212 Third Conference 



When the search for some desired object becomes 

 keen and eager through long- continued failure, the 

 free, unfettered intercourse is something to be known 

 to be appreciated. 



And while the more formal relationship between 

 teacher and class may on such occasions well be dis- 

 pensed with, there is perhaps no time when the 

 teacher sees his own disciplinary influence put to a 

 more severe and practical test; while under the 

 loosened rein the real boy, not the artificial one who 

 sits in class, discloses himself, — often to the wonder- 

 ment of his teacher. 



Surely there is a gain in this. 



But one more instance. 



Parents ought to follow with interest all the doings 

 of their children, yet only a few really take any con- 

 cern in what may be called the staple items of ele- 

 mentary school work. 



But the majority are found to take unquestionable 

 interest in such things as school gardens, maps of 

 their neighbourhood, and school rambles with their 

 after-math of private collections, experiments, and 

 drawings. 



We in the elementary schools cannot afford to 

 neglect anything that tends to foster mutual sym- 

 pathy between the home and the school. 



These are purely first-fruits which may or may not 

 presage the later, wider, and more potent economic 

 results which some look for. 



Where the opportunity exists for linking together 

 observation and experiment, experiment and practice, 

 there must indeed be sown the seed which will pro- 

 duce wider powers and possibilities for after-school life. 



