he development of certain mental and moral qualities be
made instrumental in the development of the ethically efficient person.

We must now briefly note two other educational agencies which may be
employed in the securing of the physical and mental efficiency of the
child--play and games. Psychologically, games stand midway between play
and work. In play we have an inherited system of means evoked into
activity and carried out to an end for the pure pleasure derived from
the activity itself. Such systems at first are imperfectly organised,
but through the experience derived the systems become more and better
adapted for the attainment of the ends which they are intended to
realise. In games, on the other hand, the activity is undertaken for an
end only partially connected with the means by which it is attained,
whilst in work the means may have no intrinsic connection with the end
desired. Hence the effort of a disagreeable nature which work often
evokes.

In animals fully equipped at birth by means of instinct for the
performance of actions the play-activity is altogether absent. Their
lives are wholly business-like. On the other hand, in the higher
animals, whose young have a period of infancy, play is nature's
instrument of education. By means of it the systems of the middle level
which form the larger part of the brain equipment of the higher animals
are gradually organised and fitted for the attainment of the ends which
in mature life they are intended to realise. Play is their education--is
the means by which nature works in order that experiences may be
acquired and organised that shall render future action more efficient.
Without this power, "the higher animals could not reach their full
development; the stimulus necessary for the growth of their bodies and
minds would be lacking."[28]

Play also is nature's instrument in the education of the young child.
The first and most important part of his education is obtained by this
means, and, on the basis thus laid, must all after-education be built.
Hence the importance in early life of allowing full freedom for the
manifestation of this activity. Hence also the very great importance of
securing that the children of the poor should be provided with the means
of realising the playful activities of their nature and of being
stimulated and encouraged to play. Hence one aim of the Kindergarten
School is to utilise the play-activity of the child in the development
of