning chat. 
 
 9.25-9.40 Nature work. 
 
 9.45-10 Story, chat or song. 
 
 10. 5-10.20 Play. 
 
 10.25-10.40 Lunch. 
 
 10. 45-11 Recreation. 
 
 11-11.30 Sleep. 
 
 II. 30-11. 50 Free play (for those who wake naturally). 
 
 II. 50-12 Wash and dress. 
 
 2-2.15 Wash, singing. Registers. 
 
 2.20-2.35 Games. 
 
 2.40-3 Occupational play. 
 
 3-3.15 Recreation. 
 
 3.15 Sleep (all who can, will sleep till 4 o'clock). 
 
 3-30-3-50 Free play. 
 
 3.50-4 Wash and dress 
 
 E. B. Cole.
 
 74 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 The following books will be found useful from which to 
 select songs or stories suitable for very young children : — 
 
 Baby's Opera. (Warne, 3s. 6d.) 
 
 Baby's Bouquet. (Warne, 3s. 6d.) 
 
 Nuisery Songs. Keatley Moore. (Routledge, 3s. 6d.) 
 
 Holiday Songs. Milton Bradley. los. 
 
 Music for the Kindergarten. E. Heerwart. (Boosey & Co., 2s. 6d.) 
 
 Boston Book of Songs. Walker & Jenks. (Curvven, 4s. 6d.) 
 
 Songs, Games and Rhymes for Kindergarten and Primary Schools. Hail- 
 
 mann. (Milton Bradley & Co.) 
 Mother Stories. M. Lindsay. (Milton Bradley, 5s.) 
 More Mother Stories. M. Lindsay. (Milton ISradley, 5s.) 
 In the Child World. Emily Poulsson. js. 6d. net. 
 Peter Rabbit. Beatrix Potter, is. net. 
 Little Black Sambo. (Chatto & Windus, is. net.) 
 How to Tell Stories to Children. Sara Cone Bryant. (Harrap, 2s. 6d. 
 
 net.) 
 Stories to Tell to Children. Sara Cone Bryant. (Harrap, 25. 6d. net.) 
 Two Bad Mice. Beatrix Potter. (Warne, is.) 
 In the Childven's Garden. Schofield. (Philip & Son, 5s.) 
 Heart of Oak, Books I and II. (Heath & Co.)
 
 LITERATURE 
 {a) STORIES AND STORY MATERIAL 
 
 In the search for fitting material with which to educate, 
 the teacher naturally studies the child, with a view to 
 understanding his interests and needs, in order that such / 
 material may be chosen and brought into line with them as 
 will secure the conditions which make for right development. 
 One of the results of such study is the discovery of the hunger 
 which all normal children show for stories. " Please tell me 
 a story " is a constant request on childish lips — indicating 
 a natural need, which, if rightly satisfied, promotes the 
 mind's growth and development. A proper supply of nourish- 
 ing food and alternations of exercise and rest are absolutely 
 necessary for the body's well-being. Equally so are these 
 conditions necessary for the mind. From good story material 
 such food is obtained, and of a most appetising kind, whilst 
 the opportunity for exercise is unique. The truth of this 
 is obvious to any student of child nature who watches children 
 during a story period. Their absolute absorption and intent- 
 ness during the recital is a marked characteristic of attitude, 
 which is strong testimony of the fitness of this form of mind 
 food. 
 
 Imagine yourself watching such a group. There is an utter 
 absence of self-consciousness. Each child makes his own 
 special effort to lose nothing of the narrative or the charm of 
 interpretation. One turns round a chair to get a better 
 view of the teller's face. Another hugs his knees as though 
 it helped to increase his pleasure. A third, drawn by the 
 spell of the teacher's art, leaves his place and gradually draws 
 nearer and nearer to her, as if by so doing he could intensify 
 his delight. You notice a thoughtful little face looking at 
 the narrator with moving lips, repeating some phrase that 
 has caught her fancy. Stifled expressions of sympathy or .
 
 76 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 disapproval come from different parts of the class, sometimes 
 an eager question from an impatient child who finds it hard 
 to wait for the end, or a timid protest from a sensitive one 
 who is in trembling doubt as to the fate of the hero. Real 
 delight is variously expressed when all goes well — if the story 
 has been one of stress and fight ; if, on the other hand, the 
 incidents have treated of the quieter things of hfe, the pause 
 at the end, followed by the long-drawn sigh of appreciation, 
 given with so much sincerity and heartiness, makes the teller 
 revel in her art and all the joy it brings. 
 
 Froebel says that the child's delight in the story is due to 
 the fact that he uses it as a means for finding and understand- 
 ing himself. Self in the early days has no meaning for him. 
 He has not sufficient knowledge or experience to interpret 
 that self. So he unconsciously seeks for that interpretation 
 in the light of another's experience. A story portraying a 
 phase of life similar to his own, though not so similar as to 
 create self-consciousness, helps to make that phase intelligible. 
 One knows that it is so by his questions and his expression 
 in free play. His questions are usually of a personal kind : 
 " How old was the httle boy ? " " What was he Hke ? " 
 " Could he jump Hke this ? " suiting the action to the word. 
 His free play is another attempt to realize himself in terms 
 of somebody else. He personates the character that most 
 appeals to him, and for the time being hves the hfe of his 
 hero. Constant comparison of himself or others with the 
 experiences that are passing in review before him goes on ; 
 the tearful sorrow of a particularly dainty httle girl at the 
 dirty condition of Tom in the Water Babies as she sobbed out, 
 " Will he never be clean again ? " illustrates this ; as well 
 as the attempt on the part of another child to find some one 
 with whom she could compare Mrs. Do-as-you-would-be- 
 done-by, which resulted in her asking an onlooker, " Are you 
 tJiat little old lady ? " 
 
 At first the child is quite content with itself. Its own 
 physical needs, its own powers of activity, satisfy it. But 
 as soon as it begins to understand its connexion with outside 
 things, then is begotten within it a craving for the experiences 
 of others in story form. The reason for this is easily under- 
 stood when one considers how dim must be its own realization 
 of its place in the world, and its total ignorance of what this 
 connexion may unfold. Everything lies beyond it. The 
 vague consciousness of a vast unexplored land, in which there
 
 LITERATURE 77 
 
 is no limit to possibility for him, makes the experiences of 
 others, when unfolded in story form, an illuminating and 
 satisfying joy. Readers of Lavengro will remember with 
 what affection and gratitude Borrow speaks of his first story 
 book, Robinson Crusoe. Its fascination and delight he 
 seems never to have forgotten, and the stimulus at the time 
 was so great, as to induce effort of the most drudging kind 
 in order to master its contents, and so satisfy the raging curi- 
 osity with which he was filled. In writing of this experience 
 he says : " My progress, slow enough at first, became by degrees 
 more rapid, till at last, under ' a shoulder of mutton sail ' I 
 found myself cantering before a steady breeze over an ocean 
 of enchantments, so well pleased with my voyage that I 
 cared not how long it might be ere it reached its termination." 
 Think what the story must mean to the child of the slums 
 with his limited environment — so meagre in suggestiveness 
 and so lacking in interest, and all that might be called vitalizing 
 power in outlook. Such a child's activities alternate between 
 home and school. The sum of the home activities would 
 probably work out thus :— running errands for mother or 
 neighbours, taking care of baby, doing odd jobs, varied by 
 short spells of play in street or yard. The usefulness of such 
 experience no one questions, but its barrenness in interest, 
 thought-producing power and stimulus to anything like fruit- 
 ful endeavour, goes without saying. If to such a life we add 
 tlie charm of a story like Hiawatha, Robinson Crusoe, The 
 Cave Dwellers, we supply the needed interest. We give the 
 child something to think about, which seizes his imagination 
 and quickens it to new hfe. He begins to hve in a world of 
 his own creation, and clothes much of his activity with the 
 charm of fancy. Play now is more often than not an attempt 
 to realize certain phases of the story — those phases which 
 have most deeply impressed him. The scanty leisure is 
 frequently used in constructive effort to satisfy the new 
 hunger, and the power of ingenious adaptation shown some- 
 times astonishes one. Handy oddments like pieces of fire- 
 wood, string, scraps of cloth, bits of cork, twigs and feathers 
 are all used. Nothing comes amiss to the child in this new 
 stage of his awakened life. Crusoe's raft is fashioned, his 
 rough bench and table, the cooking vessels, or Hiawatha's 
 wigwam, canoe, bow and arrows, head dress, each and all 
 are attempted. 
 
 The value of this self-induced effort is difficult to assess.
 
 78 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 We are sure that it has widened the mental horizon, 
 broadened interest and deepened sympathy ; further, it has 
 started the habit of hnking thought and expression, with 
 its attendant developing reaction upon the whole organ- 
 ism. It has given the hands an opportunity really to 
 become the servants of the mind, and above all has brought 
 fncreased joy and happiness into the young life. Into the 
 iabric of daily routine he weaves the threads of fancy to such 
 purpose, that his doings become a part of the charmed life 
 into which he has stepped. His errands no longer mean 
 merely fetching a loaf of bread or a can of milk, but his 
 imagination pictures this as one of Crusoe's journeys to the 
 ship in search of needed treasure for the lonely home, and 
 so the daily tasks become clothed with such richness and 
 joy as is inconceivable to the adult mind. What all this 
 does by way of developing appreciation and starving, because 
 supplanting, less worthy thought, it is impossible for us to 
 know. We can only conjecture. The child has all to learn, 
 and though he learns partly through his own experiences, 
 he learns as much through the experiences of others presented 
 to him through this medium. His open mind offers ex- 
 ceptional opportunity for the formation of a good basis from 
 which his ideals will eventually develop. The story helps 
 to get the child's soul ready for the possession of some lofty 
 idea in order that he may have a suitable place for its lodg- 
 ment. 
 
 " It behoves us, the first thing of all, to prepare in our 
 soul a place of some loftiness where this idea may be lodged — 
 as the priests of ancient religion laid the mountain peak 
 bare and cleared it of thorn and root for the fire to descend 
 from heaven — and the admirable will enter our soul, the 
 volume of its waters being as the depth of the channel that 
 our expectation has fashioned " (Maeterlinck). 
 
 By its power we can stir " the sleeping spirit of hero worship 
 and aspiration " into new hfe, and intensify the hunger for 
 beauty and goodness. " In days of old it was almost the 
 only way in which records of great deeds were handed down 
 froni one generation to another as a means of incentive, 
 inspiration and warning." 
 
 A good foundation of story material should offer such a 
 background of moral training as is possible in no other way. 
 Morals are the result of experience, the laws and rules of 
 life which experience has formulated and found correct. If
 
 LITERATURE 79 
 
 we wish children to understand and appreciate other people's 
 knowledge, we must present them with other people's experi- 
 ence, which we do by stories. In presenting types of conduct 
 embodying courage, truth, self-sacrifice, or worthy and desir- 
 able action of any kind, it is very important, however, to 
 remember how crude and undeveloped is the child's conception 
 of these. His idea of bravery attaches itself to one kind of 
 action only — the action in which something very much out 
 of the ordinary is done — such as the killing of wild beasts, 
 the slaying of giants and dragons. He can appreciate the 
 courage of St. George in killing the dragon, of Perseus in 
 destroying the sea monster ; but it is a much more difficult 
 and complex process for him to realize the heroism in such 
 a story as " The Leak in the Dyke." The teller has to make 
 much of such details as the night vigil, the solitude, the long 
 spell of quiet. The child must be helped to understand the 
 physical suffering, the cold, the cramped position of the 
 limbs and of the whole bod}', the strain which all this involved, 
 and lastly the suspense and wondering fear as to whether or 
 not the threatened disaster will be averted. In this, and 
 in other examples of quite a different kind, the power of the 
 story is unique in developing and broadening the child's moral 
 sense, and enabling it to grasp a new and, to him, difficult 
 situation. It offers effective training in other ways. Language 
 is helped, and the child's understanding is incidentally built 
 up. The gift of imagination is intensified, for in the story 
 the child lives again. 
 
 What the Story Demands in the Teller. — ^To ensure 
 wise and educative interpretation of a story, it is necessary 
 that the teller should have absolute belief in its power to 
 enrich and satisfy. A background of conviction and earnest- 
 ness is of paramount importance to her. By means of this 
 she is placed on a higher level with regard to what she sets 
 out to do, and the effect is very striking on the children. This 
 attitude of strong desire frees the teller from all self-con- 
 sciousness, and enables her to give herself up entirely to 
 what she is doing. She lives in the story. This earnestness 
 emanates from her in all possible ways, and helps to initiate 
 a corresponding mood amongst the children. It modifies 
 tone of voice, facial play and gesture, indeed, every expres- 
 sive act comes naturally under its spell. That which is best 
 in her radiates to the class, and warms into hfe seedhngs of 
 appreciation and desire, which a colder attitude would have
 
 8o EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 left untouched. The atmosphere thus created unconsciously 
 affects the child for good ; but a simulated earnestness or 
 artifically created manner only results in an artificial atmo- 
 sphere which children are quick to feel. 
 
 The next important demand is realizing point of view — 
 by which is meant ability to appreciate the attitude of others 
 towards any particular thought or action. This is especially 
 difficult for the young teacher, but it is possible. The cultiva- 
 tion of a habit of looking at hfe from more than one stand- 
 point, and remembering that every question has two sides, 
 is helpful toward this end. To get to know as many types 
 of people as one can, and to hear their views upon subjects 
 in which we have a common interest, is of value. The more 
 we know of human nature, the better are we able to act as 
 interpreters to the children. Such study makes us careful 
 in the way we put things — more charitable, less hasty in our 
 judgments, better able to see things as they really are. Many 
 young teachers fail to get at the child's mind because of 
 their inability to realize its point of view. Preparation 
 for this is given by a study of the outlook of those nearer to 
 us in development than the child. Their different views 
 make us first aware of the fact that people can have very 
 varying opinions about the same subject, and bring different 
 experiences to bear on it. This begets in one a habit of watch- 
 fulness when telling a story to a class. We note in all sorts 
 of ways the individual response to what is being told. Power 
 to do this becomes increasingly sensitive with practice. 
 
 Breadth in Outlook is also most necessary. Without it 
 there is a lack in sense of proportion, right judgment and 
 power to give due place and weight to the essence of the 
 narrative. One must be appreciative of values in order to 
 do justice to the wealth of material which the story in its 
 all-round aspect gives. It is of vital importance to remember 
 that our choice of details and method of presentation is helping 
 the child to construct its theory of life. If we fail through 
 poverty of outlook to give him his data in such a way as to 
 make his constructive effort less rich in hope, joy, and incentive 
 than we might, we are doing him a grievous harm. A right 
 grip of principles and their bearings upon life puts one in the 
 position of a seer to the child. He learns through our inter- 
 pretation that each phase of human hfe has its difficulties, 
 its compensations, its sorrows, that each is necessary to the 
 whole. We inspire him to Hve nobly and well. It would
 
 LITERATURE 8i 
 
 be impossible, for example, for one with breadth of outlook 
 to give to a class the impression that old age was a condition 
 to be deplored, and hard work a burden too heavy to be 
 borne. 
 
 A good visual imagination is a valuable factor in the story- 
 teller's equipment. 1 It gives reality to description and 
 makes the story live. A ready command of language is 
 another important adjunct. This can be improved by 
 memorizing good poetry and prose, by rich reading and oral 
 practice in telling stories to an imaginary class. The cultiva- 
 tion of a literary consciousness is a necessity. With beginners 
 the vocabulary is often limited, and the power to describe 
 with clearness and ease slight. Perhaps the most general 
 fault is that of trusting to words alone to initiate states of 
 feeling. It means but httle to the child mind to be told, 
 " Tom had a very cruel master," if the teller leaves it at that. 
 She must in her telling incorporate some activity of the 
 master characteristic of the attribute. If we wish our chil- 
 dren to realize that a thing is beautiful or the converse— 
 the treatment must give the beautiful setting, and equally 
 so must it make the undesirable things unlovely. The 
 listeners should feel the cruelty and decide for themselves the 
 character of the man. There should be no formulation by 
 the teller. 
 
 Beauty of voice and cultured speech are of more than 
 average importance in equipment for this side of educative 
 work, because of the subtle shades of meaning which they 
 are aU to convey, and the intense delight which they evoke. 
 Children are keenly responsive to beauty of voice, and all 
 possible means should be taken to render this supple instru- 
 ment increasingly more dehcate as an interpreting agent. 
 
 The use, however, both of speech and voice, must be simple 
 and natural — the expression of genuine feehng 
 
 Selection of Material. — In choosing story material, 
 the age and probable development of the children must be 
 considered, together with their environment and possible 
 experiences. A class taken from the slums of a big city finds 
 it difficult to understand and enjoy a story deahng exclusively 
 with the sights and sounds of country hfe. As a rule the 
 young teacher lacks the needful skill to adapt and present 
 such material in an intelligible form to these children. This 
 does not mean the exclusion of such stories from all town 
 ^ "You must see what you say."
 
 82 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 schools, but only in extreme cases, when intelligent enjoyment 
 is impossible through lack of experience. The same principle 
 should govern the choice of stories for very young children. 
 For such stories it is wise to draw upon one's own experience. 
 Early childish pleasures when re-told to a class of babies 
 are a source of great joy. " Little ones especially delight 
 in stories of what father and mother did when they were 
 little, or what happened to grandmother when she went on a 
 long journey." They also like to hear about themselves 
 some little event in their own lives. Nursery rhymes offer 
 good story material at this stage ; they have a fixed form 
 both in thought and expression, which must be strictly ob- 
 served. 
 
 The story must appeal to the teller. She must love it if 
 she is worthily to interpret all that it has to give. " Every 
 story-teller has her lines of limitation," as well as an aptitude 
 toward stories of a certain type. She would not, of course, 
 confine herself to these, but would experiment with all kinds, 
 because appreciation grows with effort ; but until she has 
 developed some skill, she would be wise to keep to those 
 which make the strongest appeal to her. What she enjoys 
 she is more likely to make others enjoy. They see the beauty 
 through her appreciation. 
 
 She should not be content with any but the best in her 
 search for story material. Watered-down classics hinder 
 rather than help ; young students who lack the necessary 
 knowledge and discrimination which right choice of material 
 demands for such stories, would do well to confine themselves 
 to those stories which bear the stamp of traditional excel- 
 lence. 
 
 Preparation. — It is of great help to the beginner after 
 reading a story through, many times, then to make her own 
 notes and to re-adapt these under certain headings. 
 
 A story can be naturally divided into four parts, as sug- 
 gested by Mr. St. John. 
 
 1. The beginning, which serves as a means of introduction, 
 and brings the children's minds into some sort of relationship 
 with the types of thought and action which the story is to 
 unfold. Further, it rouses interest and creates an attitude 
 of expectancy. It should never be too long. It occasionally 
 happens that a so-called story is aU introduction in the hands 
 of a poor teacher. 
 
 2. The second part, which consists of a series of ordered
 
 LITERATURE 83 
 
 steps leading to the climax. These must be clear, definite, 
 and of increasing interest, so as to prepare the mind for what 
 is to follow. 
 
 3. The climax — the culminating point of the story's interest. 
 Here the movement of the child's mind rises to its highest. 
 This is the crux towards which everything is working, and 
 here the mental life for the time being finds complete satisr 
 faction. It must satisfy all the expectancy which has been 
 aroused, and therefore its demands upon the skill of the 
 teller are severe. All her art has to be called into play. 
 There is no more common weakness amongst story-tellers 
 than inability to give the climax its full value. 
 
 4. The end — the last step in the process. This is somewhat 
 reiterative in character. It gives opportunity for revision 
 of certain details, which in a sense completes the whole, and 
 subjectively indicates a condition of finahty, without which 
 the hstener loses much of his enjoyment. A thoroughly 
 satisfying ending is given in Mrs. Ewing's story of Timothy's 
 Shoes. 
 
 How TO Tell. — The first requisite for educative telling is 
 to know your story — know it in the sense that you are saturated 
 with its thought and feeling. You have lived in it and thought 
 about it so deeply that it has become a part of yourself. An 
 experienced story-teller has said : "A story that belongs to 
 me is the one I love to tell. It belongs to me because I have 
 so often enjoyed it with the children. The first time I tell 
 a story is never so successful as the eleventh or twelfth time." 
 The more you tell a really fine story, the more it means to 
 you ; you get at the heart of it — the core — and its effect 
 on the class is more abiding : " you have felt its power and 
 identified the quahty of its appeal." We want our children 
 to share in this — how are we going to do it ? Something 
 can be done to accomplish this at the outset. Start with 
 the conviction of power to beget a corresponding response 
 in the minds of the listeners. This is a helpful means. Let 
 the whole of yourself be expressive of interest and enjoyment 
 in what you are going to do. If you are not actually feeling 
 it try, to. If you cannot, refrain from telling that particular 
 tsory. This also goes far towards inducing the required con- 
 ditions. There is a great deal of the subjective in an attitude 
 of suggestion which unconsciously reacts on the children. 
 To know your story in this sense is the only way to give you 
 confidence and that ease which begets spontaneity in treat-
 
 84 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 ment. It obviates the necessity of fumbling for words, or of 
 thinking twice about what comes next. 
 
 Be simple and natural in manner — be yourself. If you 
 know your story and really feel its power, you can leave the 
 expression of that background to come freely at the behests 
 of the moment. A studied form of telhng is unnatural, and 
 may not at all suit the needs of the moment ; the appeal is 
 so much stronger and healthier if it is direct and unstudied. 
 
 Don't memorize the words. It cripples the vitality of your 
 appeal when you recite. The adoption of such treatment 
 prevents that freedom in interplay between your mind and 
 the children's, so valuable as a means of development. When 
 you are clothing thought in your own words at the moment, 
 unconsciously your choice of language is modified by the un- 
 spoken needs of your listeners. This will be evident to you if 
 you consider some of the experiences common to all tellers. 
 The class is in front of you — intent and eager — drinking in 
 not only what you have to say, but what you have to suggest, 
 by means of eyes, play of features, a turn of the head, a move- 
 ment of the hand ; the whole body shares in this expressive 
 activity. What can you do, whilst apparently engrossed in 
 your interpretation ? As you are not wholly so, you have 
 had time to note a puzzled look on the face of a child. Imme- 
 diately and almost unconsciously you know what that means 
 — something has not been understood. So you readjust 
 the form in which a thought has been given ; the difficulty 
 vanishes, and the little face is once more serene. Adjustment 
 as the result of intellectual and emotional interplay is always 
 going on ; the form it takes may not be verbal ; frequently 
 a look, a gesture, a change in the inflexion of the voice does 
 all that is necessary. Such interplay is hardly possible 
 when the words have been learned, the reciter is no longer 
 free. She is, therefore, less hkely to be sensitive to the 
 child's needs. The obligation of the set form of words, and 
 the effective utterance which the memorizing has brought 
 along with it, set up a barrier between her and the children, 
 and she is no longer at liberty to look out for and respond 
 to their signs of need, because she is too much engaged in 
 getting rid of the burden which her memory has imposed upon 
 her. 
 
 Just as it is important to be natural in manner, so is it of 
 equal importance to be natural in speech. Never insult the 
 dignity of childhood by adopting a coaxing, wheedhng tone,
 
 LITERATURE 85 
 
 or one suggestive of superiority. The voice is capable of so 
 much by way of expressing subtle and deUcate shades of 
 meaning, that one should make every effort to develop its full 
 beauty and get such mastery over it as artistic use demands. 
 
 As an instance of effective use of the voice, take that part 
 of the Water Babies where Tom is listening to the sound of 
 the church bells. Imitate the sound of distant bells as softly 
 and sweetly as you are able, and then give : " Those that 
 wish to be clean — clean they shall be," as a sort of recitative. 
 If the spirit of the teller is right, and everything that leads 
 up to this is equally so, a most profound impression is made 
 upon the children, who grasp in a very crude way the meaning 
 behind it all. But such attempts must never be imitative, 
 they must rise spontaneously as the result of the feeling and 
 need of the moment created by the children who are the 
 inspiration. 
 
 Distinctness in enunciation is most essential. The rate 
 at which one speaks is largely determined by the thought 
 and feeling in the material, and sympathy with the audience, 
 right pause and emphasis being the outcome of these. For 
 example, to return to the Water Babies : Tom taking the 
 sweets from the cabinet is an episode which demands delibera- 
 tion in treatment. His attitude is one of caution and hesi- 
 tancy throughout ; he does not at first give way to tempta- 
 tion ; the whole process is very gradual, and his attitude can 
 most effectively be brought home to the children by estab- 
 lishing the right relationship between the character of the 
 episode and its means of communication. On the other hand, 
 when treating of Tom's meeting with the Water Babies, the 
 whole idea is full of movement and joyful anticipation, there- 
 fore the speed in teUing is accelerated, estabhshing a harmony 
 between itself and the narrative. AU this is instinctive to 
 the genuine story-teller. 
 
 Gesture, in story-telling, is very much a question of tem- 
 perament ; if instinctively used it is right, but if only imita- 
 tively used its value may be questioned. Children never 
 respond in quite the same way to external touches which 
 are not genuinely felt. 
 
 The same idea holds good with facial play ; some need it 
 and use it instinctively, others would be doing an injustice 
 to themselves in attempting it. \\"e must be true to ourselves 
 if we desire to be really helpful to the children. 
 
 A word as to the pointing of the moral. If the story has
 
 86 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 been properly told, this is quite unnecessary, and if it has not 
 been, it is useless — the children being unready for its declara- 
 tion. In any case the moral should never be told. When 
 the teller meets the needs of the children, they follow every 
 step, and each assimilates what it can and what is necessary 
 for it in its own way. For the teller to step in with a formu- 
 lated moral is suicidal to any kind of ethical development. 
 
 The ending of the Water Babies offers excellent oppor- 
 tunity for following the working of the children's minds in 
 coming to their own conclusion as to the righteousness of 
 conduct. The confinement of Mr. Grimes in the chimney is 
 a time of distress for them ; they feel the situation keenly 
 from Tom's point of view ; they cannot imagine how he is 
 to be released, and they do want Tom to have some return 
 for all that he has gone through. For a time there is an ele- 
 ment of dread in their minds. They are much impressed by 
 Tom's unselfishness in giving up what was pleasant to him, 
 to go to his old master's assistance, and they quite realize 
 all that he suffers in doing this. The fact of having to go 
 alone — to leave Ellie — makes a profound impression ; chil- 
 dren understand that this was not an easy thing to do, and 
 they are quite proud of his accomplished effort. The part he 
 plays in setting his old master free is much appreciated, and 
 there is considerable expression of satisfaction when Mrs. 
 Be-done-by-as-you-did commends him, quite apart from the 
 reward which is to follow. The reward comes as a pleasur- 
 able surprise — only the more thoughtful ones grasp its pur- 
 pose. 
 
 Nothing more is necessary — the story has done its work. 
 
 The following suggestions may be useful to young and 
 inexperienced story-tellers. 
 
 The position of the class is important. Children should 
 be so seated that each has opportunity of enjoying to the 
 full a good view of the teller. The latter should not be too 
 far away from the listeners — -nor so near as to give the idea 
 of being on top of them, but at an easy speaking distance ; 
 right nearness aids sympathy. 
 
 Everything must be done for the physical and intellectual 
 comfort of the child. Restlessness and impatience are fre- 
 quently the outcome of wrong position ; the child wants to 
 see and cannot, and is losing much of the interpretative 
 charm if the teller's face is outside its range of vision ; and 
 if the strain is prolonged, interest goes.
 
 LITERATURE 87 
 
 The interruption of the thread of interest by questioning 
 in any part of a narrative hardly seems justifiable. If there 
 is any part of the story not likely to be understood, embody 
 the explanation of this as part of the whole ; but to interrupt 
 the mind movement of the class in order to satisfy one's self 
 as to the intelligent grasp of one detail or group of ideas, 
 seems unwarrantable. 
 
 The treatment of children's questions during the telling 
 is a matter that must for the most part be left to the dis- 
 crimination of the teller, and the needs of the moment. It 
 is difficult and unwise to draw hard and fast rules of any 
 kind : there must be freedom. Much questioning, however, 
 on the part of the children, shows weakness in the teller ; 
 she has failed either in clearness or interest. In treating 
 questions which do arise, the teacher should in her answers 
 lead back to the thread of the story, thus incorporating them 
 as a part of the whole, so that there shall be no impression 
 with the class of a break in sequence. In any case, digression 
 should be carefully guarded against. 
 
 The use of pictures, too, is very much a matter of individual 
 judgment. One would like to suggest that the imaginative 
 activity of the child may be spoilt by the lavish use of pictures, 
 and its enjoyment and appreciation modified by unwise 
 choice. 
 
 Information giving is not the aim of the story at all. The 
 story is a work of art, and its primary function is to furnish 
 ideals of life. Any information that is given is purely inci- 
 dental. 
 
 In meeting the common demand of children, " Is this 
 story true ? " one must understand by this question : " Did 
 these events actually happen ? " Here, as in all one's dealings 
 with children, nothing but absolute honesty is right. No 
 one is more keenly aware of subterfuge than a child, and 
 no one more generous in its reahzation of a teacher's inevitable 
 limitations. Underlying truths will always be grasped by 
 the child as far as its development admits, but it is not to 
 such a generalized form of truth that the question refers. 
 Many mistakes arise because the teacher puts an adult con- 
 struction upon a term used by the child in a very limited 
 sense. 
 
 Any discovery of what appears to the child as dishonesty 
 on the part of the teacher, acts as a serious deterrent to its 
 moral development.
 
 88 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 {b) POETRY 
 
 Froebel tells us that rhythmic language belongs to the 
 early youth of man — hence verse constitutes a factor in the 
 development of the race as much as the story, and children 
 show an instinctive need of it. It must have been within 
 the experience of most of us to note how much we increase a 
 baby's enjoyment of his inarticulate babblings when we help 
 to make them rhythmic. If he knocks one object against an- 
 other the same keen manifestation of delight is seen if he is 
 helped to do so with regularity. The early utterances of 
 little children are often merely rhythmic repetitions of appar- 
 ently " meaningless syllables." This need for rhythm which 
 such examples show partly explains the enjoyment of the 
 young in dancing ; the world-wide existence of this enjoyment 
 and the equally wide existence of Nursery Rhymes and Cradle 
 Songs, mark the love of rhythm as a common hunger of 
 human life at an early stage. So that training in rhythm 
 is absolutely necessary if we base our choice of educative 
 material on instinctive needs. Rhythm is one manifestation 
 of law — regularity — -order and sequence are its dominating 
 features. The child has to live in a law-governed world, 
 and it is of vital importance to him to be got ready for the 
 recognition of this fact if he is to live in harmony with it. 
 It is an idea that can only come to him very slowly because 
 of its vastness, but its significance is so great that no means 
 should be overlooked which will help toward this end. Ap- 
 preciation of rhythm is one of these. During this preparation 
 time for the reception of the idea of law ; more immediate, 
 direct good, results. The re-action upon the moral side is 
 the chief of these. There is begotten a tendency to respond to 
 different types of order and regularity; this tendency develops 
 with the child and later shows itself in more controlled action. 
 By the help of good verse, in which rhythm plays a dominating 
 part, the teacher is able to increase the child's sensitiveness 
 to beauty — especially to the beauty of language— the music 
 of words begins to mean something. It is another medium 
 for inducing delicacy of response to light and shade, for 
 broadening sympathy and calling into play many of the 
 finer feelings of life, and as a final result of its teaching it 
 should create a taste for literature and put them in possession 
 of an abiding interest. For quite little children nothing is 
 better than old world rhymes and cradle songs. They are
 
 LITERATURE 89 
 
 simple, direct, and full of action. It is a good plan to sing a 
 great deal to very little children. To be able to do this one 
 needs to have a large stock of rhymes, jingles, lullabies and 
 simple songs, so as to have material suitable for all sorts of 
 occasions. I would advocate its use at any time if the teacher 
 felt its helpfulness and need. When the babies are nursing 
 their dollies, nothing gives them greater pleasure than to 
 softly sing a lullaby to them ; they instinctively move with 
 the rhythm, and it gives a completeness to what they are 
 doing which makes that doing more educative. 
 
 It is not necessary for them to sing — if they spontaneously 
 join the song well and good — but it is of the greatest moment 
 to them to have this kind of experience which listening, and 
 incorporating the spirit of what they are listening to, involves. 
 The teacher need not fear the wear and tear of the voice. 
 She has only to sing softly, and there is no more strain in doing 
 this than there is in ordinary speech. It is also helpful to 
 recite all kinds of poems to children of different ages ; this 
 they enjoy equally with the singing, and it helps to make 
 them much more conscious of the lilt and power of verse. 
 It is good, too, to give them the right of choice as to what 
 they shall learn after such an experience. They are so much 
 more alive to what they like. The following are a few of 
 the things which our little ones ask for again and again : — 
 
 Weley Wiley had a hen. 
 She laid eggs for gentlemen — 
 Gentlemen and ladies too, 
 Weley Wiley's ain hen. 
 
 Weley Wiley had a coo. 
 Black and brown about the moo, 
 Open the gate and let her through 
 Weley Wiley's ain coo. 
 
 Poor old Gee. 
 
 Beneath the willow tree 
 
 She went to bye-bye, 
 
 On her soft grassy pillow ; 
 
 And there she lay till the dawn of day 
 
 Sent all the dark away 
 
 From under the willow. 
 
 These two are sung. They were dictated to us by a very 
 old lady who was in the habit of singing them to her grand- 
 children. 
 
 The two following are favourite recitations with children 
 of the same age : —
 
 90 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Speckeldy hen, speckeldy hen — 
 
 What do 3'ou do in my garden pen ? 
 
 You scratch up my flowers, indeed you do, 
 
 And what in the world shall I say to you ? 
 
 Mother will scold you — you know she will, 
 
 And father will beat you for doing ill. 
 
 And I'd just like to know what you'll do then, 
 
 You dear little naughty speckeldy hen ? 
 
 Lullaby, baby. 
 
 Go to sleep. 
 
 Eyes, oh ! how naughty. 
 
 Still to peep. 
 
 Lullaby, baby. 
 Curl up your toes. 
 Cuddle your little knees 
 Up to your nose. 
 
 Lullaby, baby. 
 Eyes shut tight. 
 Little mouth open. 
 So, good-night. 
 
 But all this is only by the way, for developing the child's 
 appreciation ; when it is intended to teach a rhyme or poem, 
 some different method must be followed. The poem offers 
 a definite series of ideas in a fixed form. For the children 
 to understand these and to enjoy this mode of expression, 
 they must be got ready for it. This entails preparation 
 which will give them the necessary experience. The prepara- 
 tion is of the greatest importance. It must give them neces- 
 sary data for the understanding and enjoyment of what is 
 to follow. There are various ways for giving this experience. 
 A Nature lesson, a story, a picture talk, or a conversation 
 serves the purpose admirably. I once heard the story of 
 Mrs. Tabby Grey given to a class of young children. It was 
 most suitable in preparing for the enjoyable memorizing of 
 the words of the song which followed. This was it : — 
 
 Mother Puss-Cat sits and purrs. 
 Says no cat has kits like hers ; 
 
 While her babies roll and play. 
 In a cradle of sweet hay. 
 
 Furry, Frisky, Dinkey, Droll, 
 One wee kitty's black as coal ; 
 
 One's as white as morning milk — 
 One is grey and soft as silk. 
 
 For children between five and seven years old, poems 
 should be chosen which are simple in content, treating of
 
 LITERATURE 91 
 
 incidents in which action plays an important part. The 
 appeal must be direct, and the rhythm well marked. Such 
 poems as R. L. Stevenson's " Block City," " From a Railway 
 Carriage." " The Wind." " My Shadow," " The Lamplighter," 
 " Bed in Summer " ; Eugen Field's " W'ynken, Blinken and 
 Nod " ; Kingsley's " Lost Doll " ; " The Fairies," by Ailing- 
 ham, are examples of suitable use. The following are favour- 
 ites with my own children :— 
 
 The Robin to His Mate. 
 
 Said Robin to his pretty mate, 
 
 " Bring here a httle hay. 
 Lay here a stick and there a straw. 
 
 And bring a Uttle clay. 
 
 " And we will build a pretty nest — 
 
 Wherein you soon shall lay 
 Your little eggs so smooth, so blue — 
 
 Come, let us work away. 
 
 " And you shall keep them very warm. 
 
 And only think, my dear, 
 'Twill not be long before we'll see 
 
 Four little robins here. 
 
 " They'll open wide their yellow mouths 
 
 And we will feed them well, 
 For we shall love the little dears. 
 
 Oh ! more than I can tell. 
 
 " And while "the sun is shining warm. 
 
 Up in the summer sky, 
 I'll sit and sing to them and you 
 
 Up in the branches high. 
 
 " And all night long, my love, you'll sit 
 
 Upon the pretty nest, 
 And keep the little robins warm, 
 
 Beneath your downy breast." 
 
 By Mrs. Carter. 
 
 Stop, Stop, Pretty Water. 
 
 "Stop, stop, pretty water," 
 
 Said Mary one day, 
 To a frolicsome brook 
 
 That was running away. 
 
 " You run on so fast, 
 
 I wish you would stay. 
 My boat and my flowers 
 
 You will carry away.
 
 92 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 " But I will run after. 
 
 Mother says that I may ; 
 For I would know where 
 
 You are running away." 
 
 So Mary ran on ; 
 
 But I have heard say. 
 That she never could find 
 
 Where the brook ran away. 
 
 By Mrs. Follen. 
 
 Song of the Farmer's Cart. 
 
 O, to ride ! O, to ride ! with the farmer at my side. 
 
 Bramble brushed along the lane, and snow swept o'er the down I 
 
 When it's, " Up, Robin, up! " and it's, "Trot, Robin, trot," 
 Out along the open road that takes us to the town. 
 
 Winding 'twixt the tangled hedgerows. 
 
 Narrow is our path and steep I 
 
 Snow beneath our wheels lies deep. 
 
 Snow from every spray hangs light ; 
 
 Rich and red amid the white, 
 Holly high on either hedge grows. 
 
 Where in summer-time the rill. 
 
 Ran to work the water-mill. 
 
 All IS silent now and still — 
 
 Pines, snow-laden, crown the hill. 
 " Come up, Robin ! up ! " — and so- 
 Onward through the driving snow — 
 O, now we go galloping over the heath ! 
 The flakes are above us, the drift is beneath ; 
 There's miles and there's miles of it, far as you see I 
 No sign of a cottage, nor sight of a tree. 
 In all the great world of white, only we three — 
 Just Robin — old Robin — the farmer and me I 
 The wind carries back as we gallop along, 
 The joy of my shout and the sound of his song. 
 But oh ! all too soon it is over — we pass — 
 A field and some trees and a cottage — alas ! 
 And now from the top of the hill, looking down. 
 See, just where you wouldnt expect it — the town. 
 And downward winding, steady, slow, 
 Three other carts before us go ! 
 Woa, Robin, Woa ! 
 
 By F. V. Barry. 
 
 It has been suggested to me by a literary friend that the 
 old simple ballads offer the best material for the next stage. 
 In these one finds the narrative given in the simplest, most 
 direct way, the feeling and style quite primitive in most 
 cases, and when the verse is imperfect the rhythm is nearly
 
 LITERATURE 93 
 
 always strongly marked. Some of the fairy ones about Robin 
 Goodfellow give the myth-making element, and the heroic 
 ones in all the collections make a strong appeal to the older 
 children. Some of the simpler modern ballads, such as 
 " How they brought the good news," are delightful too. 
 The ballads would lead on to the novel in verse, such as " The 
 Lady of the Lake," and probably children who had already 
 had stories from Morte D' Arthur would appreciate the beauty 
 of " The Idylls of the King " later on. After they have begun 
 history, there are the numberless historical ballads to choose 
 from. Children in the early stages need stories in verse 
 with a straightforward hero and chain of incidents, plenty 
 of action, and not much description. 
 
 Nature poems, however beautiful, are not in these early 
 stages always suitable. Many of them are too vague or full 
 of " mature feeling and complex ideals," for which the chil- 
 dren are absolutely unready. In the teaching of verse, as 
 was mentioned in a previous paragraph, the preparation is 
 of vital importance. Such experiences must be offered as 
 will enable the class to grasp the ideas which the poem sets 
 forth ; then might follow the reading or reciting of the same 
 by the teacher : the children being now in a position to realize 
 and enjoy its beauty and power, the actual memorizing with 
 very young children would be done in class, and could be 
 made one means for forming a habit of concentrative effort, 
 and a training in visualizing power. There should he little or 
 no simultaneous work. Such a method is dull and mechan- 
 ical, stifling anything like individual thought, and offering 
 a premium for slovenly speech and the tendency to follow 
 a leader rather than to work on the lines of independent 
 effort. No little child at this stage of its development should 
 be expected to recite poetry for effect. In this, as in all 
 other interpretative work, freedom makes for strength and 
 independence. It is best to do all that is possible in the 
 preparatory stage to let the children get hold of the thought, 
 and to leave the working out of the expression to the 
 individual. 
 
 E. M. MiNHINNlCK.
 
 94 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 Hearts of Oak, Book I and II. Rhymes, Jingles and Fables. (Heath 
 
 gd.) 
 The Story Hour. K. D. Wiggin. (Gay & Hancock, 2s. 6d.) 
 Andersen's and Grimm's Fairy Tales. Everyman Library, 15. 
 English Fairy Tales. Jacob. (Nutt, 65.) 
 Beatrix Potter Books — e.g. 
 
 1. Peter Rabbit and 
 
 2. Squirrel Nutkin. 
 
 3. The Tailor of Gloucester, etc. 
 
 4. Mrs. Tiddy Winkle. (F. Warne, is.) 
 
 The Water Babies. Kingsley. 6d. Illustrated by Linley Sambourne, 
 
 (Macmillan.) 
 Mother Stories and More Mother Stories. (Maud Lindsay, 2S. 6d. 
 
 each). 
 How to Tell Stories to Children and Stories to Tell to Children. S. C. 
 
 Bryant. (Harrap, 25. 6d. net each.) 
 Timothy's Shoes. \ 
 
 The Brownies. \ Mrs. Ewing. (S.P.C.K., is.) 
 
 Daddy Darwin s Dovecot. o \ > 1 
 
 Lob-lie-by-the-fire. ' 
 
 The Little White Bird. (Barrie, is.) 
 The Fairy Book. Miss Mulock. (Macmillan, 4s.) 
 Kingsley' s Heroes. (Gowan, 6d.) 
 Kipling's Jungle Books. 
 
 Kuskin's King of the Golden River. (Allen, 6d.) 
 
 At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and Curdie. G. 
 Macdonald. (Blackie, 3s. 6d.) 
 
 Carrots. \ Mrs. Molesworth. (Macmillan, 2s. 6d.) 
 
 The Cuckoo Clock, f ^ 
 
 The Celtic Wonder World. L. C. Thomson. (Horace Marshall, is.) 
 
 Legends of Greece and Rome. Kupfer. (Heath & Co., 2s. 6d. net.) 
 
 Fijty-two Stories of Classic Heroes. Storr. (Hutchinson.) 
 
 Tales of Ancient Greece. Cox. (Kcgan Paul, 6s.) 
 
 A Child's Book of Saints. W. Canton. (Dent, is.) 
 
 Hiawatha Primer. (A. Bird, 22, Bedford Street, Strand, or Harrap, 
 
 IS. 6d.) 
 Two Little Savages. Seton Thompson. (Constable, 6s.) 
 The Greenwood Tree. (Arnold, is. 3^.) 
 A Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts. A. F. Brown. 
 Wood Magic. Jeffries. (Longmans, 3s. 6d.) 
 Bimbi. Ouida. (Chatto, 2S.) 
 Fairy Tales. (Ginn & Co., is. 6d.) 
 Pilgrim's Progress. (Ginn & Co., is.) 
 The Book of Romance. A.Lang. (Longmans.) 
 The Heroes of Asgard. Keary. (Macmillan.) , 
 
 The Story of the Ui ad Church. | geeley, 6d. each. 
 The Story of the Odyssey. Church, j -' 
 
 Jn the Children's Garden. Schofield. (Philip & Son, 5s.)
 
 LITERATURE 95 
 
 POETRY 
 
 Hearts of Oak Poetry Books. (Heath, is. 6d. each.) 
 
 A Child's Garden of Verse. R. L. Stevenson. (Longmans.) 
 
 Little English Poems. Lettice Thomson. (Horace Marshall.) 
 
 The Golden Staircase Series oiPoeras. Edward L. Chisholm. In parts. 
 
 (Jack, 3^.) 
 Series of Children's Poems. Miss M. A. Wood. 
 Lyra Heroica. W. S. Henley. 
 C. L. Thomson's Book of Ballads. 
 
 Edgar's Treasury of Verses for Little Children. (Harrap.) 
 A Book of Verses for Children. E. N. Lucas. (Grant, Richards, 6s.) 
 Poems for Junior Schools. L. Thomson. (Horace Marshall, is.)
 
 HANDWORK 
 
 (a) THE CULTIVATION OF ARTISTIC TENDENCIES 
 IN YOUNG CHILDREN 
 
 In the course of our studies of child art, we can trace the 
 growth and development of rudimentary tendencies as they 
 are exhibited in the free and unaided constructions of the 
 children, and our observations will be a guide in the planning 
 of a scheme of work which is to form part of the school curri- 
 culum. 
 
 At first those activities which later on result in artistic 
 effort form three distinct groups : — 
 
 Group I. Picture Language. — ^The kind of drawing in 
 the course of which the child produces outline pictures repre- 
 senting human beings, animals, plants and industrial pro- 
 ducts, is made constant use of from infancy to the age of 
 eight or ten years. Every one of these objects represents 
 a type and shows few or no signs of distinctive individuahty. 
 Thus the body of a man is a square, triangle, oblong, the head 
 is round, legs and arms are generally represented by straight 
 lines, but no attention is paid to exact place of attachment : 
 buttons in a long row are often the only indication of clothing. 
 This is simply an enumeration of some of the features which 
 are common to the class man, and the number of these features 
 depends on the extent of the child's observation and know- 
 ledge. Each child has a particular drawing for man, tree, 
 chicken, dog, flovv^er, house, etc., and these drawings are 
 symbols to him for all he knows of these particular objects, 
 and he will use them always in the same form in a process 
 of graphic description. More and more he will tend to record 
 incidents in his daily life by means of suitable grouping of 
 such symbols, and can communicate his thought to others 
 by their aid. The whole process is clearly a form of picture- 
 writing, and possesses none of the qualities of perceptual 
 representation. 
 
 96
 
 ARTISTIC TENDENCIES 97 
 
 As the little artist grows older these pictures will increase 
 in complexity of symbols, the children's wider experience 
 and range of observation supplying ever new elements. 
 
 It is for the teUing and illustration of stories that this form 
 of drawing is generally employed by the children in school ; 
 and inasmuch as this mode of expression is of their own 
 choosing and is quite universal among children, teachers are 
 fuUy justified in encouraging it, and should, in all but the 
 earliest stage, give help and guidance. This help does not 
 take the form of drawing on the blackboard, so that the 
 children might copy, but in leading the children to notice 
 and record more characteristic details, and especially showing 
 them how to introduce movement and action into the figures 
 of their picture. With the help of a critical study of pictures, 
 and by actually grouping objects, the children should learn 
 to record space-relations, such as foreground and background, 
 differences in relative size due to distance, etc. Throughout 
 it will be necessary to stimulate the children's imagination 
 by suitable questioning and general conversation, and by 
 sympathetic interest. 
 
 Group II. Decoration. — From the half unconscious 
 rocking to and fro to the clapping of hands and stamping of 
 feet, to the punctuation of time in poem and song, rhythm 
 has ever played an important part in the aesthetic education 
 of children. Whenever children involuntarily and often 
 unconsciously move some part of their body repeatedly in 
 the same way, they become aware of it, show every sign of 
 pleasure, and continue the movement rhythmically for some 
 time. They will in the same way often sing or shout the 
 same word or group of words for some time with evident 
 enjoyment. This pleasure in regularity and rhythm is of 
 an aesthetic nature, and is of great importance in musical and 
 artistic education. 
 
 The making of borders and other patterns is an outcome 
 of this same innate tendency. They show the rhythm of 
 space and form. The children may make the spots, rounds 
 or other units in a haphazard way, but as soon as these form, 
 a row or some other regular arrangements, they will express 
 pleasure and continue the process. Since such arrangments 
 give pleasure, they are consciously adopted whenever oppor- 
 tunity presents itself. Thus often in picture writing, when 
 the man-S3Tiibol is used with a triangular surface for the 
 body, so as to represent a woman, the base of the triangle is 
 
 H
 
 98 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 decorated with a deep border to show that the woman is a 
 queen with richly trimmed garment. In the same way, if 
 the children play on the sandheap and mark off a particular 
 area for their garden, they generally make the boundary Une 
 into some sort of a pattern. Observations seem to lead to 
 the conclusion that the earliest traces of activities that have 
 artistic value, both in the history of the individual and of the 
 race, seem to be picture writing and pattern decorations. 
 
 Group III. Creative Activities. — Whatever is strikingly 
 beautiful awakens a desire for imitation. We find that even 
 Uttle children want to make things that appeal to them very 
 strongly. If they are supplied with material that can easily 
 be manipulated, such as sand, clay, paper, etc., they will of 
 their own accord " make " things in which they were specially 
 interested. It will be noticed ihat here, as in the case of 
 picture writing, the models produced are again rarely Uke- 
 nesses of particular things but simply type forms. Since 
 this is so, and the model only represents an enumeration of 
 essential features, we can understand that the children can 
 dispense with colour. 
 
 It is not only in actual clay-modelUng that the children 
 can " make " things, but paper-cutting and cardboard model- 
 ling afford similar opportunity. All these occupations form 
 the basis of that section in the school curriculum which is 
 called " handwork." 
 
 In accordance with these general observations, and by the 
 aid of constant reference to the children's free and spontaneous 
 activities, it is possible to prepare a scheme of instruction 
 which has direct relation to child-nature and must make for 
 good. 
 
 Such a scheme must be graduated, keeping pace with the 
 growing, changing children. It is impossible to make the 
 different stages correspond to definite years of fife, as the 
 whole work is so strongly affected by general conditions of 
 home and school life. As the sequence of the stages, however, 
 is fairly constant, and the difference is chiefly one of rate of 
 development, the scheme of work can easily be adapted to 
 the needs of a class by any discerning teacher. 
 
 STAGE I (Average Age, 5-6) 
 
 Free Drawing. — {a) The children should be given exercise 
 in drawing perfectly freely whatever they hke. During this 
 process the teacher should go from one child to another in
 
 ARTISTIC TENDENCIES 99 
 
 class and hear what the children have to say about their 
 drawings. If these drawings are executed on paper they 
 should be kept for reference. The teacher may glean from 
 them the general taste and inclination of the class, and dis- 
 cover the special difficulties with wliich the children have 
 to contend. In this, as in every other form of drawing, the 
 children should be supplied with crayons, chalks or soft 
 pastels, all of which offer httle resistance and require a light, 
 well controlled touch. In order to get the best effect, rough 
 paper should be used. Fairly stout brown paper produces 
 good results. 
 
 Clay Modelling. — (b) In Nature lessons specially, objects 
 are presented to the children that make a strong appeal to 
 them, exciting their curiosity and wonder, and awakening in 
 them a desire for imitation or for some constructive act in 
 which the object plays an essential part. Both these impulses 
 should be encouraged, and should find expression. 
 
 The most suitable material for purposes of " making " 
 given natural objects is clay or plasticine. Such modelhng 
 should follow immediately upon a nature lesson. It will 
 be found here, as in the schematic form of drawing, that the 
 children will not model the particular object in front of them, 
 but will state their knowledge concerning the distinctive 
 features of the class to which the object belongs. Thus a 
 child may make an oblong potato, although his own is nearly 
 round, and the " eyes " that he carves :nto it correspond 
 neither in number nor in position with those of his model. 
 Many teachers look upon this as an act of carelessness, but 
 inasmuch as it is a universal feature of baby-art, it cannot 
 be looked upon as a defect. It is the teacher's function to 
 lead the child from mak ng conventional models to modelling 
 from nature or at least from memory. This requires persist- 
 ence, patience and individual attention. The teacher should 
 point out one or more characteristic marks of the individual 
 and suggest its being recorded. In later years the children 
 will themselves wish to represent their own particular specie 
 men, and will therefore refer to it to find out its peculiarities. ' 
 
 We would advocate that the children were shown from 
 the beginning right methods of procedure. Thus, though a 
 little child may pick up a lump of clay from the bank and 
 fashion it into the likeness of a dog, it is as well that as soon 
 as he is able to receive instruction in this work, he be shown 
 how to produce models that are more permanent. Some
 
 ibo EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 sort of a base should be provided. As the making of a day 
 base is in itself a fairly difficiilt exercise and one that takes 
 much time, the teacher should obtain a number of little 
 boards that have a rough unplaned surface, such as may be 
 cut from any deal packing-case. If such boards are moistened 
 they form an excellent foundation for models. The clay 
 must not be too wet, so as to soil the hands unnecessarily, 
 but it must be wet enough to adhere well. 
 
 The model must be built up from small pieces. Each of 
 these must be worked and rolled first between the thumb 
 and the first finger. This process ensures, first, that the clay 
 is well kneaded, and, secondly, the sense of touch is employed 
 in estimating quantity. The latter is important training, 
 and often shows marked results in the development of children. 
 Care must be taken that all projecting parts, such as the 
 petal of flowers, ears, etc., of animals rest upon a clay support, 
 which in its turn has been firmly built up from the wood or 
 clay foundation. 
 
 Pattern Making. — (c) Since the inherent sense of rhythm 
 in children, showing itself in movement in time, becomes 
 gradually more complex, we find that rhythmic movements 
 of the hand holding a pencil or brush will produce marks 
 that show rhythmic space relations, and the marks constitute 
 a pattern. As soon as the desire for decoration awakens, 
 patterns are used for this purpose. At the age of about five 
 years there is not yet any marked desire for decoration, but 
 ample opportunity and exercise should be given in rhythmic 
 activity, be it in song or muscular movement. As regards 
 the making of patterns, it is suggested that the children make 
 spots on paper with chalk or brush at regular intervals of time, 
 or that they make pits with their finger tips in sand trays, 
 or lay split peas, counters or shells upon millboards. Later, 
 when the children are conscious of space rhythm apart from 
 muscular movement in time, the patterns may be considerably 
 increased in complexity and manipulative difficulty. Thus 
 pebbles, large seeds, shells, small leaves, petals of flowers, 
 counters might be arranged in patterns on sand, millboards 
 or paper. 
 
 Other aspects of the process of pattern making may be dealt 
 with in some time-honoured play. Thus the making of chains 
 of various natural and other material may be begun at this 
 stage, and carried out in more compHcated form at successive 
 later periods. The children may be supphed with carpet
 
 ARTISTIC TENDENCIES loi 
 
 thread and blunt needle^, and string large seeds that have 
 previously been soaked to render them soft. Thus black, 
 yellow, crimson and white haricot beans may be bought quite 
 cheaply ; scarlet runner beans, butter beans, green and yellow 
 peas, sunflower and pumpkin seeds are all suitable material. 
 Interesting colour schemes repeated regularly can be devised 
 by the children. This will be excellent practice in counting. 
 The question of expense is always serious, especially where 
 very large classes are concerned ; but the fact that there are 
 teachers who cannot find ways and means of supplying the 
 children with such material, must not prevent others who are 
 more fortunately placed in this respect, from attempting such 
 work. 
 
 STAGE II (Average Age, 6-7) 
 
 Picture Writing. — Instead of the unguided free drawing 
 in the lower stage, when even the subject is left to the choice 
 of the children, the teacher should now direct the work, the 
 teaching taking the form of suggestion and later of de- 
 finite instruction. Following upon every nature le-son a 
 drawing lesson should be a ranged. In this the chief and 
 characteristic features of the object should be enumerated, 
 so that they may all be mentioned in the drawing ; and it 
 should be suggested to the children that they should next 
 show the object doing something, e.g., bunny eating a cabbage 
 — the rabbit and the cabbage having been present in the 
 previous lesson, and being still in the room and available for 
 reference should this be necessary. 
 
 In connexion with story lessons, be these of a literary, 
 geographical or historical character, drawing is of great 
 value, as it is an incentive to clear mental picturing ; or at 
 least, in the case of children who have little or no power of 
 visual memory, the orderly arrangement of definite ideas is 
 ensured. 
 
 As regards figure drawing, so constantly required in the 
 illustration of stories, some elements of pose and action might 
 gradually be introduced. To ensure this the following mode 
 of procedure has had excellent results. 
 
 In many Kindergarten and Infant schools, stick-laying 
 is an exercise in handwork often adopted in connexion with 
 pattern making and in picture writing, involving muscular 
 control of the fingers. If sticks are not available, matches 
 with the phosphorous end removed answer the purpose. It
 
 102 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 is best to provide the children with millboards or brown paper, 
 as the matches move too easily on the polished desks. A 
 counter or a chalk mark may represent the head ; the neck 
 and body, being fairly rigid, will be described by one or two 
 sticks vertically below the head. Arms and legs are then 
 arranged so as to touch the body a little below the top and 
 a little above the bottom of the sticks respectively. It 
 requires some demonstration by means of a child in the class 
 to lead the little artists to discover that two sticks are neces- 
 sary for each limb. The advantage of this picture is that 
 the position of the parts can be changed in imitation of the 
 change of the position of the person to be represented. Much 
 and varied practice should be given in the translation of the 
 pose of some child standing as model into the corresponding 
 arrangement of sticks. After a considerable period of time, 
 when the pupils have learnt to lay their sticks with certainty 
 and precision, they may attempt to make chalk hues of uni- 
 form length instead of laying down matches. From the 
 outset the children should draw the lines very Hghtly, so 
 that when they can draw the pose of their model correctly, 
 they can draw garments in colour and in mass treatment 
 over the chalk Hues, thus making their figures available for 
 use in the illustrations of their stories. 
 
 A problem arising out of the work in this stage is exercising 
 the minds of many teachers, viz., whether the picture should 
 be executed in mass or in outline. 
 
 It will always be found that picture writing is a form of 
 outline drawing both in the case of the httle children with 
 whom we are concerned, and of the more primitive people 
 who have made use of it. We cannot, therefore, insist on 
 mass drawing quite apart from the fact that the forms repre- 
 sented are often too complicated to colour without the use 
 of outline. It will, however, be found that at this stage the 
 mere outline no longer satisfies, the pictures are passing fro.n 
 the symbol stage to pictures of real things ; consequently 
 colour can no longer be dispensed with, and the surfaces 
 representing clothes, bodies, etc., are invariably coloured. 
 Since this is the normal and natural mode of procedure, it 
 might as well be adopted in school work. 
 
 The case is somewhat different with those drawings that 
 follow upon Nature lessons. Most of the objects studied 
 have no symbol in the picture alphabet of the little cliild, 
 the symbol " flower " is not adequate when daisy, buttercup
 
 ARTISTIC TENDENCIES 103 
 
 and daffodil are studied in succession. The children, therefore, 
 are predisposed to draw either from memory or from the 
 object. In both cases the representation is a picture, and 
 colour plays a most important part ; in fact, form is only 
 the boundary of colour. It follows from this that brushwork 
 or crayon work without outline is a natural form of expression. 
 
 It is only in the later part of the stage that painting in 
 water-colour, using more than one colour, can be adopted in 
 schools where the classes are large and funds limited, as the 
 loss of time and of material that is incurred is a serious con- 
 sideration. Good crayons are therefore preferable if they 
 are supplied in boxes and the children allowed to select their 
 own colours. This opens up a much vexed question. Ex- 
 pense is a great consideration in almost all educational insti- 
 tutions where the scholars are admitted free or at very low 
 fees, and consequently cheap and often quite unsatisfactory 
 material is supplied to the children. Not only are cheap 
 crayons either gritty and so powdery that only untidy work 
 can be the result, or they are so hard and waxy that the 
 children develop the habit of hard, forced drawing. In 
 addition to these defects the colours are crude and muddy, 
 so that the children's colour taste must be perverted. Soft 
 pastel crayons, such as Reeve's Greyhound Pastels, supplied 
 in tin boxes in twelve colours, answer the purpose specially 
 well. It cannot be urged too strongly that the greatest 
 imiportance be attached to the subject of colour presentation 
 to children. When the time comes for brush-work with water- 
 colours, this same problem becomes even more serious. 
 Theoretically we desire that the children are suppUed with 
 paint-boxes, containing three to six colours, and that from 
 the outset they are allowed to prepare their own paint, con- 
 stant and careful directions being given to avoid waste. This 
 is quite possible in Kindergartens where classes are small, 
 and where the children generally supply their own paint- 
 boxes. In our elementary schools the teacher, for want of 
 adequate supply of material, is generally obliged to mix the 
 colours to an average tint and give it to the children in this 
 form. Needless to say, no individual differences in colour 
 can be recorded, if noticed, and worse still, wrong colour 
 must often be used. The children are thus deliberately taught 
 to make untruthful representations, and their colour sense 
 and judgment must become perverted. 
 
 Clay Modelling. — As in the case of drawing, modelling
 
 104 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 from the object will, by degrees, take the place of modelling 
 from memory. It is important that very simple forms are 
 studied for this purpose, such as will exhibit very few dis- 
 tinctive features. Thus a particular potato differs in very 
 few respects from our general notion of a potato. Those 
 few points must be the subject of special attention. 
 
 Pattern Making. — Exercises should be given to children 
 in the arrangement of geometrical patterns showing individual 
 taste. Thus fragments of coloured paper of particular shape 
 may be prepared by the children, and these arranged in a 
 symmetrical way upon pieces of paper with or without squares 
 or other guiding lines. The fragments can easily be moved 
 and altered in arrangement, hence the children can experiment 
 to their heart's content. The paper shapes may finally be 
 pasted down, or the pattern reproduced by means of water- 
 colours. 
 
 C. VON Wyss. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 Principles and Methods of Teaching. J.Welton. (W. B. Clive, 5s 6d.) 
 Die Entwicklung der Zeichnerischen Begabung. Georg Kerschensteiner. 
 (Carl Gerbes, Munich.) 
 
 (b) INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 
 
 To trace the gradual growth of the principle which has 
 resulted in making handwork an educational factor is interest- 
 ing and instructive. It is difficult to say when or by whom 
 the idea was first propounded, but as an idea, first only in 
 theory, but later in practice, it has firmly gained ground. 
 Outside the field of recognized educational reformers, parents 
 have held that children must learn to do, and have often 
 undertaken this part of their children's education themselves. 
 Handwork doubtless constituted the sole education of the 
 primitive boy ; it was a large part of the education of the 
 apprentice, and at the present day tlie child of the farmer 
 and the fisher takes, as a rule, an active part in his father's 
 work, and profits accordiiii^ly, not in the skill he acquires in 
 farming or fishing, but in all round capacity and intelligence. 
 
 To return to the more professedly educational field we find 
 a strong plea for handwork in Comenius' Scliuol of Infancy, in 
 the whole of his chapter on " Activity and Expression." The 
 following shows his estimate of its value. .A.fter suggesting
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 105 
 
 tools and materials he says : " With these they may amuse 
 themselves, thus exercising their bodies to health, their 
 minds to vigour, and their bodily members to agihty . . . 
 in a word, whatever children delight to play with, provided 
 that it be not hurtful, they ought rather to be gratified than 
 restrained from it, for inactivity is more injurious to both 
 body and mind than anything in which they can be occupied." 
 We find Rousseau rather takes for granted that in his free 
 hfe Emile shall work with his hands : but a most interesting 
 phase through which the principle passes is developed by 
 Pestalozzi. At first he regarded the teaching of handwork 
 as a means by which the children of the rather degraded 
 peasants who Hved around him, should be self-supporting 
 and consequently self-respecting. So far was he from regard- 
 ing it as educative in itself, that he tried to educate the 
 children as they worked. 
 
 At Stanz he gave up this attempt, for he says : 
 
 " I tried to connect study with manual labour, the school 
 with the work-hop and make one thin; of tliem. ... I 
 saw clearly that, befo e any fusion could be effected, the two 
 parts must be firmly established separately — study, that is, 
 on the one hand, and labour on the other." 
 
 We are left uncertain as to his ultimate views on its value, 
 but some kind of educational sensitiveness evidently urged 
 him to continue, and handwork appears in various forms in 
 his school, sometimes in the incessant drawing with red chalk 
 on slates, which he permitted during any kind of lesson, and 
 sometimes in the gathering of clay by the children from the 
 banks of the Buron in order to construct a model of the river 
 bed. 
 
 Not only was Pestalozzi unconsciously recognizing the 
 value of this side of education, but he was among the first 
 to include handwork as an actual part of the work of the 
 school, and not simply as the definite preparation of a par- 
 ticular workman for a particular craft. Thus he prepared 
 the way for the growth of the idea that handwork is in itself 
 a method of education ; and that only in the later stages of 
 education may it be regarded a subject of instruction, or 
 as an end in itself, or as definite technical training for a definite 
 trade. 
 
 It is to Froebel largely that we owe this view : he shows, 
 in the Education of Man the high opinion we ought to have 
 of a workman and his work, and more especially of creative.
 
 io6 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 self-initiated work. He points out the value to the growth 
 of individuality, of this creative work, and estimates it as 
 one of the highest points to which man can attain. He says 
 much about the need for expression in material, both because 
 it is valuable in building up ideas, and in helping men to 
 recognize and appreciate beauty ; this has been so commonly 
 accepted as to become almost a truism. It was as an outcome 
 of his ideas that he planned his course of gifts and occupations, 
 crudely described by him in the Education of Man, and often 
 applied with an interpretation much narrower than the prin- 
 ciples expressed in his book ; and it was he who made manual 
 work an important part of the work at Keilhau among 
 older boys, thus instituting probably one of the first examples 
 of such work in a boys' school. 
 
 In a less degree Froebel indicated what has since been 
 more fully recognized by Professor Dewey — the effect of 
 social industries on the development of a child, and their 
 relation to the rest of his work. In sketching out the work 
 of the father, and to a less extent of the mother, when they 
 allow children to take part in home duties, Froebel shows 
 that he appreciates the training that this gives ; but it is 
 to Professor Dewey that we owe the fuller working out of 
 this principle on experimental lines, in his University School at 
 Chicago, and later in the School of Columbia University, New 
 York. 
 
 It seems as if handwork could be regardeu from two 
 points of view which are by no means mutually exclusive ; 
 the^e are represented in adult life by such contrasting types 
 as the sculptor and the potter, the painter of pictures and 
 the house painter, the art needlewoman and the dressmaker, 
 the designer and the architect. On the one side we have 
 work done for the sake of expressing an idea, generally an 
 idea of beauty in some form ; there is no immediate need 
 or desire for the thing done except the need to express, in 
 order that the worker and other people may know more 
 fully and feel more deeply. On the other side we have work 
 done to supply a need, to satisfy the desire to construct : 
 beauty may enter into this kind of work, and certainly i* 
 is an expression of the worker, but it is a different form of 
 expression, undertaken not so much for its own sake, as for 
 the desire to fulfil a utihtarian aim. 
 
 Now the handwork of the school, if it is to run parallel to 
 the life outside school, should, and naturally does, fall into
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 107 
 
 two such distinct lines ; though only the liberal-minded teacher 
 can see at what points they may run together. 
 
 Children desire to paint, to draw, to model in clay, to cut 
 paper reproductions of things which they think beautiful 
 and interesting ; it forms a large and important part of their 
 way of getting to know about these things ; often in the act 
 of reproducing their appreciation grows. In painting the 
 forget-me-not a little girl first became aware of its heavenly 
 blue, and a strong emotion which is almost intoxication with 
 colour, sprang up and never left her. No one realizes the com- 
 plexity of the shape of an egg until he tries to model it, or 
 the beauty of a leaf till he patiently draws it. But aU this 
 is more fully treated in the chapter on Art Work. 
 
 It is the other aspect of handwork that this section seeks 
 to deal with more fully ; what may, for want of a wider name, 
 be termed industrial or constructive occupation. It would 
 be a pity to try to repeat here what has been so admirably 
 written by Professor Dewey, both in his School and Society, 
 and in certain chapters in the collection of papers from his 
 Elementary School Record, notably the one entitled the " Psy- 
 chology of Occupations." To grasp thoroughly the modern 
 view of this aspect of handwork, these should be studied ; 
 and while many of us may feel the impossibility of working 
 actually on the lines of the Chicago University School, and 
 even may realize that some important sides of education 
 receive scant attention, yet there is something so inspiring 
 and enlightening in this way of regarding active work, that 
 it is not too much to say that Professor Dewey is, in a sense, 
 an originator. He has found how much more than we ever 
 suspected, motor activity with a purpose is one of the most 
 vital factors in education ; he has raised occupations from 
 the place of a rather trivial subject, of doubtful value, into 
 a method which we dare not ignore ; and he has made clear 
 how, by means of this, the race has in large measure reached 
 its present state of progress. For the sake of clearness it 
 might be well to consider, in summary, what he has said : 
 that by the growth of machinery we have lost much both 
 individually and as a nation, in thought, in direct knowledge, 
 in initiative, in responsibility, and in power to do ; and that 
 in order to compensate for this, and to make children realize 
 their place in race development and in social life, we should 
 as far as possible put a child into the position of a responsible 
 industrial worker ; he should feel the need for his work, find
 
 ro8 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 the means to carry it on, and thus experience, in some degree 
 at least, what i^, meant by being a serious workman. 
 
 His definition of an occupation is enlightening :— " By 
 occupation is not meant any kind of ' busy work ' or exercises 
 that may be given to a child in order to keep him out of mis- 
 chief or idleness when seated at his desk. By occupation I 
 mean a mode of activity on the part of the child which repro- 
 duces or runs parallel to some form of work carried on in 
 social life." 
 
 We must conceive of work in v ood and metal, of weaving, 
 sewing and cooking, as methods of life, not as distinct studies." 
 
 Here, then, we arrive at what we may regard as our present 
 position ; we ha- e a long inheritance of ideas and a shorter 
 one of experimental practice, and each of us should use the 
 legacy in our own way. It might be useful at this point to 
 indicate some of the ways, in the hope that they will be taken 
 only as indications and suggestions, and not as anything more 
 permanent and stereotyped. 
 
 Apart from the drawing, painting and modeling now 
 almost an inherent part of every Infant School and Kinder- 
 garten, we have, in a more limited number, occupations such 
 as the making of objects in paper, cardboard or wood, the 
 beginnings of needlework, and the weaving of mats and 
 baskets. Now this is the nearest approach to what has been 
 described as industrial handwork, and as far as choice of 
 material ;;,'oos it seems sensible, though perhaps rather limited. 
 But the iJiain test lies in the way in which the teacher and, 
 consequently, the children regard such work, and the place it 
 holds in relation to the rest of the work in the school. One 
 is safe in assuming' that, as a rule, it is simply regarded as 
 a subject, and has a place on the time table as such, that by 
 the doint,' of it children are supposed to become neater, more 
 capable with their hands, more accurate, and also as a by- 
 pro^iuct lia[)j)ier, since Ihi-v like doing this work. If the 
 teacher is painfully honest with herself, there is also another 
 motive, always kept safely in the subconscious region : 
 " that such handwork is in vogue, most up to date schools 
 are taking it up." If she is very human she will also desire 
 to see good, tangible results. 
 
 Now, granting that all this is justifiable and even right, is 
 there no deeper reason and no stronger motive for introducing 
 this kind of work ? Mrst of all, how is it usually conducted ? 
 The following is a fair example of many hundred lessons.
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK lOO 
 
 The teacher has put paper modelling on the time table for 
 Monday afternoon from 3.20-3.50, therefore whatever may 
 be the main interest in the children's minds, paper n;odelling 
 must be done. Last Monday they modelled a barn, to-day 
 she decides they shall model a cupboard, which is a little more 
 dimcult. Materials and tools are given out. and, as a rule, the 
 procedure resembles the following : — 
 
 "To-day we are to make a cupboard. \Miat does yotir 
 mother do \\-ith a cupboard ? " " Put things in it," is' the 
 imiversal reply. Such is a sample of the introductory- inspira- 
 tion. In better cases, a nnisi.ed model is sho%\-n. In worse 
 cases, where the teacher is either dour or unimaginative, no 
 information is vouchsafed of the nattire of the object to be 
 modelled. In either case the next stage consists of a series of 
 directions or advices which have to be translated into law. 
 Such are : " Crease the paper from top to bottom," "Crease 
 it now from side to side," " Fold the right hand di^^sion in 
 halves," " Fold the left hand di\-ision in "halves," " 1 old the 
 top di\'ision in halves," " Fold the bottom division in halves." 
 " Xow how many squares have you ? " "Now I shall draw 
 a big square with sixteen squares on my blackboard, and 
 show you where to put the cuts. The white chalk lines are 
 cuts, and the dotted ones are folds. Now be sure you look 
 carefully where the cuts are, and d-on't make a mistake." 
 
 We will here presume all have arrived at this stage success- 
 full}' ; indeed, unless they were idiots, or very unregenerate, 
 they could not do otherxnse, and the\' have probably arrived 
 at a simultaneous stage of hardly restrained desire to go 
 on quicker. The teacher continues : " Now fold upwards 
 the two middle bottom squares, now the two middle top ones, 
 now the left side, now the ris^ht side. Now you have a cup- 
 board." 
 
 Mysteriously, out of chaos and a confused medley of com- 
 mands, a cupboard has suddenly appeared. Cupboards do 
 not appear in that way in real hfe, nor did the very first 
 cupboard evolve itself otit of a tree by a number of vague 
 choppings ; but we have sixty good results, carefully made 
 cupboards. What have the inward results been ? Obedience, 
 imitative activity', and some shght hand training. This is 
 not in any way parallel to Ufe's industrial training. 
 
 It might be useful to consider an example of another in- 
 dustry. A class of Uttle girls is being taught to sew : they 
 are supplied with rags of calico about 2 by 6 inches, red cotton
 
 no EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 and needle and thimble. Careful and minute directions are 
 given about the holding of the needle, manner of threading, 
 manner of using thimble. The rag is already tacked for 
 hemming, though there is no apparent reason why it should 
 be hemmed, or why the children should begin with so difhcult 
 a stitch. The needle is placed at a certain angle, and the 
 ceremony is begun. Neither interest, enthusiasm nor intelh- 
 gence accompany the performance of this industry ; when a 
 strip has been hemmed the hem is frequently torn off, and 
 the whole performance gone through again, until the art of 
 hemming is nearer perfection. Wonderful results in the 
 sphere of hemming arise out of this barren activity, but what 
 has happened to the children ? Obedient boredom, and a 
 certain muscular control which it is pretty certain they were 
 not ready for ; the quenching of any interest or intelligence 
 that may have arisen in connexion with sewing. What 
 happens later ? Are the present generation of poor mothers, 
 who have had years of this kind of thing, famous for th ir 
 making or mending of garments ? Do children leave school 
 passionately attached to the needlework industry ? Do 
 teachers of young children long for the needlework hour ? 
 
 That these types of lessons are not educative any one can 
 see. and yet how may they be bettered ? We cannot allow 
 children to have unfettered freedom and unlimited material ; 
 children need help as we all do, and that help is greatly appreci- 
 ated if it comes just at the time it is needed. Doubtless most 
 of us remember the experience of irritabihty and impatience 
 when somebody insisted on showing us how to do a thing 
 that we could do for ourselves, or, at least, thought we could 
 do. If this feeling ceased, and we were content to be shown, 
 the interpretation must be that we had ceased to desire to 
 do independent work, and the next stage was that we could 
 not do it. And all the reason behind in the teacher's mind 
 was that children must not be allowed to make mistakes or 
 to waste time and material ; they must form the habit of 
 dning the thing right from the beginning. No account was 
 token of the habits of dependence, invlolence and blind obedi- 
 eace, that were all being formed rapidly and successfully. 
 
 What really happens when a child sets out to work on his 
 own iniMative ? First of all he wants to make a particular 
 thing in connexion with a particular interest of his own ; 
 or he may wish to make something for somebody else. 
 First, then, there is a particular need, then an attempt to
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK iii 
 
 consider how this can be accomplished, with the tools and 
 material to his hand. If a boy wishes to make a small cart 
 he first of all sees a glorified cart of imagination : he may 
 find a box to form the body of the cart ; bits of tins, or empty 
 reels of cotton, or old button moulds for wheels ; skewers 
 for shafts ; these are either nailed or glued together ; but 
 meantime he has paid particular attention to carts on the 
 road, and possibly his first attempts at nailing have split the 
 wood. Thus imagination, observation, responsibility and 
 all that accompanies experiment, have been exercised and 
 developed, and the finished usable article gives a sense of 
 power and capacity that means he will begin at a higher Itjvel 
 next time. " The will grows with courage of the deed." 
 
 A httle girl desires to make a pinafore for her doll : like 
 the boy she sees a vision, but hers is of a pinafore complete 
 and beautiful, and then she sets out her plan ; she must have 
 material, and this is generally obtainable. She must observe 
 her own and the baby's pinafores. Then she must try the 
 material against the doll ; perhaps hasty enthusiasm leads 
 her to cut out rashly, and fitting shows that it is too skimpy ; 
 she forgot the doll must be able to move freely and walk in' 
 it ; the material is spoilt, and the child's sorrow is bitter. 
 Fortune smiles and new material appears on the scene, not 
 so good, peihaps, as before, but just possible. She is duly 
 impressed by her sad mistake, it is interwoven with the subject 
 of pinafores for ever, and the second attempt is a great im- 
 provement ; she knows nothing about hemming or running, 
 but she just sew s, some of it holds and some does not ; she 
 pricks her finger frequently ; after the first washing of the 
 pinafore much of it had to be re-stitched, and the raw edges 
 remain an unsolved difficulty. 
 
 Now these are cases of the kind of industrial work a child 
 would usually do at home, and they are, so to speak, a 
 reflection of the way the race learnt its industries. It is 
 needless to analyse them further ; any one can see that they 
 involve complicated experiences, both physical and mental 
 in character, to say nothing of the moral discipline they en- 
 gender. Both children realize a need, both feel the construct! \e 
 craving, both try to satisfy it, and both are probably in a 
 state of mind to be ready to learn a little but not too much, 
 just enough to help on to the next stage. 
 
 This, then, should be our guide for industrial work in school. 
 The application is fairly evident, especially in the light of
 
 112 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 one of Froebel's foremost principles : " Education in in- 
 struction and training, originally and in its first principles, 
 should be passive, following (only guarding and protecting), 
 not prescriptive, categorical, interfering." 
 
 Viewed in this light, how then should the industrial work 
 be conducted ? First of all it should arise out of the children's 
 everyday needs and interests. If the whole class were en- 
 gaged in making a co-operative doll's house or a village, 
 then a cupboard would be a natural and necessary thing, and 
 would probably be suggested by the children themselves. 
 But simply following a barn, in order of complexity, it has 
 little relation to anything but the logical sequence, and we 
 have already shown the fatal results to education of a blind 
 acceptance of this order. Probably a pencil box or case for 
 stamps or box for private string, or in the case of a girl a 
 wardrobe for doll's clothes, or a doll's trunk, would be a 
 natural thing to make. Then, following the natural method 
 the children might, even at the expense of a little extra brown 
 paper, make the first experiments themselves ; they would 
 soon discover the need for measurement and various kinds of 
 elementary mathematical calculations ; indeed, this industry 
 might well be a direct application of number work, and could 
 often justifiably be taken in the time set down for that subject. 
 Having made the necessary calculations, which presumably 
 are not all alike, the class could then proceed to try various 
 plans for making the desired object ; they will utihze former 
 experiences, and they will work towards an ideal which they 
 alone can visualize ; there might be a finished model of the 
 teacher's which to the unimaginative or inexperienced would 
 serve as an end to be worked for, but it should never be set 
 before them as the only possible cupboard or box, the pattern 
 of which is laid up in the British Museum. Indeed, the 
 main aim should be originality, and only where a child is not 
 yet ready for this, should a model be provided. 
 
 Now the results as cupboards or boxes will be various ; 
 all idea of a uniform class standard must be banished as com- 
 pletely as it has had to be done by workhouse authorities in 
 the matter of children's clothes. The class consists of a 
 number of individuals, not a number of types. 
 
 The best work should of course be left as its maker 
 has finished it unless obvious help is needed, and he might be 
 allowed to continue alone ; but probably the bulk of the 
 class will ha^•c found various difficulties, and will be just
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 113 
 
 ready and willing to be helped ; the right moment has come 
 when they can both appreciate and assimilate. As time 
 goes on, this help should become less and less, especially as a 
 general practice. Again, after the children get accustomed 
 to the material and reahze their power over it, they should 
 be allowed to make various objects, according to their varying 
 interests. From the first the main thing to keep in mind is 
 that they have a great deal more power than we imagine, 
 that from the first we must allow them to feel the responsi- 
 bihty of the situation, and that experiment rather than 
 passive obedience should be the general aim set before the 
 children. If there is a waste of material in this way, it is 
 soothing to reflect that it is better than a waste of brains 
 and energy, which the other way undoubtedly promoted. 
 
 Perhaps the other case of the needlework lesson suggests 
 a greater problem ; but it is inconceivable to think that, as 
 industrial handwork, needlework should be treated in a less 
 educative manner than any other social industry. It began 
 as expei imental, and in the hands of the best workers it is 
 stiU a matter for experiment and intelligence, rather than 
 for passive executive uniformity. If we wish to encourage 
 people who will submit to being sweated workers, or rule of 
 thumb performers, then it is better to cease to pursue the 
 educative side and continue the policy still almost universal, 
 and almost universally encouraged by those in authority. 
 
 We might, however, sketch what can be done if the subject 
 is regarded as to its high rather than its low possibihties. 
 
 The girls of a class aged at least seven are generally in- 
 terested in this side of homehfe, and wish to make something 
 for their dolls, or the home babies. They might be allowed 
 to choose, either individually or as a class, what they would 
 make. Perhaps at first, if the class is a large one, a teacher 
 might be compelled to make the choice uniform, but this 
 should be recognized as a compromise with conditions, and 
 not what is really desirable. We will suppose they have 
 chosen a doU's cloak. There might be some possible choice 
 of material, and any child might be free to bring a piece 
 from home. All would bring their dolls (in the case of very 
 poor children the dolls from the baby room might be borrowed), 
 and the class would proceed to consider ways and means. 
 They might be supplied with sheets of newspaper, and be 
 allowed to cut a paper pattern of their own. If, in the number 
 lesson at any time measures had been m?.de, they should now 
 
 I
 
 114 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 be used ; or the very need for one might afford an oppor- 
 tunity for making a cardboard measure if not a tape measure 
 during a contemporary number lesson. 
 
 When each member of the class is fairly well satisfied that 
 her paper pattern will do, and the teacher has seen that they 
 are fairly reasonable, the material should be given and the 
 children allowed to proceed without a break. When the 
 cutting out is completed they should simply go on to the 
 making, and then will arise various difficulties in a natural 
 way. Some will look at their own garments, some will reflect 
 on their mother's methods, some will use their own judgment. 
 Probably the raw edge of the material will be either left or 
 turned down once, and a running stitch used. The seams, 
 if there are any, will be simply run. Many of the cloaks will 
 doubtless fail to meet when put on to the doll, and some 
 may be too large. As far as possible the children should be 
 encouraged to solve these difficulties, and if the garment 
 turns out to be rather a failure, it will in reahty be a " high 
 failure," because it is the product of the best thought and 
 activity of which the child is capable. The next will be 
 better, and gradually the right time to learn a stitch or a 
 method will come. It will be done on a real thing, not a 
 useless rag, it will fulfil a real need, the reason for it will be 
 apparent from the beginning, and as in the case of paper 
 modelhng the help given will be appreciated and used. But 
 the help should always follow the need, never precede it, and 
 so it may constantly appear as if the children are bungling 
 and wasting material ; but the bungling is really experiment 
 and invention of a high order, and the waste of material means 
 economy of mental power. 
 
 We must trust children more. Probably the greatest 
 value of this kind of lesson is the training of character. 
 
 What other place, then, can industrial handw ork take in 
 the school ? Besides being a method of experience, it has 
 already been incidentally connected with number, and much 
 more can be done in this direction, as the number section 
 will indicate. Other subjects are greatly improved by this 
 method of learning, e.g., early history, early geography, and 
 possibly the beginnings of natural science. By gathering 
 the only materials possible to man in early times, and by trying 
 to form them into such tools and weapons as he needed, chil- 
 dren get a far more real grip of his conditions ; they are pro- 
 jected into the time ; similarly with geography, for by trying
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 115 
 
 to make of wood, grass and clay the 1 ut of the child of tropical 
 regions, they realize far more clearly his life in the attempt 
 to imitate some of his industries. The same com'se of investi- 
 gation, observation, experiment, is followed before they 
 accomplish these things, and when thought and action directly 
 bear on each other both are undoubtedly strengthened and 
 enriched. Dewey has made this idea more permanent in 
 the words : " The concrete logic of action long precedes the 
 logic of pure speculation or abstract investigation, and through 
 the mental habits that it forms is the best of preparations for 
 the latter." 
 
 Industrial handwork is therefore more of a method than a 
 subject in the Infant School or Kindergarten. When used 
 as an aid to the better understanding of any subject matter 
 it is quite clearly so, and when used apparently without such 
 connexion, as in weaving, paper modelling, needlework and 
 gardening periods, it is still a method, because the aim at this 
 stage is not to make weavers, carpenters, needlewomen and 
 gardeners, but people whose physical skill has been developed 
 side by side with their capacity for intelligent investigation. 
 
 The moral significance of industrial handwork is perhaps 
 nowhere better discussed than in a paper by Miss Alice Woods, 
 Principal of the Maria Grey Training College, which appeared 
 in Child Life of April 1902. There one realizes how much 
 steadiness of aim, concentration, strength of will and service- 
 ableness are developed from motor activity of this kind ; 
 above all is cultivated what is so often lacking in the elemen- 
 tary school child — the sense of responsibility and power to 
 work independently. But all this wiU be negatived and even 
 destroyed if a teacher continues to be categorical and inter- 
 fering, continues to value mere executive skill above intelligent 
 imitation or experiment, fears childish mistakes instead of 
 valuing them, and continues to mistake the form for the spirit. 
 
 Interference is undoubtedly, in the case of really intelligent 
 teachers, a form of selfishness, and in the case of less inteUi- 
 gent, a form of laziness or ignorance. With many average 
 teachers the cause lies in lack of thought. 
 
 Perhaps a few practical suggestions might come at this 
 point : — 
 
 First with regard to material : it is not always easy to get 
 sufficient from headquarters for the rather lavish use suggested 
 here ; enthusiasm and imagination will find other sources. 
 Wall paper pattern books of any but the current year are
 
 ii6 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 almost costless. A self-coloured wall-paper is often cheap. 
 Brown paper can be procured from many sources ; people 
 will willingly give away cardboard boxes if the children are 
 old enough to use cardboard. It is much better for the chil- 
 dren to realize in this way that odds and ends can be used 
 than to connect their work always with regulation material. 
 
 If the children are not of a very poor class, they should 
 be encouraged to bring their own material for specific purposes, 
 as well as for general use. 
 
 It is a good plan, and one which is becoming more universal, 
 to have a class box as a receptacle for odds and ends ; a kind 
 of universal rag bag. Children can bring things, provided 
 they are moderately clean, that are generally considered mere 
 rubbish, such as Sunhght Soap boxes. Lux cases, empty match 
 boxes, and burnt matches, the cylinders of incandescent gas 
 mantles, odd pieces of wire, string, stamp paper, button 
 moulds, empty reels of cotton, corks, and many other things 
 too numerous to mention. From these they may be encour- 
 aged to make their own toys, or utensils, or to make things 
 for other people. This is done with great zeal at Devons 
 Road School, Bow, where the idea probably originated in 
 this form. 
 
 Wholesale cloth warehou-es ought to be bombarded by 
 teachers for their old pattern books ; the patterns are cut 
 on a much larger scale than those supplied by retail shops, 
 and would give an inexhaustible store for needlework material, 
 and allow for considerable exercise in judgment. If this source 
 of supply is not possible, unbleached calico, soft and loosely 
 woven cloth, flannelette, casement cloth, nurses' cloth, are 
 among the most suitable for young children. Anything that 
 has much dressing, like book muslin, should be avoided, or 
 anything that would dazzle a child's eyes ; but on the latter 
 point there has been a good deal of faddism prevalent lately. 
 
 For weaving, up to the present the best and cheapest 
 medium seems to be bast or rafha. It can be dyed by the 
 teacher or children with Dolly dyes, or even some natural dyes, 
 e.g., onions, tea, beetroot, etc. It adds greatly to the interest 
 in the article if colour is introduced. Children should, of 
 course, approach actual weaving in the same experimental 
 spirit as other industries, and they should realize by inquiry 
 and observation the primitive methods of weaving. Later, 
 when they have done all they can for themselves, they will 
 be content to learn definite stitches, but much can be left to
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 117 
 
 them, such as the shape and use of the article, and the intro- 
 duction of colour and pattern. Wool, if it can be got cheaply, 
 can be used for weaving at a later stage, and some beautiful 
 effects can be got by joining all the pieces woven by a class 
 into a large blanket. In the light of this form of industry 
 it is surely unnecessary to criticise paper mats. 
 
 With regard to pottery the children should realize something 
 of its origin, either by a visit to pottery works, or by means 
 of a model potter's wheel. Such a story as " How the 
 Indians learnt to make Clay Dishes " {Nature Myths, by Flora 
 Cooke), would interest them in this connexion. In America, 
 the home of educational experiment, the children can have 
 their school work fired, and afterwards they are able to enamel 
 it themselves. This solves the great problem of aU kinds of 
 clay modelling, the difficulty of keeping the work. It would 
 be very desirable if each distinct or group of schools had a 
 furnace or access to one, so that this industry might be com- 
 pleted. Perhaps by saving on material, this might seem 
 possible to authorities. It is strongly advised that clay 
 and not plasticine should be used in schools. Various kinds 
 of clay besides that in common use can be got, e.g., red clay 
 mixed with a httle sand from Surrey, and a rather dark grey 
 variety from Cheltenham. There should be httle or no 
 formality of procedure in this lesson ; necessity wiU soon tell 
 a child how to use his hands. The use of clay as a more 
 artistic medium is described in the section on Art. 
 
 Gardening is more possible than at first appears. In a 
 London school situated in the heart of a crowded and congested 
 neighbourhood an experiment of a very simple character was 
 made. The usual concrete playground was looked at by 
 one of the assistant mistresses with the eye of imagination, 
 and she was able to open the eyes of her class to possibihties. 
 For weeks every child who possessed the merest semblance 
 of a back yard brought daily his offering of a little mould in 
 a paper bag ; a substratum of slack or some form of clean 
 rubbish had been laid on the concrete in a corner of the play- 
 ground. On this was daily deposited the bagfuls of earth. In 
 a wonderfully short time it became a kind of raised garden, 
 and gradually extended its borders along the wall. 
 
 Now, after about a year's time, it is a very satisfactory garden 
 strip, full of plants brought by the children. It is so essentially 
 theirs that no one could venture to suggest the fea- of neglect ; 
 it forms one of the most satisfactory of their forms of indus-
 
 Ii8 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 trial handwork ; their own penny spades and pails can be 
 handed round ; rakes can be made by elder brothers with 
 A'ood and nails. Fortunately no one has formulated methods 
 of gardening yet ; there is no rake-drill, or digging spade by 
 spade after the teacher, so the activity can be a perfectly 
 natural one. 
 
 The suggestion has been made to one local authority and 
 has been received, we believe, favourably, that it would be 
 advisable to grant to each head teacher if she wishes it, a 
 small sum of money to be laid out in hand\\ork material, 
 instead of doling out all her allowance in kind. This would 
 mercifully deliver us and the children from the monotonous 
 round of objects so similar and so unimaginative in every school, 
 it would make experiment possible, and it would make the 
 burden of obeying their consciences at the expense of their 
 pockets less heavy to many teachers who spend very consider- 
 able sums, which they can ill afford, throughout the 3'ear. 
 
 To foster the real spirit of social work it is good to introduce 
 side by side with individual work some form of co-operative 
 work ; this may centre round the garden, of course, and 
 garden tools might be made ; or a doll's house or stable for 
 the babies forms an interesting motive. 
 
 Individual members of a class can make the pieces of a rug 
 which can be afterwards joined. Groups of children may 
 make smaller things, such as a pair of knitted reins, or they 
 may dress a doll. 
 
 If a fairly large object is planned it is better to give it to a 
 group than to put too great a strain on the concentration 
 powers of one child. As in other directions the educative 
 value of group work depends on the amount of organization 
 and responsibility given to the group ; there should be a 
 leader or foreman, and much social training will be given by 
 the obedience and co-operative spirit. 
 
 Thus we hope to train the worker who is also an educated 
 and responsible social being, intelligent enough to direct or 
 to be dii<ct(d, to initiate or to copy, but never to lose his 
 individuaUty. We do not want another race of men and 
 women workers like those we can see in the evening trams 
 of the cities, or the muddy roads of the villages, whose work 
 ha^ conquered their spirit, and whose sole aim is to keep 
 aUve the weary body. Their work is not of themselves, and 
 they have nothing to put into their leisure. Neither do 
 we seek to develop the opposite type, those whose work so
 
 INDUSTRIAL HANDWORK 119 
 
 dominates them that the individual is lost ; it was said of 
 one such : " He was born a man and died a grocer." 
 
 Rather than this, we are seeking to raise up a race who 
 will feel the need to work, not the need for material self- 
 support, but the natural craving for growth, which can only 
 be thus satisfied. And work that is an outcome of this will 
 enrich the individual in the worker, and, through him, the 
 community in which he hves. 
 
 Henrietta Brown Smith. 
 
 BOOKS FOR REFERENCE 
 
 The School and Society. Dewey. (University of Chicago Press.) 
 The School and the Child. Chapter on the " Psychology of Occupa- 
 tions." Dewey. (Blackie, is.) 
 The Place of Elementary Industries. Dopp. (University of Chicago 
 
 Press, 5s.) 
 New Methods in Education. Liberty Tadd. (Kegan Paul.) 
 Indian Basketry. G. W. James. (Henry Malkan, New York, 8<. 6d. 
 
 net.) 
 Principles of Design. Rhead. (Batsford.)
 
 MUSIC 
 
 Happily in these days it is not necessary to justify the 
 inchision of singing as a subject of instruction for young 
 children ; even the most unmusical teacher will admit that 
 a school in which music did not assume a prominent position 
 would be a very cheerless and uncongenial place both for 
 teachers and scholars. 
 
 In the following pages a large proportion of the space avail- 
 able is devoted to the technical aspects of singing, because 
 the teacher who wishes her class to make any real progress 
 must be conversant with the general principles of the subject. 
 Singing comes quite naturally to children, and the main 
 business of the teacher is to see that this natural ability 
 does not develop on the wrong lines. 
 
 Nevertheless, it must be constantly borne in mind that 
 the recreative aspect of singing is more important than the 
 technical side, although exercises, if carefully chosen and 
 intelligently performed, need not be at all uninteresting. The 
 course of instruction in singing involves : — 
 
 (i) Voice-production. 
 
 (2) Rhythmic training. 
 
 (3) A small amount of preUminary instruction in reading 
 written music. 
 
 (4) Ear training. 
 
 (5) Musical invention. 
 
 (6) The acquisition of a large number of simple songs, 
 and this is the most important section of all. 
 
 Voice Production. 
 
 The organs involved in tone-production are— 
 
 (i) The breathing apparatus ; i.e., the lungs. 
 
 (2) The tone-producing apparatus ; i.e., the larynx.
 
 MUSIC 121 
 
 (3) The resonance apparatus ; i.e., the mouth and nasal 
 cavities. 
 
 The voice, being a wind instrument, requires a column of 
 air as its motive force, and may be roughly compared with a 
 harmonium. In this instrument the bellows are expanded 
 by the pressure of the feet of the player ; air rushes in, and is 
 stored in a reservoir at conisderable pressure. On the depres- 
 sion of a key, a connexion is made between the reservoir 
 and a thin tongue of brass called a reed ; and a stream of air 
 rushes past the edges of the reed and sets them into vibration. 
 Thus a musical sound is produced. 
 
 In the human voice the place of the bellows and reservoir 
 is taken by the cavity of the chest and the lungs, while instead 
 of the pressure of the feet we have the tension of the muscles 
 which govern the movement of the ribs and diaphragm, and 
 in place of the brass reed there is the pair of vocal cords 
 contained in the larynx. Now, every one who has played 
 a harmonium with the " expression stop " drawn, i.e., with 
 the safety valve on the reservoir closed, knows how difficult 
 it is to play the instrument effectively, and this difficulty 
 arises from the necessity of keeping the air supply at a suitable 
 pressure. If the pressure of the feet is too great, the tone 
 is loud and coarse. If too small, the tone comes in gasps 
 and is feeble and flat. So that to play such an instrument 
 demands a course of practice in " breathing with the feet " ; 
 for exactly the same reason voice production of the right type 
 demands a course of breathing exercises. 
 
 On account of the uninteresting nature of such exercises 
 there is a great temptation to ignore them with the younger 
 children. But good singing cannot be secured without them ; 
 all authorities are agreed on this point. The truth is that the 
 kind of breathing required for singing purposes is quite dif- 
 ferent from that usually employed. In the former case 
 inspiration has to be deeper and expiration much slower, 
 the air being also emitted at a higher pressure. Moreover, 
 the action has to be conscious, or at any rate sub-conscious 
 instead of automatic. 
 
 Very elaborate courses of breathing exercises are sometimes 
 prescribed by enthusiasts, but their study by the ordinary 
 teacher is happily not necessary. She can quite easily devise 
 her own scheme by remembering the main objects of such 
 exercises, viz. {a) to increase the capacity to take deep in- 
 spiration, (b) to strengthen and secure control of the muscles
 
 122 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 which prevent the ribs from collapsing, and so enabling one 
 to emit the breath very slowly and at just sufficient pressure 
 to produce the required note at the desired strength. 
 
 Breathing exercises being designed to strengthen certain 
 mu-^cle? are, like all exerci-^es of this type, dependent for 
 their success on the following conditions : — 
 
 (i) They must be done regularly ; twice a day will suffice. 
 
 (2) Not more than two or three minutes at one time should 
 be devoted to them. 
 
 (3) They should be done in a pure atmosphere. 
 
 (4) The children, if old enough, should know what the 
 object of the exercise is, so that Ihey can concentrate their 
 thoughts on the muscular efforts they are making. 
 
 (5) The exercises must be brought into relation with other 
 work, e.g., reading, story-telling and recitation. In these 
 lessons children mu-t be made to breathe deeply and to 
 economise the breath. 
 
 The normal breathing exercise is this : — 
 
 Posture. — Erect, but not too strained ; feet slightly apart, 
 toes turned outwards. 
 
 Inspiration. — The teacher counts " One, two," quite 
 slowly, during which the children take a deep inspiration, 
 preferably through the nostrils, without " sniffing." 
 
 Cautions. — (a) The abdomen must be drawn slightly in- 
 wards, while the chest itself expands. 
 
 {b) The shoulders must not be raised — this is most impor- 
 tant. 
 
 (f) The action must not be violent enough to make the 
 child look unnaturally distended or uncomfortable. 
 
 Expiration. — The teacher continues, " Three, four," etc., 
 while the children exhale through the mouth as slowly as 
 possible. 
 
 Cautions. — The necc'^sary check on the natural outrush 
 of breath must be effected by preventing the ribs from 
 collapsing too rapidly ; the mind must be concentrated on 
 this. If the children look as if they were being suffocated 
 they are checking the outflow by closing the throat. In such 
 a case, let them say slowly such a sentence as, " Please don't 
 make me laugh so much," in a monotone while exhaling. 
 
 At first the children must not be expected to extend expira- 
 tion beyond six seconds ; this period may be gradually 
 increased. 
 
 The variations in procedure necessary to keep alive what
 
 MUSIC 123 
 
 little interest is possible in breathing exercises, can be obtained 
 by choosing mu>ical notes or ordinary words and sentences 
 to be sung or monotoned during expiration. E.g., the letters 
 of the alphabet or the days of the week may be ^ung to a 
 simple phrase, or the children themselves can be invited to 
 suggest a sentence. 
 
 An obvious, though very nece-^sary, remark is that the 
 teacher must insist that the method of breathing adopted in 
 breathing exercises must be consistently employed by the 
 class when songs are being sung. 
 
 The Laryxx.^ — This is the tone-producing organ, containing 
 the vocal cords which correspond to the vibrating reed of 
 the harmonium. But in the case of the voice, one pair of reeds 
 has to do the work of the whole row of reeds in the harmonium. 
 Very dehcate muscles are connected with the vocal cords, 
 which, by altering their tension or their vibrating length, 
 determine the pitch of the note produced. These muscles 
 are, as usual, actuated by nerves which are under the control 
 of the brain. The chief points to be noticed by the teacher 
 of young children are : — 
 
 (i) The very delicate structure of the larynx makes it 
 extremely liable to overstrain ; and this results in a coarse 
 and " grating " tone which marks the singing in many Infant 
 Schools and Kindergartens. 
 
 (2) The inabihty of so many children to imitate accurately 
 a musical phrase is not always due to the lack of a musical 
 " ear," but to the impossibility of making the exceedingly 
 delicate muscular adjustments necessary. With practice 
 this difficulty usually disappears. 
 
 Resonance. — Every one is famiUar with the fact that the 
 sound produced by a vibrating tuning fork is very feeble 
 until its lower end is placed on a hollow box, when the volume 
 or resonance is largely increased. The reason is that the 
 vibrations of the fork are then communicated to the box and 
 the air contained within it, so that the vibrating area is 
 immensely increased. In the case of the voice, the nasal 
 cavities, the walls of the chest and the bones of the head 
 correspond with the box ; the \ocal cords vibrating by them- 
 selves give but a small tone. 
 
 This problem of resonance can be dealt with by the teacher 
 of a class of young children only in an indirect way. The 
 best methods available here for securing resonance are ; —
 
 124 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 (i) A good posture must be assumed ; the chest well 
 expanded and the head not allowed to droop. 
 
 (2) The position of the tongue and lower jaw proper for 
 the production of the various vowel sounds must be accurately 
 assumed ; this is primarily a matter of phonetics and is 
 dealt with in the reading lesson. 
 
 (3) Humming a tune is a very useful and pleasant exercise, 
 but the sound must be felt high up at the back of the nose 
 and not in the nostrils, otherwise a disagreeably nasal tone 
 will be the result. 
 
 Voice Exercises. — These are necessary, but care must 
 be taken to make them attractive. They must have for 
 their object the attainment of some specific virtue or the 
 eradication of some acquired defect. They should not be 
 employed for long at a time, and can be effectively used at 
 odd moments during the day. A set of such exercises is 
 appended, although this list must not be considered ex- 
 haustive, but merely as a model upon which others can be 
 based. 
 
 A word may be added regarding soft singing. It is gener- 
 ally stated that soft singing should, as a rule, be insisted 
 upon. Quite so, but is there anything morally or artistically 
 wrong in singing loudly ? Certainly not, except that experi- 
 ence shows that loud singing is nearly always harsh. Loud 
 singing without harshness is as artistic as soft singing. To 
 sing loudly without coarseness is an accomplishment only 
 attainable after much careful practice under good and con- 
 stant supervision. Therefore a teacher must be ever ready 
 to combat harshness with the command " Sing softly ! " 
 Few children understand the term " harsh," but all realize 
 the meaning of " loud " and " soft." An ever-recurring 
 difficulty is that children do not understand the signification 
 of " good tone." They imagine that the more loudly they 
 sing, the more credit they ought to get. All voice exercises, 
 then, should be sung softly, except those which are expressly 
 designed to increase the volume of tone, e.g., exercise 7, page 
 126, and these must be introduced very cautiously.
 
 MUSIC 
 
 125 
 
 VOICE EXERCISES. 
 
 t 
 
 mf 
 
 * 
 » 
 
 /?\ 
 
 K."^^ 
 
 -*-*^ 
 
 00 
 oh 
 
 aw 
 
 00 
 oh 
 aw 
 
 00 
 oh 
 aw 
 
 etc. 
 
 Also to other vowels. 
 
 Slow . 
 
 m 
 
 ^. 
 
 lEEe^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ftizaz 
 
 :^ 
 
 
 zfzi^z 
 
 00 00 
 
 Also to other vowels. 
 
 3- 
 
 00 
 
 etc. 
 
 5 
 
 :i?=t2=^ 
 
 :^=^=(?=^ 
 
 I saw you smile, I saw you smile, etc. 
 Rock me to sleep, Rock me to sleep. 
 
 4- 
 
 mp 
 
 , m/ 
 
 i 
 
 t) 
 
 EIE3 
 
 .^23 
 
 ^^2:1^ 
 
 -I ^ 1— ^- 
 
 :?2= 
 
 Cuck - 00 ! Cuck - 00 I Cuck-oo, cuckoo, cuck-00! 
 
 * The comma denotes tbe points at which breath should be taken. 
 S. mf , p 
 
 6. 
 
 iil^ 
 
 :»=it 
 
 ^i^ 
 
 --f=m^=i- 
 
 :tcz5^ 
 
 ib^t^ 
 
 :*=:W: 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 I hear the mer- ry church bells ring, Oae, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. 
 mf , pp 
 
 :r— *=r: 
 
 ?^ 
 
 Lul 
 
 la 
 
 by, 
 
 Lul 
 
 la 
 
 by.
 
 126 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 7- 
 
 -A 
 
 
 z?zr. 
 
 — ^- 
 
 — <s- 
 
 m 
 
 loo, loo, loo, loo. 
 
 Application of Voice Exercises. — It is a common 
 experience to find a class performing its breathing and voice 
 exercises in irreproachable style, and yet singing songs in such 
 a way as to render nugatory all the previous work. The 
 remedy is obviously in the teacher's own hands, but a few 
 hints may be useful. 
 
 (i) The places for taking breath should be distinctly under- 
 stood when the song is being learnt. 
 
 (2) If the tone is incUned to be coarse, let the melody be 
 sung softly to " 00 " or " aw." 
 
 (3) Use the words of a song during the recitation lesson, 
 and see that the vowels are correctly pronounced. 
 
 (4) It is useless to talk to children about voice production ; 
 teach it by imitation. If there are a few children whose 
 tone is thoroughly satisfactory, let them sing by themselves 
 while the others listen. 
 
 (5) If the tone of any particular child is coarse, do not 
 allow him to sing with the others, unless he sings very softly. 
 
 (6) No good vocal tone can be produced if singing i> accom- 
 panied by violent physical exercise. See the remarks on 
 " Singing Games"; page 135 (g). 
 
 Vocal Registers. — Nearly all children have two distinct 
 qualities of tone within their vocal compass ; one is that 
 characteristic of their ordinary speaking voice, another is 
 ob-erved when they produce high notes. In the case of some 
 children — boys especially — the difference is as marked as 
 that between the tone of a violin and that of a flute. The 
 terminology generally employed to describe the phenomenon 
 is " chest voice " and " liead voice." Space does not permit 
 any detailed discussion of this topic, and it is hardly necessary, 
 as the distinction is not so clearly marked in the case of 
 young children as when they reach the age of ten and upwards. 
 
 This much can be said, however. The practicable compass 
 
 for small children hes between 
 
 i 
 
 tJ
 
 MUSIC 127 
 
 The notes above D on the fourth hne, if not sung too loudly, 
 can only be produced in the " head voice," and are of a pleas- 
 ant flute-like quality. The lowest notes from C to J- on 
 the first line can only be sung in the " < hest voice " and 
 the tone-quality is more robust — not to say coarse. The 
 middle notes lying between F and the D above can be sung 
 either as " chest " or as " head " notes. If sung as " chest " 
 notes they are inclined to be very rough, and the higher the 
 note the worse the quality, until the note is produced only 
 with considerable strain. The aim should be to get all notes 
 
 between iz=z:z=: sung in the " head voice." Of course, this 
 
 technical explanation will not be given to the children, but 
 exercises will be given to secure the desired result. The 
 voice exercises given previously will amply suffice for this 
 purpose. Loud singing will, with an untrained class, produce 
 just the opposite result. 
 
 Another good way of cultivating the " head voice " is 
 to pitch the songs rather high. Although as a rule the com- 
 pass given above should be adhered to, there is no objection 
 whatever in occasionally exceeding this in an upward direction, 
 provided always that children are told not to sing the highest 
 notes if they " hurt." 
 
 Rhythm 
 
 Rhythm is an essential of music. It has its origin in the 
 alternation of effort (accent) with relaxation (non-accent), 
 which is a fundamental feature of all movement. Up to a 
 certain point rhythm is instinctive ; we perform many acts, 
 e.g., walking, without being conscious of their rhythmic 
 character. There are two correlated aspects of rhythm : 
 rhythm which we feel and rhythm which we hear. Of these 
 two varieties, that of movement — •" feeling rhythm," as it is 
 called, is the more primitive, and should receive special atten- 
 tion in the Infant School or Kindergarten. Singing games 
 and physical exercises done with musical accompaniment 
 contribute towards this end. 
 
 Many songs, e.g., " Three Wind mice," depend for their 
 effect more on their rhythm than on the melody, and unless 
 they are sung in such a way as to bring the rhythm into 
 prominence all the charm is lost. How is rhythmic singing
 
 128 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 to be secured ? Simply by developing the two kinds of 
 rhythm together. As a simple example take a lullaby. The 
 children, as soon as they begin to learn the song, should per- 
 form a simple rocking or swaying movement in time with 
 the music. Even if the song be sung subsequently without 
 movements the original rhythmic idea will persist. 
 
 It is a good and not a bad thing for children to move their 
 limbs when singing in the ordinary way. The command, 
 " Sit quite still ! " given as the prelude to a song is quite out 
 of place. 
 
 Formal, but not uninteresting exercises in rhythm may 
 sometimes be given. The children may imitate a simple 
 rhythm, e.g., { | d : — :d | d : d : d | d : — : — | d : — : — || clap- 
 ped by the teacher, but it must be distinctly understood 
 that rhythm implies accent, and the accented notes must be 
 very clearly marked. After the phrase has been clapped, 
 words may be fitted, e.g., " What are Uttle boys made of ? " 
 and then a melody can be added, thus : — 
 
 { |d:— :r I m: f :s I 1:— :— I s:— :— 1|. 
 
 The teacher must not assume that suitable phrases can be 
 invented on the spur of the moment ; they must be pre- 
 pared beforehand. 
 
 It is very interesting if children themselves are encouraged 
 to suggest suitable movements to rhythms sung or played 
 by the teacher. Some children are quite clever in this 
 direction. 
 
 There are two fruitful sources of wwrhythmic training : one 
 is found when children are allowed to march " out of time " 
 with the music played. The march tunes played on the 
 piano should be performed at such a speed that even the 
 smallest child can comfortably keep in step ; small children 
 have to take short and comparatively quick steps. The other 
 warning has to be given in connexion with so called " Action 
 songs." It is pitiable to think of the vast amount of time 
 wasted over most of these effusions. Generally the actions 
 are forced and elaborate, while the tunes are banal to the last 
 degree. Unless the actions are natural and rhythmic in 
 character, they are quite out of place in a song ; they are 
 merely a species of physical drill without even the saving 
 merit of helping physical development. The majority of 
 " singing games " are not open to these objections. 
 
 Many small children have a keener sense of rhythm than
 
 MUSIC 129 
 
 of melody, as evinced by their ability to recognise a song 
 when its rhythm alone is played or sung. This exercise is 
 amusing, and is a valuable form of ear training. 
 
 Musical Notation 
 
 There seems to be a great diversity of opinion as to whether 
 children ought to be taught this subject at all in the Infant 
 School. It seems to me that this question can be solved by 
 reference to the teaching of reading, as the two cases are 
 nearly parallel. Children learn to talk long before they are 
 taught to read, and similarly they should be taught to sing 
 first and learn how to read written music at a later stage. 
 But by the time that children have reached the higher classes 
 of the Infant School or Kindergarten they are quite able and 
 willing to sing from a modulator, provided always that the 
 time devoted to this part of the work is not felt to be filched 
 from that which ought to be given to songs. Such instruction 
 ought to be recognized as a pleasant little interlude between 
 the other more important sections of the lesson. Every 
 possible resource must be employed to prevent such teaching 
 from becoming dull ; the actual amount of matter to be taught 
 is very small, but it has to be gone over again and again, so 
 that the problem to be solved is how to present the same 
 material in as many varied forms as possible. 
 
 How much should be taught ? Syllabuses generally agree 
 in restricting the amount to the notes of the doh chord in any 
 order and the notes of the complete major scale in stepwise 
 order. (This, of course, applies only to the highest classes : 
 the " babies " will not be bothered with any notation at all.) 
 
 The teacher has to choose between two notations, the Staff 
 and the Tonic Sol Fa. Whichever is chosen, the Sol Fa 
 principle must be adopted, i.e., the first note of every scale 
 must be called " doh," the next " ray," and so on. Space 
 will not permit the insertion here of any details as to the exact 
 method of teaching ; reference must be made to one of the 
 Manuals on the subject. The one fundamental fact is that 
 we have to forge a link between a sound and a written or 
 spoken symbol ; this is a process constantly going on in other 
 than music lessons, and the same general principles will apply, 
 mutatis mutandis, in all cases. 
 
 All such teaching in the early stages will be solely by imita- 
 tion. The scale itself is quite an arbitrary series of sounds, 
 and could never be discovered by reasoning. 
 
 K
 
 130 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 I'he sound is more important than the symbol, therefore 
 children must by practice learn to realise what (^,w, s, d sound 
 like before they are shown what these notes look like. 
 
 Ear Training 
 
 This is sometimes spoken of as if it were a highly technical 
 branch of musical education only. Ear training really begins 
 soon after birth, and a sensible advance has been made when 
 the child can recognize its mother's voice. In fact, long 
 before the child has reached the school age it has had an 
 enormous amount of valuable ear training. 
 
 Our concern here is simply in a formal way to extend to 
 musical sounds the process which the exigencies of nature 
 demand from every individual in the wider sphere of sounds 
 in general. The course of musical ear training will include : 
 (i) The imitation of httle tunes sung or played by the teacher. 
 (2) The recognition of differences of pitch, length, quality 
 and volume of notes. 
 
 Most children evince remarkable aptitude in imitating 
 musical phrases, but the teacher must not be misled into 
 imagining that the process is therefore a simple one. Take, 
 for instance, the phrase { |d : m . s | d' :— 1|. The children 
 first of all have to perceive the phrase just as the teacher sings 
 it ; i.e., the process of hearing must be exact. Some may 
 not be able to imitate it correctly, because they merely per- 
 ceive four different sounds without really detecting the exact 
 interval between them, so that they sing something like 
 I |,d : r. m I f : — || without knowing that they are singing 
 wrongly. 
 
 Again, imitation involves musical memory. In the case 
 of eye training it is possible to keep the object before the 
 eye for a long period ; musical sounds are fleeting, and the 
 differences between them are often more minute than those 
 involved in the most delicate variations in form and colour. 
 Therefore we find that a musical phrase, even if quite success- 
 fully imitated immediately after the pattern is given, is often 
 forgotten after the lapse of a few seconds. Indeed, all the 
 conditions governing the acts of memory and forgetfulness 
 are present in an acute form in the particular case under 
 consideration. 
 
 Musical memory is often too good, as most teachers some- 
 times find to their cost. For example, suppose this phrase 
 is given for imitation : —
 
 MUSIC 131 
 
 {! d :— .r I n : r i f : n I r.s : n '1 
 
 It will be found that quite a number of children will sing 
 the last two notes wrongly. During the singing of the first 
 bar and a half they will be gradually recognising, with in- 
 creasing assurance, the first line of the famiUar tune " Austria," 
 and this feeling of recognition will be strong enough to over- 
 whelm practically any perception of a change in the two last 
 notes of the tune. The situation may be shown diagrammatic- 
 ally thus : — 
 
 X B C 
 
 The line ABC represents the first line of the old tune : the 
 phrase given for imitation is shown by the line ABD. The 
 longer the line AB the stronger tendency there is to proceed 
 in the direction ABC rather than ABD. The remedy is to 
 subdivide the phrase at any suitable point X, and practise the 
 phrase XBD several times before the whole phrase is at- 
 tempted. This is perhaps an extreme case, but the number 
 of tunes which have the first two or three notes alike is legion. 
 
 Children generally have less difficulty in remembering 
 rhythm than melody, provided that the rhythm is not too 
 involved. A very good form of ear test is for the teacher 
 to rap the rhythm of a familiar tune and see if the children 
 recognise it. 
 
 Lastly, imitation involves reproduction. This necessitates 
 minute and exact adjustments of the very delicate muscles 
 of the larynx, so that the vocal cords assume just the right 
 tension to produce the note desired. The necessary control 
 over these muscles seems to be acquired quite early in the 
 life of most children, but there are some whose powers in 
 this direction are of slower growth. These are the children 
 who, although looked upon as quite unmusical when in the 
 babies' class, yet seem to make abnormal advance later on. 
 
 Imitation has been spoken of in some detail because it is 
 the only method of teaching children music in the early 
 stages, and it is well that the teacher should recognise that 
 its seeming simplicity is deceptive. The following practical 
 hints may be of service : —
 
 132 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 (i) Since the process is elaborate, the children's attention 
 must be thoroughly secured before the phrase is sung by the 
 teacher. Sometimes better results are obtained if the children 
 are instructed to close their eyes. 
 
 (2) The phrase must be sung incisively but not loudly, 
 and the rhythm must be well marked. 
 
 (3) The phrase must be repeated several times before the 
 class attempts to imitate ; do not assume that mistakes are 
 bound to be made, but try to secure exact imitation at the 
 first attempt. 
 
 (4) Do not give melody without rhythm ; rhythm is a 
 help, not a hindrance. 
 
 (5) " Keep the pot boiling," and do not trust that a sudden 
 inspiration will suggest a phrase suitable for imitation ; have 
 all the tunes ready and preferably written down. 
 
 Another side of ear training involves exercises in distinguish- 
 ing tones of different pitch, length, quality and volume. 
 Such exercises are valuable as the quickest method of training 
 the ear to detect small differences between musical notes, 
 which would otherwise pass unheeded. 
 
 Exercises in distinguishing difference of pitch are easily 
 devised. Two or more notes are sung, and the class asked 
 which is the highest or lowest. At first the difference will 
 have to be great, say not less than the interval of a fifth — doh 
 to soh, but afterwards the interval may be reduced until even 
 so small a difference as a semitone is detected. Not till the 
 highest class is reached will the children be expected to give 
 a name, doh, me or soh, to any note. 
 
 Exercises in detecting the difference in length and volume 
 of notes will be given on similar principles. 
 
 The difference of quality between notes may be illustrated 
 by striking a note on the piano and then a bell of the same 
 pitch. For class purposes, a set of common instruments, e.g., 
 a small bell, a glass tumbler, a tuning fork, a whistle and a 
 mouth organ, with a screen behind which to hide them, will 
 provide all the necessary apparatus for most amusing as well 
 as instructive lessons. After being made acquainted with the 
 particular tone-quality of each instrument in turn, the children 
 are expected to discover which instrument is being sounded 
 without actually seeing it. The exercise can be made quite 
 difficult by employing two or more instruments simultaneously.^ 
 
 ^ The " Glockenspiel," to be described presently, lends itself well to 
 a variety of uses in connexion with ear-training.
 
 MUSIC 133 
 
 Musical Invention 
 
 This is unaccountably neglected in most schools, probably 
 because few teachers suspect how great are the powers of 
 many small children in this respect. Children in the nursery 
 will " croon " (that is, invent tunes of a kind) hour after 
 hour. With a httle encouragement children will do the same 
 in school, and there is no exercise so calculated to quicken 
 and develop real musical intelligence. The tunes thus made 
 are not infrequently of actual musical worth, but this is not 
 the real point ; it is the effort itself and not the immediate 
 fruit which is of value. No details as to procedure need be 
 given. The only problem is how to encourage the children 
 to do what most of them are perfectly capable of doing unless 
 deterred by excessive self-consciousness. 
 
 The best plan is for the teacher to say, " Now two of us 
 are going to make up a httle tune. I will sing the first half, 
 and some one else shall finish it. Who shall it be ? " After 
 a volunteer has been secured, the teacher sings a very simple 
 two-bar phrase Hke this : — { |d : — :d | d : r : m | f : — : m | 
 r : — : — || and the child adds a corresponding phrase. No 
 notice should be taken if at first the added phrase seems 
 quite incongruous ; the point is to get the child to add some- 
 thing ; after a very little practice the additions will be more 
 suitable. 
 
 Rhythms can be invented similarly, and I have met with 
 several children who w^ere quite adept at making complete 
 tunes to simple verses. In all cases spontaneity is essential ; 
 if the child stops to think, the result is either silence or a 
 quite unsuitable phrase. 
 
 Songs 
 
 All musical instruction in the Infant School or Kindergarten 
 is merely preparatory to the effective singing of songs, and 
 most of the time devoted to singing will be taken up with 
 songs and singing games. What has to be said here in this 
 connexion may be conveniently stated in the form of advice 
 under the headings : (i) Selection ; (2) Method of teaching ; 
 {3) Rendering. 
 
 I. («) Songs should as a rule be quite short : it is better 
 to teach two short songs than one of some length. 
 
 (b) Avoid choosing songs w'hich are intended to impress
 
 134 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 prosaic facts ; geographical and historical songs are abomina- 
 tions. 
 
 (c) While the words should be generally intelligible, a song 
 which has an attractive tune need not be rejected merely 
 because it happens to contain a few hard words. 
 
 (d) Songs with elaborate and artificial actions should be 
 eschewed ; if a song cannot stand on its own merits without 
 actions it is not worth singing at all. 
 
 (e) The old nursery rhymes sung to their traditional tunes 
 are excellent in every way, and should be used constantly 
 in every school. 
 
 The short bibliography at the end of the chapter may assist 
 teachers in making a suitable selection of songs and games. 
 
 II. The safest method of teaching a new song is as follows : — 
 
 (a) Sing the song two or three times to the class, adding 
 such verbal explanations as will contribute towards a com- 
 plete understanding of its drift. 
 
 {b) Take the first fine or phrase, sing it three or four times 
 to the children, and then let them repeat it. Teach words 
 and tune together, and do not subdivide the phrases into 
 minute and meaningless sections. 
 
 (c) Proceed with the second phrase similarly, and then take 
 the two phrases together. Repeat until this section is thor- 
 oughly known, and then proceed with the rest of the song in 
 the same way. Do not be afraid of too much repetition ; 
 try not only to teach the whole song in one lesson, but also 
 to impress it on the memory so forcibly that it will not be 
 forgotten before the next lesson. 
 
 {d) The correct stage for the introduction of the piano is 
 when the tune is nearly known. Thenceforward use the 
 piano accompaniment as often as possible. 
 
 (e) After the class has made acquaintance with the words 
 and tune combined, the words may be employed in the recita- 
 tion lesson, and the tune may be sung quietly to a single 
 vowel sound or hummed. If the tune is strongly rhythmic 
 it may be utiUsed as a piano accompaniment to phj^sical 
 exercises. 
 
 III. Rendering. — (a) The principles of voice production 
 must be borne in mind throughout. 
 
 (b) The words must be clearly enunciated, but a common 
 fault in Infant Schools and Kindergartens is to exaggerate 
 the consonants and to introduce the final one too soon. In 
 some quick songs this is of small importance, but in many —
 
 MUSIC 
 
 135 
 
 and always in hymns — this is a fatal defect. It is on vowels, 
 not on consonants, that musical tone is produced. The 
 correct place for the consonants to be introduced is shown in 
 the following example : — 
 
 :J= 
 
 The su — n i — s si — nki — ng fa 
 
 -St. 
 
 Compare this with next example, which indicates the wrong 
 method : — 
 
 :^=p: 
 
 qs— zq: 
 
 ^-Wl^- 
 
 :*=±zz?: 
 
 The sun — is — sink — ing — fast. 
 
 (c) Details of expression should be added one by one; often 
 the children themselves can suggest when it would improve 
 the general effect to change the tempo or volume of tone. 
 
 {d) The continuous beating of time is unnecessary, but 
 conducting in a wider sense is essential. This means that the 
 teacher has a code of signals, perfectly understood by the 
 class, to indicate changes of expression. The gestures need 
 not be ungraceful. 
 
 {e) To secure a unanimous start have a clear understanding 
 that every child is to watch the teacher, and that the 
 sing'ng is to commence directly she moves her hand. Do 
 not have any preliminary beats. 
 
 (/) Some songs are stronger in rhythm than in melody : 
 in these cases apply the principles given on page 127. 
 
 (g) An immense amount of harm to the voice is done in 
 singing-games, when children are allowed to sing and perform 
 violent physical movements at the same time. This is easily 
 avoided by arranging that some children do the singing while 
 the others do the movements. 
 
 It is to be feared that few teachers realise the importance 
 of allowing children to hear music as well as to sing it. After 
 all, there is quite a considerable section of the population 
 whose musical education has been obtained almost entirely 
 by intelligent listening, and these are people who count in the 
 musical world. The teacher should frequently sing little 
 songs to the children, not necessarily with the intention of 
 teaching such songs, but merely of allowing the children to 
 hear them. Naturally, teachers who are trained vocaUsts
 
 136 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 are in the minority, but a concert-room performance is not 
 required. Any one who is incapable of interesting a class 
 in this way is a fortiori quite incompetent to teach singing. 
 
 The same principle is applicable to pianoforte and violin 
 playing. The number of teachers nowadays who cannot 
 play well enough to delight small children with some easy 
 instrumental pieces is comparatively small, but it is doubtful 
 whether the educational value of such performances is suffi- 
 ciently realised. Indeed, one can quite imagine a most 
 instructive lesson being occasionally given in which the chil- 
 dren do nothing but listen. 
 
 A valuable instrument which should be in all Infant Schools 
 has lately been introduced. It is a modified form of Glock- 
 enspiel,^ and consists of a set of steel tubes or bars, each of 
 which when struck produces a note of the major scale. A 
 number of uses to which this can be put will readily suggest 
 themselves to the reader ; e.g., a particular phrase played 
 on the instrument can be understood to mean " Stand ! " 
 another " Dismiss 1 " and so on. For ear training the instru- 
 ment is invaluable. 
 
 Lastly, it cannot be too strongly urged that if the singing 
 of the school as a whole is to be satisfactory, there must be 
 cordial co-operation between teachers of the different classes. 
 A syllabus should not be drawn up for each class separately, 
 but for the whole department, so that there will be continuity 
 and no overlapping. Certain exercises, e.g., those for breath- 
 ing and voice production, will be common to all classes, the 
 necessary simplifications being introduced for the youngest 
 children. Also a number of songs, nursery rhymes in par- 
 ticular, will be taught to all children so that occasional com- 
 bined performances are provided for. 
 
 R. T. White. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 
 
 The following list is by no means exhaustive, but it contains sufficient 
 material to provide for most contingencies. 
 
 The School Teacher's Music Guide. By Venables. This is a text hook 
 dealing comprehensively with the full course of instruction pur- 
 sued in schools. (2s. 6d.) 
 
 Boston Songs and Games. A large collection of songs with piano accom- 
 paniment. All easy and tuneful. (45. td.) 
 
 * This is supplied by Messrs. Curwen of Berners Street, W.
 
 MUSIC 137 
 
 Songs for little Children. By Eleanor Smith. A collection similar to 
 
 the above. (4s. 6d.) 
 Guild of Play Books. By Mrs. Kimmins, three parts. (5s. each.) 
 Brahms' Children's Songs. These are German Folk-Songs arranged by 
 
 Brahms, (is.) 
 Stevenson's Songs for Children, set to music by Edith S. Swepstone. 
 
 Two parts, (is. each.) 
 
 (All the above are published by Messrs. Curwen & Sons.) 
 Dulce Domum, a collection of the Nursery Rhymes, with their tradition 
 
 tunes and piano accompaniments. (Cassell & Co. 5s.) 
 This can be obtained without the accompaniments for a few pence. 
 Song Garden for Children. Music by Norman O'Neill. An English 
 
 version of traditional French and German Nursery Rhymes, 
 
 furnished with charming accompaniments. (2s. 6d., published by 
 
 Edwin Arnold.) 
 The following are published by Messrs. Novello & Co. — 
 Twenty-four Songs for Little Children, by Gerald Cobb. Two parts. 
 
 (2S 6d. each.) 
 
 Messrs. Novello ct Co. also publish a number of small collections of 
 songs carefully graded under the title of Novello's School Songs. The 
 price of each book, containing about six songs, is only a few pence, and 
 teachers are advised to write for a descriptive catalogue, which gives 
 all the information necessary for making a suitable selection. Messrs. 
 Curwen s classified catalogue is also useful.
 
 GAMES 
 
 As a name on the time table this is probably one of the 
 vaguest in its significance. What side of life do games repre- 
 sent ? What, exactly, do we aim at, in making them part 
 of the school curriculum ? 
 
 W'e play games throughout life, and it is hard to say when 
 we begin and when we end ; probably they form one of the 
 most universal interests. Experience is as a rule so limited, 
 that we seek this method of widening it, sometimes in a 
 desire to try our own skill, and sometimes to test it by com- 
 petition with another. 
 
 Games constitute one of the most usual forms of play and 
 play is, to a young child, the chief means of learning life. 
 The other forms appear as various subjects discussed in 
 different chapters of this book. Froebel was the first actually 
 to apply games as a factor in the education of young children ; 
 and it is a practice as dangerous as it is valuable. 
 
 Games are so much part of a child's hfe and interest, that 
 to spoil them, or rather thoughtlessly interfere with them, 
 may be to spoil or interfere with something very vital to him. 
 A child who is attached to those in authority over him, may 
 be quite docile about doing what they suggest ; and indeed 
 our elementary school children are made so docile, that it is 
 often very hard for either them or us to know what they 
 really do prefer. By suggestion or sheer relief from greater 
 boredom, they may be brought to think they are enjoying 
 a game, when they are only enjoying a change. 
 
 One thing, certainly, is true — that we rush into this part 
 of our work without enough consideration of our aim and of 
 the extent of our beUef in our w ork. It is enough for most 
 of us that games form part of the Kindergarten svst(>m, that 
 they make children happy, give them change, exercise them 
 in some way or other. So much has the seriousness of the 
 question weighed with some of our best teachers, that they 
 have banished all forms of games from their Kindergartens. 
 
 138
 
 GAMES 139 
 
 except quite free play, and traditional games of the type 
 of the Mulberry Bush. At the same time we have to con- 
 sider that a very large portion of the time of ordinary 
 children is naturally devoted to games, either alone or with 
 companions ; and it is doubtful if we can shirk responsibility 
 of arranging for them, especially in the case of children 
 whose home circumstances are not favourable to much 
 healthy play. We have to remember, too, the aim set out 
 in the introductory chapter, of reproducing as far as possible 
 the methods of life. And the children are with us for a 
 large portion of their working lives. 
 
 In the Kindergarten system, as it has come down to us, 
 games have played so important a part that a special type 
 of performance came to be called the Kindergarten Game, 
 and to most of us who have been teaching young children for 
 at least ten years, this kind of game is very familiar. At 
 first, with the fresh enthusiasm of the beginning of the move- 
 ment, and all the enthusiasm that the new ideas brought, 
 these games were doubtless beautiful, but it is doubtful if 
 they were ever what they aimed to be— a channel of spon- 
 taneous expression for children's real interests and energies — 
 unless they were spontaneously started by the children them- 
 selves. Grown up people who can now look back on their 
 own experiences in a Kindergarten of quite a good type, say 
 that they liked the change afforded by such games, as well 
 as the singing and movement accompanying them, but they 
 never regarded them as play, and longed for the time when 
 they were free to go to the playground for touch, or skipping, 
 or the ghost in the garden, or schools. 
 
 Their procedure is well known : a song, often a pretty one, 
 with pretty and suitable music, was learnt ; the children were 
 invited to play ; there was careful discussion and planning, 
 presumably by the class, but too often following, by suggestion, 
 a plan in the teacher's mind. Very original suggestions 
 were not exactly crushed, but they were often gently ignored 
 or sadly endured. The teacher was generally unconscious of 
 this. Generally the game centred round a natural circumstance, 
 e.g., birds in a wood, fishes in water, a brook, a ship at sea, 
 bees in a garden, personified seasons, or natural forces ; 
 probably these grew out of the games and songs of the ]\I utter 
 and Kose Lieder, or such books as Music for the Kindergartoi, 
 arranged by Fraulein Eleanor Heerwart. People have said 
 how touching and beautiful were these games as they were
 
 140 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 played by the children of the early Kindergartens, and doubt- 
 less this is the case, especially if the children really lived 
 among trees and birds and bees ; but afterwards tradition 
 so fettered them with its laws that they might well have been 
 called " Just so games." 
 
 Some of the early children's festivals arranged by Froebel 
 and described by the Baroness von Marenholz-Bulow, suggest 
 a simple, happy and unrestrained atmosphere, similar to 
 the English games on the village green. As such they were 
 good, but in their " Just so" form, come down to us with 
 literal interpretation and exhausted application, very little 
 of the spirit of the game is left, and often a really wrong 
 one is introduced. The following will show to what such 
 games may sink. 
 
 To an elementary school, whose inspectorial report spoke 
 in the highest praise of the progressive and admirable work 
 done, some visitors went. In the morning a game was played 
 in the hall by three of the large classes at once : the game 
 was a representation of the story of Ali Baba. The children 
 marched out of their various rooms and took their places 
 without any direction ; some had cardboard representations 
 of jars in front of them ; when all was ready a very mature 
 conversation took place between several of the children, and 
 appropriate actions were performed. When all was over, the 
 children solemnly marched back to their rooms. Most of them 
 had simply stood still for the whole time, while the others 
 had played their parts not " themselves," as the Scotch 
 would say. In the afternoon a similar performance was held 
 by oilr^r classes, in which tlie motif was the Imnting and 
 killing of the stag. On inquiry it was found that these games 
 had been played every day for three months. Between 
 these and the festivals of Froebel are untold distances, but 
 to this can the form without the spirit fall. 
 
 In a much less harmful degree the restricted form of game 
 can be seen when any undesirable idea is kept out by the 
 teacher's own good taste, but when desirable spontaneity is 
 also kept out by her fettered spirit, and we see children leading 
 in Spring, or fluttering as birds, or swimming as fishes, with 
 the unintelligent movements that show no desire or power 
 to express or to initiate. 
 
 A game should always centre round some very real interest 
 in the child's life ; it is generally an expression of some phase 
 of life experience which he wishes to prolong or to participate
 
 GAMES 141 
 
 in more fully. He must be able, in these moments, to live 
 very intensely, to be as self-active and creative as possible. 
 If this is only simulated or mildly organized, he may cease to 
 put his whole self into games, and thus lose the opportunity 
 of strengthening his own powers, physical or psychical, often 
 however increasing in a very real way his store of ideas. He 
 should be responsible for his part in the game, and he will as 
 a rule accept his responsibility gladly. He has to observe 
 more closely, to imitate more intelligently, to control his 
 body or mind ; if others are taking part his social character- 
 istics are fostered, and he learns to take his place with others. 
 But all this can result only if games come naturally as an 
 essential output of the child's life, and express what he knows, 
 or partly knows and Hkes. Now this has not been always 
 sufficiently considered in the beautifully correlated schemes 
 of work which were designed alike for all children of the same 
 grade or age. The mistake of verbal correlation had us all 
 in his grip for a time, and blinded us to the real significance of 
 the idea. The brook with its fishes is not an essential part 
 of the life of a Whitechapel child, nor the harvest field of one 
 in Deptford. Birds in the wood are not life experiences of 
 the Black Country, nor the ship, of a Midland manufacturing 
 town. It is true that an extraneous interest and link was 
 created by the Nature lesson for the week on these or similar 
 subjects ; but however good and real that Nature lesson might 
 have been, short of the children's being taken to Nature itself, 
 they were not expressing in their games what was to them a 
 hving reality. 
 
 Again, it is doubtful how far, at this age, children are really 
 interested in the stitdv of Nature ; they are undoubtedly 
 interested in the industries connected with living things; but 
 it is not certain that they would naturally represent the 
 coming of Spring, the work of the wind, the faUing of leaves 
 or the swarming of bees. It is very beautiful, often, to see 
 them do so, but it may be a beauty with an adult interpreta- 
 tion and the result of suggestion rather than of spontaneity. 
 We have, of course, the case of Pierre Loti and his child 
 friend who played at caterpillars for a whole summer, but 
 their sole playground was a garden, and the idea obsessed 
 them. Besides, they saw Uttle other life to represent. If 
 children live almost entirely the solitary life of Nature, and 
 become engrossed in it, such representations may become 
 a real game, but each child wishes to reflect the life around
 
 142 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 him, and to use and develop his growing powers, e.g., in aiming, 
 running, guessing, counting, remembering, hitting, drama- 
 tizing, and many other ways too numerous to mention. Any 
 game can surely be called a Kindergarten game which helps 
 a child to realize life, and develop his own individuality more 
 fully. 
 
 It is a simple matter, then, to find out by what means the 
 natural child seeks to do this ; he feels his growing physical 
 powers, he seeks to use them; he is interested in stories, he 
 seeks to hve in them and be the hero himself ; he feels the 
 need to put himself against another both physically and 
 mentally, and we have tug of war, rounders, and other ball 
 games, guessing games, and games of mental skill. 
 
 Nature is economical, and a child does more than acquire 
 physical strength ; he gets control over muscles, keenness of 
 vision, bodily control in watching for a chance, and frequently 
 the social training in playing for a side. Or he is interested 
 in the life around him ; he lives in a thickly populated town 
 or suburb ; local industries, trams, trains, shops, home life, 
 all appear with a glamour over their activities which later 
 they will lose. He wishes to be of them and seeks to represent 
 them. Or he may live in the country and seek to represent 
 tiie farm or the mill. In another direction we have games 
 of skill, such as dominoes and marbles, the material of which 
 has been provided for centuries to satisfy the desires of 
 mankind. 
 
 Out of all this several questions arise — 
 
 (i) Should we interfere with children's games ; or by doing 
 so are we liable to spoil them for children ? 
 
 (2) Do all children if left alone play in the right spirit ? 
 Could their games be improved without spoiling them ? 
 
 (3) Do all children seek to represent only the desirable 
 sides of life ? 
 
 (4) Can we, and if so in what way should we, make use 
 ol these modes of expression in our educational work ? 
 
 (1) It is a fairly common experience to find that children 
 welcome a grown up companion in their play, provided that 
 she is not too interfering or dominating, and that she has 
 sufficient imagination to play in their way, and sufficient self- 
 control to follow their lead. We have many instances on 
 record of the way in which a well meaning adult has spoilt 
 children's games : the mother of Jacobli, Pestalozzi's child, 
 forgot to call him Butcher when he was killing pigs ; the
 
 GAMES 143 
 
 mother of another boy kissed him when he was driving an 
 imaginary carriage, causing him to weep bitterly and say, 
 " You know you never kiss the coachman." The case of Pro- 
 fessor Baldwin's two children is interesting. They were repre- 
 senting the family life while he sat by, reading ; when they 
 came to the choice of the father he immediately expected 
 to be selected as the most suitable reality for the representa- 
 tion ; but they coldly passed him by and selected one of the 
 verandah pillars for " the father." Evidently he had the 
 good sense to accept his fate. Children seem to resent the 
 introduction of properties or persons which are too near 
 reality into their plays ; it gives scope neither for imagination 
 or effort. If we play with children we must above all things 
 play the game as truly as if we were playing cricket at Harrow, 
 and " the game " means their game, not our game, and this 
 requires real study and experience of them. 
 
 (2) This follows naturally on the last question. It is 
 fairly obvious that while playing an apparently subordinate 
 part in which the ofhce of teacher or parent is completely lost 
 in the role of player, even then we can, if necessary, indirectly 
 influence the spirit of the game ; as a member of it we can 
 insist on fairness. We can resent roughness, we can suggest 
 new circumstances if we keep our children's background well 
 in mind. These are usually received tolerantly if not affably, 
 and have their merits considered with other suggestions. 
 It is well known that a good comrade of any age may do much 
 to raise the spirit of play in his own group and even in the 
 neighbourhood. The story of a sand pile in Stanley Hall's 
 collection of studies testifies to this. But unless the teacher 
 can play this part and play it naturally, and unless she recog- 
 nizes the right of the children to lead the game, and respects 
 their rights, she has no business to play with them. 
 
 This refers to normal cases, and we must try to consider 
 as many cases normal as possible. Where children show 
 by their games evidences of real lack of self-control, or absolute 
 proof of desire to cheat, then the teacher or parent must 
 dominate as such. But this should be very rare. 
 
 (3) If children's interests have originated in a hfe which no 
 child should Uve — this must sometimes occur — it is necessary 
 that they should be allowed to express them as little as possible, 
 or even to express anything that they might translate into 
 their own terms of such a life. For example, it was found 
 necessary, in connexion with children from one of the worst
 
 144 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 parts of Deptford, to refrain from telling stories such as Jack 
 the Giant Killer, and to refrain from playing games such as 
 the rovers, because the children only understood them as 
 murders or street fights. In their representations of the life 
 they know, even on its innocent side, it was discovered that 
 the milkman was unknown, and so could not be represented 
 in the life of the street ; the common practice appeared to be 
 that of buying pennyworths or even less of Swiss milk at the 
 shop for general provisions. In such a case ideas of life would 
 have to be extended and amplified for the chiMren, on the 
 one hand, while on the other hand they would have to be 
 discouraged from expressing and extending their personal 
 knowledge. 
 
 (4) If the children are truly learning their environment, 
 learning through their games to live more fully, and to cope 
 with their surroundings more completely, then it will be 
 natural for them to learn through games the environment 
 that we desire they should know, also to learn to use their 
 powers in the direction that they need, provided always that 
 their natural instincts and rates of growth are considered. 
 Thus to represent daily life will make them more observant 
 of it, and help them to extend their vocabulary and to use 
 it. 
 
 A very large part is played by speech in dramatic repre- 
 sentation, and children are constantly confronted by the 
 necessity of expressing themselves through speech, in a dra- 
 matic game ; surely, then, this is a natural and suitable form 
 of what has been variously known as the language or con- 
 versation lesson. Whether they are representing a story or 
 a bit of daily life, there is surely more scope for natural and 
 necessary speech here than anywhere else. The children 
 really desire to speak and need to speak, and this is the 
 only true basis for a language lesson. Nothing could be 
 less educative than what passes for the ordinary lesson of 
 that description : a picture, seldom a very suggestive one, is 
 put up ; children are invited to say what they see in it, 
 whether the details are worthy of notice or not, and they are 
 further paralysed by being told to speak in a sentence on 
 every occasion. The teacher's mind appears to become con- 
 fused as to whether she is teaching the spoken or the written 
 language, and when remarks are scarce the lesson often be- 
 comes a language display by the teacher. The language 
 learnt or practised at such a lesson will never become part of
 
 GAMES 145 
 
 the child. He will not continue to speak in sentences in daily 
 life, any more than his teacher does ; and the new words 
 learnt will not be retained, because he had no particular need 
 of them, and may not use them again for a year, when that 
 particular lesson may recur. 
 
 A dramatic game will give to a child the appropriate oppor- 
 tunity for expressing himself in words ; so, too, will pictures 
 and picture books, used in the rational way in which they are at 
 home, for then the child comments on them, or asks you to 
 " 'splain " them. Other types of game which may, a little 
 later, form natural and fruitful ways of helping both to use 
 and increase the vocabulary, are those known as guessing 
 games, descriptive games, question and answer games, rhyming 
 games, co-operative story games, and many others of the type 
 known as parlour games. They are played with zest, stores 
 of words are revised thoroughly, and added to, when the 
 need arises, the children put their whole souls into the effort ; 
 and there is little doubt that such methods are far more 
 effective than those that require children of six or under to 
 discourse for twenty minutes on trees in winter, or bulbs in 
 spring, or the robin, or a harvest field, or the seashore, even 
 though a picture be given them as an aid. 
 
 The representative game may be made to centre round 
 other sides of work than language, e.g., that of number. This 
 is a fair use of the game, for it is in the operations of daily 
 life that we use number, though from the curricula of many 
 schools one would imagine children were being trained to be 
 either stockbrokers or mathematical professors. Very early 
 in hfe children count their toys, at a remarkably early age 
 they " swap." Boys hardly ever escape the early fever of 
 tram-conducting or engine driving, or girls of shopping or 
 playing schools. In all these circumstances there is a rich 
 field for number operations of a very real kind, but the game 
 must be played well if the number part is to be well done. It 
 is often desirable to get into the dramatic situation through 
 a language game medium, before introducing the number 
 elements. 
 
 One is well aware that in our elementary schools such 
 games apparently occupy only a small part of the class, so that 
 at most only about ten children can simultaneously take active 
 part in these operations. And there are those who say that 
 unless the whole class plays we cannot call the activity a 
 game. There are surely many cases in real life where only 
 
 L
 
 146 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 some can play the active part, while the rest only look on or 
 play a minor part. But it is none the less a game for players 
 or onlookers. A skilful teacher will invent participation ; 
 for example, if we have a shop with shopkeeper and customers 
 and message boy, we can surely have clerks making entries 
 on their papers and calculating with actual coin, as well as 
 by figures, to see that the right change is given. Of course, 
 if self-control and self-government were sufficiently de- 
 veloped, and if at the same time sufficient space were 
 provided, a number of simultaneous games might be 
 played. Even in language games the fact that the whole 
 class form a very critical and sometimes merciless audience, 
 often full of comments, means that language exercises are 
 by no means confined to the children who speak. It would 
 be a great pity to banish these methods because the whole 
 class cannot take proportionate part, and if we do not call 
 them games what are they ? 
 
 Games of skill, such as dominoes, marbles, skittles, centre 
 round the number interest, but this will be more fully con- 
 sidered in the number chapter. 
 
 In every form of national hfe the singing game appears. 
 It is a natural thing to love to act rhythmically and uniformly 
 with a musical accompaniment ; singing and dancing have 
 always gone together naturally. What is the place of these 
 singing games or rhythmic actions in the school ? The 
 answer must be looked for in the explanation of the fact that 
 children so constantly play them in streets, greens, play- 
 grounds, and in the past, at any rate, at children's parties ; 
 probably it lies in their need to express rhythmic action, and 
 the equally strong need to exercise the body in a more con- 
 trolled way than by quite free movements. Surely this at 
 once points out their place in school. Physical movements 
 have, or ought to have, a very important place in the school 
 plan which approximates to the needs of life ; and besides 
 free activity, of which there is not enough as a rule, more con- 
 trolled physical movements are necessary. Children under 
 seven must work with a direct meaning and a direct end ; 
 they weary of obeying prolonged orders which necessitate 
 their moving arms, legs and head, without apparent reason. 
 To perform again and again a meaningless mechanical action 
 means that it is performed without zest, that the will is not 
 really acquiring power over the muscles, because the impulse 
 is from without and not from within. The natural method
 
 GAMES 147 
 
 appears then to use the games that children naturally use 
 for themselves, and let them do for children in school what 
 they do outside. About the age of seven or eight, when 
 physical and mental changes are rapidly taking place in a 
 child, and he has realized more fully his own power, and there- 
 fore has developed will power, he is more ready and willing 
 to be drilled in the ordinary sense of the word, because he is 
 able to recognize, however dimly, something more than the 
 power of the teacher, and because it is an unconscious relief 
 to him to put himself at times under absolute authority, as a 
 member of a social group. 
 
 It might be useful at this point to set out conditions necessary 
 for the use of singing and rhythmic games and actions, for 
 purposes of physical development. 
 
 First of all it will not do to use any old singing game, because 
 it is old and quaint ; if the children are to benefit by tlie 
 exercises they must be done with a conscious understanding 
 of what they represent. As already pointed out, mechanical 
 action becomes useless, because it fails after a time to give 
 valuable results. For instance, if we take the actions of such 
 a game as washing linen, a good teacher will consider two 
 things : (i) the suitability of the leading idea, and whether 
 it will arouse the dramatic instincts of children ; (2) the 
 actions possible to produce, which should be both faithful 
 reproductions of the main ideas of the game, and beneficial to 
 the physical development of the children. To be beneficial 
 in this way they must exercise those parts of the body which 
 need exercise in the best way ; the exercises must follow in 
 such a way that one will counteract and supplement the 
 other. The game must allow sufficient exercise for all the class ; 
 frequently this is forgotten, and the greater number of 
 children spend the time for physical exercises in standing only. 
 
 But the amount of meaning the children put into these 
 exercises will greatly improve their quality. For example, 
 the teacher will doubtless decide that the knowledge of all 
 the processes of washing, drying and ironing is familiar to a 
 great number of children and suitable for representation ; 
 she will see that the various actions faithfully performed 
 with the appropriate objects or something like them give 
 the right kind of exercise ; and generally when the root idea 
 of the game grows out of a natural industry or act, the actions 
 are suitable. 1 f the children wash, wring, stretch, hang up the 
 clothes with all their might, their muscles will be well exer-
 
 148 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 cised ; to their imagination it is quite easy to see the water 
 dripping out of well wrung clothes, but to do wrist action 
 mechanically soon degenerates into a flabby and listless motion 
 of the hand. 
 
 One must not be led away by the romance or history, or 
 even the pretty music of a game ; some sames are not capable of 
 explanation within the range of a child's experience, and others 
 imply an undesirable kind of experience. It would be useless 
 to exemplify here what is desirable or otherwise, because 
 that is the privilege and responsibility of every free born 
 teacher ; we must be neither lax nor prudish, but we must 
 be thoughtful and not just drift into any new thing. 
 
 The kind of game which has been discussed in the preceding 
 paragraphs is not exactly an expressive game in the free sense of 
 the dramatic game ; it is bound by the law of unity of action, 
 a very necessary law of life. The action can be carefully 
 discussed and individually imitated, but once formulated it 
 should be uniform, as far as such a thing is possible with 
 young children. Of course, a good teacher would never 
 sacrifice either the pleasure or the usefulness of the game by 
 insisting on an adult precision and exactness, such as we used 
 to see years ago at the Albert Hall Drill Displays; nor will 
 she ever take a pleasure in a perfection of activity far in 
 advance of the natural capacity of her class. By so doing she 
 proclaims herself a quack teacher, and should be struck off 
 the list of regular practitioners. 
 
 These games should not be practised in any sense, but 
 should be played for their immediate purpose, just as we take 
 food for the immediate need, not for practice in perfect eating. 
 These games should lead the children to find out a great deal 
 about natural industries, such as farming, pottery making, 
 weaving, smithing, carpentry. Games are not so much an 
 expression of what is known, as avenues for more accurate 
 knowledge, modes of physical activity. 
 
 From all this one thing stands out as evident : that games 
 must be regarded as a method rather than as a subject, a 
 method of approaching many of the sides of life, and of trying 
 and developing various powers. They cannot be regarded as 
 a subject, and put on the time table simply as games, any 
 more than " hstening " or " looking " or " making ' could 
 appear. They are by no means the sole method of approach- 
 ing or applying any aspect of life, e.g., of language, of number, 
 of physical development, but they are one of the very natural
 
 GAMES 140 
 
 ways. The mechanical and unimaginative teacher abuses 
 games, and the result is a bored and lifeless class. 
 
 It has been pointed out in the chapter on the personaUty 
 of the teacher how much good taste influences method. It 
 is very definitely so in games. Not every story, not every 
 piece of life experience, not every song, is equally desirable 
 for representation. Especially is this the case with stories ; 
 to represent some, e.g., the (Juest of the Holy Grail, would 
 be nothing less than sacrilege ; and to represent others, e.g., 
 parts of Ahce in Wonderland, would be foolishness. A good 
 play writer uses the same kind of discrimination. Similar 
 remarks have been made with regard to singing games. 
 
 Games which express ideas of life should be subject to tests - 
 similar to those applied to other forms of expression by art, 
 e.g., drawing, painting and modelling ; not everything is 
 equally suitable to express in the same way, and we must 
 discriminate in using the right medium. 
 
 " The plays of children often have very deep meaning, for 
 to speak plainly and concisely, man plays only where he is a 
 human being in the fullest sense of the word, and he has 
 reached full humanity only where he plays." — {Schiller.) 
 
 Henrietta Brown Smith. 
 EOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 The Play of Alan. Gn os. (Heinemann, 7s. 6d. net.) 
 
 The Play of Animals. Groos. (Chapman & Hall.) 
 
 Froebel's Explanations of Mother Songs. Lord. (William Rice.) 
 
 The Education of Man. Hailmana's translation. International Educ. 
 
 Series. (Arnold.) 
 Dictionary of British Folklore, Part I. Gomme. (Nutt, 2$s.) 
 Thd S/-hool of the Woods. Long. (Ginn & Co., 6s.)
 
 METHOD OF APPROACH IN NATURE STUDY 
 
 The world of Nature is the children's rightful heritage. It 
 represents an environment completely unstable, ever changing 
 in its aspects. It requires constant adjustment and adapta- 
 tion on the part of the organism, and consciously or uncon- 
 sciously the latter begins to behave accordingly. Since the 
 appeal that Nature makes upon the little child is simple, 
 direct and exceedingly manifold, the response that he shows 
 is expressed in constant and varied activity. From such 
 contact with Nature the impressionable and plastic mind of 
 the little child accumulates, through his perceptions, a wealth 
 of ideas and experiences strong emotions, both of which are 
 forces impelling him to action. It cannot for one moment 
 be denied that the human environment as well as the region 
 of Pan stimulates the young mind, and thus he also responds 
 to the former stimulus eagerly at all times. Experience, 
 therefore, in the wide free world of Nature and intercourse 
 with his own kind are the two most essential conditions for 
 happ}', vigorous childhood. 
 
 In the school curriculum social relations are strengthened 
 and widened by the humanities, while intercourse with Nature 
 is encouraged, and the significance of natural phenomena 
 investigated in a course of more or less formal science. 
 
 STAGE I (Average Age, 5-6) 
 
 Formal lessons are out of place Math children of this age. In 
 country schools the Httle ones sliould be taken for short walks 
 and allowed to make their own observations. The teacher 
 must draw their attention to objects and phenomena that they 
 are likely to overlook, and the children should be encouraged 
 to express their opinions freely on any discovery, and to feel 
 and smell wherever possible. A few specimens, the study 
 of which had formed the special feature of the walk, might 
 be gathered or collected, and used as material for more detailed
 
 NATURE STUDY 151 
 
 examination and discussion in class. It does not follow that 
 the attention of the children is only drawn to animals and 
 plants ; quite as valuable are their experiences and observa- 
 tions relating to the weather, the ground, the stream. 
 
 It is the practice in many schools lor young children, espe- 
 cially where the great number of pupils presents a difficulty, 
 to abstain altogether from giving out specimens to the children, 
 to have only demonstration material or a " Nature talk." If 
 such lessons arise out of the observations made during a walk or 
 work in the gardens, the proceedings are perfectly legitimate ; 
 but if all the children's attention has not been consciously 
 directed to the subject discussed, then no personal approach 
 to the particular phenomenon can be assumed, and the lesson 
 does not fulfil its most essential requirements. In the case 
 of schools where nature walks are not to be thought of, material 
 for study must be brought into the room. Let this be either 
 sufficiently large that the whole class can see, or else let 
 it be supphed to the children, even though the process may 
 involve some trouble or disorder. 
 
 Whether the lessons are based on rambles, or whether they 
 represent the only form of instruction, they should consist of 
 a few remarks either reminding or informing the children by 
 vivid word description of the natural haunts of the object 
 presented. A good coloured picture often assists this part 
 of the lesson. A few observations and expressions of opinion 
 on the part of the children, if possible without the guidance 
 of questions, constitute the lesson. The latter reaches its 
 CO ; pletion in some definite record of facts observed or 
 incident experienced. This record will take the form either 
 of picture-writing or of modelling, and will probably be in the 
 nature of conventional symbols or memory productions. 
 
 Throughout, the work will be seasonal, being based on 
 real or imaginary rambles, and the pageant of the seasons 
 is marked specially by the selection of typical topics for 
 discussion. Thus in autumn, sunflowers and nasturtiums, 
 together with leaves of Virginia creeper, blackberry, beech 
 and elm, would emphasize the idea of characteristic colour- 
 ing. Dandelion clocks, some tufts of wild clematis and 
 some thistle heads would prepare the way to notions of 
 seed-dispersal. The children would probably only admire 
 the white, silky, fluffy material that floats in the air ; they 
 would suggest making it rise higher by blowing it, a few 
 children being allowed to demonstrate this fact to the rest
 
 152 EDUCATIOxX BY LIFE 
 
 of the class. Out of doors the wind blows in the same 
 way, so the seeds travel far. Teachers should be content 
 with this, and not force the thinking beyond the range of 
 experience, by telling the children that this process is of 
 service to plants. Apples, pears, plums, tomatoes — to- 
 gether with hips and haws — form topics leading to the 
 idea that autumn is the time of fruiting. Fruits are good 
 food — other creatures beside ourselves find them so ; for wasps 
 and blackbirds the table is freely spread. A group of lessons 
 on acorns and nuts will provide thinking material on the 
 subject of hard cases, and means of opening them among men 
 and animals. Bulbs and fleshy roots such as turnips and 
 carrots are parts of the plant that do not die off, but remain 
 resting underground. Some serve us as food. The Christmas 
 tree and its pecuHar leaves occupies our attention when winter 
 comes in real earnest, and mistletoe, holly and ivy introduce 
 the topic of evergreens. Such fruits as oranges, figs, dates, 
 bananas, brazil nuts, and stories of the people who have gath- 
 ered and sent them, appeal to the children's love of the wonder- 
 ful and the far away at a time when the frost-bound earth 
 around us shows neither colour nor life. Soon the smell of 
 the air proclaims the coming of spring, and we review our 
 sleeping seeds preparatory to setting them to grow. A hand- 
 ful of twigs from the horse-chestnut tree give an opportunity 
 of watching the stretching and unfolding of young leaves, 
 and lambs' tails and pussy willows open the pageant of spring 
 flowers which we watch until the coming of tadpoles absorbs 
 our attention. In summer we are kept busy with buttercups, 
 daisies, cowslips, bluebells ; with caterpillars and snails found 
 in the gardens ; and frog, newt and stickle-back are invited 
 to stay with us for a little in the class-room, so that we may 
 make their acquaintance. 
 
 It is not intended that each of these groups of subjects 
 should be dealt with in one lesson, but rather in several short 
 lessons. The utmost care should be taken to adopt the children's 
 way of approaching and describing things. Systematic 
 description beginning with form, colour, size, etc., is out of 
 place. Fanciful interpretations on the part of the children 
 should be accepted, but an element of sincerity should be 
 preserved by the teacher, in that she herself does not supply 
 fanciful explanations which she knows to be untrue. The 
 golden rule is, of course, that the minimum amount of inform- 
 ation on the subject in hand should be supplied by the teacher.
 
 NATURE STUDY 15 
 
 •5 
 
 Her place is to be the sympathetic listener. The glamour 
 of baby discoveries should at all costs be maintained by pre- 
 serving an attitude of expectation and wonder ; this is ensured 
 only if we avoid hum-drum, mechanical, rigid lessons like 
 poison. The lessons should be much more in the nature of 
 play and incidental discovery rather than a process of acquiring 
 facts. 
 
 Wherever possible, and this should be of constant occurrence 
 in country schools and Kindergartens where the classes are 
 not large and provision of material not so difficult, the children 
 should be allowed to make things with their Nature treasures, 
 e.g., make garlands of leaves by pinning them together with 
 leaf stalks, make chains of rosehips and beech nuts, collect 
 horse-chestnut leaf stalks and use them on the floor or ground 
 for stick laying ; find pine or better still fir-cones and make a 
 tobacco pipe ; slit up the stalks of dandelion, fling them into 
 the water and watch St. Bride's spirals — they can be hung as 
 curls over the ear, and do not forget a tea-set of acorn cups. 
 
 Intimately bound up with the Nature lessons should be 
 lesson periods devoted to Nature stories. This is specially 
 necessary in city schools where there is no opportunity of 
 experiencing the sensation of entering a great forest, of 
 basking in the sun, of diving into the water, and of having 
 tremendous adventures. By vivid presentation of suit- 
 able material, the sensation and general tone of thought 
 may be awakened, even if the body finds itself on a 
 hard school bench. The children shall enjoy their boundless 
 freedom in the region of thought, and shall use it more 
 and more consciously. It is of utmost importance that the 
 stories should not be forced, or constructed then and there 
 so as to deal with the particular topic of the Nature lesson in 
 senseless correlation. The unit of instruction is not the 
 lesson, but the month or the term ; and if the undercurrent 
 of thought in Nature lessons rings through the stories selected, 
 though they deal with different topics, the right kind of 
 correlation is estabhshed. Needless to say, selection of stories 
 should be confined to such as are good from the literary as 
 well as the moral point of view. Legends and myths are 
 specially to be recommended ; animal stories and naturalists' 
 discoveries also provide suitable material. 
 
 As a supplement to Nature lessons, and as excellent training 
 for the children, many teachers recommend the keeping of 
 school pets. Since the little ones take great pleasure and
 
 154 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 interest in the animals as such, and with constant and careful 
 supervision and help can be taught how to clean and feed 
 them, teachers allow the keeping of pets. The teacher's point 
 of view must be fully appreciated. To care for little beloved 
 creatures conscientiously, is service which dignifies the servant. 
 Intimate intercourse with the animals is the surest way of 
 displacing cruelty by fresh and stronger interests. Oppor- 
 tunities withheld by conditions, from the children, of observing 
 some habits and changes in animals, are here supplied. The 
 cruelty of "captivity in a cage can be reduced to a considerable 
 extent, viz., by giving the pets very large cages and letting 
 them out from time to time ; by choosing creatures that 
 were born in captivity, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, doves, or 
 animals that are small and adapt themselves easily to condi- 
 tions that imply food and shelter, such as mice. 
 
 Great though the benefits are that may accrue to the chil- 
 dren from the keeping of pets, there are elements involved 
 in the practice that tend to make it undesirable. From the 
 sanitary point of view objection must be raised in the first 
 instance. We complain bitterly of the overcrowding of 
 classes, and the difficulties of ventilation in city schools where 
 the traffic outside keeps up a continual din, and where high 
 walls and narrow streets allow little space for fresh air ; it 
 is therefore not easy to understand how the keeping of animals 
 in classrooms can be justified. They contribute considerably 
 to the organic impurity of the air by their excretions. Again, 
 either their cages are so large that they take away an unfair 
 amount from the classroom accommodation, or the animals 
 must be let out. Neither rabbits nor doves can be taught 
 manners, and excretions are deposited in the classroom and 
 cannot always be removed at once. 
 
 If there is a suitable landing, playground or garden, much 
 of the above arguments against the keeping of animals as 
 school pets lose force, and the practice has a preponderance 
 of desirable elements. 
 
 STAGE II (Average Age, 6-7) 
 
 The general character and treatment of the subject re- 
 sembles that of Stage i. The topics must be arranged in 
 seasonal sequence, and the objects selected for more detailed 
 investigation must be considered somewhat more exhaustively. 
 It is important that demonstration of a few specimens should 
 more and more be displaced by material that can be dis-
 
 NATURE STUDY 155 
 
 tributed among the children. It cannot be denied that this 
 involves much more trouble and may lead to a certain amount 
 of disorder and uncontrolled excitement. If, however, the 
 teacher persistently proceeds in this way, and firmly and 
 tactfully conducts the lesson, the children will get into the 
 habit of considering the situation seriously, and their inherent 
 interest in discovering new tilings will displace the love of 
 mischief. 
 
 Although there is thus much similarity between the work 
 of this stage and the previous one, there are some psycho- 
 ogical differences arising out of the fact that the children 
 have grown older, and that their attitude towards Nature 
 has changed. Whereas before, we concerned ourselves mainly 
 with making fresh acquaintances; noting only those features 
 and peculiarities of objects which will ever after constitute 
 the signs by which we know them, and distinguish them from 
 other objects, we now begin to see meaning in such features 
 and peculiarities. Before we noted that the snail has a shell; 
 and the shell was one of the distinctive features of the snail , 
 now we see that the snail has a shell and it can retire into it. 
 Last year the children saw that the frogs were greenish- 
 brown with dark spots ; now they will find that they match 
 the colour of moss and ground, and that they cannot be 
 seen at all easily if they keep still. In this way the discovery 
 of facts is extended into the noting of relationships and the 
 seeing of biological significance. 
 
 Teachers pass to this change of attitude consciously or 
 subconsciously very readily, all the more as it corresponds 
 more nearly to their own. The great danger is that the chil- 
 dren are forced not only to see relationships, but to trace 
 cause and effect in them all. Thus if the children find that 
 the frog matches its surroundings as regards colour, and 
 cannot be easily seen, the teachers ask the question : " Why 
 does the colour match the surrounding of the frog ? " and 
 the answer is elicited : " So that it should not easily be seen 
 by its enemies." This method of procedure, satisfying though 
 it may be to the inquiring mind, has many pitfalls — the most 
 serious being that the reasoning and conclusion is based on 
 quite insufficient premises, and in nine cases out of ten it is 
 false. Things are not as straightforward and easy to see as 
 teachers would have them be, and many a pair of facts that 
 look as if one were the cause of the other, are simply conco- 
 mitant events, and the combination of them is of advantage
 
 156 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 to the organism. Although, as a general method, we would 
 encourage the children to look for meaning in things and to 
 express their interpretation, we must be careful that we do 
 not teach, as absolute facts, our interpretations superficial!}' 
 arrived at by ourselves, or indiscriminately borrowed from 
 any Uttle text-book. Further, it seems futile to note every 
 triiiing fact, and immediately to account for it conclusively. 
 Some questions had better be left unanswered. 
 
 Arising out of this perception and appreciation of relation- 
 ship, profitable work may now be attempted in the recording 
 of weatlier. There is much direct relationship between the 
 weather and our own conduct, as well as that of other hving 
 things in our environment. This is brought home most 
 forcibly by means of some graphic representation. It is a 
 good plan to work out some colour scheme with the children, 
 which shall represent the different types of weather. Gener- 
 ally the children choose yellow for a sunny day or half-day, 
 blue for a line but not sunny day, grey for rain, etc. If they 
 each have a sheet of squared paper they can colour with chalk 
 the record of weather for each day. At a glance, later on, 
 they can see the connexion between all the sunny days that 
 came during some period in the year, and the kind of subjects 
 they studied in the Nature lesson during that year, the clothes 
 they wore then and the games they played. A class chart 
 might show the weather colour for each day, and by the side 
 of this record illustrations of corresponding Nature studies, 
 clothes, games, toys — this chart has special value if it is 
 associated with gardening occupations. A foundation may 
 thus be laid for geograpliical studies later, when the climate 
 and men's occupation are studied in close relation. 
 
 We find such entries as the following in graphic form : — 
 
 Garden. Weather. 
 
 Seedlings droop and must be watered. Fine, warm. 
 Seedlings all bent one way. Windy. 
 
 Seedlings cast httle shadows. Fine, sunny. 
 
 At this stage, as in the preceding one, as many occupations 
 as possible must be devised. Make pincushions out of walnut 
 shells, make lattice-work out of fallen horse-chestnut leaves, 
 make baskets of leaves that are pinned together, make a neck- 
 lace of seeds that can be worn for dancing and games, scoop 
 out a turnip and make a lantern for the night, lay ears of
 
 NATURE STUDY 157 
 
 corn on damp soil and see what happens, make dolls out of 
 poppies and paper wheels for the wind, bore holes in shells 
 and make an ornament, string a horse-chestnut and play at 
 conquerors, etc. 
 
 Needless to say, Nature stories that appeal to the imagina- 
 tion and love of the wonderful, and such as will extend Nature 
 knowledge beyond the realms of actual sense-experience, 
 are still continued. 
 
 C. VON Wyss. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 The Biology of the Seasons. J. Arthur Thomson. (Andrew Melrose, 
 
 I05. 6d. net.) 
 The Book of Nature Study. (Caxton PubUshing Co.) 
 The Nature Book. (Waverley Book Co., 46s.) 
 Out-door World Library. (Longmans, Green & Co., t,s. 6d. net each 
 
 vol.) 
 The Aims and Methods of Nature Study. J. Rennie. (Clive & Co., 
 
 3s. 6d.) 
 Practice of Instruction. J. W. Adamson. 
 
 Broad Lines in Science Teaching. F. Hodson. (Christophers, 5s. net.) 
 P timer of School Gardening. M. Agar. (Philip, 2s. net.)
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 
 
 Most of the difficulties of number teaching in the past 
 have arisen from a misconception of what is impHed by number, 
 and in consequence from the unwise defnands that we have 
 made on httle children. What is a source of intense pleasure 
 to many children has been made the veriest drudgery, because 
 we have asked children to memorize facts that had no reality, 
 facts that it was beyond the power of little children to realize. 
 
 Children, before the age of six, vary very much in their 
 capacity to grasp numerical ideas. If until they are about 
 six years of age they are allowed to make their own pace, if 
 they are not made to learn by rote and to repeat number 
 statements that have no meaning for them, they will go sur- 
 prisingly quickly after this. Educational authorities are 
 beginning to reahze the limitations of young children in this 
 direction, and the last report of a conference on the teaching 
 of arithmetic in London elementary schools is an evidence 
 of this. In that Report the Committee think it desirable 
 only to prescribe what children might reasonably be expected 
 to know on passing into Standard I (age 6|), and the Report 
 runs " Children before passing into Standard I might be 
 expected to have analyzed numbers up to and including lo," 
 This leaves the teacher free as regards method, and makes it 
 clear that no set amount is expected to be known by the 
 children at any age before about 6-^ years. This is as it 
 should be. 
 
 The following pages contain some suggestions which may 
 help the teacher to reach this minimum, and all the remarks 
 apply to the early stages of number work. 
 
 That the mmimum required m the report can be attained 
 easily and pleasurably, without arousing distaste for the 
 subject on the part of the child, and without any undue strain, 
 is evident if we consider the home child. 
 
 The Development of Numerical Ideas in the Child 
 AT Home and at School. — The home child, if left to himself, 
 
 i:.8
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 159 
 
 takes great pleasure in counting, and will count things naturally 
 and constantly. Up to the age of six a child left to himself 
 in an ordinary home, and without any apparent teaching, can, 
 as a rule, count as well as the child of the same age who has 
 had formal number lessons at school every day in the week, 
 for he has followed the rate of progress natural and possible 
 to him, and has not had his mind burdened with names and 
 facts that for him had no meaning. Moreover, the home child 
 generally has a motive behind his counting — the desire to 
 number things arises in himself, and often his counting is a 
 step towards some definite end. Christmas is at hand, and 
 it is imperative that Tom should know the number of pennies 
 in his money box ; Maggie is giving a dolls' tea-party, and 
 must of necessity provide an adequate number of plates ; 
 Philip's toy soldiers are to have a pitched battle, and it is 
 desirable that each side start with an equal number of men. 
 
 On the other hand, too frequently it is difficult for the little 
 child at school to follow the formal number lesson — and the 
 word " follow " adequately describes the child's part in the 
 lesson — the effects of the teaching fade away " into air, into 
 thin air," and the same fact, disguised as ingeniously as may 
 be by the teacher, has to be taught again and again. 
 
 Mistakes in the Past in the Teaching of Number. — 
 The following are some of the mistakes that teachers have 
 made in the past. Generally the counting has been made an 
 end in itself, and the impulse to count has come from without, 
 i.e., from the teacher's will. Then, again, too often the 
 teaching of number has been limited in the mind of the teacher 
 to mere countmgof single things, with a fixed unit as a start- 
 ing point. If this is all that number means, its interests are 
 soon exhausted, and number teaching resolves itself into a 
 collection of facts to be remembered, such as 8 and i are 9, 
 3 from 7 leaves 4, 3 fours are 12. But numbering implies 
 more than this. All number knowledge is the outcome of 
 experiences involving comparison of amounts of material : 
 sometimes the comparison is (i) of aggregates of separate things ; 
 sometimes it is (ii) an estimate of the amount of some un- 
 separated continuous material. Let us take an example of 
 (i). We have 4 pennies, and we are given 2 more pennies ; we 
 then find (if we have been able to keep the 4 penjiies intact) 
 that we possess 6 pennies. When we have had this experience 
 several times, and with different things at different times, 
 the idea emerges that 4 things and 2 things of the same kind
 
 i6o EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 make 6 of the same thing, i.e., we know that 4 and 2 are 6. 
 When we say this formulated truth with intelhgence, and do 
 not merely repeat sounds, we have behind us, largely uncon- 
 sciously it is true, but there all the same, the experiences 
 out of which it grew. Another mistake, then, is that children 
 have been presented with a formulated truth such as 4 and 
 2 are 6, either before they have had the experiences out of 
 which it arose, or before they have had enough of these experi- 
 ences. It should be noticed that to place 4 tablets and 2 
 tablets before children, and to ask them to count them, is not 
 to give experiences. It is largely because this kind of empty 
 symbolic work has been supplemented by real experience of 
 things outside school, that children have been able to count 
 at all intelligently. Again, children have been presented 
 with truths that are deducible from one another as though 
 they were self-evident. Thus from 2 and 2 and 2 are 6 it is 
 self-evident to the adult that 3 twos are 6, but the Httle child 
 who has just with difficulty grasped what three ones means, 
 is unable to grasp the more abstract idea of 3 groups of two, 
 which requires increasing power of thought. 
 
 The teacher of to-day knows that her teaching must be 
 made interesting, but she often has a wrong conception of 
 interest ; she fails to reahze that the strongest interest that 
 we can create is to give the child a motive for counting, and 
 we can do this most successfully when we know what underlies 
 our own efforts to count. 
 
 What underlies Counting and Measuring. — If we 
 dismiss from our minds schoolroom arithmetic, and think 
 of how we use number in every day life, we find that in order 
 to fit means to ends and so prevent waste, or simply to know 
 how much of certain things we have in order that we may 
 know what ends are possible, we count, i.e., say, i, 2, 3, 4, 
 and we aggregate things as 8 and 4 are 12. But counting in 
 this way is in the main applicable only to those things in the 
 world that are separate, each one usable by itself, such things 
 as chairs, tables, shoes, ships, walking sticks, and these make 
 up a comparatively small part of the things that are numbered. 
 
 There is another kind of material in the world that is not 
 from its nature separated into portions that can be counted 
 in this way — such material as flour, milk, water, the foot path- 
 way. The amount of these latter things, as well as of the 
 tables and chairs of the world, has to be estimated, and it is 
 estimated in this way. A portion of the material to be
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER i6i 
 
 measured is taken as measurer, and it is repeated throughout 
 the whole. We carry in our minds the results of our measur- 
 ing, or in other words the records of our " repeats," and this 
 result or record is number. For example, in measuring the 
 length of a garden, we can select as measurer any convenient 
 length (in the absence of any conventional standard this 
 would probably be the human foot), and we step or repeat 
 in some way this unit throughout the whole length of the 
 garden. The result is that the garden is 12 or 15 or 30 times 
 the chosen length used as measurer, and these numbers 
 respectively record the results of the measurement. In 
 measuring we are more conscious of our power over material 
 than we are in counting. This measuring, of course, implies 
 counting. In the case, then, of continuous material we measure 
 off and count. In the case of separate things we vaguely 
 measure by merely counting, but it should be noticed that 
 sometimes we count in ones, sometimes in pairs, sometimes 
 in dozens or half-dozens. The mind-process underlying what 
 is usually called counting and what is usually called measuring 
 is the same, but in the process of measuring continuous 
 material, there is more physical work done ; coal has to be 
 separated into cwt. bags, cloth has to be marked off in yards, 
 and the thought-work is more easily observed. But in each 
 case we count because we want to estimate the whole for 
 some purpose ; and we estimate the whole by comparing it with 
 something selected as measurer, and out of this consparison 
 comes number through the counts or repeats of the measurer, 
 whether the measurer is a dozen eggs, a brace of pheasants, 
 or a lb. of sugar. 
 
 When measuring, one has a definite idea of the estimated 
 amount, because the unit chosen as measurer, e.g., a lb., a foot, 
 is known quantitatively, i.e., the exact size of the measurer 
 is known by experience, whereas when merely counting one 
 has only a vague idea of the estimated amount, for the measurer 
 is known only quahtatively, i.e., by name., e.g., because of 
 the variable size of eggs or apples : to speak of 8 eggs or 8 apples 
 is to estimate very vaguely the amount. It is for this reason 
 that things which used to be counted merely tend to be 
 measured, i.e., estimated as exactly as possible. 
 
 The two ideas counting and measuring develop almost 
 simultaneously. The child in his life outside of school counts 
 things, and he has considerable practice in estimating size. 
 He has 6 soldiers, 2 drums, 3 picture books. He measures : 
 
 M
 
 i62 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 he gives away half an orange, he is taller than his httle sister, 
 he has a gun three times as big as his little brother's. Tom, 
 building a room with his bricks, finds he has some left over ; 
 he can now build a larger room. He is throwing pebbles into 
 the pond, and he finds that he can throw farther with a 
 heavier stone. 
 
 In such ways the use of these rough measuring terms, 
 broader, longer, etc., are gradually acquired, and, as will be 
 shown further, on the experiences that lie behind these terms 
 can be made material for interesting lessons in school. 
 
 The School Supplements Home Experience. — Outside 
 of school, then, the child has many experiences of both 
 counting and elementary measuring. It is the business of 
 the school to provide many more experiences demanding 
 numerical ideas, and of such a kind as a child would naturally 
 get in an enlightened home. The teacher will have to see to 
 it that the number aspect of these experiences is conscious 
 and significant, and when the psychological moment comes, 
 she should help the child to formulate his knowledge into 
 concise and conventional form, and to memorize it so that 
 it may be easily available. (A good example of the way in 
 which labour is saved by concise formulation is the multiplica- 
 tion table.) 
 
 Let us consider then how the school can provide : (i), 
 counting experiences for the child, and (ii) measuring experi- 
 ences, although in practice these two often overlap, and as 
 has been said above, measuring, after the first rough stages, 
 implies counting. 
 
 Abstract cannot be Opposed to Concrete. — It has 
 been implied earlier in this article that it is impossible to 
 consider separately abstract and concrete number ideas. The 
 most elementary counting, even that stage when the counts 
 were not carried in the mind but merely on notches on a 
 stick or by De Morgan's stones in a pot, requires some thought ; 
 and the most advanced counting implies memory of things. 
 The terms, therefore, abstract number and concrete number, 
 have long since ceased to be used by thinking people. 
 
 Mental Activity arises out of Physical Activity. — 
 Every teacher recognizes now that children cannot count 
 unless they have the real things, but the majority expect the 
 children too soon to be able to do without tlie things and to 
 work from figures, and frequently they mainly limit the chil 
 dren's experience to looking at the things. The mental
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 163 
 
 activity demanded by number must have its foundation in 
 physical activity. The children must handle the things, and 
 must handle them as long as seems necessary to the individual 
 child ; afterwards drawing or looking may suffice. Donald 
 in the course of a number lesson had been handling sticks. 
 After a considerable time had elapsed his teacher said, " Now 
 can't you manage without the sticks ? " " Well," replied 
 Donald, " I can do without touching them, but just let me 
 look at them." We can see Donald nodding at the sticks, or 
 pointing to them to help him in counting them. This kind 
 of physical experience the children must have in order to 
 grasp number ideas ; without this physical part, this touching 
 and nodding and pointin'^, they may repeat sounds, but they 
 will not develop numerical ideas. 
 
 The problem before us then is, how can we, without becom- 
 ing wearisome, provide for every child, in a sometimes large 
 class, as many of these active experiences in counting things 
 as he needs ; and how can we create, in the child, day after 
 day, the desire to count, measure, and perform operations 
 with number. 
 
 We know from experience that it is not enough merely 
 to give a number of counters or sticks to each child ; nor is 
 the result more satisfactory if we thinly disguise them as 
 sweets, soldiers or marbles. If we watch the active children 
 of the class we see that instead of following the teacher's 
 line of thought, or in the many intervals when the class is 
 being scolded for not working or not attending, they are 
 constantly and more or less surreptitiously arranging their 
 sticks according to their own ideas ; they are making some- 
 thing; and in the familiar reproof, " David, you are playing 
 with your sticks," we ^ei the solution to our problem. We 
 can see in David's activities what is natural to the young 
 child, \\here his interests really lie, and from this we can 
 learn how he will work most easily towards a desired end. 
 It is for us to see that the natural desire of the child to play 
 at something or to make something is not thwarted, but is 
 directed into desirable channels. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS FOR COUNTING LESSONS 
 
 {a) IN Play ; {b) in Constructive Work. — ^There are end- 
 less opportunities for the teacher to give experience in number 
 in connexion with (a) play, and [b) the making of things, 
 and she will be able to formulate these experiences gradually
 
 i64 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 and without any weariness to the indeed, child ; the child 
 welcomes concise formulation when he is ready for it. 
 
 {a) Number in Play. — In Traditional Games. — Many 
 children's games, traditional and modern, depend entirely 
 on number for their interest, either on a balance of sides or 
 the number of conquests, as in Nuts in May, English and 
 French, Hares and Hounds, Tug of War, and other Hue 
 games ; or on the score of the side or the individual, as in 
 Bean Bags,Tiddliewinks, Skittles, Nine-pins, Quoits, Dominoes, 
 etc. 
 
 A large class can play at these games in the classroom or 
 playground with as much zest as they would if they were at 
 free play on their own account. At the same time they will 
 delight in the number aspect, which the teacher will see is 
 emphasized throughout. It is of the utmost importance 
 that the children really play the games, the educational 
 value is lost if they are engineered through them by the 
 teacher. When from the nature of the game it is impossible 
 for each child to be an actor at the same time, some children, 
 as spectators, can follow with active interest the progress of 
 the play. They can do all the necessary counting and judging 
 arising in the course of the game. 
 
 In Dramatic Games. — Much of children's play consists in 
 imitation of the grown-up life around them. The child will 
 anticipate and rehearse, in his play hours, the ordinary 
 happenings of adult life — 
 
 " As if his whole vocation 
 Were endless imitation." 
 
 The " Train " Game and its Development. — Children play 
 at " trains," " trams," " shops " ; they drill their leaden 
 soldiers and send them out in battalions on active service, 
 and sometimes they send their " ships in fleets all up and 
 down." These more dramatic games can be introduced into 
 the schoolroom, and if they are played true to life, they will 
 be intensely interesting to children, and in the hands of an 
 intelligent teacher they offer almost endless opportunities 
 for variety of treatment and graduation of difficulties. Thus, 
 in a game of trains with young children the number interest 
 may be quite simple. Some of the children may pretend to 
 be passengers, and, like a real passenger, each child will have 
 his destination. A number of passengers will alight at one 
 station, a number will enter at another. The teacher, as
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 165 
 
 guard of the train or as ticket collector (the passengers would, 
 of course, have play tickets), is able through the play itself 
 to command the situation. 
 
 Or all the class may go on an imaginary journey to a place 
 chosen by themselves, using their places as carriages as they 
 would the sofa at home. Each child might be provided with 
 so many pennies. The number aspect of the game will arise 
 from the price of the tickets, and if the children are going 
 to a certain fair or place of pleasure this number is naturally 
 the same for all ; the remainder of their money can be 
 spent on souvenirs bought at the journey's end. 
 
 Or the children on such a journey might be going to market, 
 taking with them so many of different things to sell : 8 
 cauHflowers, 5 cucumbers, 3 lb. pats of butter, etc. These 
 " train " plays can be worked out in a variety of ways, accord- 
 ing to the surroundings and experience of the children, and 
 if they are throughout closely related to reahty, the number 
 will arise naturally from the circumstances, and will invariably 
 tend to increase the interest of the children. 
 
 With a class of older children more difficult reckoning can 
 be done. The children will work day after day at buying 
 tickets out of, say, 6i., 8^., or is., in the hope of going an 
 imaginary journey when they are capable of buying their 
 own ticket. The play now is highly serious — they are prac- 
 tising buying railway tickets. Suppose, for example, the 
 number being taught is 12. The class could be arranged 
 in pairs, one of each pair being a traveller and the other a 
 booking office clerk. The traveller is provided with is., the 
 ticket clerk with 12 pennies and play tickets. In front 
 of the class, so that all may see him easily, is one of the ticket 
 clerks provided with bundles of tickets at different prices. 
 A traveller comes out to the front and buys a ticket to some- 
 where, which costs say 5^. At the same time aU the travellers 
 buy $d. tickets, and get back from their respective ticket 
 clerks the correct change. In time it would be found that 
 it was no longer necessary for each child actually to handle 
 the coins. It would be enough to have the coins to refer to 
 only in case of doubt or incorrect answers ; or mistakes could 
 be corrected if the children drew the coins and crossed out 
 the number they had spent. 
 
 After a series of lessons with the journey motive behind, 
 there should follow the real play, for which all the previous 
 lessons have been a preparation. The classroom becomes
 
 i66 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 the waiting-room, all the children are travellers, many prob- 
 ably have their dolls with them, all must have tickets before 
 they can board the train. The travellers take their turns in 
 coming out of the waiting room up to the booking office, and 
 in purchasing tickets from the clerk ; occasionally there is 
 a small queue waiting. In this httle community every 
 traveller is interested in every other traveller, and all will 
 help the purchasers of a ticket to judge if his change is correct. 
 It will become clear to all the travellers in the course of the 
 play that, since trains wait for no man, they must see that 
 the ticket clerk is efficient, that he is reliable and quick in 
 action. The desirability of producing such a clerk from 
 among themselves might provide an interesting motive for 
 further lessons. 
 
 " SJwp " Plav and its Development. — In " shopping " 
 lessons the different activities of the real shop may be separ- 
 ated with advantage, and treated in different lessons. In 
 this separation, moreover, we shall be, as we desire, true to 
 life. 
 
 In one lesson the children might prepare the things for the 
 shop by getting them into convenient and usual saleable 
 quantities. The shopman will be busy weighing out, in earlier 
 lessons, pretence pounds and half pounds, in later lessons, 
 real pounds and half pounds of this, and in measuring lengths 
 of that. These activities give early exercise in dealing with 
 continuous material, and every child can be working actively, 
 for each child can make his own pair of scales and his own 
 measuring stick or tape, and can use them. 
 
 In another lesson the children might make the things to 
 be sold in the shop. Suggestions for stocking the shop are 
 given under constructive work. 
 
 The dressing of the shop window with care and thought, 
 so that it may prove attractive to the passer-by and convert 
 him into a customer, provides an urgent motive either for a 
 very elementary number lesson or for one considerably 
 advanced. In addition to deciding how many of each thing 
 will be displayed, and how they will be arranged, labels showing 
 the prices, 3^/. for I, $\d. for 2, have to be written. Eveiy 
 pair of children can dress a window, or there can be a large 
 attractive window, arranged in tiers, in front. 
 
 When the goods have been prepared for sale and the shop 
 window has been dressed, there will follow the " buying and 
 seUing " lesson, which can be worked out with the children
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 167 
 
 in pairs, as was suggested for one of the " train " lessons. It 
 is a very simple matter to arrange these buying and selling 
 lessons according to the capacity of the children. With very 
 little children the first shopping lessons will be very simple. 
 In their " buying and selling " lessons the shop might be a 
 id. bazaar. Each child might have a number of pennies, 
 say 4, and might buy a number of id. articles from the bazaar. 
 If he buys three, for example, then he discovers that the three 
 id. articles and the id. he still possesses, balance the /\d. with 
 which he began. In the same way later he could realize 
 that one 2d. article and 2 pennies, or that one 3^. article and 
 id. account for his original 4 pennies. Later still, one 2d. 
 article and one 3^. article account for a 5^. with which he 
 started his shopping. And later still, he is consciously aware 
 of his " change " when he has 2d. left out of his original money 
 after buying one ^d. article, or perhaps two 2d. articles. When 
 he discovers, by paying for them, that two 2d. articles cost 4^., 
 and that three 3^. articles cost 9^., and that he has 4^. change 
 out of one shilling (12 pennies) when he has bought two 4d. 
 articles, it is evident that he is laying the foundation of the 
 multiplication table. 
 
 It has been assumed in all these "buying and selling" 
 lessons that each child will work with the actual coins and 
 buy from his neighbour's shop, or from one or more large 
 class shops, and will take away the articles bought. Gradu- 
 ally he will be able to manage the calculations of each stage 
 by looking at the coins, and at length he will be able to dis- 
 pense with them altogether, and use, more or less uncon- 
 sciously, his mind pictures. 
 
 Written Work. — Such lessons will lead on naturally to 
 written work. From time to time, or for part of a lesson, 
 the children gladly transform themselves into clerks and 
 " keep accounts " of the amounts sold and the money taken, 
 or they will make out simple bills. 
 
 Picture Records. — ^This, however, need not be the first 
 time that written work appears in the number lesson. It 
 will greatly help towards making the ideas permanent, and 
 towards the necessary formulation of numerical truths, if in 
 connexion with the simplest play lesson some record is 
 frequently made by the child. The earliest record would 
 be a picture of the objects (probably in some dramatic situa- 
 tion), that he has played with in the game. This picture will, 
 of course, be made by the child after his own fashion. The
 
 i68 
 
 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 drawing of the objects in that picture gives the child additional 
 opportunities for that physical activity so necessary in building 
 up numerical ideas. Further, if the picture is free expression 
 on the part of the child, the teacher can see where ideas are 
 ha y or wrong, and can plan her succeeding lessons accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 Symbolic Records.— In a picture of the " largest score 
 made by any one player at skittles," say two down out of 
 six, the record begins to be symbolic, and soon the children 
 will dehght in writing the conventional symbols, i.e., the 
 figures, beside these groups of objects. 
 
 In playing at trains or shopping the record might be 
 partly picture and partly figures. Thus a 3d. packet or 
 article and 3d. = 6d., or a 3d. ticket and gd. make is. 
 
 These records may be represented thus : 
 
 and 3d. ■= 6d. 
 
 and gd. = izd. or is. Or the 
 
 coins themselves could be drawn. This leads on to the clerk's 
 record — the simple statement in figures of the shopping or 
 other transaction. 
 
 Conventional Records. — The teacher should guide the 
 children in the making of these latter records, so that they 
 put them into the form in use in the real world, and from 
 these records will develop naturally the ordinary simple 
 " sums " or operations of arithmetic. In this way the number 
 experiences arising out of all these different " play " lessons 
 may be formulated, and gradually they will be memorized 
 by the children and become part of their conscious number 
 apparatus in life. 
 
 [b) Number in Constructive Work. — But the child who 
 plays heartily works with the same zest, and desires actively 
 to construct and make. This desire to make things provides 
 a motive for early number work. In the handwork lessons, 
 instead of making things purposelessly, and destroying them 
 as soon as they are made, the children could make things 
 definitely to stock the shop. 
 
 The many different kinds of shops offer endless scope for 
 the making of saleable articles, either for use or for beauty,
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 169 
 
 or for use and beauty combined. In the modelling lesson 
 the children might make things to be sold, say, in the green- 
 grocer's shop, e.g., bananas, apples, potatoes ; or baskets 
 to hold these things. The paper-cutting lesson would go far 
 to stock the linen shop or the draper's shop. Table cloths, 
 table napkins, sheets, and towels can be made by simply 
 folding ; tray cloths, tea-cloths, window curtains and yards 
 of lace by folding and then cutting a pattern ; dolls' clothes 
 are easily made in paper, and the frocks can be ornamented 
 in the painting lessons. The pictures of the ordinary painting 
 lesson can make the stock of an artist's shop. For a grocer's 
 shop, besides the ordinary stock, boxes and drawers are needed 
 to store the things, and bags in which to carry them away. 
 
 All the articles made by the children would have to be 
 valued and priced by them. The fact that the things- made 
 by them were actually of use, would develop in them an in- 
 creased respect for their own efforts, and would engender in 
 them a desire to improve the work of their hands. 
 
 Suggestions for Measuring Lessons. — It will be seen thai 
 both the making of things for the shop and the shopping 
 lessons themselves provide much incidental and some direct 
 exercise in measurement. The man at the dairy, for example, 
 must learn to measure capacity in order to be able to sell his 
 milk, the draper and the carpenter must become proficient 
 in the measurement of length, and whoever heard of a grocer 
 or a greengrocer who was unable to weigh his goods ? 
 
 Of course, at first, the measuring in the shop lessons would 
 be of the roughest character, and only gradually would the 
 children approximate to comparatively accurate measurement 
 and use conventional units of measurement. 
 
 Rough Measurement in Play. — But there is a kind of 
 measurement that may with advantage precede the roughest 
 shop measurement. It was pointed out previously in con- 
 nexion with the child's experience out of school in his own 
 home, that he acquired the use of such rough measuring terms 
 as large, small ; far, near ; heavy, light ; broad, narrow ; 
 thick, thin. Children advance their first step in real under- 
 standing of number when they even dimly become aware 
 that these are what we call relative terms ; that, for example, 
 what is heavy compared with one thing is light compared with 
 another. This realization can be brought about if we provide 
 things of different sizes and of different weights for the child 
 to experience. The size of a thing will often mislead him as
 
 170 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 to its weight ; a large empty box looks heavier to him than a 
 small solid cube of some dense material. It is a real joy to 
 the child to try to lift a seemingly heavy article and find it 
 light ; or to lift a large air ball and find it light compared 
 with a small wooden one, which again in its turn is proved 
 light when weighed in the hand with a lead one. In this way 
 emerges the idea that the wooden ball is sometimes heavy, 
 sometimes light. This kind of play gives the child exercises 
 in comparison of different kinds, and as has been said earlier, 
 comparison is the foundation of all numerical ideas. 
 
 It is of the utmost importance that the child does the 
 measuring with his own hands. It is quite profitless for the 
 teacher to do the things and tell the results. The child needs 
 the actual physical experience. The teacher, of course, can 
 take her part in the play. She can jump high or throw a ball 
 high, while the child jumps low or makes a low throw. Then 
 she is so tall that the tallest child in the class is small by the 
 side of her. 
 
 The Development of the Idea of Measuring Units. — Out 
 of these exercises grows the need for the more definite 
 shop measurement. For example, we convey no idea of size 
 when we speak of a long piece of cloth. We must, if we wish 
 to be in any way precise, have something by which to measure 
 it. Then the estimation of its size becomes two times or 
 three times the measurer, the measurer being at first any stick 
 or duster at hand. Gradually the need for a common 
 standard of measurement is felt. Eustace can carry his 
 measuring stick to Kenneth's " make believe " shop in the 
 corner of the room, and can ask for 4 yards of fencing for his 
 toy garden, but he quickly discovers that the measuring stick 
 is a clumsy and unnecessary expedient, and he will desire to 
 use, like people in the real world of affairs, a conventional 
 standard of measurement. 
 
 Measurement in Constructive Work icith Bricks. — Much 
 valuable work in the measuring and estimation of length 
 and size is inevitably connected with building and making 
 things with bricks. By bricks is meant an ordinary toy 
 set of building bricks of different sizes and shapes, and 
 not Froebel's gifts. Children are delighted to bring their 
 playbox of bricks to school, and the best \\ ork is done where 
 each child can work with the bricks. Wliere this is not 
 possible, much can be done with a few boxes, the other children 
 having strips of cardboard or stiff paper to represent the
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 
 
 171 
 
 bricks. These bricks should have no dividing lines marked 
 on them, for the measuring unit will be constantly changed ; 
 also if lines are marked the children tend to count instead of 
 to compare and measure. 
 
 Some such exercises as the following would give the children 
 practice in comparison and estimation of length, and in 
 composition and analysis of number groups. 
 
 Analysis. — Steps have to be made up to a house (Fig. i). The 
 
 
 ^ ^^^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 F 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 N 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 . N 
 
 k 
 
 
 
 
 3 4 
 
 Fig. I. 
 
 first step is selected of a convenient height ; the second must be 
 found by measurement twice as high, the third three times as 
 high, etc. If there is a landing the children have repeated 
 practice in estimation of the same length, or of combinations 
 that make up this length. 
 
 H 
 
 I) 
 
 Fig. 2.
 
 172 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 A broken wall has to be mended (Fig. 2). In copying the 
 wall, preparatory to mending it, the children have practice 
 in recognizing lengths ; in doing the mending they would 
 have experience in equivalent lengths or composition of 
 numbers. In work of this kind the children are constantly 
 making discoveries, and they can see visibly what they were 
 vaguely aware of through counting ; for example, they can 
 see that a two brick and a four brick is the same height as a 
 six brick, whatever the unit of measurement. 
 
 _ The building of houses, railway stations, bridges and tunnels 
 gives similar exercises in measurement and counting. 
 
 Change of Unit Necessary. — In all this kind of work it 
 is important that the teacher, from time to time, should 
 change the measuring unit, so that numbers might be pre- 
 sented as relations and the outcome of comparison. It is 
 fatally limiting if the children think of a particular brick as a 
 one brick, of another as a two brick, and so on. 
 
 Sticks, in combination with wet sand, might be used as 
 apparatus for measuring lessons. As lamp posts or telegraph 
 posts or trees, they might stand up in the road of sand at 
 definite distances apart. 
 
 As far as the children are concerned, the number work in 
 all the counting and measuring work suggested above will 
 be incidental. The children will have been playing whole- 
 heartedly, or they will have been making something. The 
 numbering helps them and adds an interest to their activities. 
 But the teacher can make the work quite systematic. She 
 knows exactly what point the children have reached. She 
 can, when she thinks it desirable, be quite definite and help 
 the children to formulate the results of their experience, 
 and she can expect tliem to remember or to be able to 
 recover the number facts for themselves. 
 
 Summary of Number Knowledge Acquired. — ^Through 
 this work, in which for the most part the number has been 
 introduced incidentally, the children should have made 
 considerable progress in the acquisition of numerical ideas, 
 and somev/hat in the order given below. 
 
 (i) They should be able to count and recognize groups of 
 things up to 5. 
 
 (2) From the measuring activities, they should have learnt 
 such facts as that 5 is more than 4 and less than 6. 
 
 {3) Through knowledge of the lower groups, they should 
 know the higher groups from 5 to 10. Although perhaps the
 
 EARLY WORK IN NUMBER 173 
 
 best approach to a numerical group above 5, say the group 
 8, is through 8 ones, yet the real grasp of 8 comes through the 
 knowledge of it as 4 and 4, 5 and 3, etc., and herein hes the 
 importance of the analysis of numbers. On the other hand, 
 there is no analysis worthy of the name of numbers below 
 5, and much harm may be done if such early numbers are 
 dwelt on ad nauseam. If the child can count 3 with intelli- 
 gence, there is no need for him to say 2 and i are 3 ; if he 
 cannot, such repetition of words is no help. 
 
 (4) They should have passed, if they have kept their records 
 carefully and made use of them, from simple numerical state- 
 ments to simple addition and subtraction of things and of 
 measured quantities. 
 
 (5) They should have practical knowledge of a foot, an 
 inch, a lb., a J lb., a pint, a \ pint ; they should know that 
 a sixpence will buy what 6 pennies will buy, and that a shilling 
 has the same purchasing power as 12 pennies. 
 
 (6) They should have begun, through repetition of the 
 same quantity such as would occur specially in the shopping 
 lessons, to build up the simpler parts of the multiplication 
 table. 
 
 Anna L. Wark. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 Psychology of Number. Dewey and McClelland. (Appleton & Co., 
 
 New York.) 
 The Teaching of Elementary Mathematics. D. F. Smith. (The Mac- 
 
 millan Co., New York.) 
 Lecture on the Logic of Arithmetic. Mrs. Boole. (Oxford, Clarendon 
 
 Press.) 
 Arithmetic for Primary Teachers. Speers. (Ginn & Co., Boston.) 
 Primary Number Manual. G. E. Bigelow & Wallace C. Boydon. 
 
 (D. C. Heath & Co., Boston.) 
 Special Method in Arithmetic. Ch. McMurray. (The Macmillan Co.)
 
 READING AND WRITING, 
 
 Which "lift man beyond every known creature" — Fvoehel. 
 
 An article on the teaching of reading resolves itself into 
 an attempt to find satisfactory answers to three questions : 
 what are children to read ? when are they to begin ? and by 
 what method or methods shall they be taught ? 
 
 The power to read is a key, but it is one which can unlock 
 the doors of heaven or hell. It confers right of entry to any 
 society ; the reader may hold converse with souls sublime or 
 souls commonplace, with the highest or the lowest. What 
 the teacher should place before her first and foremost is that 
 it is her duty to develop in her children, not only a love of 
 reading, but a love of reading that which uplifts. 
 
 Mr. Huey's Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading is the only 
 book known to me which deals comprehensively with the 
 subject.^ All teachers of reading — all indeed who have any- 
 thing to do with the education of children — ought to read 
 this book, and to ponder the pronouncement that " present 
 physiological knowledge points to the age of about eight years 
 as early enough for anything more than an incidental attention 
 to visual and written language-form." 
 
 If the physiologists are right, what is to be said for our 
 present practice of teaching children to read long before they 
 are six ? 
 
 The argument against early reading, which is likely to 
 carry most weight with the general public, is that experts 
 tell us there is an immense increase of near-sightedness, 
 and that this is due to the untimely use of the finer eye- 
 muscles. Nor is near-sightedness the worst result of eye- 
 strain. Mr. Huey, quoting Cohn's Hygiene of the Eye, tells 
 us that " short sight is almost always accompanied by atrophy 
 of the choroid, which increases with the increase of short 
 
 ^ Stanley Hall's How to Teach Reading is very sane and helpful, but 
 the writer came across it after this paper was written. He maintains 
 that children should learn between the ages of six and eight, which 
 accords with the experience of most teachers. 
 
 171
 
 READING AND WRITING 175 
 
 sight," and that this atrophy is quite hkely to spread, and 
 sight may be lost. 
 
 Reading is undoubtedly the most fatiguing of all near work 
 for children, because the strain is constant. If a child in- 
 stinctively rests his eyes by looking away from his book, he 
 is reproved for losing his place. 
 
 The poorer the home surroundings and the larger the number 
 in the classes, the later should come the teaching of reading. 
 When the class is large, there is no room for the free movement 
 and abundant chatter natural to young children. The chil- 
 dren from poor homes are often badly nourished, their hours 
 of sleep are frequently curtailed, and the mental background 
 is meagre. There is little leisure in such homes for telling 
 the children stories, and there is little money for picture books. 
 
 Much of the time now wasted, and worse than wasted as 
 it is harmful to eye and to nerve, in teaching young children 
 to read, would be infinitely better spent in telimg them good 
 stories, in reading to them good, simple poetry, and in lettmg 
 them talk freely, not formally, about everything that interests 
 them. It is greatly to be feared that children taught to read 
 too soon will acquire a distaste for books, and this is the 
 worst service we can render to those whose circumstances 
 oblige them to leave school at an early age. 
 
 Though there are innumerable variations, there are practi- 
 cally only three methods of teaching reading, viz., the Alpha- 
 betic, the Look and Say, and the Phonic. 
 
 The Alphabteic Method.— The alphabetic is, of course, 
 the oldest, and as a method it is devoid of intelligence. 
 
 Word and Sentence Methods. — The second method is 
 the one proposed by a httle girl who remarked, " I don't like 
 it when the others know the words and I don't. I want you 
 just to tell me the words." This is the method which gains 
 approval from most psychological authorities just now. The 
 children are to be told either the words or, preferably, the 
 sentences, "thus making thought lead." Mr. Huey argues 
 strongly in favour of this method. At the same time, he is 
 obhged to confess that the word method "does not give the 
 pupil power to pronounce for himself words that have not 
 been met before, and that pJionics is finally necessary for this 
 purpose." Of the sentence method he says: "The method 
 goes famously at first, hke the word method, hut it breaks down 
 wlien the child attempts to read new matter joy himself, so the 
 teachers commonl}^ say."
 
 176 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Surely, when these statements are reduced to plain language, 
 they simply mean that by this approved method of teaching 
 reading, the children do not learn to read ! 
 
 With individual children, one child to one mother, and 
 generally speaking one intelligent child to one intellectual 
 mother, the method seems entirely successful. Most teachers 
 who have tried it will agree too that it goes well at first, but 
 Mr. Huey, who advocates it warmly, has not been able to 
 find practical teachers who find it successful all the way 
 through in class teaching. 
 
 The Phonic Method. — The third method is the phonic 
 method, in which the children are taught the powers or 
 sounds of the letters before learning their names. Many 
 teachers use the " word " method for a few weeks, and then 
 analyse the words into sounds. 
 
 All Three Methods Wanted. — In this article it is main- 
 tained that the phonic method is the most satisfactory as a 
 basis and from the beginning, but that with our anomalous 
 spelling large use should be made of " look and say," and 
 that even the alphabetic method is wanted in some cases, if 
 not for reading, at least for spelling purposes. 
 
 I have a very definite reason for preferring to use from the 
 first, a combination of the two methods of the phonic and the 
 " look and say " or word method. I have found, as so many 
 others have found, that the word method goes well at first, 
 but that the phonic is necessary if children of average capacity 
 are ever to tackle new words for themselves. And I have 
 also found, what might be expected, that children resent 
 the change from the effortless learning which is the result 
 of being told everything, to the more laborious method of 
 putting together the sounds which compose a word. On the 
 other hand, when, from the first, an appeal is made to their 
 feeling of power, even though the teacher may tell a good 
 many irregular words, the desire of the children is to " see 
 how many words we can find out without you telling us." 
 From the point of view of character forming, this is much 
 more satisfactory. 
 
 In dealing with methods of teaching it is well to remember 
 that one can only " be fortified by scientific certainty," so 
 long as " no new unsettling scientific certainties happen to 
 have been demonstrated," as Mr. de Morgan has it. The 
 main objection made to the phonic method is that young 
 children do not analyse. But is this true ? I have watched
 
 READING AND WRITING 177 
 
 a child being taught entirely by the use of pictures and whole 
 words, who knew lien, net, cat, do^s, bat, ball, etc., but con- 
 fused cock with duck, and dog with egg. Asked for tgg he 
 one day showed dog, and then said, pointing to the g, 
 "Oh, no! egg has two of these." He was making his own 
 analysis. 
 
 Children too young to analyse write a continuous scribble ; 
 a little later the scribble may more nearly resemble words, 
 with spaces between. I have seen a child writing " a letter 
 to daddy," who appropriated a sale catalogue and carefully 
 copied a page, " Annual Sale, Carpets, Curtains, etc." She 
 had arrived at a stage in analysis which may well exist un- 
 noticed in other children. 
 
 There is no sufficient evidence for attaching, as Mr. Huey 
 does attach, the blame of " mechanical, stumbling, expression- 
 less readers, who are poor thought getters," to the phonic 
 method. Such readers would result from the unintelligent 
 teaching of the duller children with the best method in exist- 
 ence. 
 
 The Phonic Method. — ^The first phonic teaching I had 
 the opportunity of watching was that of Miss Bishop of 
 Birmingham. Certainly in that teaching there was no " mere 
 word pronouncing." Miss Bishop called the method she 
 used by the cumbrous but descriptive title of " The Ob- 
 serving, Speaking, Writing and Reading Method," and she 
 traced it back to Jacotot. 
 
 The phonic method seems to date back to Ickelsamer, who, 
 about 1530, " considered the function of the letters and taught 
 this and not the name." I'he Orbis Picttis of Comenius was 
 intended to teach reading by associating picture and wo.d, 
 " without using any ordinary tedious spelling — that most 
 troublesome torture of wits." 
 
 Jacotot (i 770-1840) was the originator in France of the 
 " observing, speaking, writing and reading " method, and 
 Seltzam, a schoolmaster of Breslau, introduced it into Ger- 
 many. He started from a sentence in the reading book and 
 analysed that. Miss Bishop took as starting point the 
 child's own experience, letting them talk a httle, then choosing 
 one of their sentences to analyse into words, then a word to 
 analyse into sounds. Each sound was to be connected with 
 the complete sentence as the expression of thouglit. If the 
 sound is connected with an idea, this seems, however, to be 
 sufficient. jr
 
 178 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 As our space is limited, we must come now to practical 
 details. There is, so far as I know, no published account 
 of how children are taught to read with the phonic system 
 as a basis, but with free use of " look and say " when desired, 
 either because it adds interest and value to the material, 
 or because it suits individual children. This is my reason 
 for proceeding to give an account of our own methods, though 
 I am aware that many teachers are already working on much 
 the same lines. 
 
 Classification of Sounds. — If we are to take phonics 
 as a basis, the first thing to do is to survey our material. 
 What we want is a working classification of such sounds, 
 with their respective signs, as must be grasped before a child 
 can be said to read. So long as he " cannot tackle new 
 matter " he cannot read. It is clear that the twenty-six 
 letters of the alphabet do not express the sounds we use, yet 
 we do not want too many signs. It is better to associate one 
 sound with ay, another with ar, and another with aw, than to 
 have many sounds attached to the letter a. But we are not 
 concerned with fine shades of difference, e.g., we may make 
 a difference between the vowel sounds in food and in good, 
 but one oo sound is enough for practical purposes. 
 
 The list given below is the result of experience ; it has been 
 increased and decreased at various times, and is never re- 
 garded as a fixed quantity. All are not necessary for 
 reading ; ^ for instance, it is a simple matter to tell such un- 
 reasonable words as would, sight and brought. But we find 
 that if introduced gradually, the children find spelling less 
 troublesome. We treat these as " look and say " words at 
 first, but later we make families of igli, ould, and ough words, 
 using the letter names only. A Scotswoman may be allowed 
 to urge that the difficulties of wliich and ivitcli, of when and 
 went, of where and were, do not exist for Scotch children. 
 Also, that if English children were trained to sound the letter 
 f, it would no longer be impossible to convince them that " a 
 wild boar " does not rhyme with " a sharp saw," and is not 
 spelt " baw" ; and they might even believe that it is unneces- 
 sary to put an r into the middle of " father." The sound 
 wa is borrowed from Miss Dale, and we do not always use it. 
 If the children are to learn both aw and wa, one should be 
 familiar a considerable time before the other is brought 
 forward. 
 
 ' The less necessary sounds are put within brackets.
 
 READING AND WRITING 179 
 
 List of Sounds and Signs 
 I'] simple and 5 double consonants — 
 
 b 
 
 k 
 
 t 
 
 c 
 
 1 
 
 V 
 
 d 
 
 m 
 
 w 
 
 f 
 
 n 
 
 th 
 
 g 
 
 P 
 
 sh 
 
 h 
 
 r 
 
 ch 
 
 J (=ge) 
 
 i. 1_ « ; 
 
 s (= ce) 
 
 wh 
 qu 
 
 5 short vowels — a, e, 1, 6, u. 
 10-12 long vowels, diphthongs, etc., represented by 15-25 
 signs — 
 
 a-e = ay (= ai, ey, ei). 
 
 ee = e - e = ea. 
 
 i-e (= y in by, my, try. why, and cry). 
 
 o - e = oa. 
 
 (u - e = ew). 
 
 ar in Arthur, farm, etc. 
 
 00 
 
 ow = ou, in cow and out. 
 
 aw (= au). 
 
 wa in was, water. 
 
 ing (ong, ang). 
 Words in all, igh, ould, and ough. 
 
 Necessity for Clear Enunciation. — As regards the exact 
 sounds to be attached to the signs, it is certain that, unless the 
 teacher is willing to take pains, she had better use some such 
 system as that of Sonnenschein, with its at, et, it, ot, ut, where 
 consonant and vowel control each other. To get the short 
 vowels true, it is well for both teacher and child to think of a 
 word of which the required vowel is the initial. We generally 
 use the words, apple, egg, ink, orange, and umbrella. 
 
 The consonants require quite as much care as the vowels. 
 The merest breath should escape with b, p, t, and w; for m 
 the mouth can remain quite closed, and for /, v, and s, mouth 
 and teeth almost meet. It is the great stumbling block to 
 phonic reading that the teacher, in teaching for instance, 
 the first sound in brush, often makes it sound hke the first 
 two letters of but, so that when she really means to give the 
 three sounds of but, she very nearly gives the sounds for hitter. 
 We find the direction, " Keep the sound inside your mouth," 
 acts well with children.
 
 i8o EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Miss Dale's plan of showing the children how each sound 
 is produced seems too elaborate, and is unnecessary with small 
 classes where children can learn by imitation. But in large 
 classes it may be very helpful in the case of consonants, as 
 the children at a distance can scarcely hear the slight sound. 
 Still, teachers of large classes can pass quickly along whispering 
 the sound, and those who catch it first can help others. 
 
 For good enunciation lips and tongue must grip to good 
 purpose, and children must learn to avoid " lazy hps." They 
 enjoy making httle explosive sounds with h, p, t, d, etc., but 
 it is safer, in giving such exercises, to deal with whole words, 
 such as cab, cup, cat, red, and to let the stress fall on the last 
 letter. 
 
 Signs Should have Meaning. — One of our main objects 
 is to avoid as far as possible giving any meaningless signs. 
 The remark that " single letters have no associative power " 
 is not quite true. Most teachers probably teach the letter s 
 by drawing a hissing snake, and it is known to every one that 
 letters are derived from pictures. The original pictures are, 
 of course, useless in teaching English, so we have made among 
 us the following "hieroglyphics," which answer their purpose 
 fairly well. Enterprising teachers will prefer to rnake their 
 own, associating them where possible with the immediate 
 interests of the children. 
 
 Use of Colour Association. — We make use of colour 
 associations to help the children to remember such sounds 
 as ee, ow and oo. We attack the long sounds in this way. 
 It seems reasonable that if one e makes the short sound e, 
 two should make the long sound ee. In bringing this sound 
 to the notice of the children, we tell them that it comes into 
 the name of one of the colours, then we name the colours of 
 the chalks in the box till a quick ear catches the ee in green. 
 after which ee and ea are always written in green chalk. In 
 the same way we use brown for ow and ou, and blue for oo. 
 The actual word blue we fortunately never seem to want at 
 this early stage. 
 
 Writing to go Hand in Hand with Reading.— It is so 
 well known now that children learn through action that it 
 is perhaps unnecessary to mention that writing should go 
 hand in hand with reading. The writing is to have no pre- 
 tension to elegance, but is to be a childish reproduction of 
 the letter or word put before the class. As a rule, children 
 express a desire to write, before they wish to read. The action
 
 READING AND WRITING 
 
 i8i 
 
 Hieroglyphics for English Children. 
 f 
 
 a=n 
 
 apple's letter = (X\ 
 
 — »» *• 
 
 =• a 
 
 = brush's letter =b or u 
 
 O = curl's letter = C 
 
 = duck's letter = CL 
 
 e = 
 
 ~ £gg*s letter = 6 
 
 (Humply Dumpty broken) 
 
 = feather's letter 
 
 = f> 
 
 = flower's letter = t 
 
 glasses' letter = 
 
 •• " =8 
 
 = house's le 
 
 ttcr = K 
 
 = Jcey's letter = K 
 [C^ = ]eg's letter = L 
 
 o= 
 
 orange's letter =0 
 
 = pipe's letter = D 
 
 = rhubarb's letter =T 
 
 = snake's letter = S 
 
 K 
 
 ^ ~ tap's letter = U 
 
 = vase's letter = V 
 
 \A/ = wave's letter =W 
 \i'^\^ = worm's letter =W
 
 i82 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 naturally appeals to them, and we usually begin by teaching 
 our little ones the initials of their own names. Suppose we 
 have a Fred and a Fanny in the class, they are told that they 
 must share the flower's letter, or the feather's, as the case 
 may be. The little picture is then made for them in coloured 
 chalk, the letter is traced round it in white, and the children 
 at once reproduce both. After their own initials come others 
 which the children suggest, e.g., for father and mother, for 
 their pets at home or at school, or for any object in which 
 they are specially interested. 
 
 Necessity for Revision. — ^These sounds must not be pre- 
 sented too quickly, there must be abundant revision, and this 
 must be made interesting, and not a mere drill. One day 
 we may make the letters for the toys in the toyshop, ^oll, 
 soldiers, ba.\\, hoop, etc. Another day we may take all the 
 shops we know, baker, grocer, i^raper, etc., and we can follow 
 this by the things sold. Another day we can choose animals, 
 or colours, or flowers. The choice is unlimited, for as we 
 are deaHng only with the initial letter, elephant is no more 
 difficult than cat and dog. 
 
 One of our devices is to put upon the blackboard several 
 examples of the letters known, and to tell the simplest of 
 narratives, getting the children to point out the letters as 
 wanted. For example, at harvest festival time the letters 
 w, a, c, t, g, e, p, h were put up and repeated several times. 
 The " story " was that of a man, witli a house and garden in 
 the country, loading his cart to come to town. The children 
 find the letters for man, house, and cart, then for all the things 
 in the cart ; he drops an apple, and breaks an egg, and finally 
 starts. He can have all manner of adventures after the 
 fashion of the old " I'amily Coach." Children in large classes 
 cannot all be running to the blackboard, only a few would get 
 the chance ; but by use of the hektograph they can be supplied 
 with the letters, or they can copy them quickly from the 
 blackboard. Then they can put a red mark under each 
 letter as it is wanted. As, however, children are no more 
 fond of owning themselves in the wrong than we are, it is 
 well to add as each letter is pointed out : " Now, we'll all 
 make another." In a large class, too, the children can have 
 letters tied round their necks, and jump up and turn round 
 as in the " Family Coach " game. 
 
 It is evident that this and similar methods of revision can 
 be just as easily applied to whole words as to single sounds.
 
 READING AND WRITING 183 
 
 Cliildren who are properly provided with real stories, quite 
 understand the purpose of this kind of narrative, which they 
 can easily help to construct. 
 
 Ear Practice. — While the children are learning the sounds 
 and their signs, we make use of a so-called " guessing game," 
 which gives practice in putting sounds together to make 
 words, a power which will soon be wanted, and which to an 
 occasional child is much more difficult than finding initial 
 and closing letters. The other children sometimes cry : 
 " Why, she's saying the word all the time," but " she " may 
 not hear it. 
 
 The narrator begins for example : " Once there was a 
 md-n," and pauses while the children shout " man " — 
 " and he had a d-o-g," and so on. For variety, she may take 
 a picture, and without showing it she says ; " In this picture 
 I see the sky and a very tall t-r-ee, and a httle white h-ou-se, 
 etc., or she may point to things in the room with, " I can see 
 Tommy's f-ee-i and Helen's fr-o ck and Jack's h-a-n-d, etc. 
 
 The teacher is, of course, not limited to the signs the children 
 have already learned, as this work is intended to appeal only 
 to the ear. 
 
 In order to find out how each child learns, and so to give 
 each a fair chance, large classes should be early divided and 
 taught in sections. Special divisions can then be made of 
 those who learn most quickly by one method or another. 
 Instead of wasting time, this will save time. If in a large 
 class there are certain children who put sounds together very 
 quickly, it is clearly a waste of time for them to look on, 
 while extra practice of this kind is given to children who, on 
 the other hand, may be quicker at recognizing words as 
 wholes. They would be better employed in reading silently, 
 and so familiarizing themselves with the general appearance 
 of words which they can find out for themselves. Later, 
 again, large classes should be frequently taught in sections, 
 because some children are certain to learn much more quickly 
 than others. It is better, at any stage, that quick children 
 should be set to draw pictures, and to write below, letters, 
 names, etc., than that they should be bored and stupefied 
 with want of occupation, while tlie slower children are taught. 
 Also, the slower children will get more attention. At the 
 same time, the last thing any one wants to do is to discourage 
 the slow, nor is it desirable to put conceit into the heads of 
 the others. In many elementary schools the quick children
 
 i84 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 are brought far too much to the front, and there is too much 
 of the " clever Httle boy " atmosphere. Children can be 
 told that all they have to do is to try, and all effort should be 
 recognized. But quick learning or slow learning depends 
 upon " how your head is made," and some are quick at one 
 thing, some at another. 
 
 As soon as the children have grasped the most necessary 
 sounds, we begin to deal with words. Again, nothing need 
 be isolated and meaningless — we need never deal with " mere " 
 words. 
 
 For example, the children will be pleased to draw a rough 
 oblong to represent a toyshop window, and to put into the 
 window the toy, e.g., a doll, a dog, a cat, a hall. The names 
 can be written either on or below the pictures, and adjectives 
 and prepositions can be introduced if the children write such 
 phrases as " a big doll with a hat, a soft white dog, a red 
 ball," etc. 
 
 In a rigidly phonic system the word hall would be excluded, 
 but common sense sees no sufficient reason to include bat 
 and exclude ball. 
 
 Another day, if there is an Arthur in the class, so that the 
 ar is familiar, the oblong represents a farm-yard, within 
 which we draw all the animals, pig, dog, cat, hen, cow, sheep, 
 goat and horse, making a big ham on one side. 
 
 Reading Material. — For a long time we keep to what is 
 commonly known as blackboard reading, and this for two 
 reasons, both of which are important. In the first place, the 
 ordinary beginner's reading book is a thing to be avoided. 
 It is a thing of shreds and patches, at worst a collection of 
 inane and disjointed phrases, and at best it is seldom worth 
 the attention of an intelligent child. 
 
 In the second place, the longer we can preserve the children 
 from near-sighted work, the better for their eyesight. While 
 the reading lesson is on the blackboard, there is none of the 
 wear and tear of " keeping the place." The teacher's pointer 
 relieves the children of this burden, and there is no interference 
 with the work of the class when any child instinctively relieves 
 eye strain, and nerve strain generally, by looking away for a 
 few seconds. 
 
 Before long the teacher will find herself in a position to 
 write up short sentences from a story in which the children 
 are interested, especially if she feels herself free to use irregular 
 words, treating them as wholes. Such words are underlined.
 
 READING AND WRITING 185 
 
 and are understood to be the teacher's words, thougli the 
 children may soon pick them up, and they are triumphant 
 when the underhning is no longer necessary. 
 
 The examples given below have actually been used with 
 children. There is nothing remarkable about them, but they 
 show how, from a very early stage, the reading matter may be 
 connected with real stories in which the children are already 
 interested. 
 
 The blackboard reading ought to have pictures as well as 
 the reading book, and our blackboard is enlivened by making 
 ee, 00 and ow in green, blue and brown. Silent letters are 
 lightly crossed out, and diphthongs are linked together. 
 
 In the first example, there are no capital letters except 
 for the name of the little Eskimo girl. In the second the 
 sentences begin with capitals, and the word made is told 
 because the children have not yet learned the long vowels. 
 It would be cruel to omit interesting animals because their 
 names are hard, and the teacher would put up any that the 
 children might demand. 
 
 Blackboard Reading Lessons 1 
 
 Agoonack 
 
 she. had a soft hood and soft boots. 
 
 she had seal skin boots. 
 
 seal skin is brozcn, so she had broze'n 
 
 boots. 
 our boots are brozcn too. 
 
 The first Noah's ar\i 
 
 Franz made a Noah's ^rk for his Uttle 
 sister lAsheth. 
 
 ^ It is not possible to represent in typography and in black and 
 white the necessary distinctions which the teacher will make upon the 
 blackboard to demonstrate this system. As remarked above, the 
 double vowel sounds ee, oo, and ow will be written in green, blue, and 
 bro^vn respectively ; diphthongs (indicated here by italics) will be 
 
 linked together with a " tie mark," as ee or th ; silent letters, such as 
 
 the k in knife will be lightly crossed through; and "irregular" words 
 will be underlined.
 
 i86 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 He made it of wood. 
 
 He cut the wood With a saw. 
 
 He put on a roof to k^t'p otii the rain. 
 
 When the ark was made, he made the 
 
 animals. 
 'Part of the wood was soft. 
 He made the animals of the soft wood. 
 But he cut them with his knife. 
 
 He made coz£^s and shd^^p, dogs and 
 cats, and elephants and tigers and lots 
 of animals. 
 
 Water Babies 
 
 Poor Tom was a sw^^p. 
 
 He had to go up the dark, dark chim-neys. 
 
 He did not like the dark. 
 
 The hard bricks hurt his f^^t, and his 
 
 kn^'^s. 
 A groom came one day. 
 He ze^as so cl^^n and sm^^t. 
 He had top boots on. 
 He said, We n^^^d a sw^^p. 
 Tom said, I am a sw^^p, I will tell 
 
 my master Grimes. 
 
 Tom had iar to go. 
 
 He had to start i£'hen it was dark. 
 
 His master Grimes rode on a donkey.
 
 READING AND WRITING 187 
 
 Tom did not ride, he went on his ieet, 
 and he had to take the bag too. 
 
 Thr^e black m^rks on the table. 
 
 Odin made Loki pay for the pies. 
 Loki took thr^^ hhick stones. 
 He put the black stones on the table. 
 The black stones made thre^ black marks 
 
 on the table. 
 The farmer's wife had to rub very hard- 
 She did rub and scrub, but she never did 
 
 rub out the black marks. 
 And a good thing tha.t was too. 
 For nozc^ she never z£^ant-ed for any-thing. 
 
 For intelligent reading the children should, as a rule, have 
 time given them to look quietly at what is on the blackboard, 
 and if they cannot tell the subject for themselves they should 
 be helped, with the title or with some other key word. But 
 the lessons should not always follow one plan. To get repeti- 
 tion without dulness, one child may try how far he can go 
 without help, another if he can read the whole. In a large 
 class a row of children may try instead. Simultaneous reading 
 is most objectionable, but it may be quite necessary to give 
 a large class of children something to do. It need never, 
 however, be simultaneous shouting, and it should not be the 
 rule, but the exception. The lesson should never be read back- 
 wards, A better way of ensuring knowledge of words is 
 "the jumping story," wliere a sentence is picked out from 
 different lines by the teacher's pointer. From lines i, 3, 7, 
 9, 4, 10, 2, comes the sentence, " Franz cut the cows out of 
 wood." 
 
 The Reading Book. — ^The reading book must, of course, 
 be good print, and it must be interesting. It ought to have 
 pictures and not too many of these, and it ought to be a step 
 towards good literature. The general information reading 
 book is happily out of date.
 
 1 88 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 Longmans' Infant Fairy Readers are excellent. The 
 stories are taken from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book, and 
 have the original illustrations. But they are hardly easy 
 enough to attack at once — a bridge of some kind is necessary. 
 For this purpose we have tried all manner of books, new and 
 old, and it must be confessed that the one we find most success- 
 ful is quite old-fashioned and hopelessly unscientific. It is 
 a little book published by George Bell & Sons called Tot 
 and the Cat. We only read two or three of the stories, which 
 are of the simplest, but our children always enjoy them. We 
 do sometimes use Miss Dale's blue primer for a short time. 
 In this most ingenious series, however, the matter is governed 
 by the sound about to be taught, and consequently there 
 is no real story. 
 
 Again, in Miss Dale's books, which are as rigidly phonic 
 as is possible in our language, so many of our commonest 
 words have to be excluded that a child has no chance with 
 any ordinary story book, and that is discouraging. 
 
 We generally read Mrs. Craik's So-fat and Mew-mew, but 
 sometimes we leave that, which is also extremely simple, 
 for the children's silent reading. 
 
 Silent Reading. — This silent reading ought to be begun 
 by degrees. We constantly read a paragraph " to ourselves 
 first," then one child can read it aloud with tolerable fluency 
 and some expression. Sometimes the children read a para- 
 graph in silence, and tell in their own words what they have 
 read. When children can read fluently, abundant time should 
 be given for quiet reading, and this should not always be 
 followed by giving an oral resume. 
 
 Reading with Expression. — For expressive reading, 
 there is nothing like " conversations," and we sometimes 
 block out the " he saids," which interrupt. " Pattern 
 reading " is an unfortunate expression, and if it means that 
 the children are to echo what the teacher does, it is altogether 
 bad. But the teacher ought to take her turn, and to let the 
 children hear what good reading is. Most children have 
 some power of acting, and can enter into the feehngs of the 
 hero or heroine, and can read " in a cross voice," or " as if 
 he was going to cry," as required. But others need help. 
 We sometimes spend a little time over selected passages, 
 picking out " words you must say loud," noticing that our 
 voices usually go up at the end of a question or trying, one
 
 READING AND WRITING 189 
 
 after another, to make pathetic passages sound so lamentable 
 that finally we all have to laugh. 
 
 " It's gettin' more like a story," said a bright boy, but 
 slow reader, in the days when we thought it our duty as 
 teachers " not to tell anything the child can find out." It 
 is by such unconscious rebukes that the children show us our 
 mistakes. The story must be a story from the beginning. 
 The teacher must read a passage now and then if interest 
 seems to flag, stopping here and there with a " Now, Jack, 
 you be the ogre, and let us hear what he said this time. We'll 
 see if you can speak in a big ogre's voice, and make us all 
 shiver." Later, the teacher must not dominate too much, 
 there may be several opinions as to how a passage ought to 
 be rendered. 
 
 WRITING, SPELLING AND DICTATION. 
 
 As a rule far too much time and attention are still given 
 to tJie mechanical part of learning; to write, to the formation 
 of the letters and to uniformity of handwriting. 
 
 There are three essentials in good writing. First, Legibility, 
 for that means consideration for other people ; secondly. 
 Rapidity, for we live in a busy age ; and thirdly. Character, 
 a quality which is lost when such stress is laid upon uniformity. 
 
 If writing is kept in proper relation to reading, the children 
 will learn with the minimum of boredom. Anything like 
 pot-hooks, anything indeed like the old-fashioned copy book, 
 is effectually kept out, if we are agreed that children should 
 derive the letters from pictures, and that once these are learnt, 
 they should only write words and sentences which interest. 
 
 In the London County Council Gazette for August 29, 1910, the 
 attention of teachers and managers was drawn to the evil effects 
 of the ordinary copy-book writing for children under seven. It 
 was pointed out that the eyes of young children are so con- 
 structed that " to see any object nearer than a yard from the 
 eye involves much more strain than in an adult," and that 
 copy book writing between lines or on squared paper " leads 
 to fatigue, discomfort and even cramp, while the similar effort 
 involved in converging the eyes tend to produce further 
 defects." There is the further difficulty that children under 
 seven ought not to be expected to have control over the small 
 muscles of the hand, and therefore ought not to be forced to 
 hold the pen in the strained manner usually prescribed.
 
 igo EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 As no adult, except a writing-master, ever holds his or her 
 pen in this strained manner, it is hard to see why children 
 should ever have it forced upon them. 
 
 It would simplify the situation to give up talking about 
 copy-books and to use merely the term, writing book. In 
 these books, our beginners make original pictures, with 
 the names written on and below them, and later with short 
 sentences written below or on the opposite page. Such state- 
 ments should be legible to the little writers themselves, so 
 that long letters must be long, and short ones short, and it 
 is also well to use one guide line. We need not worry the 
 cliildren to keep exactly on the line, but it will prevent such 
 straggling as makes the writing illegible. At first the letters 
 should not be joined, but wide spaces should be left between 
 the words. The simplest form of letter is best, and the reading 
 matter should be put on the blackboard in the form in which 
 the children are to reproduce it. The difference between 
 writing and printing letters is a mere matter of joining, as 
 any one may see who will print such a word as past and then 
 join the letters. 
 
 Whether the writing should be upright or not is a matter 
 of little importance, but children understand " straight up 
 and down " more easily than a certain amount of slope. 
 
 SPELLING AND DICTATION. 
 
 As " pot-hooks and hangers " are things of the past, so are 
 " spellings." Children write about what interests them, and 
 between this and their reading, they learn to spell. While 
 spelling is considered of so much importance, the teacher 
 must give it her serious attention. But she must on no 
 account make it a serious matter to her children, and she 
 must have endless patience with everything but carelessness. 
 It is very easy, too, to mistake nervousness for carelessness, 
 as both nervous and careless children have the same ciy of, 
 " Oh, I've made a mistake ! " the nervous from excess of zeal 
 and the careless from excess of haste. 
 
 There is a somewhat extraordinary idea in some schools, 
 that because children ought to be allowed to express them- 
 selves, they should therefore do written composition at an 
 early age. This, except for the talented few, is a fatal mistake. 
 
 If possible, children should never see, still less write, a mis- 
 spelt word, so that as a class exercise there should be no
 
 READING AND WRITING 191 
 
 written composition under nine or ten years old, and not 
 much then. But there must be gradual preparation for this. 
 So long as children have to think of the shape of the letters, 
 and of the spelling of most of the words, abundant help must 
 be given. It is no crime to forget how a word is spelt ; whether, 
 e.g., the word house belongs to the " cow " family or to the 
 " mouse " connexion. The child who wrote " good enough " 
 as " good an uf " was within her rights. It is the words that 
 are to be laughed at, not the child. At first hard words are 
 avoided, or told and repeated. Later, either in reading or 
 writing time, the words must be grouped, and associated by 
 various devices. Our children like making a house into which 
 they put all the words of one kind, and nonsense sentences 
 combining these are also useful. We try to connect, for ex- 
 ample, here, there and where, as referring to place, and they 
 and their, so as to avoid trouble with their and there. Long 
 ago we did use to indulge in such sentences as, "The maid 
 made the pudding," but this only produces the confusion it 
 is intended to avoid. 
 
 Transcription is of no use as regards spelling. Children 
 copy quite correctly and placidly as if they were executing a 
 free-hand drawing, without the slightest idea of what they 
 are writing. We do find it useful to let them write out nursery 
 rhymes, or any verses they know well, with all the hard words 
 put up on the blackboard in any order. The blackboard is 
 then the dictionary, where they may find any particular word 
 they require, but it must first be found. Before the children 
 are ready for this, they should have done a good deal of work 
 with the teacher. It is difficult to correct bad spelling, so 
 the business of a teacher is to prevent it. Our usual pro- 
 cedure is to begin by letting the children think out how to 
 spell regular words, which the teacher then puts on the board 
 for them. Very soon they require no help with common 
 words. It is in these writing lessons that the names of the 
 letters are by degrees substituted for the phonic sound, and 
 that the children learn to spell. 
 
 Even young children are interested to know that the names 
 Philip and Phyllis come from Greece, the land of Perseus, 
 and that is why they do not begin as Frank does. They like 
 to hear that English people used to sound the gh in fight, 
 laugh, brought, etc., and that these letters arc still pronounced 
 by the country folk of the south of Scotland, where the lan- 
 guage has changed less, and by the Germans, who are really
 
 192 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 our cousins. The connexion in sound between i and y comes 
 under notice very soon, and children of seven to eight can be 
 shown that y changes to i when other letters are added, e.g., 
 they and their, or with the plural of hahy, fairy and lady, 
 that we use the older spelling of hahie, jairie and ladie for the 
 plural. Children love reasons. A little discussion of irregu- 
 larities serves to focus attention on the difficulty in question, 
 and so to conquer it. Appeal should be made to many modes 
 of learning. Irregularities should appear on the blackboard 
 in coloured chalk : our children like to have them in red as a 
 danger signal. Children should write hard words in the air 
 as well as repeat the letters aloud, and finally they should be 
 free to ask that the word should be written up again if they 
 have forgotten it. 
 
 From so-called spelling reform long may we be preserved, 
 but may we also, remembering our own youth, preserve the 
 children from trouble by intelligent teaching of spelling in 
 both reading and writing lessons. 
 
 Dictation Properly So-called. — Dictation proper has 
 no place in the Infant School, and generally gets altogether 
 too much attention in the middle school. If it were not begun 
 so early, and if much less were done, there would be less 
 need for it, as the children would be guarded from writing, 
 that is, from teaching themselves mis-spellings and other bad 
 habits. 
 
 Dictation ought to be more than a mere exercise to test 
 spelling. It ought to prepare for two things : [a) for the 
 intelligent expression in writing of one's own thought, and 
 [b) for the intelligent taking of notes. An educated adult 
 notes down briefly the gist of a lecturer's thought, and any 
 statistics, etc., difficult to remember. The uneducated note- 
 taker tries to get down all the lecturer says, with the result 
 that no thought is committed to paper, merely unintelligible 
 scraps. 
 
 In dictation lessons, attention should be concentrated on 
 the thought to be expressed, and this is impossible until 
 children can write with ease. They cannot at one moment 
 hold within " the focus of consciousness " the formation of 
 letters, the spacing of words, the use of capitals and the spelling 
 of every other word. Everything, however, comes by degrees, 
 and from one point of view every writing lesson should be 
 a dictation lesson. While the children are being helped to 
 write their own little statements, nursery rhymes and other
 
 READING AND WRITING 193 
 
 familiar verses, or popular sayings and rhymes about weather, 
 months and seasons, they are learning the use of capitals, of 
 full stops, commas, question marks, and " crying out marks." 
 
 To take an example, if we get stormy weather late in 
 February, the children like to repeat : " March comes in 
 hke a hon and goes out like a lamb." Our children of seven 
 and a half require practically no help in writing this, only a 
 question or two by way of reminder, e.g., " Tell me the first 
 thing j^ou are going to write about March. What have you 
 to remember about the namics of months ? Does every one 
 remember how to spell come ? " When the half is safely 
 written comes, " What comes next ? Who knows which 
 word has a silent letter ? Say over the words. Now write." 
 If the httle help of dividing the piece, and making the children 
 repeat what they are going to write, is not given, half the 
 class at that age may transpose hon and lamb. 
 
 With children still younger, the lesson is quite different, 
 e.g., "If we are going to write about March, we must know 
 how to spell it. Who has a birthday in March ? Can you 
 write it ? Sound it first, and I will write it up for you. What 
 two letters make the sound ar and ch ? Big people always 
 write the names of the months with a capital letter hke this. 
 Make it in the air. Now all write March on your practice 
 papers. ' March comes in like a lion.' Some one spell lion 
 just as it sounds, in the two pieces li-on. Now all write that on 
 your papers. ' Comes ' is a hard word ; here it is ; how ought 
 we to sound it ? Yes, like combs and brushes ! Write it 
 in the air. Look ! I am making the e red, so that you won't 
 leave it out. Look at it again. Can you see it when you 
 shut your eyes ? Can you write it if I rub it out ? Be quite 
 sure. Now say all together, ' March comes in like a lion.' 
 Here is the word hke — I will leave it up on the board for you. 
 Now write these words on practice paper, and I shall write 
 it on the board. Has any one made a mistake — no ? then 
 put it into your books tidily, make a neat httle comma 
 stop, and we will finish it to-morrow." 
 
 Next day the children will read what they have written, 
 will shut their e3'es and spell the words, and then finish the 
 saying. Little has been done, but something has been gained; 
 and let us hope no mis-spelling has been allowed to make a 
 mental picture difficult to obliterate. 
 
 As the children grow older, the amount to be written, the 
 difficulties to be tackled, must be properly graded. Always, 
 
 o
 
 194 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 the children should know at least the general drift of the 
 subject about which they are writing, and should be made 
 responsible for keeping in mind some intelligent sentence or 
 phrase. At first this should be repeated immediately before 
 writing. The unintelligent parrot cry of, " What comes 
 after March ? what comes after winds ? " etc., of word-at-a- 
 time dictation, should never even make its appearance in a 
 well-conducted classroom. 
 
 With older children, who no longer write for the pleasure 
 of writing, as children do to whom it is a newly acquired power, 
 dictation requires a motive. All children enjoy making 
 collections, and the dictation book may show a variety. 
 Different quotations dealing with one subject, a collection of 
 folklore rhymes, of proverbs from different countries, good 
 passages of poetry worth keeping and worth learning — all 
 these will serve the important purpose of enabling children 
 to write their own language with ease, quite as well as odd 
 sentences from a reading book, while at the same time they 
 have a value in themselves. 
 
 To sum up, intelhgent understanding is the root of every- 
 thing, and interest is the growing point. It is never diffi- 
 culty but boredom that saps the energy of a child. 
 
 E. R. Murray. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 How to Teach Reading. G. Stanley Hall, Ph.D. (D. C. Heath & Co.) 
 The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. Edmund Huey, A.M., 
 
 Ph.D. (The Macmillan Co.) 
 Genetic Psychology. C. H. Judd, Ph.D. (Appleton & Co.) 
 
 A SUGGESTED SERIES OF READING BOOKS 
 
 The Three Little Pigs. Longmans' New Fairy Tale Readers for In- 
 fants. 
 Jack and the Beanstalk. ) ^ , , _ . _ , 
 
 Snowdrop ) Longman s Infant Fairy Readers. 
 
 So-fat and Mew Mew at Home. ") _ -^.v j t- 
 
 So-fat and Mew Mew away from Home. ) <^"™t" ^.nd l<arran. 
 Little Red Riding Hood, etc. \ Longmans' Supplementary Readers, for 
 Cinderella, etc. ) Standard I. 
 
 Swiss Family Robinson. Adapted by Edith Robarts (Cassell & Co.) 
 Robinson Crusoe. ) *^ -^ ^ ' 
 
 Hearts of Oak Books. Parts II and III. (Heath & Co.) 
 Legends of Greece and Rome. (liarrap & Co.) 
 The Junior Temple Reader. (Horace Marshall & Son.)
 
 SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE BASIS OF 
 HISTORY TEACHING 
 
 Before considering early methods of teaching history, we 
 must know what we mean by the term "history"; and it then 
 remains for us to decide whether any activities in this direc- 
 tion are advisable, as well as possible, for young children. Such 
 activities will not be advisable unless they are just those 
 which in themselves best serve towards development at this 
 stage. If only our knowledge of young children were ade- 
 quate, the question should ideally be — not, " How are we to 
 teach this or that subject ? " but — " What activities best 
 further wholesome development ? " We could then satisfy 
 ourselves, as a later and less important matter, as to how 
 these experiences and activities bear upon any future specitic 
 study. For the end of the whole process is life, not " sub- 
 jects." 
 
 Yet our knowledge of the psychology of children is in its 
 early stages, and we are not in a position to make a clean s\\ eep 
 of all the old landmarks. 
 
 Originally an investigation of any kind, a " record of facts 
 on which to base principles," the term history was restricted 
 to mean a record of the past of mankind " as organized into 
 communities," and thence it has been defined as "the bio- 
 graphy of political societies." Therefore, until lately, when 
 a deeper conception of the substance and function of history 
 has arisen, the subject matter of most histories has been the 
 story of pohtical institutions, governments, and dynasties. 
 If the treatment of men as grouped into governments were 
 the characteristic mark of history, then indeed the subject 
 would be entirely removed from the understanding and 
 interest of children of any age. 
 
 Yet even the "biography of pohtical societies" involves 
 more than may appear at first ; for political societies have 
 their origin in the needs and aspirations of the men and women 
 
 195
 
 196 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 who compose them, and for whom they exist. They remain 
 vital and interesting only so long as their connexion with such 
 needs and aspirations is clearly felt. So that, taking even 
 this restricted meaning of history, the foundation of any 
 fruitful study of pohtical societies would he in a vivid realiza- 
 tion of the hfe and needs out of which they arose, and of their 
 present relation to such life. Without this, any study of 
 them could only result in mere pedantry. 
 
 But the province of history is otherwise defined. Professor 
 Withers gives as its subject and aim : " An explanation of 
 the essential facts and forces in the condition of mankind, as 
 it now is, and has been in the past : an explanation which 
 should serve to put man into intelligent relation with the 
 community of which he is a member; " such" intelUgent rela- 
 tion " involving ultimately, we assume, ethical standards 
 and moral conduct. It is in some such explanation and aim 
 as this that we must look for the key to any possible work 
 in the direction of history with young children. 
 
 The phrase, " essential facts and forces," gives very wide 
 scope to the subject ; such facts and forces are numerous, 
 varied, and complex. They include matters of the inward 
 and outward life of man ; matters that are, each of them, the 
 subject of separate and specific study, such as geography, 
 economics, sociology, physiology, psychology. But some of 
 the most fundamental and insistent of the facts and forces, 
 the permanent needs which give rise to effort, are within the 
 experience of children, and are interesting to them. 
 
 It may, at first sight, seem absurd to assert that the play 
 of little children can have anything to do with history. Yet 
 all social play and games, so far as they are alive with the 
 children's imaginative and emotional activity, games about 
 home, about father and mother's work, about a train jour- 
 ney, the postman, the milkman, shop-keeping, the policeman 
 or the farmer, the blacksmith — such games may, and should, 
 vitalize the sense of social relationship, and, guided by the 
 teacher, lead naturally to a deeper understanding and realiz- 
 ation of some of the " facts and forces " and inter-con- 
 nexions of our life to-day. 
 
 Of course it is lamentably possible to impose operations 
 on children from without, under the title of games ; and to 
 drown, in a gulf of boredom, all enthusiasm for what 
 they represent. On the other hand, it is possible for a teacher 
 whose heart and mind are ahve to the relationships involved,
 
 THE BASIS OF HISTORY TEACHING 197 
 
 and to the significance of such small beginnings, to encourage 
 interest, to stimulate curiosity, observation and sympathy, 
 by means of questions and suggestions ; and also to arouse 
 the sense of mutual dependence and mutual service, in even 
 the simplest of such games. The children and teacher would 
 together construct them out of the actual experience and 
 observation of the class, extended by anything suitable which 
 the teacher can contribute. 
 
 This is at any rate one way in which the children's interest 
 in those activities of others that have reference to themselves 
 may well be vivified and expressed ; and tins gradual widening 
 out of interest, from the personal centre to more distant 
 relationships, may reasonably be said to be a good basis for the 
 study of history in tlie sense defined by Professor Withers. 
 
 When sufficient dexterity allows, rough models, made and 
 equipped by the children, may greatly assist in this imagina- 
 tive play, and further widen the sense of " give and take " 
 among workers. A miniature house can be made and fur- 
 nished ; also models of places and objects of greatest interest 
 to the children in their immediate neiglibourhood, such as the 
 fire station, the railway station, a shop, or a farmyard and 
 blacksmith's shop. 
 
 The models chosen would depend entirely on the experi- 
 ences of the children, and probably no two classes would have 
 just the same. At this stage outward resemblance is enough ; 
 until children begin to be more keen to know " how things 
 work," such objects are merely tools for the imagination. 
 There should be no attempt to make them very neat or care- 
 fully finished, nor need there be great exactness about the 
 proportional size of the objects. The kind of model that 
 pleases the uninitiated visitor may, educationally sf)eaking, 
 merely cumber the ground. The greater the resourcefulness 
 the children show in adapting any material they possess for 
 their purpose the better, however odd the appearance of the 
 result. And while it is possible to make the work of little 
 children too large, the commoner fault still is to make it too 
 small. It is as well to avoid laying disproportionate stress 
 on the feminine element, and to dismiss the term " doll's 
 house " ; for the word " doll " still refers, in the minds of many 
 children, to a petticoated being, in whom a man child has no 
 part or lot. 
 
 Such activities may increase dexterity, and evoke inventive- 
 ness : they should necessitate more observation of the appear-
 
 igS EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 ance and uses of things, and of the function of workers in and 
 around the home, and thus should have a direct bearing on 
 an understanding of the community. Their effectiveness in 
 the direction of history is to be judged by the amount and 
 quahty of imaginative activity and interested observation 
 and inquiry to which they give rise ; and by the degree in 
 wliich they in that way deepen and widen the sense of social 
 relationship and interdependence. 
 
 This encouragement of the children's imaginative activity, 
 in conne.xion with their immediate surroundings, should be 
 supplemented by the wonder-world of legend, fairy tale and 
 folklore, which constitute man's earliest explanation of himself 
 and his surroundings, and in which some teachers have there- 
 fore seen the only true starting-point of history teaching. 
 The sense of a world of mystery, of endless possibilities, of 
 marvellous things round us, but hidden from our eyes, of 
 great reward for great endeavour; these, and many other 
 matters of human experience, are depicted in such stories, 
 in just the concrete form and with just those glowing colours 
 which appeal to the children and give fitting shape to their 
 vague hopes and intuitions. Too exclusive employment of 
 the imagination on actual experience might tend to develop 
 the type of mind which leaves no room in its philosophy for 
 factors it cannot fully understand and measure. Such an 
 attitude would belittle history ; great movements have often 
 been started by great personalities who cannot be explained 
 on such terms ; and the sense of the possibility of daring and 
 wonderful personal achievement is one of the many gains to 
 be derived from myths and legends. 
 
 After the supremely imaginative stage is passed, boys and 
 girls inquire more frequently, " Is it true ? " They are 
 keen about the "how and why" of things round them in 
 the actual world, which teems for them with things to be 
 " found out." " The world is so full of a number of things." 
 In this transition stage those lei^ends and stories on the 
 borderline between myth and history — such as the tales of 
 Greek heroes and the story of Hiawatha — are apt to please 
 them most. 
 
 At this stage, when children are no longer content with toys 
 as mere resemblances, and begin to inquiie more persistently 
 " how they work," there are difficulties in continuing to base 
 their practical activities exclusively on their actual sur- 
 roundings. The explanation of to-day's social and industrial
 
 THE BASIS OF HISTORY TEACHING 199 
 
 processes is a hopelessly complex matter. If, for instance, the 
 children try to build a miniature house, with bricks and mor- 
 tar, after watching the building of one in the neighbourhood, 
 they must use prepared material, ready-made bricks, prepared 
 wood ; and it is impossible for them to trace very far back the 
 ramifications and relationships of our complicated industries 
 The whole thing is too complex. This is no argument against 
 basing occupations on their immediate surroundings — ex- 
 plaining through their activities, to some extent, the how and 
 the why of processes, and the part contributed by different 
 workers ; but it suggests to us the wisdom of beginning, as 
 well, to build up from simpler times and conditions. For 
 though these may be remote in time, they are in many ways 
 nearer to the understanding of the children. But whether 
 the children are occupied with a cave man or with the police- 
 man round the corner, the result of their activity should be 
 to make life to-day a httle more interesting and intelligible. 
 
 If, then, it is advisable to begin in both ways, we could start 
 at the one end with a somewhat continuous and progressive 
 course of lessons, showing how men in early times provided 
 themselves with necessities ; and at the other with activities 
 and stories connected directly with to-day. 
 
 The first courses would contain much doing and little 
 talking — on the part of the teacher ; such talking taking the 
 form perhaps of a story to supply connexion and personal 
 .interest, and of questions and suggestions that may arouse 
 the children's thought and inventiveness. Ideas as to the 
 best ways of doing things would be elicited as far as possible 
 from the children, who may, with unprepared material when 
 this can be found, make models of such things as dwellings, 
 primitive weapons, tools, and utensils, e.g., baskets, pottery, 
 and specimens of rough spinning and weaving. In such a 
 course of lessons, by story, occupation, discussion and dra- 
 matic play, the need for combining for hunting and defence, 
 and for the production of necessaries, can be brought out ; and 
 also even the need for law. 
 
 It would be possible to take different types of " early man." 
 making the kind of home or shelter the central idea ; to begin 
 with those who used ready-made shelter — trees, caves, pits, 
 etc., and ate ready made food ; and then to take lake dwel- 
 lers, makers of huts of different kinds, tent men, and finally 
 more settled people. It might also be possible to make the 
 children see something of the importance of the domestication
 
 200 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 of animals and of the introduction of agriculture. It would 
 be necessary to avoid carefully the idea of any rigid sequence 
 in the order of time : almost all these types of primitive people 
 are represented in the world to day. 
 
 There is now quite a store of ingenious books, some of them 
 compiled with strict attention to the latest research, which 
 tell the probable life of such people in the form of stories. 
 Such books are invaluable for the suggestion they offer as to 
 the method of presentment, and may otherwise be of great 
 use. But they are not meant to be the sole authority for the 
 teacher. The attempt to base a course of lessons on such 
 slender material alone can only result in wrong emphasis, and 
 in hopeless thinness. The teachers will inevitably rush in 
 with their positive statements where the antiquaries fear 
 to tread. Before beginning such a course, or any part of it, 
 some time should be given to the study of what is actually 
 known by antiquaries and ethnologists about primitive peoples 
 of long ago and to-day. Weapons, relics, utensils, etc., should 
 be seen in museums. If nothing farther can be done, there 
 are at least such possible and easy beginnings as Clodd's 
 Childhood of the World, Pjiviitive Man, and the Origin of In- 
 ventions (Contemporary Science Series). A short list of 
 books useful to teachers for this side of the work is appended. 
 
 If we would prevent this work of the children from being 
 merely hand work, we must to some extent reconstruct the 
 past for ourselves. The interest we convey is the interest we 
 feel, and interest depends partly on knowledge. Acquaint- 
 ance with the latest method, or even psychological under- 
 standing of the children, cannot make up for lack of know- 
 ledge of the subject in hand. 
 
 Some teachers will probably prefer to attempt something 
 far less ambitious ; to take, perhaps, one or more stories which 
 deal with the dawn of civilization, such as the legend of Hia- 
 watha, or the story of Jo^cph,andtowork out in connexion all 
 possible forms of primitive industries. Or again such work 
 can be centred solely round some imaginary early people of 
 our own land ; but liere again a good deal of study will be 
 needful. The course is of less importance than the way in 
 which it is worked out. 
 
 Any such work, well done, should have several results in 
 the du-ection of history. It should give a sense of contrast and 
 of great changes brought about by man's effort ; and it should 
 deepen the children's interest in their actual surroundings.
 
 THE BASIS OF HISTORY TEACHING 201 
 
 For however interested the children may be in early man, 
 the happenings and the people of to-day captivate their atten- 
 tion as their intelligence develops. Therefore it seems that 
 we miss valuable opportunities if we do not also begin at our 
 own end of the story of man, with activities, explanations and 
 tales that arise from the children's most vivid passing in- 
 terests, and from the objects and events and occupations in 
 their immediate neii^hbourhood ; or with stories suggested by 
 anniversaries of events they can understand. This kind of 
 work will depend entirely on the environment of the children, 
 and may be more or less haphazard : but, a!:^ain, it should 
 succeed in rendering more vivid and intelligent their interest 
 in the life of to-day, and should afford opportunities of con- 
 necting the present with the past. 
 
 When the children care chiefiy for true stories — by which 
 time they will possibly be able to read easily— selected tales 
 from different ages and countries, describing stirring events 
 and interesting people, and well illustrated, will be most 
 valuable. If there be books with such stories " vividly told " 
 and pictures " speakingly drawn," they will at the same time 
 delight the children, and provide those " vivid centres of 
 association," the development of which Arnold considered 
 to be the object of history teaching with young children. 
 
 Clearly the subject is immense, and the possible lines of 
 work bewilderingly manifold ; and dogmatism must be 
 avoided even if the alternative be some indefiniteness. Very 
 divergent lines of activity may have equally good results, if 
 the natural interests and powers of the children and the sub- 
 stance and aim of history in its deeper significance be kept 
 in mind. 
 
 So long as she is guided by right principles and aims, the 
 more freedom a capable teacher has to follow the paths that 
 most appeal to her, the better both for her and the children. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE ON PRIMITIVE MAN 
 
 Article on " Primitive Man " in Encyclopixdia Dritannica. 
 The Story of Primitive Man. Clodd. 
 The Childhood of the World. Clodd. (Kegan Paul.) 
 Tyloi's Anthropology. (Macmillan.) 
 
 Man before Metals. Joly. (International Scientific Scries, 5s.) 
 The Place of Industries in Elementary Education. Dopp. (University 
 of Chicago Press, 5s.)
 
 202 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 From Stone to Steel. A Handbook to Horniman's Museum. (P. S. 
 
 King & Sons, ^d.) 
 Cave-hiwting. Boyd Dawkins. (Macmillan.) 
 The Industrial and Social History Series. [The Tree Dwellers, Early 
 
 Cave Men, Later Cave Men, Tent Dwellers. Dopp. 25. td. 
 
 each.) 
 Days before History. H. R. Hall. (Harrap, 15.)
 
 SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE BASIS OF 
 GEOGRAPHY TEACHING 
 
 Geography is an aspect of life which should arise naturally 
 and almost imperceptibly out of earlier and simpler interests, 
 e.g., nature work on the one hand, and literature on the 
 other, for it is concerned with the relationship between the 
 world of animate (and later inanimate) things and the hfe of 
 man. It is very often difficult at this point to separate it 
 from certain aspects of history and nature study, nor is it 
 always wise to attempt to do so in the earlier stages. 
 
 To establish a basis on reahties it is necessary to find out 
 which aspects or relationships of hfe first awaken a child's 
 geographical sense, as something rather apart from the separ- 
 ate interests which have been referred to. This will largely 
 depend on the actual locality of a child's home. If he lives 
 in the country the first appeal may be the sky: most children 
 wonder where the sun goes at night, and this is especially the 
 case in the short winter days when they can see it both rise 
 and set ; the shadows of objects, and especially those cast by 
 themselves, are a constant interest ; probably the sundial 
 would make a more effective appeal to children's sense of 
 time, and its dependence on the sun's movements for measure- 
 ment, than does the ordinary clock. Then the night sky, 
 with the more apparent movements of the moon, and tiie 
 glowing and twinkling of the stars, arouses a sense of wonder 
 and awe, that should keep the geography sense from ever 
 becoming a matter of mere materialism and fact. That there 
 is so much more to discover than any one has yet discovered 
 is the right intellectual aspect to keep constantly before a 
 child, and in this subject many opportunities occur. The 
 friendly face of the moon brings a kind of personal relation- 
 ship to this side of the subject. " I raced the moon one night, 
 but he always won." said one child. " One of the curious 
 
 203
 
 204 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 things is that you can see the moon in half, but never the sun 
 in half," said another child. 
 
 It is a matter of the greatest astonishment to themselves 
 when children discover the moon in the sky during the day. 
 All this side of the subject, and the interest and speculation 
 it arouses, are too important to be ignored. 
 
 The shapes of clouds, too, excite that curious and constant 
 desire in children to find relationships and resemblances. To 
 see a rainbow is an event to be remembered. 
 
 Besides the sky, the country child is otten stirred by the 
 feeling, only to be described as " far-offness," which most 
 people experience in connexion with a distant landscape, 
 especially if there are hills on the horizon : even in adult life 
 one feels that there is a most desirable country in the distance 
 which one never reaches, and many children have been known 
 to construct quite a world of their own out of that possible 
 country. Robert Louis Stevenson had this sense very strongly 
 aroused by a small river, down which he sailed his paper boats, 
 and also by climbing a rather high tree, which gave him a 
 view he had not experienced before. 
 
 In the case of town children probably the idea of the train 
 or station conesponds to the " far off " feeling of the landscape 
 in quite another way. They are often taken on long or short 
 journeys, and this is of course the best possible introduction 
 to geography. A Russian lady is reported to have said to her 
 little boy, " When you wish to learn geography acquaint the 
 coachman, and he will take you wherever you desire to go." 
 This is geography in its extremest sense. They, too, have 
 the sky in a more limited degree, and much can be done by 
 shadows. To compensate for the rather " earth " side of 
 geography of the country child, the town child constantly 
 sees strange and foreign goods, fruit, pictures, furniture, 
 ornaments and sometimes people. It is not uncommon for 
 London children to see Japanese, Turks, Chinese, Hindus 
 in native dress, going about the streets. Foreign children 
 frequently come to school, especially in such districts as 
 Deptford and Whitechapel. And there is hardly a child in 
 town or country that has not a relative or acquaintance in a 
 distant land. Children of the British Isles, with its colonies 
 and dependencies, should, more than most children, have this 
 network of geographical realities. The weather is, of course, 
 of general interest, though more carefully regarded by the 
 country child, to whose welfare it matters more. The early
 
 THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHING 205 
 
 love of adventure appeals to all. Robinson Crusoe has done 
 more for the beginnings of geography than many so-called 
 geographers. 
 
 Both town and country children see the beginnings of trade 
 and commerce in the work around them ; the town child in 
 any industry that might be carried on in his neighbourhood, 
 and the country child in farming. 
 
 Up to this point we have merely gathered together those 
 aspects of a child's surroundings which form the natural basis 
 of geographical work, and considered the way in which they 
 affect his natural interests. It is evident that in doing this 
 we must deal with each school individually. Much of the 
 subject matter varies, though some background is common 
 to all, such as the sky and the weather, but in many cases the 
 choice of special conditions, and surroundings, and possibly 
 material, is dependent on the special industries of the neigh- 
 bourhood. 
 
 The systematic study of geography is best postponed to a 
 stage of mental development later than that considered in 
 this volume ; but preparatory lessons may be undertaken, 
 and are very desirable in order to foster and fomiulate to some 
 extent those interests awakened earlier, which have just been 
 considered. As the subject matter throughout the whole oi 
 the course should be preparatory to further work, it is abso- 
 lutely essential that the teacher should have an adequate 
 knowledge of the main principles of scientific geography in 
 order to make a wise selection and to present the matter in a 
 useful way. She must therefore be familiar both with the 
 elements of physical geography, and also with the way in 
 which the physical conditions influence human life. It is 
 always dangerous to select or simplify matter with any but a 
 full and certain background of knowledge. 
 
 The material may be variously regarded as : (i) general 
 observations of phenomena and forces ; 
 
 (2) that dealing with immediate surroundings and the 
 homeland generally ; 
 
 (3) that dealing with other countries. 
 
 (i) With regard to weather observations they might deal 
 with (a) the air, e.g., whether clear, misty or foggy ; 
 
 (b) the clouds, e.g., whether light and fleecy, or heavy and 
 dark ; whether over part of the sky or quite covering it ; 
 
 (c) the rain, e.g., whether light showers, steady rain, or very 
 heavy downpour ; (d) the temperature, e.g., whether very
 
 2o6 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 cold, cold, cool, warm, hot, or very hot ; (e) the wind, e.g., 
 whether calm, light wind, breeze, strong wind, storm. The 
 direction of the wind might be observed at a rather later stage, 
 when the points of the compass have been learnt. 
 
 These observations should be made regularly, at the same 
 hour each day, and recorded in some definite form ; they may 
 be better realized by means of simple drawings with the pencil, 
 or preferably the brush, representing either directly or sym- 
 bolically the weather conditions. Causes cannot be con- 
 sidered in the earliest stages, but from the very beginning, 
 wherever opportunity offers, the teacher might point out how 
 certain conditions occur along with others. Thus it might 
 be noticed that a clear sky in winter time is accompanied by 
 cold weather, but in summer time by hot weather ; in this 
 way the ground is prepared for the later teaching on radiation 
 of heat to and from the earth's surface. Similarly, the direc- 
 tion of the wind may be discovered to be connected with 
 temperature and with rainfall. The records themselves, if 
 kept continuously, will afford material for the later study of 
 causes and effects. It is not perhaps necessary for each child 
 to make the record each day ; to save time this can be done 
 by the children in turn, though some observations must be 
 made by all. 
 
 Early in school life the movements of the sun during the 
 day should be noted. The children should observe that it 
 is always in the same part of the sky at midday ; this direction 
 should be named the south. The points of the compass become 
 most real to the children if they are learnt through something 
 very real and personal, e.g., English children might associate 
 the south with the sun's home (especially in winter), the east 
 where he rises, and the west where he disappears at bedtime ; 
 the north might be the home of the white bear or any other 
 Arctic phenomena they know. Or directions might be rela- 
 tive to the sea, and be emphasized by reference to the sur- 
 rounding objects, as north, south, east or west of the school 
 or even schoolroom ; such as the sides of the room, the other 
 rooms of the school, the neighbouring roads and buildings. 
 Some might indeed be re-named for the time being, as the West 
 Street, the East Station, the North School, especially if the 
 children are making a model. Then after sufficient observa- 
 tions the children will find that the apparent movement of 
 the sun from above one building to above another is from east 
 to south before noon, and from south to west after noon.
 
 THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHING 207 
 
 From such a story as that of Columbus, or from an imaginary 
 one, they could well imagine the difficulty of a ship at sea that 
 had entirely lost its bearings, and then one might examine 
 a mariner's compass and find that it always pointed in an 
 approximately north-south direction ; they would then real- 
 ize what it meant to both seamen and discoverers. 
 
 An essential part of this general aspect consists of some 
 experiments and observations connected with the circulation 
 of water as evaporated from the surface of the earth or the 
 sea into the sky ; the formation of clouds, falling of rain, 
 running over or through the ground into streams, and finally 
 reaching the sea unless evaporated on the journey. These 
 lessons must be largely supplemented by description 
 where observation or experiment is impossible. Even in a 
 town the roads, with their drying puddles and their gutters 
 and drains, give opportunity for some direct work of this 
 kind ; a model of a river system, with water sprinkled from 
 a hose and flowing into a " sea," might, along with pictures, 
 greatly help the children to understand this part of the sub- 
 ject. Some of the above work of the geography lesson grows 
 naturally out of the nature work, especially out of the nature 
 calendar ; for the two so-called subjects are in reality part 
 of the same side of life, and some portion of the elementary 
 study of plant and animal life which is dealt with in the section 
 on Nature Study affords the necessary ground work for 
 " plant geography " and " animal geography " of later years. 
 
 (2) The consideration of the life immediately around the 
 children, or in other parts of their own country, may be going 
 on co-incidently with what has been just considered. The 
 work and lives of people engaged in certain occupations should 
 form an important part of the syllabus, beginning with those 
 immediately connected with or well known to the children, 
 and going on to those in other parts of the country. The 
 essential facts as to the work of farmers may be famihar to 
 country children, but town children will have to realize them 
 by means of pictures and descriptions and through their 
 gardening. Some knowledge derived from holidays should 
 be utihzed. It will help them later to realize larger truths, 
 if they understand such simple connexions as that ripen- 
 ing corn needs sunshine rather than rain, and that cattle are 
 largely pastured on the long grasses of riverside meadows. 
 
 Fishing is another occupation that should be dealt with 
 and in this connexion the actual work in relation to land
 
 2o8 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 configuration should be considered, e.g., fishing on the shallows 
 called " banks," safe harbourage of bays, the work of cleaning 
 and preserving fish, should be introduced. Similarly the work 
 of miners, of quarry men, the melting of iron ore and making 
 of iron goods, the making of cotton and woollen goods (the 
 latter in relation to the children's own experiments in weav- 
 ing), pottery, forestry, might all be taken simply, and in rela- 
 tion to the part of the country where they are carried on, with 
 only the slightest reference to causation, perhaps sufficient 
 to make the children understand that their existence in that 
 particular locality is not just haphazard. The transport of 
 these goods will give opportunities for hnking the various 
 centres together, and from ideas of the time taken in travel- 
 ling and transport the ideas of distance may be introduced ; 
 difficulties such as mountains and wide rivers, the part 
 played by capes and hghthouses, the advantages of estuaries 
 and harbours, and their improvement by the construction 
 of docks, can come quite naturally in this way. 
 
 It will be noted that certain geographical forms, e.g., 
 mountains, capes and bays, are introduced in connexion with 
 their natural relation to man and not as definitions. Similarly 
 lessons on industries, and such things as a lighthouse or a 
 mill, were formerly introduced to children as object lessons 
 in an isolated way. Their true place is surely in connexion 
 with either geography or history, i.e., their relation to 
 human life. 
 
 Pictures and models are absolutely necessary in this con- 
 nexion, but the need for maps has not yet come, nor would 
 they be helpful at this stage. To a certain extent the children 
 are prepared for them by their drawing of the plans of furni- 
 ture and of doll's houses and gardens, previous to constructing 
 them ; often a village has been constructed by a class, and 
 this presupposes some idea of a plan, but the application to 
 maps is later. One can reaUze how the imagination of the 
 country children as to the country beyond their horizon is 
 helped by this side of the work, and how that of the town 
 child plays around the goods that come and go from his 
 neighbourhood, or dock, or station. A luggage train may 
 become an object of mystery and romance. 
 
 (3) The remaining portion of this preparatory geography 
 deals with other lands. By the means we have already de- 
 scribed, the children's interest has been aroused in the various 
 {)eoples of the world and their ways of living, but in all cases
 
 THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHING 209 
 
 the life of a community should, as far as possible, be shown 
 to be dependent on the physical conditions of the land it 
 inhabits. 
 
 It will be convenient for the teacher to make physiographi- 
 cal conditions the basis of selection, both in regard to the types 
 of people considered and to their peculiar characteristics ; 
 but to the children, the people themselves must be put in the 
 foreground. Thus a series could be so selected that each type 
 inhabited some region of marked physical conditions. The 
 following are suggested : {a) the agricultural people of India, 
 a hot region, but neither very wet nor very dry ; {b) the Eski- 
 mo of the far North, exemplifying life in a very cold region ; 
 (c) the Arabs of the Sahara for life in a dry region ; {d) the 
 Indians of the Amazon valley for life in a wet region ; {e) the 
 Swiss as mountain dwellers ; (/) the Dutch inhabitants of a 
 very flat country ; (g) the nomadic pastoral peoples of the 
 temperate grasslands of Central Asia ; {h) the dwellers in the 
 temperate forests of more northern latitudes — hunters and 
 lumbermen. 
 
 In preparing such lessons the teacher should set out for her 
 own edification the essential features of each region, and side 
 by side with these the habits and customs of the people which 
 have been evolved as a response to these physical conditions, 
 and thus place, in her own mind, the human beings in close 
 relation to the physical conditions which affect them. By 
 this means the frequent mistake may be avoided of telling 
 the story of the people in such a way that, although interest 
 may be aroused, the story could have almost any geographical 
 setting, and consequently could have very little geographical 
 value. For example, the picturesque national costume of 
 the Swiss and Dutch is largely irrelevant, but the dress of the 
 Eskimo and the processes and implements involved in its 
 making are worth special study, as closely related to both the 
 climate and the animal life of the region. 
 
 To a considerable extent child hfe rather than the life of 
 adults may be described, and stories and pictures should 
 here again be the chief means of instruction. In regard to 
 pictures, experience shows that the work of the teacher is to 
 direct the attention of the children to the desired matters, and 
 this may best be done by questions or even by direct remarks. 
 If the chiklren are not so guided they will probably take notice 
 of unimportant matters and pass without notice essential 
 features. The teacher should also see that the picture is 
 
 P
 
 210 EDUCATION BY LIFE 
 
 rightly interpreted ; the present writer taught a class in which 
 no child recognized snow as the white covering of the moun- 
 tains, while several children thought it represented salt or 
 sugar. Also the teacher may help the children to deduce 
 more than the picture actually shows, as, for example, tem- 
 perature from the vegetation, or the liabiUty of floods from 
 the fact that the houses are built on piles. Such help, how- 
 ever, must be given very carefully, or the children will deduce 
 from the teacher's unintentional suggestion instead of from 
 the picture. To examine carefully a few well selected pic- 
 tures is of infinitely more value than merely to exhibit a 
 large number. 
 
 The use of models in teaching the geography of other lands 
 is a debatable question. The values attaching to models made 
 by the teacher are quite different and need separate con- 
 sideration from the values attaching to those made by the 
 children. The former may be useful as giving new ideas, and 
 to that extent must be accurate ; this is possible with simple 
 scenes which can be readily simulated, as the snow field with 
 Eskimo hut, sledge, people and dogs. For these things 
 suitable materials are easily obtained, and no great misconcep- 
 tions are caused ; but to represent an Alpine valley with its 
 varied features, natural and artificial, is impossible without giv- 
 ing many and seriously wrong impressions. Thus, although clay 
 can be moulded into the required shape, the essential hardness 
 of the rock is laclsing ; scale presents another difficulty — the 
 figures and houses cannot be introduced, if the mountains are 
 adequately represented. The solution probably lies in making 
 models of separate parts of such a complicated scene. Models 
 made by the children need not be so carefully scrutinized as 
 to their realism ; their value largely consists in helping to fix 
 the ideas the children have already received, and for this pur- 
 pose special points maybe isolated, e.g., the shape of the valley 
 may be moulded in clay if the children have previously learnt 
 that the mountains enclosing it are of hard rock. The shape 
 only is considered, and even in this crudities may be passed 
 over if more accurate models or pictures are before the class. 
 
 Maps are inappropriate to this work ; they need not be 
 introduced until definite regions are studied in later years. 
 
 Finally, it may be pointed out that it is both unnecessary 
 and undesirable to deal with the shape or movements of the 
 earth. These matters cannot possibly be taught or understood 
 9.t this stage ; all that could be done would be to have phrases
 
 THE BASIS OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHING 211 
 
 learnt and repeated, for it is beyond the power of the children 
 to realize that this world, parts of which they know and upon 
 which they live, is really like a ball, and still less can they have 
 any real idea of its movements ; one of the worst features of 
 the old compulsory code for elementary schools was its in- 
 clusion of the " shape and movements of the earth " in the 
 first stages of instruction. 
 
 J. F. Unstead. 
 
 BOOKS OF REFERENCE 
 
 For a study of Physical Geography, the following books may be 
 recommended : Huxley and Gregory, Physiography (Macmillan, 4s. 6d.) 
 Mill, Realm of Nature (Murray, 5s.). Dryer, Physical Geography 
 (Philip, 65.). An excellent introduction to the relations between physi- 
 cal conditions and human life is given in Herbertson's Man and His 
 Work (Black, is. 6d.). A text book for teachers, which covers broadly 
 the whole ground, is Unstead and Taylor, General and Regional Geography 
 (Philip, 6s.), and an elementary book with the same wide scope and 
 by the same authors is Essentials of World Geography (Philip). 
 
 Descriptive material for the lessons on foreign peoples and lands is 
 given in the Little Cousin Series, e.g.. The Little Eskimo (Ward, Lock 
 & Co., IS. 6d. each), and in the " Peeps at Many Lands " Series 
 (Black, IS. 6rf. net each). Jane Andrew's Seven Little Sisters, 
 
 George Philip & Son, Ltd., Printers, London.
 
 I vb ANGt:!..tc> 
 STATE NORr^lAL SCHOOL