human
nature, we should not stunt the growth of children, relatives, and
friends by resisting their efforts,--or their lack of effort,--or by
trying to force them into ways that we think must be right for them
because we are sure they are right for us.

There is a selfish, restless way of pushing others "for their own good"
and straining to "help" them, and there is a selfish, entirely
thoughtless way of letting them alone; it is difficult to tell which is
the worse, or which does more harm. The first is the attitude of
unconscious hypocrisy; the second is that of selfish indifference. It
is in letting alone, with a loving readiness to help, that we find
strength and peace for ourselves in our relations with others.

All great laws are illustrated most clearly in their simplest forms,
and there is no better way to get a sense of really free and wholesome
relations with others than from the relations of a mother with her
baby. Even healthy reciprocity is there, in all the fulness of its best
beginnings, and the results of wholesome, rational, maternal care are
evident to the delighted observer in the joyous freedom with which the
baby mind develops according to the laws of its own life.

Heidi is a baby not yet a year old, and is left alone a large part of
the day. Having no amusements imposed upon her, she has formed the
habit of entertaining herself in her own way; she greets you with the
most fascinating little gurgles, and laughs up at you when you stop and
speak to her as if to say, "How do you do? I am having a _very_ happy
time!" Five minutes' smiling and being smiled at by her gives a friend
who stops to talk "a _very_ happy time" too. If you take her up for a
little while, she stays quietly and looks at you, then at the trees or
at something in the room, then at her own hand. If you say "ah," or
"oo," she answers with a vowel too; so the conversation begins and goes
on, with jolly little laughter every now and then, and when you give
her a gentle kiss and put her down, her good-bye is a very contented
one, and her "Thank you; please come again," is quite as plainly
understood as if she had said it. You leave her, feeling that you have
had a very happy visit with one of your best friends.

Heidi is not officiously interfered with; she has the best of care.
When she cries, every means is taken to find the cause of her trouble;
and when the trouble is remedied, she stops. She is a dear little
friend, and gives