which then strike the virgin retinae of eyes not as yet completely
matured and adapted. So, too, when the child's heart turns to us, and
fixes itself, asking nourishment from our souls, we ought to be
always ready, like passive objects, inasmuch as we should never,
through our egotism, fail to respond to the child's needs; we should
respond with all our intimate energies, to reflect upon him the
luminous rays required by his pure soul, as yet unadapted to life.

We ought not to call him by name, and offer him our affection,
inviting him to accept our help; but, like the material objects which
attract him by their smoothness, their luster, and their varied and
interesting forms, and by ocular demonstration of the means of lofty
intellectual exercise, as in the colored alphabets and the rods which
contain the first secrets of numeration--we, too, should wait; not
coldly, but rather making the child feel that we contain a rich
material which is at his disposal, ready to be taken as soon as he
stretches out his hand to grasp it. Our "response" to the child should
be as full, as prompt and as complete as that of the objects which he
may manipulate, but which at every touch give an upward impetus to the
intellectual life of the child.

How many persons must have noted that on some occasion when they have
caressed children, the little ones have retreated, as if repelled and
offended; and many must also have remarked that when the affectionate
impulse of a child has been checked, he shrinks into himself,
humiliated, like the mimosa when touched. Now the respect we owe to
the spiritual liberty of the child should manifest itself as follows:
we must never force our caresses on him, greatly as we may be
attracted by his fascinating graces; nor must we ever repel his
outbursts of affection, even when we are not disposed to receive them,
but must respond with sincere and delicate devotion. We are the
"objects" of his love, the objects by means of which he is organizing
his life. The most perfect teachers and mothers will be those who will
take the didactic material for their model, and imitate this by
filling themselves in every sense with moral riches and being full of
response in every detail; passive in abnegation, yet active as
wellsprings of affection. And if all the sensorial objects combine all
possible vibrations accessible to man--the vibrations of light and
color, as also those of sound and heat, so too should they combin