g of a
fragmentary and piecemeal description, nothing complete. It may well
happen that an intelligent boy shall be unable to understand a
seemingly simple thing, because some bit of knowledge which his
instructor takes it for granted he possesses, and probably thinks
instinctive, is wanting to fill up the whole."

To impart the desire for knowledge and the power of getting it is next
to character-building the most important work of the school. Encourage
self-activity to the fullest extent. When the child asks a question be
careful not to put him off or discourage him, but if it is possible to
show him how to find the answer for himself do so, even at the expense
of considerable time and trouble. Aid that quenches curiosity retards
mental growth. Many children ask questions merely for the sake of
talking, and forget the question before they have heard the answer. As
the child gradually becomes able to use them show him how to employ
books as tools. Keep reference books on low shelves or tables in
convenient places, where it is easy to get at them. Show the child
that the dictionary, the atlas, and the encyclopaedia contain stores
of knowledge accumulated by the work of many scholars for many years
and laboriously classified and arranged for the benefit of seekers
after information. Show him how to investigate a subject under several
different titles and how to get what he needs from a book by the use
of the table of contents, index, and running head lines, and how to
use card catalogues and Poole's Index. Help him to look up on the map
the places he reads about. Explain the scale of miles and teach him to
use his imagination in making the map real; show him that the dots
represent towns and cities with churches, parks, and trolley cars, and
that the waving lines are rivers on which are steam boats carrying the
productions of one section to another.

As he grows older teach him to draw his own conclusions from
conflicting statements and to preserve the happy medium between
respect for the authority of books and confidence in his own
observation. Most boys and girls do not observe and they do not think;
they have no opinions except those made for them by others. We are too
apt to cultivate the memory and to neglect observation, imagination,
and judgment. The result is a wooden type of mind which has too great
respect for printed matter and little initiative in accurate
observation and in using the imagination and the ju