112 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



And just as a thoughtful teacher learns nearly as much from 

 his pupils as they learn from him, so do those who are engaged 

 in widening the lives of the poor find themselves refreshed and 

 strengthened by the wholesome simplicity, practical common 

 sense, and steady patience which are so often found among those 

 who spend their lives in hard manual toil. Steady work teaches 

 many lessons which can not be learned in any other way, and 

 when it does not absorb the whole nature, and is such that the 

 worker can take pleasure in it it is wholesome training. So 

 much is this the case that perhaps what is most needed just .now 

 for the children of those who are not poor is this same manual 

 work, if only for a short time every day. In this would be found 

 a cure for many of the nervous diseases which are so common. It 

 would give some knowledge of the nature of the objects with 

 which we are surrounded, and the right feeling of respect for 

 labor which it is difficult to give in any other way. It would de- 

 velop the physical powers and the natural tendency which chil- 

 dren have to help others, a tendency which is very insufficiently 

 developed at present. The work must be useful one kind of 

 useful work being of course the production of beautiful things 

 or it will fail in its chief object. The child must not think it is 

 done entirely for his sole benefit, and therefore it must not be 

 done solely for that purpose, as it is no part of sound education to 

 deceive a child for his supposed good. 



In a well-conducted Kindergarten the childen do work which 

 fulfills these conditions so far as it is possible to do so at their 

 age. The right kind of beginning is made. As they get older 

 they should learn to do harder work and work of a more practical 

 kind, and also continue the endeavor to produce beautiful things. 

 There is no kind of useful work which can not be made a pleasure 

 to the worker if set about in the right way. Froebel, in writing of 

 his childhood, mentions the advantage he received from helping 

 his father and mother in gardening and in household occupations. 



As in intellectual work, it is very important not to make too 

 large demands at first upon the powers of the child. The develop- 

 ment of his powers must be gradual and will then be pleasur- 

 able. If a feeling of despair is allowed to arise, progress becomes 

 impossible until the happiness of the child is restored by encour- 

 agement. Pleasure and trust in the teacher are necessary condi- 

 tions of development. Nothing satisfactory can be accomplished 

 by a teacher without close sympathy with and love for the child. 

 An attempt to further the development of a human being by 

 harsh rule and stern command, with threats of punishment, is like 

 pulling the branches of a tree to make them grow. If the tree be 

 firm and strong, no effect is produced beyond some slight damage 

 to the branches' ; but if the tree be young and tender, its delicate 



