m along, by easy stages, until she has brought him within the
circle of her own wants, which are, in reality, the needs of the boy.
The boy walks along in paces, let us say, of eighteen inches. The
teacher moderates her gait to harmonize with his, but gradually
lengthens her paces to two feet. At first, she kept step with him; now
he is keeping step with her and finds the enterprise an exhilarating
adventure. She is teaching the boy to walk in strides two feet in
length, and begins with his native tendency to step eighteen inches.
Thus she begins where the boy is, by acquainting herself with his wants,
attaches her teaching to his native tendencies, and then proceeds from
the known to the related unknown. Libraries abound in books that explain
lucidly this simple elementary principle of teaching, but many teachers
still seem to find it difficult of application.

=Substitution illustrated.=--This method of substitution becomes the
rule of the school through the skill of the vitalized teacher. The lily
of the valley is substituted for the sunflower, in the children's
esteem, and there is generated a taste for the exquisite. The copy of
the masterpiece of art supplants the bizarre chromo; correct forms of
speech take the place of incorrect forms; the elegant usurps the place
of the inelegant; and the inartistic gives place to the artistic. The
circle of their wants is extended until it includes their needs, and
these, in turn, are transformed into wants. Thus all the pupils ascend
to a higher level of appreciation of the things that make for a more
comfortable and agreeable civilization. They work under the spell of
leadership, for real leadership always inspires confidence.

=Society and the school.=--At its best, society is but an enlarged copy
of the vitalized school. Or, to put it in another way, the vitalized
school is society in miniature. As the school is engaged in the work of
making substitutions, so, in fact, is society. Legislative bodies are
striving to substitute wise laws for the laws that have fallen behind
the needs of the times, that the interests of society may be fully
conserved. The church is substituting better methods of work in all its
activities for the methods that have become antiquated or ineffective.
This it does in the hope that its influence may be broadened and
deepened. Ministers and officials are constantly pondering the question
of substitutions. The farmer is substituting better methods o