THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 113 



roots are "bruised and broken. Growth does not come "by force. 

 The right conditions must be supplied, the right food offered, and 

 then the growth will take place naturally and freely. It is most 

 true, as Froebel points out, that plant-life teaches many lessons 

 about education. 



In child-nature there is an infinite variety, and sympathy with 

 the special needs of each individual is necessary for right devel- 

 opment. We want to lighten somewhat the pressure of custom 

 which lies upon us with a weight 



" Heavy as frost and deep almost as life," 

 and to bring out in every child something of that fresh original- 

 ity of mind which, when it is found, makes even ignorant persons 

 agreeable companions and useful members of society, and which 

 is also the first condition of brilliant success in all work. 



Nature is a great healer and sets many crooked things straight. 

 A child's mind, when working under reasonably free conditions, 

 seizes upon that which it requires and disregards that which is 

 unnecessary or hurtful. There is some tendency on the part of 

 teachers in the Kindergarten not to realize this quite sufficiently, 

 and consequently to make their system a little too artificial. It 

 is not satisfactory to bind one's self down too rigidly to one 

 method however good. The laws of mental development are at 

 present very imperfectly understood. Growth often takes place 

 in unexpected ways, or does not take place when we should expect 

 it. The order of development is less rigid and more variable 

 than is sometimes supposed. If this were not the case, there 

 would be more difference than there is at present between a child 

 educated in a Kindergarten, and one educated in a well-ordered 

 home. In the home the objects present themselves to the child 

 without any fixed order he tumbles into knowledge; and this 

 want of system is not without its advantages, seeing that we can 

 not make our systems perfect. Even if a definite system be pur- 

 sued, some time and opportunity must be given at all stages of 

 education for this chance development. In a home where a child 

 is allowed, under the care of some educated person, to investigate 

 the objects around him and the natural and artificial processes 

 which are conducted in the house and its surroundings, much 

 healthy development may take place without any fixed system. 

 But a life which is limited to the nursery with artificial play- 

 things and a daily walk by the side of a perambulator is emi- 

 nently unsatisfactory. An ignorant nurse has no idea of the kind 

 of sympathy and help a child requires. Even when she is fond 

 of him she interrupts the workings of his mind with rude laugh- 

 ter. She does not understand how to speak the truth, though if 

 convenient she will stigmatize an unintentional misstatement as 

 a lie. She will capriciously surround him with vexatious restric- 



TOL. XXXIX. 10 



