s about, and walks, but does not disturb the others. It
may be said that he is in search of the maximum satisfaction for his
interest, and is preparing for his "great work."

But, on the other hand, when _the cycle is completed_, the child
detaches himself from his internal concentration; refreshed and
satisfied, he experiences the higher social impulses, such as desiring
to make confidences and to hold intimate communion with other souls.

A similar process became in time the general process in a class of
disciplined children. Signorina Maccheroni sums up this complex
phenomenon as follows:

[Illustration: Whole Class at Work]

In the first period of the morning, up to about 10 a.m., the
occupation chosen is generally an easy and familiar task.

At 10 o'clock there is a great commotion; the children are restless,
they neither work nor go in quest of materials. The onlooker gets an
impression of a _tired_ class, about to become disorderly. After a few
minutes the most perfect order reigns once more; the children are
promptly absorbed in work again; they have chosen new and more
difficult occupations.

When this work ceases, the children are gentle, calm, and happy.

If in the period of "false fatigue" at 10 a.m. an inexperienced
teacher, interpreting the phenomenon of suspension or preparation for
the culminating work as disorder, intervenes, calling the children to
her, and making them rest, etc., their restlessness persists, and the
subsequent work is not undertaken. The children do not become calm:
they remain in an abnormal state. In other words, if they are
interrupted in their cycle, they lose all the characteristics
connected with _an internal process regularly and completely carried
out_.

* * * * *

The single curve of individual orderly work is not general, nor
strictly constant in the type described. But it may be considered as
the average type of work in the level of order achieved. It will be
interesting, first of all, to consider the curve of children in whom
_order has not yet been established_. Poor children hardly ever show
themselves to be in such a state of utter confusion as rich ones; they
are _always_ more or less attracted by the objects, and respond to
them with a certain interest from the very first moment. Such
interest, however, is at first superficial. They are attracted mainly
by curiosity, by a desire to handle "pretty things." They amuse
themselves for some time