160 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



all about them, these young people are constantly kept "sup- 

 posing." There are, fortunately, on the other hand, schools 

 that interweave their routine with children's real pursuits, so 

 that it is hard to tell where school leaves off and a child's 

 free life begins. 



Roughly speaking, school exercises may be said to fall into 

 two classes : one made up of the tasks which spring from 

 real issues, the other consisting of the tasks set for the ex- 

 press purpose of acquiring tools, — for tools are useful in the 

 execution of these real activities. Spelling, for instance, and 

 handwriting should be classed among tools (both of which 

 accomplishments the man of affairs passes over to his type- 

 writer), besides a large share of the mechanical side of arith- 

 metic. Tools are of course necessary; on occasion a tool 

 may rise to the highest importance. The desire to possess 

 a specific tool and the price one is willing to pay for it are 

 conditioned upon the seriousness of the piece of work whose 

 success is at stake ; in other words, the workman prizes his 

 tool and learns to wield it effectively according to the value 

 which he sets upon the work. 



Is it assuming too much to believe that there are matters 

 pertaining to education which vibrate with permanent interest 

 independent of clocks and bells ? Surely not. Skill on the 

 part of the educator lies in not letting slip any opportunity to 

 utilize a single one of these permanent interests. He is be- 

 coming every day more keenly alive to such opportunities. 

 That this is everywhere increasingly true is indicated by so 

 obvious a sign as the subjects chosen in these days by stu- 

 dents for their themes. Time was when " How I spent my 

 Vacation" stood nearly alone in a string of arid titles like 

 " The Pleasures of Hope " or that classic subject " Duty per- 

 formed is a Rainbow in the Soul"; but the list of school 

 themes nowadays reads something as follows : " How our 



