The child loves noise and rhythm, especially of his own making, and his first musical in- 

 struments are a rattle, or something with which to pound. Later come the drum and the 

 horn. His chief interest is in things which move and appear to be alive. He loves to be 

 carried, swayed in the arms and rocked. The cries and gurglings of babyhood are made 

 mainly with the vowels a, u and o, to which are very soon joined the consonants m and p. 

 The first elements of speech are probably of the nature of interjections, followed or accom- 

 panied by nouns. His system of naming objects consists in substituting for the object itself 

 his imitation of the sound which it makes. He cares but little for the companionship of 

 children of his own age, until after he is able to walk or run, when the gregarious instinct 

 shows itself. He is selfish, passionate and shows but little regard for the rights of others. In 

 general, infants are afraid of strangers, and those things which suggest the presence of wild 

 animals; such as gruff noises, large eyes, a display of teeth and the feeling of fur. High wind, 

 thunder, darkness and water arouse instinctive fear in the minds of many infants. The child 

 shows especial delight in striking objects with a stick held in the hands. It will prove a good 

 exercise for the student to account for this group of characteristics without making use of the 

 biogenetic law and then to interpret each particular trait in the light of this law. 



C. Child of School Age. Judging from the powerful impress left upon the physical 

 structure and organism of the child the arboreal stage of the race was probably of great dura- 

 tion. Without attempting to draw any sharp lines of division it seems that the stage at which 

 the child learns to walk, marks, in a general way, the close of the arboreal stage in his indi- 

 vidual development and the beginning of that stage during which the race was able to main- 

 tain its foothold upon the surface of the earth. With the assumption of the erect position, 

 changes in the muscles, bones, shape and relative size of the various parts of the body at once 

 begin, which are similar to those which occurred in the case of the race itself. The arms and 

 hands no longer needed for purposes of locomotion are now free for the prehension of every 

 available object. This freedom of the hands and the ability to walk gives the child a wide 

 range of new experiences, leading to a growing fund of new ideas. The desire to express 

 these ideas furnishes the stimulus required for the acquisition of articulate speech. The child 

 now seeks the companionship of other children of his own age and becomes a gregarious and 

 social creature. Co-operation in games makes still further demands upon children's powers of 

 expression and speech is supplemented with pantomime and gesture. If the environment is 

 favorable the muscles and senses, with their corresponding brain centers, are receiving exercise 

 and development. These characteristics are more and more intensified, without marked break, 

 and indicate the hunting and fishing stage of the race. It is this miniature warrior that with 

 more or less reluctance and trepidation knocks at the door of our public school. Teachers, 

 what shall we do with him? 



i. PHYSIC AI, CHARACTERISTICS. All of the infantile physical characteristics enumerated 

 in the preceding section are retained by the child of five to seven years of age, although Nature 

 has begun to eliminate them. His bones are still relatively soft and plastic and easily deformed 

 by improper school desks and unnatural positions. Lacking in control and co-ordination, he 

 executes the more delicate movements only with difficulty. His drawing and whatever writing 

 is demanded of him in these early years should be capable of being done mainly with arm 

 movements. The child is very active and restless, demands frequent change of position and 

 occupation, breathes rapidly, has a rapid pulse and for his complete development requires the 

 maximum amount of out-door life, pure air and sunshine. To shut him up in the typical 

 modern school-room, with its poor seats, bad lighting, unevenly distributed heat, foul air and 

 unnatural restraint is doing violence to his physical nature from which he can never fully 

 recover. With his sense and motor centers developing and demanding exercise \\& yearns for 

 the fields and forests, how strongly only those can understand whose memories carry them 

 back to childhood. And here, let no one imagine that Nature has made a mistake in thus 

 implanting this inordinate desire in the breasts of children; she is endeavoring to save those 

 that are worthy. The ideal school-room is that which lies outside of the brick walls and the 

 portion inside should be used largely as a retreat and shelter. For the younger children of 

 school age, say from six to nine, the teacher should be field-assistant, guide and chaperon. 

 She should perfectly understand and sympathize with children, should equally well under- 

 stand the hunting and fishing people the world over, should have a full and intimate know- 

 ledge of her immediate environment. To attend such a school children would run away from 

 home instead of away from school. 



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