uscular contraction, beside something to avoid in itself,
obviously makes thought _indirect._ A child must think quietly, to
express his thought quietly and directly. This exercise, of course,
also cultivates the imagination.

In all this work, as clear channels are opened for impression and
expression, the faculties themselves naturally have a freer growth. The
process of quiet thought and expression must be trained in all
phases,--from the slow description of something seen or imagined or
remembered, to the quick and correct answer required to an example in
mental arithmetic, or any other rapid thinking. This, of course, means
a growth in power of attention,--attention which is real concentration,
not the strained attention habitual to most of us, and which being
abnormal in itself causes abnormal reaction. And this natural attention
is learned in the use of each separate sense,--to see, to hear, to
taste, to smell, to touch with quick and exact impression and immediate
expression, if required, and a in obedience to the natural law of the
conservation of human energy.

With the power of studying freely, comes that of dropping a lesson when
it is once well learned, and finding it ready when needed for
recitation or for any other use. The temptation to take our work into
our play is very great, and often cannot be overcome until we have
learned how to "erase all previous impressions." The concentration
which enables us all through life to be intent upon the one thing we
are doing, whether it is tennis or trigonometry, and drop what we have
in hand at once and entirely at the right time, free to give out
attention fully to the next duty or pleasure, is our saving health in
mind and body. The trouble is we are afraid. We have no trust. A child
is afraid to stop thinking of a lesson after it is learned,--afraid he
will forget it. When he has once been persuaded to drop it, the
surprise when he takes it up again, to find it more clearly impressed
upon his mind, is delightful. One must trust to the digestion of a
lesson, as to that of a good wholesome dinner. Worry and anxiety
interfere with the one as much as with the other. If you can drop a
muscle when you have ceased using it, that leads to the power of
dropping a subject in mind; as the muscle is fresher for use when you
need it, so the subject seems to have grown in you, and your grasp
seems to be stronger when you recur to it.

The law of rhythm must be carefully f